Letter of Recommendation: Fair-Weather Fandom

My brother in law knows every player on every team, all their stats and what they eat for breakfast. He could be the coach, he certainly (says) he knows more than they do. He tries to 'engage' me into such conversations so as a good bro in law, I put myself into 'guy' mode (jock mode for me - forgetaboutit), and mostly nod enthusiastically and listen and sometimes ask a semi-intelligent question but always agreeing with what he has to say. If one of 'my' teams (what does that even mean?? I have no financial interest, have never actually been at a game and know zero pro players) are in the playoffs, they may or may not be blessed with me watching, until they lose, or not. You know, those interactions, as one sided and difficult as they may be, are actual one on one time (too much time admittedly) with another human being and relative in the same place at the same time. So I will cheer for those so enthusiastic as to want to share their unique wisdom and knowledge with me and have human interaction on their own terms. But hold the bets, Im good.

Once I stood on that razor edge between following all of the time and following sometimes. I slipped and fell and now I follow none. When I hear someone say "my team blew it yesterday," I used to say "there but for the grace of whatever go I," but now I don't even shrug. I can't tell you who won last year's superbowl and by the time the players report to spring training I won't remember who won the world series. I am a freer person for this, for when I choose to pay attention, it is to the artistry and the athleticism of a player or a team, and not to the hype.

Completely agree. There are much better things to do with one's life than watch a sub-par sports team.

Ha. It's kind of funny to note that the millennial who wrote this is displaying the very attitude that is killing the Affordable Care Act. Support a community and pay my way even though I'm healthy and there's nothing in it for me? Heck no. I'll just sign up when I need to and reap the benefits without paying my dues.

Being a fan permits one to be part of a community, a rare and delightful experience in an age of Ayn Rand and Paul Ryan. Membership in that community is "easy" and for that we are grateful to our heroes when they win; we are all winners--temporarily. When they lose there is far less entertainment value, and far less emotional value in identifying with them as "losers". In some ways our national obsession with watching sports is much the same as a gambling addiction. In both cases fragile egos overwhelmed by the complexity of modern life are driven to the superstitious belief that their actions (placing the bet or watching the event) will somehow affect the fates and that they will emerge as a "winner" rather than a "loser"

A bandwagon fan to me is someone who changes the team they root for based on who's winning. That doesn't really seem to be what you're describing. There seems to be a very large difference between changing from a Jets fan to a Patriots fan depending on who has the better team, and paying more attention to the Jets when they are having a good season. I don't think fair-weather fan and bandwagon fan are the same thing at all.

A good RIVALRY requires both!!

I am so not a fair-weather fan. But then my team is the Green Bay Packers.

I'v had a Cleveland Browns hoodie, t-shirt, or jersey since 1964. I think that qualifies me as a Bad Weather Flagellant. Since 1978 I have lived in four states and three Asian countries. In each of those places someone has tried to convince me that "you don't HAVE to stick with the team you grew up with." That might work for some, but not when you are raised working-class on the West Side. I now have a PhD, do not really care much about professional sports except in an admittedly snobbish, supposedly dispassionate way, but I continue to repeat like a mantra the two words I first learned growing up in Cleveland: Next year.

Sport is a product and we are consumers. There is no glory in choking down an inferior product. Unconditional loyalty is silly.

When I was a kid and the Yankees beat the Dodgers in the World Series, I cried, threw a chair into a door (breaking both), and woke up the next day with a fever of 102. That was the last time I lived or died by a sports team.

Now I choose "bandwagoning" as a tiny, self-congratulatory protest. If the execs can't put a competitive product on the field, I am not going to reward them with my time and money. I'll come back when they give me something worth watching.

I always sleep better and wake up happier when my team wins.

I never understood anything but the fair-weather fan. In what other industry is it considered smart to patronize a company putting out a failing product? It is antithetical to the basic tenets of capitalism and downright UnAmerican.

I say this all a bit tongue in cheek - but the principle holds true.

Don't feel bad about not watching all the time because (and here is the big secret): Sport. Aren't. Important. Not the professional, viewing sports as opposed to the 'you playing sports'. They are an amusement, a distraction. A way to spend time. They are not life and death (seriously, in real life you don't get a reset next season). They aren't worth rioting over (or burning down a house). They aren't worth the money or the emotional investment people give them. Seriously, scream all you want, you really don't have anything with the guys on the TV winning. The Romans use the gladiatorial gave to keep the people quiet; we have the NFL and the NBA

I typically save my sports viewing time for the playoffs. Watching Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers run the table - time well spent!

I grew up in Brooklyn in the late 1940s and early 1950s. That's when I learned that the loyalty of a professional sports team was not to its fans but to the highest bidder. In return, professional sports teams may deserve cheers for their high skill levels, but they should be appreciated only for their entertainment value. True sports fans should reserve their loyalties for their local high school teams.

as a life-long Chargers fan - i am just now deciding which bandwagon to jump on.

You only think you were feeling it all. Ride with the New York Giants from the 70's to defeating the Patriots in 2008. You'll never know that feeling.

I was at the Bartman game, and it was a gut-puncher. Just like the author, I stuck around only to weather the back to back 1st round losses around '08. I had no shame in quitting them at that point, and felt no shame to be a "bandwagon" fan during their WS run. The losses were too soul draining. Enough that it was hard not to think at every turn in the WS that they would find a way to blow it.

I know I would not begrudge any Browns fan who decided to stop watching the horse manure that team puts on the field.

Now that the Chicago Cubs have won the World Series, I no longer need to pay attention to them.
I'm not sure what you call that...

I can't believe some of the over-the-top reactions of sports fans. it's a game - and nothing more. Honestly, anyone (a teacher, no less) who would suggest extreme (and illegal) revenge (burning down someone's house) just because they (maybe) caused a team to lose the pennant that year has some screws missing and maybe should be evaluated by a psychologist, not to mention the school board.
Sports can be an addiction-I've known a few people (of both sexes) who would definitely fall into that category.
So what if you followed a team one year and not the next. Is that a matter of life and death - or just a sign you have nothing better to do with your time.

In the last paragraph, isn't "revelry" what the author meant, surely not "reverie"

No pain, no gain Jeremy! :)

I do agree with you, however. You need not follow every game, every year to enjoy a World Series championship run, but when it comes to the Cubbies, all those down years and epic collapses made getting to the top of the mountain in October SO much more satisfying.

I can't say HOW much more satisfying, but I have to believe the longer and deeper the suffering, the higher the highs are in the good times.

I believe this of course to add some value to all those years of watching and cheering on the Cubs feel less in vain.

Being a sports fan is not as serious as all that. A little drunken whimsey goes a long way. Years ago, in the bleachers at Fenway, me and my two nephew had a beer or three. Ths Sox were playing the Brewers and we were sitting near Gorman Thomas, a good-natured bull of a man who hit lots of homers but not much else. He seemed like a good target for ragging, so that's we did. We could tell he heard us, but he took it all in good humor. In the 9th, we cheered him and asked him to take a bow, which he graciously did. The whole bleachers clapped for Thomas and me and my nephews had a story to tell.

Years later, I went the same route with a star rookie, Mike Trout. Trout may end up being the best ballplayer ever, which seemed good reason to give him a hard time. It may be the first and only ragging he has ever gotten. Between me and Trout, was on of my all-time favorites, Torii Hunter, playing left field. As I insulted Trout, I saw Hunter -- a veteran -- look over at him. I like to think that he approved of the super rookie's initiation into the world of irrational fan ragging. Trout made some good plays, but there were no home runs. Maybe I rattled him. Probably not. But it was fun trying.

There are a lot of fans who dress up stupid and drink too much beer at ballgames. A lot of these fans are just having fun. Hopefully, they leave guys like Bartman alone. Sports are entertainment. Have fun. Don't think about it too much.

I too have tried to intellectualise my relationship with sport, particularly my football team. It's easy to step back and think, "Why should I care about the performance of a bunch of overpaid men that I've never met?"

But apart from an appreciation of sublime skill, the beauty of being a fan is the total irrationality of it, both the highs and the lows

Cubs. 30 years. Even in the very,very lean years. I never gave up.

I'm proud to be a New York fair weather fan. We're lucky have two teams in each major sport, and each team's jersey has "NY" on it. So, I don't limit myself to one or the other; I root for both. But, only if they are winning. Once it's clear a team has no chance, I drop them until they are contenders again. I see no point in subjecting myself to repeated disappointment.

Life's too short to be a die-hard fan.

Sports are the" opiate of the masses". I think Karl Marx first said that.

So, no comments at all, until this one. I cannot call myself a true Red Sox fan because one year after years of jumping ship mid post-season, I committed to staying with them no matter what. And, yes, that was the year they finally broke The Curse. Someone gave me a commemorative cap, but I never wear it. 'Cause, you know... wouldn't be right.