FanPost

Why I am an Arizona Diamondbacks Fan

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There's not any good reason why I'm a D-backs fan. In fact, it's a miracle I'm not a Dodgers fan.

I liked baseball growing up, but never really followed any particular team. Baseball to me was playing out on the street or collecting cards, and it was watching the "stories" with my grandma.

My grandma was the only one in my family that liked baseball, though I'm not really sure how much she really liked the game. But it was on everyday, like the General Hospital she also adored, and she'd record the game and watch it while puttering around the house.

Don't get it misconstrued, Grandma knew the players and what was going on, but outside of the daily ritual she never had any expression of fandom, and wouldn't have much to say if I brought it up in other contexts. She liked watching, though, and she especially liked any player that had an Italian last name. I never got a chance to ask her if it was because it reminder her of her own parents and upbringing as a first generation immigrant in Boston, or out of familiarity or something. First Mike Piazza was her boy, but then he went to the Mets, so Paul Lo Duca was her boy.

So the Dodgers probably should have been my team, and I spent my summers watching them. There wasn't a moment when I left them, or when I went to the Diamondbacks. I remember the team starting, of course, and all of the usual touchstones (Cy Young winners, bloop singles over Hall of Famer closers, the Baby Backs), but as I slowly settled into building a life in Phoenix after moving here from my hometown, it felt right.

When my grandma moved out of her last house in the Inland Empire and moved to be close to my mom, she also moved out of Dodgers territory. I visited one winter and as we made limited small talk, I asked if she had been keeping up with the Dodgers. She either ignored or didn't hear the question and started talking about the Diamondbacks and watching Sutton and Grace. She had found her stories and her boys to keep her company.