--by Josh Suchon
People will never understand it outside the Bay Area.
Fans in other
two-team markets shake their heads in disbelief, call it blasphemous, wonder
what they’re smoking up north, mock the Bay Area, and use it as proof there’s
something wrong with the people who live there.
The truth is,
especially for people who spent their whole lives in the Bay Area, it’s more
common to like both baseball and football teams than hate one team.
Alright, it
might be a stretch to say the football fans “like” each other. It can feel like
a war zone in the stadiums when the 49ers and Raiders play each other. There
are plenty of fights and bullets to prove it. But don’t let the couple hundred
knuckleheads obscure the larger truth.
Bay Area fans of
one team don’t hate the other team. In some cases, they like both baseball
teams equally. If nothing else, they go to both ballparks, and enjoy being able
to see American League and National League baseball. If their favored team
wasn’t very good that year, regional pride dictated you cheered for the other
team.
