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I'm an Angels Fan Because...

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The simple answer- they've always been my team.

The longer answer- My Grandparents all made their way to Southern California in the late 40s and early 50s, eventually meeting their respective spouses and marrying before settling into the same new housing tract in Orange County. One grandfather settling into a teaching and coaching position at a local high school and the other mixing hard work with some back room gambling to outright purchase the new family home. They fondly recalled the old Wrigley field and the powerhouse teams of the PCL. They were Angels Fans from the beginning.

My parents were both born in this new suburban paradise of Southern California. They both were born in 1960. They grew up in Orange County within biking distance of Disneyland, Knotts and the Big A and a short drive to the beautiful beaches of orange county.

They spent many summer evenings with their families watching our favorite team take on the American League. They were Angels Fans because even then, the Dodgers represented the urban Los Angeles, eastern takeover of the west and the Angels were the team of families.

So after my parents met and settled into their own Southern California home, I was born. It was 1982 and the team was awesome. By the time I was 2, my parents had a little fun and put me in a dodger shirt to tease my grandfather. He was the biggest Angels fan of all of us and immediately went out, bought me an Angels uniform, a bat and a glove. Every spring he would get me new Angels gear and every year he'd take the whole family to a few games.

I was an Angels fan because there was no other choice.

I remember many summers spending nights at my grandparents house and listening to him go on about how much the dodgers were greedy land grabbing jerks who put the screws to Autry and the Angels. He couldn't wait for an Angels World Series and I picked up his enthusiasm as he saved sports pages from the OC register for me to read and picked up baseball card packs to let me open every time I visited.

Then 1995 happened. The team finally broke him. I remember sitting there in his living room watching the one game playoff and after Langston flailed on his back, being asked for the first time in my life, if we should just turn it off now and save some disappointment. We kept watching but they had already given up. The next 7 years he still followed the team but he never got his hopes up like he did that year.

Then in 2002 the team redeemed themselves. He couldn't stay away. He called me the minute spezio hit his homer in game 6. We were Angels fans. We could handle disappointment. We could glory in the mundane and wait for our turn because we aren't some greedy east coast profiteers. We are Southern California's. If we lose one today, we can get the beaches tomorrow, or the mountains, or Disneyland or, or, or.... the possibilities are virtually endless in our little paradise.

Our happiness isn't tied up in wins and losses like some kind of business deal. We follow the team because it's a part of us not because we expect anything.

I'm an Angels Fan because I'm a Southern Californian.

This FanPost is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.

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