Winter Settling Moon
There is no joy in Broncoville this morning for the mighty Manning has struck out. Seems familiar to me. Aging quarterback, once a legitimate star, leads team to playoffs, then has a less than starring role in a frustrating defeat. Can anyone say Favre? Or, Randall Cunningham? Or any of the other used-to-be’s who have been behind the center for the Vikings?
This, too, is a settling in issue. Local sports teams have a distinctive regional role, unifying disparate groups like stepson Jon, the Apache/Comanche/Spanish guy who helped unload our stuff and the customers at the Brook Forest Inn pub. When in a new region then, the newspaper, the jerseys worn, the conversations about sports, all reinforce outsider status. I’m not a Bronco fan, nor a Nuggets fan, or a Rockies fan.
My point here is not so much about sports because I am not much of a sports fan, though I’ve had my fling with the Vikings; rather, it’s about the nature of regional identity and its markers. I find the Western ethos of the Stock Show easier to assimilate, but that might be due to my Midwestern rural roots.