Until last year, Nevada was a state without a professional sports team. Las Vegas is the mecca of sports betting for people from all across the US of A. March Madness is a mania in Vegas. Being from Chicago, the notion of diehard loyalty and fanaticism is part of my DNA. Plenty of cars here sport team license plate holders and decals of clubs hailing from coast to coast. The wide-ranging team affinities affirm that I am not home, I’m away. The arts district of Vegas is populated by antique and vintage collectible shops. It’s the closest I’ve come to feeling at home, there amongst the old familiar secondhand stuff. Chatting up one of the proprietors, she mentions moving here 44 years ago. Asked if she feels she is from Vegas, she booms: “Oh no, I’m from New York!”. I get it. 90% of my conversations with strangers include the question: “Where are you from?”. At first, it was irritating to think I looked like a lost tourist. Now I realize no one is from here. Las Vegas is a loyal league of transplanted people living day to day, all the while rooting for a team or a town elsewhere. And to that I say: GO CUBS!
Go Squadron!
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2 responses to “Go Squadron!”
“Where are you from” is a common hello here in Portland as well. When I answer “Connecticut” I get blank stares and then they disappear in a cloud of disinterest. I’ve started to say “I’m from the town where Woody Allen raised his wife” that usually gets some sort of engagement.
Ha ha ha! You are a funny one. I always said you should try comedy.