Can somebody tell me if there is any satisfaction to cheering for a sports team only when they’re winning? I know people who, every year, they seem to switch allegiances to whoever has the best record at the time. Whenever their “favorite” club starts to lose, they start rooting for somebody else.
Now, being a longtime Chicago Bears/Chicago Cubs/Los Angeles Kings/Anaheim Angels/Mighty Ducks of Anaheim et al. fan, I’ve lived virtually all my life without a championship team (da Bears being the single exception). I live with my team and die with my team year after year after year.
Associates of mine laugh and jeer and say their team (i.e.-whoever is winning at the time) can kick my teams’ ass anytime, anyplace. Sure. That’s because you root for the Yankees. Or the 49ers. Or the Bulls. Or the Cowboys. Or whoever happens to be in the midst of a dynasty.
But is there any real satisfaction when you win? Because, aren’t you expected to? And when you lose, does it suck? Or do you casually move on to the winner because there’s no loyalty attached?
Fair weather sports fans. Bleh.
[sub]Hi! To my favorite 'Skins fan! (you know who you are…)[/sub]
Not to mention a super-long thread title that scrunches of the rest of the columns! You’re the coolest, poohpah!
Seriously, though, as a sports non-fan, I can’t really comment, but I guess I stay faithful to the home team, the Blazers, even though I only really care if I hear they’re doing well. When they’re not doing well, I don’t switch alliances, I just stop caring
I can’t really speak for team sports, because I don’t watch them. But I do watch NASCAR, and I see it in the drivers’ fans and in the sport as a whole. I’ve known people that one year had been rooting for Dale Earnhardt, because he had won the championship, but when he started a run of bad luck, they switched over to Jeff Gordon, who was the new sport superstar. Their Earnhardt/DW/Terry Labonte shirts would go in the back of the drawer in favor of Jeff Gordon/Dale Jarrett/Bobby Labonte shirts. But if the old favorites ever came back into power, they sure would pull those shirts back out. I’ve been a Brett Bodine fan for at least 10 years. Now I’m fans of both Brett and Tony Stewart, but I’ll pull for both of them every race. Brett was as close to a hometown boy as I was gonna get (he grew up in Chemung, NY, I grew up a bit east in Downsville, NY) Tony impressed me with his pure driving ability in his rookie season. (Of course, his off track persona is starting to put me off, so he just MIGHT end up off my favorite driver list)
Then there are those that jump on the band-wagon of the sport itself. I’ve been watching NASCAR, literally, as long as I can remember. Every Sunday there was a race on CBS (since I lived in boonieville and only got one channel), the TV would be tuned in. I started out a Cale Yarborough fan and when he retired, that’s when I became a Brett fan. I was rediculed by people in school because of my choice of sports to watch. What I find funny is now that NASCAR is popular to the masses, these same people that teased me about watching it back in the late 80s, early 90s, I’ll see in town with a Jeff Gordon or Dale Jarrett shirt on. And I know, if the sport of the popularity wanes, they’ll be on to the next fad, watching it with rapt interest.
I’m proud to be a Brett Bodine fan. He may not win races, but he tries to race clean. He’s a NY boy, and that’s something I’m proud of.
And I’m proud to be a NASCAR fan in general, through the years that I’ve been able to be.
Go ahead, band-wagonners. Tell me what a great sport you think it is. Tell me what a great driver you’re watching on the track. I know the truth. I’ve known my sport during the good and the bad. And I ain’t nothin’ but proud.
