We moved to Long Island when I was just about to turn three years old in 1994. My friends were all Rangers and Giants fans. I still remember being jealous of Benny Shapiro's awesome Wayne Gretzky Rangers jersey.1 I admit that I bounced around with my sports fandom. Depending on the week, I could've been a Titans fan, a Jaguars fan, a Panthers fan, a Broncos fan, you name it. I had a stint as a Marlins fan just because someone gave me a blank hand-me-down jersey that I really liked.
Eventually around middle school, I settled on Chicago sports. As such, when I wake up tomorrow morning, I'm still going to be elated that the Blackhawks are Stanley Cup Champs, I'm still going to be depressed that the Cubs suck2 and I'm still going to go with Michael Jordan in the debate-that-isn't-really-a-debate against LeBron for the best basketball players ever. I'm going to hate the Packers and I'm going to be uber jealous of the St. Louis Cardinals.3
When the Nets moved to Brooklyn, they had a lot of bandwagon fans follow them not only from across the country, but from their own backyard when Knick fans decided to jump ship. There were more Heat fans when LeBron James and Chris Bosh united with Dwyane Wade in Miami than probably ever before. These newly minted fans are often derided as being "fake" by so-called "real-fans," which brings me to the question: what are the rules to being a sports fan?
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A real fan watches his or her chosen team's every game win or lose, has an encyclopedic knowledge of its history and owns lots of memorabilia and clothing. They dress up for games, come early and stay well past the end, and make sure everyone around them knows they're cheering loudest. Fake fans have no idea when their teams are playing, leave games early and don't know any of the history.
I posit that there's no such thing as a "real" fan. I would like to think that I know a lot about my team, that I follow them closely and that I'm at least generally connected with the history. That said, I live in New Jersey and have lived on the East Coast since I was just about to turn three. I've never been to Wrigley Field, and I have a hard time watching as many games as I'd like. I've never even been to a Chicago home game.
I worked with a kid at the radio station for a couple years who had a unique way of looking at sports. He was born in Chicago, but chose his favorite teams based on a specific player and has since stuck with them. He loves Jon Beason, so he's a Panthers fan. He's a Celtics fan because of Paul Pierce, even though he grew up in the Windy City with the greatest player ever at the height of his powers.4
Another buddy of mine is a St. Louis Rams fan because when he was first getting into football the Jets were really bad and he didn't like the Giants. He liked offensive games, and the Rams at the time had the best offense in the league. He got hooked and has stuck with them despite a lack of familial or geographical connections to the team.
Are we any less "real" than the people who grew up their entire lives following these teams? The distinction between "real" and "fake" fans is becoming increasingly blurry. More people have more access to more teams across the globe and the additional exposure can either strengthen or blur lines of loyalty.
I admit that I've found people so annoying that I can't be in the same room as they are just because I find the way they go about being fans annoying. But at the end of the day, they still like to watch sports in effectively the same way I do though they might express it in a different way. As long as they let it happen, any sports fan, whether they are new to a team or have supported one their entire life has the capacity for the wide range of emotions fandom offers.
It kind of makes calling anyone a "fake" fan feel petty, no?
I posit that there's no such thing as a "real" fan. I would like to think that I know a lot about my team, that I follow them closely and that I'm at least generally connected with the history. That said, I live in New Jersey and have lived on the East Coast since I was just about to turn three. I've never been to Wrigley Field, and I have a hard time watching as many games as I'd like. I've never even been to a Chicago home game.
I worked with a kid at the radio station for a couple years who had a unique way of looking at sports. He was born in Chicago, but chose his favorite teams based on a specific player and has since stuck with them. He loves Jon Beason, so he's a Panthers fan. He's a Celtics fan because of Paul Pierce, even though he grew up in the Windy City with the greatest player ever at the height of his powers.4
Another buddy of mine is a St. Louis Rams fan because when he was first getting into football the Jets were really bad and he didn't like the Giants. He liked offensive games, and the Rams at the time had the best offense in the league. He got hooked and has stuck with them despite a lack of familial or geographical connections to the team.
Are we any less "real" than the people who grew up their entire lives following these teams? The distinction between "real" and "fake" fans is becoming increasingly blurry. More people have more access to more teams across the globe and the additional exposure can either strengthen or blur lines of loyalty.
I admit that I've found people so annoying that I can't be in the same room as they are just because I find the way they go about being fans annoying. But at the end of the day, they still like to watch sports in effectively the same way I do though they might express it in a different way. As long as they let it happen, any sports fan, whether they are new to a team or have supported one their entire life has the capacity for the wide range of emotions fandom offers.
It kind of makes calling anyone a "fake" fan feel petty, no?
1. Benny was really, really short (even for an elementary schooler). That jersey was very, very large. He was swimming in it
2. Though they are improving. Just eight games under .500! In Theo we trust!
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3. I can admit that it's really hard for me to hate the Cardinals. I obviously root against them, but a team that does everything right, doesn't make any headlines, and seems to just do things "the right way" all the time really don't get my blood boiling
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4. I don't get it either.
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4. I don't get it either.
No, it doesn't feel petty, although I think my argument is a bit different from the one that you're bringing up.
ReplyDeleteThe argument of “real” vs. “fake” isn’t so much about degree of involvement. For me, if you say you’re a fan of the team, you’re a fan. I don’t care if you were a fan when you were a kid, ignored the team for 20 years and then came back. You’re still a fan. I don’t even have a problem with people being fans of a sport and not feeling a particular allegiance to one team. If anything, I sort of wish I could enjoy watching a game without feeling like my life depended on the outcome (which, by the way, is a great feeling when your team wins the Stanley Cup, and an awful one when your team is the Cubs).
The place where I get angry is when people switch teams. Once you pick a team, you’re a fan of that team for life. Period. The only exceptions for switching teams are if your team moves (or ceases to exist entirely) or you have a consistently terrible owner who makes you not want to be a fan anymore. There are a few examples of each of these, sometimes concurrently. The original Cleveland Browns, for instance, were totally beloved by their city and included such stars as Bernie Kosar and Jim Brown. The Browns’ owner, Art Modell, moved the team to Baltimore in 1996 and renamed them the Ravens, leaving a vacancy so bitter and deep-rooted that the league actually supported the start of an expansion team named the Browns. Ask people in Cleveland today about Art Modell, the Ravens or particularly the Ravens’ two Super Bowl wins since the move, and you’re asking for major trouble (and probably a hospital bill). The terrible owner example, could actually be taken from the former Blackhawks owner, Bill Wirtz, who alienated fans by refusing to televise home games while still jacking up ticket prices. Many Blackhawks fans in the 90s and early 2000’s became former Hawks fans because of ownership mistakes. I’m not saying I’m glad Wirtz died, but I am glad he’s no longer the owner. His son, Rocky, has brought fans back into the fold, as well as former stars, and his efforts have led to two Cup wins in the last four years.
Also, Bill Simmons has a great article about just this topic. It’s old, but it’s still great: http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/020227
Aaron, I actually think the prospect of switching teams isn't necessarily so bad, depending on the context of having picked up that team in the first place. Example: Early on, I decided I was a White Sox fan for no other reason than you were a Cubs fan. Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura were fun, and I wrote two book reports on Jim Abbott, though I never actually watched a game, and only cared about the players enough to use them in home run derbies in video games. At the point where I started actually watching baseball I settled on the Cubs without having really followed them in the past, though I don't think anyone who knows me at this point would argue that I'm not a "true" Cubs fan, especially having recently watched every miserable pitch of their recent 13-2 loss to the Angels, which is a totally different neurosis all on its own.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, I think there is a difference between a "die-hard" fan and a "casual" fan, but the idea of a "true" fan doesn't really resonate for me. There are just too many degrees in the middle to alienate someone who allies himself with a sports team. If they're happy, great. If they want to jump around, then they won't get the feeling that comes with liking a loser and following them to the finish line, though they are spared the bile of liking a loser. And while there can be die-hard Yankee fans, most totally don't get that feeling even if they've been fans of the team for a while.
Anyway, it is true though, that for me to watch a game and not live or die with the result, neither team playing can be from Chicago.
Except for maybe the White Sox...