What makes you a fan?

by toddaverth on Oct 2, 2009 7:22 PM PDT

During dinner last night I was presented with a most interesting question: why are you a sports fan? My compatriot had been to the Giants game that day with the people from her office and expressed that she just wasn't that in to it. This general apathy toward baseball extended to other sports as well. Having grown up with all sisters and a father who was not that in to sports, she never really got into it. Despite her general disinterest in sports she conceded understanding cheering for players, but didn't understand loyalty to teams, dismissing them as only the colors the players happened to wear. I, on the other hand, was raised on the Roger Craig Era Giants, the Roger Craig Era 49ers, and Run TMC (I am fairly certain the Warriors would have contended for a championship if they could have found a way to get a Roger Craig on staff in the mid to late 80's.)

I related that, for me, sports are a shared experience; the joy and pain my mother and father, brothers, cousins and friends feel together as our teams rise and fall. These events bring us together, providing shared memories to discuss and relate to or simply enjoy.

I touched on the idea that my teams are part of my identity. They represent where I am from and, in some ways, what is important to me. Though I probably ascribe many characteristics to my teams - and their rivals - that are not generally recognized by, say, fans of my rivals, the fact that I admire the combination of strength, versatility, innovation, execution and finesse that define the championship 49ers under both Montana and Young, the grit, talent, camaraderie, and willingness to do what ever was needed to win exemplified by the '89 Giants, and the pure adrenaline, fast pace and skill of the Hardway, Richmond, and Mullin Warriors tells you something about who I am. I dare say, it tells *me* something about who I am.

I explained that sports are great drama, providing both triumph and tragedy, comedy and, rarely, romance. In sports we witness how individuals and teams handle adversity and, hopefully, prosperity; how they pursue a distant and complex goal. We can learn from sports much about the human experience, in some ways as much as from great literature, theater, music, and history. We can learn as much as we are willing and able to see.

I did not mention that, as much as I recognize his incredible skill, I was never a fan of Michael Jordan or his Bulls. I root for teams and teamwork. I root for underdogs. Jordan always got far to much praise, deserved or not, for me to be a fan.

Nor did I explain that a team can have an identity that persists long after the people that established it have moved on. I should have. Debartolo, Montana, and Walsh (not to mention Craig, Rice, Taylor, Lott, Rathman, and many others) established a tradition and style of winning that lasted most of 2 decades, even though none of them were there for most of the second. The Raiders are still marketing a tradition of hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners, just-win championship football that I was too young to ever see. The Warriors, after the wild hope of the running, gunning, and winning era that made me fall in love, fell crashing in to a long night of despair with the feud between Nelson and Webber, then Sprewell verses Carlesimo. One of the reasons Warrior fans love Mullin and Davis and Nelson and Jackson so much is they found a way to begin to change the Warriors, to make both players and fans believe again.

I did not even begin to address my admiration for the feats of achievement I witness as a fan who has tried to play the same sports he watches, nor the frustration of seeing those athletes do things I know they shouldn't. I didn't discuss the relative merits of vicarious achievement, nor the possibility of improving my own play, but these are also part of what makes me a fan.

My explanations were mostly in vain. While they made logical sense to my audience, she had no emotional attachment to or feeling for what I was saying. Even so, it was a good conversation and it got me thinking. So tell me, why are you a fan?

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Location, location, location.

by jae on Oct 2, 2009 8:19 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs

So Jae..

If you lived in LA, would you consider yourself a Laker fan.

If I don't like it, I don't like it, that don't mean that I'm hatin.

by LighTz707OuT on Oct 2, 2009 8:30 PM PDT up reply actions

Yes.

If I lived in LA most of my life I’d be a Laker fan. If Ii lived in Milwukee I’d be a Bucks fan.

Because I live in the Bay I am automatically a Sharks fan, Giants fan, Niners Fan, Warrior fans.

by saintdee on Oct 2, 2009 9:03 PM PDT up reply actions

exactly

OWENS! OWENS! OWENS! OWENS!
- Joe Starkey

by 9ersDubsGiantSharks on Oct 2, 2009 10:52 PM PDT up reply actions

+1

by thecity23 on Oct 3, 2009 9:30 AM PDT up reply actions

i was born in USSR

but since deep chilhood (born ’78) i was rooting against any international USSR team (like my father) -i believe most latvians were doing so

-so …-location location location

30 Y 197 cm 115 kg 0 IQ

by Lat We N Trash on Oct 3, 2009 2:49 PM PDT up reply actions

what about A's and the Raiders?

by Shells on Oct 7, 2009 12:25 PM PDT up reply actions

I never really became a fan of those teams

Even when the A’s had those amazingly good championship teams – which my brother and cousin both absolutely love – I never really got in to A’s baseball (The family rivalry is very friendly, very serious, and very fun.) Part of it was the broadcasts never had the same excitement for me. Part of it is I am not a fan of the designated hitter; it feels like a cop out to me to say “The pitcher can’t hit anyway. Let’s just have someone who can bat for him.” The fact that the pitcher usually doesn’t hit well is part of what makes National League ball interesting for me; the team has to find ways to win by using their strengths to overcome their weaknesses. Even so, the A’s are a team I will cheer for any time they are not playing the Giants.

As for the Raiders, when I was young and becoming aware of football they played in LA, a near unpardonable sin for a Giants fan (even if it is a different sport.) The effect of Mt. Davis on the Colosseum as a baseball stadium, the PSL debacle, the blackouts of Raider games, the relative lack of recent success, and a marketing strategy – and fan base – that is a bit too enamored with death, destruction, mayhem, and bones for my taste hasn’t done anything to change that. I still want the local team to do well and have many friends who are fans, but I just can’t think of myself as a Raider fan.

I thought about adding this as part of the original post, to provide a bit of contrast (and point out that location isn’t everything, even if it is a big part.) Thank you for asking.

by toddaverth on Oct 8, 2009 10:03 PM PDT up reply actions

I never really got in to A’s baseball,Part of it was the broadcasts never had the same excitement for me.

I loved to listen to Montay Moore broadcasting on a warm summer evening, taking me away to the big A to play against a young Nolan Ryan or to Chicago to go up against Dick Allen.

Standing on the moon
Where talk is cheap and vision true
Standing on the moon
But I would rather be with you
Somewhere in San Francisco
On a back porch in July
Just looking up to heaven
At this crescent in the sky

by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 8, 2009 10:19 PM PDT up reply actions

It's funny how that works

I was a huge fan of Hank Greenwald as a Giants broadcaster. Not so much when he was announcing for the A’s. There’ clearly a lot more than just the broadcaster at work here.

By the way, there is something special about hearing someone reminisce on a happy memory like you just shared. It may be a large part of where fandom starts.

by toddaverth on Oct 8, 2009 11:03 PM PDT up reply actions

I have a friend

Who were born and raised in Fremont CA but never rooted for Bay area team. So there are exception so you cant say its automatic.

Win Or Lose Warriors For Life.........

by mykelala01 on Oct 8, 2009 8:03 AM PDT up reply actions

I couldn't tell you why

i guess when you like a team and your a loyal person you just stick with that team threw thick and thin. Living in NY location has nothing to do with it for me, it’s all love for my and your Warriors.

Die Hard Golden State Warrior Fan 4 Life!!!
The Golden Future
Curry-20pts,4rbs,10ast,2stl
Randolph-22pts,11rbs,3ast, 2blk
Morrow-18pts,5rbs,2ast,48 3pt%
Can't wait until GS make it to the PLAYOFFS!!
Living 4 a GSW Championship!!!

by GSW9 on Oct 2, 2009 8:41 PM PDT reply actions

good films do more for me than watching sports

to be honest. but both share the appeal of exposing individuals and groups to struggle, conflicts, and growth with the drama that results. sports has greater suspense, because it isn’t scripted and the unpredictable can occur, but compared to the best cinema and television it only scratches the physical surface of the complexity and potential within the human animal. When Robert Downey Jr. or Charlton Heston or Renee Z. get into a character, I can forget how mundane or troubled or reactionary in politics the actor might be, but somehow I could not similarly set aside what narcissists Jordan or Bonds are. These are diversions, after all, and for me sports doesn’t quite offer the same insights into life, the hedonistic escape into fantasy, or the personal enrichment as several other performing arts.

As much as I liked the Mieuli era teams of the 60s and 70s, or the Mays/McCovey/Marichal era baseball teams, when I moved east I ended up watching the northeast teams with about the same interest, though not the same emotional involvement. If media-dispersed spectator sports disappeared, my subjective deprivation wouldn’t come close to what I’d feel in the absence of books or music.

by the.monk on Oct 2, 2009 10:22 PM PDT reply actions

An articulate and well reasoned opinion; in other words, what I’ve come to expect from you.

I am convinced that there are some things that sport just does not elucidate very well: love and romance for one (desire on the other hand…) but, as an example of and metaphor for the human struggle I think it does remarkably well. I’ll grant that my opinion is colored more by my extensive participation in various sports over the years (as well as by exposure to literature, theater, music, religion, etc.) than by merely watching sports, but I think the stories that we are able to draw out of the games we both play and watch – and the lessons we choose to take from them – are a large part of who we are. I would not want to deprive the world of “The Grapes of Wrath” or “Les Miserables” or, frankly, either version of “I, Robot.” My world would be much colder without Lyndy Hop, Handel’s Messiah, and Switchfoot. And yet I still find sport to be one of the most effective lenses I have for understanding the world around me. This is what I was trying to express when I said

We can learn from sports much about the human experience, in some ways as much as from great literature, theater, music, and history. We can learn as much as we are willing and able to see.

by toddaverth on Oct 2, 2009 10:53 PM PDT up reply actions

I think your loyalty isn’t just proximity but goes to the teams that you can follow easily on a daily basis. I remember as an early teen being perplexed when a new friend of mine mentioned he was a Giants fan and he told me that there was more to that team than just Willie Mays. I turned the radio on and got hooked to listening to the games. From that I started tuning in the 49ers and then the Warriors. I’ve followed those teams ever since even though I left the bay area decades ago.

I’m not sure this is answering exactly the question you asked. Why am I a fan? Probably because a friend of mine was and I found out it was fun way to strenghten my friendships with my peers.

by breaker on Oct 2, 2009 10:23 PM PDT reply actions

Re: My compatriot had been to the Giants game that day with the people from her office and expressed that she just wasn't that in to it.

Your compatriot sounds like a high-quality individual with excellent judgment.

Reduce your carbon footprint, commit suicide.

by bloodsweatndonuts on Oct 2, 2009 10:45 PM PDT reply actions

That she is, though she still deigns to spend time with me for some reason. (I refuse to acknowledge that you may be trying to imply something about the quality of baseball as a sport or the Giants in particular. You are far to smart to make that mistake. ;-) )

by toddaverth on Oct 2, 2009 10:56 PM PDT up reply actions

Probably for the feeling of systematic inclusion (and exclusion of non-fans) that comes with being part of yet another group- a less glamorous aspect of the human condition.

An empty barrel makes the most noise.

by antihero on Oct 2, 2009 11:25 PM PDT reply actions

I thought that I posted this earlier

I just bought the best seats I have ever had… and for a preseason game that means nothing and might possibly be a disaster. Section 10, Row A3….look it up. I don’t care about Jax or Monta wanting out.

Regardless of what has been said, I think once the players feel the magic, that they will realize that they have all of this talent and start actually be happy winning games, that things will be different. You give pro athletes four months with nothing to do other than ponder their future, and you can expect them to focus completely on their financial future. After all, the NBA is a business. And no offense, but all of the college graduates have had the decency to keep their opinions to themselves.

When they beat the Clips on Sunday before my eyes, I will see the chemistry of the team. I will see the pieces fit. Jax and Monta will smile and forget all about their contracts and Al “oh my back hurts” Harrington. Randolph will block Griffin 3 times and punk him on offense for 15 pts. That’s me, and that’s a fan.

Anthony Randoph for Most Improved Player

by danielholl on Oct 3, 2009 2:22 AM PDT reply actions

For the Warriors,

its that they’re in the bay area and that we never had that many winning seasons in my 19 years of life. So when we actually win it’s huge and exciting to watch

by thecity23 on Oct 3, 2009 9:31 AM PDT reply actions