I Never Thought I’d Cheer on a New England Sports Team – Until Now
Let's see... How do I put this lightly? I've never been a big fan of New England sports teams.
Growing up a Seattle Seahawks fan, I was pretty indifferent to the Patriots for a long time and pretty much just knew them as the team that seemed to always be going to the Super Bowl. That all changed in 2015 when the Hawks took on the Pats for Super Bowl XLIX. After such a bitter loss, I have to say, I harbored a bit of resentment toward New England teams.
And then there's hockey. While I didn't grow up watching much hockey, my boyfriend, Evan, who hails from Buffalo, did. In fact, he's a die-hard Sabres (and Bills) fan. Over the almost two years we've been dating, he's taught me all about hockey, and he's converted me into a Sabres fan, even when they're 18 games deep in a losing streak.
Between the two of us, we never thought there was any shot that we'd be in Gillette Stadium cheering for a New England team, but lo and behold, that moment has officially come, and boy, was it fun.
While Evan grew up with hockey, soccer was more on my wavelength. I played for 14 years, from preschool all the way through high school, and loved every moment of it. But I'll be honest, soccer has definitely got away from me in my adult years, and I've missed it dearly.
It wasn't long after our move to Massachusetts that Evan and I discovered that New England had an MLS team. Evan was pretty skeptical of soccer and convinced he wouldn't enjoy it, but in a spur-of-the-moment decision in late May, we decided to buy tickets to our first Revolution game and made the trip to Foxboro.
We cheered when the Revolution scored. We booed when the refs made calls that favored the other team. And by halftime, Evan was already asking when the next home game was. We almost didn't recognize ourselves, but before long, we finally made it back to Gillette for our second Revs game just this last weekend. And this time, Evan was all decked out with his very own jersey and scarf.
While it's safe to say we'll never be converted to Patriots or Bruins fans in this lifetime or the next, one thing's for sure: The New England sports fandom has certainly gained two new members when it comes to soccer.