TLDR: Upon Reflection, I Am A Blue Jays Fan

This isn't the first time I've said something like this.

As a result of my foray with FC Buffalo and getting my first taste of soccer experience as a high schooler, I decided to more closely follow several other squads as well: Bedlington (RIP), Liverpool, Western New York Flash, the U.S. National teams. And in Major League Soccer, I chose to adopt the Portland Timbers as my favourite. Inspired by their decades-long history in the NASL, the vocal and vibrant Timbers Army, the tifos and chants that adorned Jeld-Wen Field, and their built-in hatred for fellow MLS-newcomers Seattle and Vancouver, plus the fact that they'd existed for nearly 40 years with no trophies seemed like the perfect fit. And for a time, it was.

But along came Minnesota United. Entering league play in 2017 (in a 5-1 loss at Portland, may I add), the "Loons" didn't carry the same weight of tradition as the Timbers. However, the colours, nickname, logo, and my personal familial ties to the state slowly pulled my attention from Cascadia to the North Star State. 

An MLS Cup victory in 2015 (an hour from my apartment on Richland Avenue in Athens at the time -- I still wish I would've sacked up and went solo) by Portland wasn't even enough to keep my fandom rooted. And after being a dues-paying member of the Timbers Army, buying Timbers New Era caps and MLS Champions t-shirts, I announced that my heart had decided it was time to officially switch my allegiance from Portland to Minnesota in 2021.

2021. The year of oddities, and in many ways, maybe it's the nexus of this long-winded monologue. And we'll get back there. But before we do...

My favourite baseball team ever (check my t-ball card from 2000 if you want proof) was and will always be the Buffalo Bisons. That will never be up for debate. Bisons games have long been the highlight of my summers. Skipping school to attend Opening Day with my family. Shenanigans from every section with my bois in high school. Earning an internship and spending two-plus seasons watching games from the press box. Returning as an of-age customer to get the Conehead Guarantee on repeat. I love everything about the Buffalo Bisons, especially the fact they are not a major league club.

Depending on when you asked me what my favourite MLB team is though, my answer would have varied. As a kid playing in the Hamburg Junior Baseball League at 7 and 8, I wore Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics jerseys. One day at the Hamburg Rec Center, Josh Haeick asked if I was an A's fan, and I said yes, although I think he knew I just happened to play on that team and gave him the affirmative anyway. When Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper were coming up and drafted by the Washington Nationals, that is when I really started to care about the big leagues -- and when I chose to adopt the Nats as my team. 

A high school band trip to D.C. in 2011 further cemented that I was indeed Nuts about the Nats. We stopped at a Lids, and I bought a few New Era Nationals caps, one of which I wound up getting signed by the Syracuse Chiefs bullpen a few summers later. I genuinely still think they were surprised anybody in Buffalo cared about the Nationals or any of their minor leaguers.

Compared to other MiLB teams, even those at the Triple-A level, the Bisons have had what I'd regard as a relatively stable parent-farm relationship for most of my life. Over these past 32 years, they've only been affiliated with four teams (the Pirates, Indians, Mets, and Blue Jays). Aside from being stuck with the Mets for essentially the entire duration of the fallout from the Bernie Madoff scheme, the other affiliations have been pretty successful. On the field, the Cleveland era resulted in more playoff appearances and championships than any other time period in the team's history, which dates back to 1877. Since joining forces with the closest team to them geographically in 2013, the partnership between the Toronto Blue Jays and Buffalo Bisons has yielded net gains in mutual fandom I daresay the city's baseball faithful have never seen before.

The COVID-19 pandemic closed the border between the U.S. and Canada for pretty much everything, including sports. And after 2020 resulted in a truncated MLB season, the complete absence of minor league baseball whatsoever, and Buffalo's glorious return to the bigs, the Toronto Blue Jays once again relied on Sahlen Field to host 23 "home" games through June and July 2021.



Over the course of these 14 seasons the Bisons have spent with Toronto, I once again am feeling a similar slow pull. In spite of nearly two decades of Nationals fandom, seeing them at their highest of highs (watching them win their first World Series at 716) to their lowest of lows (dropping to 36-73 and going down 9-0 by the end of the second inning the very first time I saw them play, live in Philadelphia), and watching several of my favourite players (Harper, Max Scherzer, Gio Gonzalez, just to name a few) come and go, I don't feel the same personal attachment with Washington as I now do with Toronto.

Maybe it's the length of time the two teams have been affiliated. Maybe it's the proximity (after all, I've been to the SkyDome more than any other MLB park). Maybe it's the fact the score update push notifications on my phone have been a constant for who knows how long. Maybe it's the fact that I love driving to Toronto to watch some CFL, enjoy the food, or just spend a day. Maybe it's something else I can't quite put a finger on. But as the seasons have passed, I've truly enjoyed being a Bisons employee during this time, making the effort to see Vlad Guerrero's debuts in both Buffalo AND Toronto (one of the best spur-of-the-moment purchases I've ever made), and jumping on the bandwagon during the epic 2015 and 2025 playoff runs. 

I will continue to root for the Washington Nationals. I will always relish that World Series run, the nights watching the Syracuse Chiefs or Rochester Red Wings secretly knowing I was also rooting for their players to have success (just not at the expense of the Bisons). I will keep the plethora of Nats hats I've accumulated over the years and wear them proudly.

So now, in closing, my heart has decided it is time to officially announce that I am -- not first, but foremost -- a Toronto Blue Jays fan.

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