But, you know what? That's a good thing.
As fans, we are completely nuts. We are absolutely rediculously motivated to watch our teams succeed, come hell or high water. All we want is to see a win, and we want to see it with loyalty, integrity, and a good-natured sense of non entitlement.
But, do the players on our favorite teams really understand us?
Bob Ryan says no:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/10/19/a_striking_difference_in_outlook/
And you know what? I agree with him. Players do not understand what we go through as fans. Players do not understand why we live and die with their team. Players do not understand why the fans fret over a loss in April when there's 153 games left to play.
Hawk Harrelson (in probably the only smart thing he said) has said: "Every team will lose 60 games, every team will win 60 games. It's what you do with those last 40 that determine how your season will go."
I've always appreciated that realism, and as long as your name isn't the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, it's true. So, why do we fret like madmen (and madwomen) over every loss, over every pitching change, over every pinch hitter?
Why do we scream until we can't scream anymore while at the ballpark, even though there's much less enthusiasm on that beautiful patch of grass?
Why do we bond with the players on our teams, even though they come and go with more speed than Lindsay Lohan running to the bar?
No matter how many times a team, a player cheat, why do we come back to them with open arms?
The best part about fan-dom is that there are no clear answers. Everyone is entitled to be a fan in their own special way. How are you a fan? Do you watch the game on your couch, jumping and shouting the entire way? (like me), or do you sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the game? And does that reveal what kind of fan you are? Or does everyone watch the games in their own way?
We are all certifiably insane. But you know what, that's a really, really good thing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Anderson Cooper: So why (hide out in) Africa?
Dave Chappelle: Because no one in Africa says to me "Hey I'm Rick James Bitch."
That passage from Anderson Cooper's interview with Dave Chappelle perectly describes the media and fandom in 2 sentences.
There is absolutley nothing that makes athletes or celebrities different than us. I repeat, nothing. Athletes are good at a craft; and the bottom line is that everyone in the universe has the ambition to be good at a craft. That, in a nutshell, is why people like sports. Watching professional sports is essentially watching a master craftsman take on his or her craft.
But America's wild, free market capital exposure to people with skill, is where the problem with fanatic lies.
The media has given fans reason to celebrate even the most meager of athletic accomplishments. And if you look even in stadiums for the most die hard fans, it is the blue collar crowd in the midddle deck of the stadium and up, who really love their team. They show up for batting practice, they ask for autographs, they never leave early. Does anyone else besides me find it interesting that the biggest fans of athletes are usually the people bound to socio-economic inferiority?
It becomes the complex of "hey, I paid my hard earned money to see this, which is why I have the right to ______, ______ and _____.
I often do think about how much athletes really care about the team and the fans. Like when i read about one of the players on a team I like being out till 3am at a club and now is being questioned for groping a woman, which could lead to him missing action on the court, i wonder...did he think at all about the team? Was he thinking about what this could do to his teammates and even the fans? I really don't know what they are thinking. But i do know that, like Bob Ryan said, they really only "love the fans" when they are winning and being cheered for, not on a personal level.
I think the biggest difference between the passion of a fan and a player is that being a player is a business, its a job. Sure a player might have a passion for the game or for winning, but its a still job, where they sometimes don't join the team until they make 16 million a year, instead of a lowly 14.5. The athletes have the money, and the lifestyle, to fall back on if they cant win. But as fans, its not a business. Its an escape. We need to see our team win to be happy. We root for a team that we have followed since a young age and that possibly our parents have followed since they were young. We identify with a team, possibly as being the underdog or the "blue collard" team. We do not have anything to fall back on except success for our teams. I'm sure if i was getting paid 10 million dollars a year to watch the games, i would still be upset if my team lost, but for some reason i don't think id be quite as upset. I feel like as players, they want to win. But as fans, we need them to win.
My favorite sport is basketball and my favorite team is the Nets. I am a very passionate fan and feel almost an emotional tie with the team. I can identify with them in a way. But for some reason, when i watch games I dont get loud or scream at the TV. I never go to bars and get drunk with other fans. In fact, at home i usually watch the game in my room, by myself, instead of with friends or on my 70 inch flat screen HD TV in the living room. Thats just been the way i watch games, always has and always will be. I usually talk to myself during the games and find myself looking for all the bad things my team is doing. I am a very pessimistic fan. I always feel like if its a close game at the end, my team will lose. But none the less, i look forward to every game no matter how big or small it is. Its an escape. Its a love. Now if only the players could see that.
I'll start with saying that I agree with Jared about where you find the most die hard fans in stadiums. I have sat in the upper deck and then down below in the first few rows, and you definately find the fans that live and die with the team in the cheaper seats. I think a certain part of that has to do with those lower seats being bought by rich businessmen a lot of the time that are casual fans that have the money to spend on seats like that so they do. It would be interesting to ask celebrities or the rich people that you see courtside or in the front row of stadiums if they would sit up in the top row just to see their team play. I don't think many of them would.
I think every person watches their teams games in a different way. No one can say they are more of a fan of a team than someone else based on how loud or how emotional you get during a game.
For me, I'm into the game when I watch it. College football, NBA, and NFL games are where I get the most emotional. I don't jump all over the place during a game, but if somethin bad happens I'll yell at the tv and the players thinking they can answer me. Or I'll sit there in stunned silence not saying anythig for a while, just like I did when FSU collapsed. I know I'm a big fan of the teams, but not because of how I am during a game. I know people that don't really say anything or react during their teams games, but they are some of the best, most loyal fans I know.
Finally, we bond with the players even though they change yearly, and we stay loyal to them because they represent us in a way. They are out there doing what we wish we could do, and hopefully winning like we would want to. An example of this for me would be Eli Manning. I didn't like him as a player in college, but once he got the Giants I loved him because he was representing my team. The uniform makes you love the player, and if they do something good for you and your team you will remember it stay loyal. I think that as much as some fans say they hate the cheating and they hate how athletes act off the field, the fact is that if that player produces on the field alot of it is forgotten.
As a Boston Red Sox fan (WOOOO AL CHAMPS!!!... sorry, still pumped, I had to) I can definitely appreciate and relate to the whole idea of being totally loyal to a team that is ever changing and constantly letting us down, only to pick us up by coming back from being down 1-3 on a series. I guess I’d have to classify myself as a crazy fan, especially after just watching game 7 of the ALCS during which I talked (yelled) more to the television than I did anyone who could actually hear me. Its so true that you do bond with the players in a weird way that makes you feel you’re a part of them, and makes you feel a personal sense of pride and accomplishment when you hear them refer to their fans as “the best fans.” I think it has a lot to do with how you’re brought up. If you are brought up to know and love a sport, you are probably brought up to know and love a specific team, and specific players, making you a fan for life. It becomes a strong sense of who you are, and usually ties into where you’re from. To me, that’s the best part of being a fan. And it doesn’t hurt when your football team puts all others to shame week after week and your baseball team is on their way to the World Series, but that’s another topic for another blog. And notice how it’s so natural to refer to these teams as “ours” as if my last name is Kraft. That’s just another thing that comes along with being a fan. We don’t actually own the team, it’s more like they own us, but it just goes to show how much being a fan becomes part of our identity. As for the craziness, I have no idea why we scream at our TV or literally fall in love with a team of athletes who are, like Jared pointed out, really not much different than any of us except for their exceptional skill at a sport (aside from Randy Moss… he’s just a different species, its not even right how good he is, double coverage? what double coverage??? Ok I’m done.) I think the most outrageous aspect of fandom is the amount of money spent on being a fan of a certain team/player. Think about it… tickets to games, jerseys, T-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, gambling, every HD channel known to man, and the list goes on and on. And why do we do it? My best guess is because fandom is a societal norm. It’s a social aspect of our culture that is very much sports oriented. And on top of that, being a fan is fun. Whether you’re at a bar freaking out on the little man in stripes on the TV screen for making a bad call, or you’re at the ballpark quietly enjoying the game with your family, it’s fun to put your faith and pride (and money) into a team that is a part of who you are.
In response to Jared.. not the biggest fans, the loudest fans.... There are a lot of rich people who are HUGE sports fans but they're not going to be painting themselves red white and blue and screaming profanities. So to equate fan loyalty with the blue-collar socioeconomic strata is stereotyping. I do think that there are many rich people who go to games purely as a social event, but certainly not all. Ironically, last weekend during games one and two of the ALCS at Fenway Park, I made a comment to my coworkers about the enthusiasm level compared to regular season games. It was far less electric than past games I have attended. I attributed the lack of enthusiasm to the increase of "rich CEOs" who are taking the seats away from the average Joe who can't afford a playoff ticket. Nonetheless, it depends on how you define “die-hard.” Mike said that he is extremely loyal to the Nets, yet he doesn't verbally express his devotion during games (i.e., screaming, yelling, chanting) etc. Others are more raucous.
Manny Ramirez's quote captures the difference between sports fans and sports players. Personally, I think the Media took his quote too seriously. If any other player had made a similar comment I can understand the discontent. However, Manny’s personality is lackadaisical, and the media misinterpreted his intentions. It is his way of staying loose and keeping the pressure off. What saves Manny is his ability to then go out on the field and hit a ball out of the park. A lesser player would be crucified for saying, "Who cares?" However, I understand personally, the discomfort fans felt after hearing Manny’s interview. When YOUR team is on the verge of elimination, you want the players to care as much as you do, if not more, about the outcome of the season. The outcome of the Red Sox games affect my attitude for the rest of the day/week/month, depending on how crucial the game is. This is the case for many members of Red Sox Nation and other team fans, I'm sure.
What I have noticed since 2004 with the Red Sox is the increase in player-fan interplay. There is, it seems, a cause-and-effect relationship between audience/fan support at Fenway and player intensity. When the Sox were down 3 games to none to the Yankees in the ALCS in 2004 David Ortiz came to the rescue time and again hitting clutch home runs and helping the Sox win 4 straight to clinch the Pennant. When asked about how he accomplished this, he explained that in the third loss, at the brink of elimination, he looked up in the stands and saw fans with tears in their eyes. He wanted to win each game, he said, for the fans. After clinching the Division championship this season, the celebrating players left the clubhouse and went out onto the field to share their celebration with about 2000 fans who had stayed in the stands. The players continually comment on the amazing fan support, as does the ownership of the Red Sox, and it seems that the mutual admiration is a healthy prescription for success.
I bet players on the teams understand that we are nuts and just accept it. I’m sure they appreciate all we do for them. If teams didn’t have fans they wouldn’t exist. The red sox would be the same as a team playing in the back yard if it wasn’t for the fans.
I’d like to disagree with what Hawk Harrelson said because the first 120 games do matter and the last 40 games sometimes don’t. Take this years Red Sox for example…they kicked ass in the beginning of the season but come the end they choked. And the yanks did the opposite, and look where we stand.
Post a Comment