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By Jim Caltagirone
For the Mirror
Bandwagon fans get a bad rap.
Sometimes there are very valid reasons for adopting a new rooting interest.
It would be particularly hard to find fault with someone for jumping aboard the postseason express of a team from their home state.
With the Penguins and Flyers sidelined for the postseason, their fans need not be ashamed of joining the cheering ranks of a team that still has aspirations of sipping champagne from the cup.
That would be the Calder Cup.
The Hershey Bears, an affiliate of the Washington Capitals, have won a record 12 Calder Cup Championships, including at least one championship in every decade since the 1940s.
The Bears, defending champions, earned a first-round bye in this year's postseason by setting an American Hockey League record for most victories (53) in a 72-game season and finishing first overall in the 32-team league with 111 points. Hershey's points percentage of .771 (53-14-0-5) is second-best in league history.
The last AHL team to win back-to-back championships was, you guessed it, Hershey in 2009 and 2010.
As the postseason progresses, obtaining a ticket to a Bears home game will be like securing a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket.
For an impression of the fervor that envelopes Chocolatetown during the Calder Cup Finals, think Christmas and New Year's Eve … Combined.
While the Steelers, Eagles, Pirates, Phillies, 76ers, Penguins and Flyers monopolize the state's media coverage, affiliates like Hershey and the Altoona Curve have produced a steady stream of championship seasons dating back nearly 90 years.
For a sports-crazed state like Pennsylvania, it is peculiar that some of its best-kept secrets are the professional developmental teams.
Not counting all the Super Bowls, World Series and Stanley Cups that have been captured by Pennsylvania teams, a road trip across the state still constitutes a commemoration of glorious achievement on the ballfield and in the arena.
From the eight cities that have been home to Eastern League Champions, including Altoona in 2010 and 2017, to the three that celebrated the hoisting of the Calder Cup (Hershey, Philadelphia Phantoms and Pittsburgh Hornets), Pennsylvania boasts a championship heritage that is diverse and prolific.
Since 2001, developmental teams in Pennsylvania have won six hockey championships and six baseball championships, including Erie's Eastern League title last season.
Had fortunes turned, the totals would have been higher.
Five PA teams lost in the Eastern League Championship, five lost in the International League baseball championship, and Hershey lost twice in the Calder Cup Finals.
To further illustrate the point, Pennsylvania is the only state with three teams competing in this year's Calder Cup playoffs. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms were matched in a best-of-three first-round series.
In Pennsylvania, developmental teams are not only sources of community pride, but inspiring examples of what can be accomplished when everyone pulls together with shared purpose.
In this age when history is regarded as what happened last week, the feats of past Eastern League champions like the 1957 Reading Indians and 1939 Scranton Red Sox appear to be relegated to the same fate as movie stars of bygone eras.
When not all but forgotten, they're significantly depreciated in value.
So, if what matters most is truly in the here and now, count yourself a bandwagoner of winning PA teams like the Hershey Bears and proudly ride the wave of triumph as far as it takes you.
Jim Caltagirone writes a monthly column for the Mirror.