On Fandom and Negativity
A response:
Bill -
It’s the nature of sports fandom circa 2008. We are a critical society when it comes to sports, so over saturated with opinions and analysis that we forget what we actually enjoy about sports.
We live to break down those in front of us. Sure, in the sheer moment of something amazing happening, we’re ecstatic. Our team wins a championship – or even just a close game – or an athlete pulls of a phenomenal play. We go nuts (unless you’re in the press box, in which case you’re drawing blood as you bite down on your tongue).
And yet, when we sit back down in our chair or retrieve the dog from his hiding spot following our moment of ecstasy, we become critical.
Nowhere was this more evident than the hours following the Pittsburgh-Dallas NFL game on Sunday. Steelers fans and media members focused not on the fact that they won a remarkable game on Sunday, but on what went wrong. Roethlisberger holds on to the ball too much, where was Hines Ward, who the heck is Tashard Choice and why is he allowed to run on our #1 defense like that?
Never mind that Roethlisberger showed off his moxie by leading the comeback. Never mind Townsend’s remarkable interception. Never mind the fact that the Steelers showed remarkable poise in the final moments, something my Cowboys should be studying all week.
I watched the game on tape last night after being gone all day. I already knew the score, even knew what had happened to create the loss. Naturally, as a lifelong Dallas fan, I was disappointed. But as I watched, I saw a lot of good things that Dallas can build on and try and make a run. Won’t be easy, but there are things there.
Those aren’t being focused on today.
ESPN had an article up in a prominent spot on their website about the Dallas loss, saying the Cowboys were in horrible position to win a playoff spot now. Yet Dallas actually moved up into a playoff spot with the loss, as Atlanta also lost, freeing up the sixth and final NFC playoff spot for the Cowboys. Sure, the Cowboys have a tough schedule and will be hard pressed to stay in their spot, but for the time being, Dallas is in.
Doesn’t matter, says our sporting society. It’s not going to “stay” that way. It’s bound to “come crashing down”.
We are writing people, teams, and organizations off before giving them a chance. If they don’t produce immediate results, we are no longer patient as a sports viewing society – as a society in general – to allow them to grow and mature.
As I’ve watched this Colonials basketball team get off to an inconsistent start and observed the tepid reaction at the Sewall Center and here on Colonials Corner, I keep coming back to one question.
What happens next year? Better yet, what happens in two years? How will people react when Bateko Francisco and Jeremy Chappell leave next year? How will they react when five scholarship players depart the following year? Will they allow Karon Abraham, Russell Johnson, Lijah Thompson, Brad Piehl, Velton Jones, and five yet-to-be-determined players grow?
Or will there be an immediate demand for another run at the NEC? Sure, Robert Morris will contend in those years. But will they be as good of a team as they could be two years later, when those players are juniors and seniors? Highly doubtful. Will you be willing to wait for their development?
Sometimes I wonder what would happen if all of us were covered and discussed at the same level of athletes. Would we be as patient as we are now for a law student to acquire all the tools and experience she needs to become a successful lawyer? Or would we say, “She’s a selfish and ‘me-girl’, she doesn’t deserve it.”
Would we allow the young journalist to make some mistakes, turn in some weaker and less effective articles, even if it’s against the New York Times or Washington Post? Or would we say, eight articles in, that “he’s a disappointment. Not what I expected at all.”
How you answer that could probably say a lot about your perspective. Which sports fan are you? The Tampa Bay Rays fan who exploded in joy when his team made the World Series after years of losing? Or the disgruntled Steelers fan calling talk shows, yelling about Bruce Arians being a moron despite being a fan of the best team in the AFC?
The first is in the vast minority right now. The first is being drowned out by the second. That’s why there’s a rash of negativity, Bill.
