Sports seem so simple. You watch a game and cheer for one team or the other to win. Or sometimes you root for one to lose. Or you just watch to pass the time.

But sometimes sports can be much more complicated because of the emotions involved. Today, I find myself arguing on both sides of the emotional spectrum.

On one hand, there is the recent picture of Washington Wizards basketball player John Wall. He appeared at a party in Miami wearing a New York Red Bulls jersey. The Red Bulls are the rivals of D.C. United, something which has irked some Washington sports fans.

And this irking has irked some people. While discussing this with some friends, they pointed out that no one shouuld care who John Wall supports. Which, in a way is true. It doesn’t really matter.

Well, not to me, but it does matter to some other people. And those people are consumers of John Wall’s employer (and people who sponsor the team and pay Wall for endorsements). He could come off as someone not totally sold on Washington – or, even worse, antagonistic to the city. That could result in people not going to Wizards games or not buying certain things.

That doesn’t make totally sense to most people, but it’s the reality of sports. Wall hasn’t totally succeeded since coming to Washington as the number one pick two seasons ago so his brand (an unfortunate, but realistic thought in this day and age of sports) doesn’t need to take any more hits. And since some people take these things seriously, he should too which means maybe he would be better served by throwing on a D.C. United jersey.

The only thing I can think of is that he’s sponsored by Red Bull. Unless the point was to antagonize fans. But that’s not always a good idea since many sports fans don’t always have a sense of humor about things.

Which brings me to the second issue, where I fall on the side of sports being all about fun. The Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins face off in the decisive seventh game of their playoff series tonight. The folks at the Caps blog BrooksLaichyear (OK, full disclosure: they are my nephews) came up with an idea for Caps fans to show their solidarity – boycott all Boston-related products for the game.

As you would expect in this day and age, some people had a problem with this. I really don’t know why. The post obviously brims with sarcasm. It’s not angry or vindictive. This is how fans come together – taking on a common enemy even if it is something as silly as giving up Dunkin’ Donuts and Sam Adams beer for a couple of days.

So what do these situations have to do with one another? People need to let everyone handle rivalry their own way. If some people get really mad at John Wall for wearing a Red Bulls jersey, that’s OK. I think it’s kind of silly, but they experience sports in their own way so I shouldn’t make fun of them for having a different point of view. Same goes for the people who think it’s juvenile boycott Boston products before the Caps game. Why do they have to try and stop something harmless which is getting other fans excited about the game?

The bottom line is that being a fan is not a contest. Just because someone gets enjoyment from the games differently than you do, they’re not doing it wrong. Unless they are actually hurting people. Or they are Yankee fans. That’s just unacceptable.