I was hanging out with a few friends this weekend, and we ended up talking about sports at some point. I am a sports fan, so I have teams that I like to root for and teams that I like to root against. Now, the other people at the table weren't necessarily hardcore fans of any one sport, but they also had favorites. What got really funny, though, was when I asked why they liked those teams.
Everyone at the dinner table had grown up in San Francisco, so I would have understood if they simply rooted for the local teams. This was not the case, though. Instead, they included Duke (college basketball), the Los Angeles Lakers (professional basketball), and the New York Yankees (professional baseball) amongst their favorites. These teams are powerhouses; they tend to compete for titles fairly regularly, and they have strong traditions of winning.
So, I naturally asked why they liked these teams. Now, for those of you who don't follow sports, it might be hard to understand why this piques my curiosity. In fact, someone else at the dinner table asked that very question. To give any sort of sensible answer, I had to try to explain the intricacies of sports fan-dom to them.
First things first; why do I even care who they root for? Put it this way: I've rooted for the local teams since I was a kid, and it is an ingrained part of my personality to root for them and root against their rivals. There is a passion for the game and the process of it all that is somehow embedded into my personality. I'm not even the biggest fan, but I will readily admit that I look on the color "Dodger blue" with scorn. So, when someone nonchalantly throws their support behind a team that they know very little about, I am curious why.
Ultimately, I think the sports fan in me wanted to be sure that they weren't being fair weather fans. To someone who watches his team go through its ups and downs, it cheapens the whole thing when someone jumps on board when the team is doing well (side note: I've never seen as many shiny, brand-new SF Giants jerseys as I have in the last few months). I'm not a parent, but I liken it a little bit to an uncle who never, ever interacts with his nephew, but then is suddenly proud of "his nephew" and "knew all along he could do it" when that kid gets into a prestigious college. Sure, there wasn't really a requirement for you to hang around, but I'm allowed to roll my eyes a little if you say something like that, right? If you congratulate the parents and the kid and act genuinely happy for them, I have no issues. If you act like you were there along, you're a goofball.
Even worse than jumping on the bandwagon, though, is jumping on multiple bandwagons. That's an absolute no-no to someone who follows sports. If you only root for the local team when they're doing well, I can an at least understand that. If you suddenly start rooting for other teams when the Giants are playing poorly, that's all bad. Just no. Don't do it. To give you a non-sports analogy, if a person is only interested in dating others who are rich, we look on that with scorn, and we come up with a negative term for that (gold digger). So, is it any better to only root for the winning teams, and only after realizing that they are good, at that?
Nay, I say. It is no better, and you're really just "digging" for a different commodity: wins. So given all of that, I have dubbed this practice win-digging. As soon as I said it, everyone at the table laughed, so I think this one might have some staying power. Also, while I didn't convince any of them to stop rooting for those teams (some people just refuse to see the light =p ), I did at least get them to admit I wasn't completely full of crazy.
If any of you were keeping score, though, my rant on sports had now included a crazy uncle, a gold digger, a brand new word, and quite possibly the phrase, "duck the Fodgers." I'd like to think that I can call that a successful meal.
Everyone at the dinner table had grown up in San Francisco, so I would have understood if they simply rooted for the local teams. This was not the case, though. Instead, they included Duke (college basketball), the Los Angeles Lakers (professional basketball), and the New York Yankees (professional baseball) amongst their favorites. These teams are powerhouses; they tend to compete for titles fairly regularly, and they have strong traditions of winning.
So, I naturally asked why they liked these teams. Now, for those of you who don't follow sports, it might be hard to understand why this piques my curiosity. In fact, someone else at the dinner table asked that very question. To give any sort of sensible answer, I had to try to explain the intricacies of sports fan-dom to them.
First things first; why do I even care who they root for? Put it this way: I've rooted for the local teams since I was a kid, and it is an ingrained part of my personality to root for them and root against their rivals. There is a passion for the game and the process of it all that is somehow embedded into my personality. I'm not even the biggest fan, but I will readily admit that I look on the color "Dodger blue" with scorn. So, when someone nonchalantly throws their support behind a team that they know very little about, I am curious why.
Ultimately, I think the sports fan in me wanted to be sure that they weren't being fair weather fans. To someone who watches his team go through its ups and downs, it cheapens the whole thing when someone jumps on board when the team is doing well (side note: I've never seen as many shiny, brand-new SF Giants jerseys as I have in the last few months). I'm not a parent, but I liken it a little bit to an uncle who never, ever interacts with his nephew, but then is suddenly proud of "his nephew" and "knew all along he could do it" when that kid gets into a prestigious college. Sure, there wasn't really a requirement for you to hang around, but I'm allowed to roll my eyes a little if you say something like that, right? If you congratulate the parents and the kid and act genuinely happy for them, I have no issues. If you act like you were there along, you're a goofball.
Even worse than jumping on the bandwagon, though, is jumping on multiple bandwagons. That's an absolute no-no to someone who follows sports. If you only root for the local team when they're doing well, I can an at least understand that. If you suddenly start rooting for other teams when the Giants are playing poorly, that's all bad. Just no. Don't do it. To give you a non-sports analogy, if a person is only interested in dating others who are rich, we look on that with scorn, and we come up with a negative term for that (gold digger). So, is it any better to only root for the winning teams, and only after realizing that they are good, at that?
Nay, I say. It is no better, and you're really just "digging" for a different commodity: wins. So given all of that, I have dubbed this practice win-digging. As soon as I said it, everyone at the table laughed, so I think this one might have some staying power. Also, while I didn't convince any of them to stop rooting for those teams (some people just refuse to see the light =p ), I did at least get them to admit I wasn't completely full of crazy.
If any of you were keeping score, though, my rant on sports had now included a crazy uncle, a gold digger, a brand new word, and quite possibly the phrase, "duck the Fodgers." I'd like to think that I can call that a successful meal.
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