My Teams Stink, But I'll Smack Talk Anyway

I haven't had much success with my sports teams lately.  In fact my college football team is so bad (and has been for 15 years) they just fired their head coach... again.  My basketball team had one of their worst seasons last year and look to be equally as bad this year. The head coach is going to serve a nine game suspension, the team is loaded with freshman, and they had a bunch of scholarships taken away.

It's really been a disaster for me, because it seems all of my friends have teams that are doing well.  One guy is a Patriots fan who won't shut up about it, another is an obnoxious Yankee fan who claims he's been that way his entire life, and another is a Rutgers fan for some odd reason.  Fortunately none of us root for Duke, so we can all agree how much we hate them.

Sports are funny though.  It doesn't matter how bad your team is, you are going to defend them to the grave.  Unless of course you are anything like my eight year old son, who seems to have a new favorite team every week.  I'll admit that I have jumped around with my fandom in sports like baseball and NBA basketball.  But there is one thing I will never waiver on, my love for the Syracuse Orange.

I grew up in Western New York and while they weren't my favorite team, they were in my top two.  When I decided to go to Syracuse for college that all changed.  Gone were my allegiances to Nebraska football and North Carolina basketball (can you say FRONTRUNNER?) I was now solely an Orange fan.  After graduation my love for all things Syracuse only grew.

There are four days that stand out in my life... the day I married my wife, the days that my kids were born, and the day that Syracuse basketball won the 2003 National Title.  My wife isn't so certain that they should be placed in this order.  She seems to think that my basketball team winning was a way bigger deal than marrying her.  After all she says, getting married isn't a once in a lifetime thing like Syracuse winning a national championship.

That's the kind of smack talk that I like; subtle, but direct. Talking smack with my friends turns into the same conversation every time.  The Yankee fan always gets ragged on for buying championships, the Patriot fan hears about conspiracies and cheating, and the Rutgers fan... well, you can say pretty much anything to a Rutgers fan because they stink.

I'm always wearing a Syracuse shirt, hat, or hoodie which should be enough to talk smack with, but now there is another way... by wearing your fandom!  Smack Apparel makes doing that easy. They make T-shirts for sports fans who love to talk smack and want the world to know it. It's not a Lexus with a bow on top, but what better gift can you get your smack talker this holiday season?  When they open up their gifts and see a Smack Apparel shirt it won't end up in the crappy presents pile.  They will put the shirt on and talk smack the rest of the day.

I'm going to get my kids a couple of shirts this holiday out of their rookie wear collection... I just have to figure out which team they are actually rooting for.  Sadly it's not my Syracuse Orange.

Smack Apparel is offering free shipping on direct website orders from now until December 31st. They are running a Black Friday/ Cyber Monday special where you can get 25% off your order.  Follow Smack Apparel on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to continue the smack talking conversation.

**This is a sponsored post for Smack Apparel.  I was compensated, but they didn't tell me to root for Syracuse in any way.  My diploma did that.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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Basketball is His Favorite Sport

Carter gets obsessed with a lot of things.

At first it was Star Wars, then Toy Story, then Cars, the Star Wars again, then Legos, then Pokemon, and now it's sports.  Most recently it's been basketball because that is what is readily available on TV.  Before basketball it was football where somehow he became a huge New Orleans Saints fan.  I blame video games for that.

Basketball is all he ever talks about nowadays.  Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony  are his favorite players, while the Oklahoma City Thunder are his favorite team.  Much like his dad, who was a huge Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls fan, Carter is very much a front runner.  When you are six you never want to see your team lose so naturally you pick teams that always win.  That is why there are so many Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys fans my age, because when I was a kid they were always the two best teams.  We don't realize it, but unless we live in an area that has pro sports teams, we always go for the winners.  So all of you lifelong Yankee, Steelers, Cowboys, Lakers, Celtics fans... you are nothing but a lifelong bandwagoner.

From sun up to sundown, Carter has basketball on the brain.

His birthday is next week and all that he wants is a basketball hoop and a bunch of jerseys, most notably the players mentioned before.  If he isn't checking scores on ESPN, he is playing basketball on the Xbox.  If he isn't playing on the Xbox, he is up in his room playing basketball on his little toy hoop that has been hanging up since before he was born.  And that is where you can see things like this:

For a six year old he has some crazy good skills.  Of course he is good at any sport that he plays right now.  It's something that I saw in him from an early age before he could even walk.

Right now he says that he has no interest in baseball, but I don't buy it.  I never saw this obsession with basketball coming but I am on the lookout to see what's next.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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