Today’s Hump Day special is for the fans – sports fans that is. One of the strongest relationships around is the love between a fan and his or her team. But what gives people the right to root for a certain team? I’d like to share the reasons why loyalty goes a long way, as well as my six-and-half-point protocol for weighing the validity of a fan’s love. Hit the lights.
For starters, there’s a reason why professional teams are either created in or re-located to certain cities and states: They represent the people in the community. I’m all for staying true to a team that hails from a region you used to call home, but don’t you hate it when you come across Atlanta Braves or Dallas Cowboys fans who have never been farther east than Las Vegas or even close to crossing the Mason-Dixon Line? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Those bandwagoners are what give fans a bad name and there are far too many of them.
Fans should embrace backing a team that has the same state abbreviation that graces their mail. Being able to relate to fans around you creates a sense of identity . Most importantly, you have next-door neighbors you can turn to when you feel like letting off some steam about your favorite college football team, which hasn’t won a Rose Bowl since the Wilson Administration. To make a long-winded point short, you do a great service for your team in strengthening its local community, and you can carry your loyalty with you should you relocate.
Speaking of relocating, let me tell you about a young man who spent all but one single year of his life living what seemed like light years away from his team’s home town. That single year was his first on earth and was spent in Palo Alto, Calif., where the San Francisco Giants and 49ers reign supreme on television. He moved south to Orange County shortly after his first birthday where he grew up sporting black and orange and red and gold. He may have been laughed at by his friends who felt cool wearing their Jim Everett and “Flipper” Anderson jerseys of the then-Los Angeles Rams, but he had the last laugh. Scott wa … I mean, this boy has been loyal to his team since birth; he never forgot where he took his first step. You know what was most rewarding for him? Rubbing five Super Bowl wins into the faces of his school-yard pals. What a guy.
One thing guaranteed to up your passion for sports is your loyalty to a single team. As much as politicians are ridiculed for changing their standpoints and policies, so too are fans who flip-flop to the team with the shinier win column. Don’t let a one-win season discourage you from being faithful. Come home to your team every night and stand up for it, because no two seasons are alike and even dynasties don’t last forever.
A fair-weather fan is not a fan at all, period. So the next time you’re sitting alone (save for your best friend, Matt Dietz) in the student section, watching your team be obliterated by a hated rival in the pouring rain, stay put. Enjoy yourself in any way possible and soak in the defeat knowing that in a few years the scoreboard is going to read differently when the Huski … other team comes back to play you. If you leave your team early, you may miss a Music City Miracle, or “The Play” or a 21-point turnaround in less than three minutes (yeah, it’s been done). Be a true fan; stay with your team and
support it. Let the team know it has someone in its corner when the bleeding won’t stop. At least stay to vindicate your hours wasted standing in line trying to get a ticket.
I know there is a lot of gray area for those living in states not home to a professional team. For them the best thing to do is just root for the team your family loves, because in doing so you can be proud of yourself for passing on a special bond from one generation to the next – is there any better way to show your loyalty? My family is an exception to this, I guess. If you knew my grandpa, the biggest Dodgers fan, and my dad, the biggest Giants fan, you’d understand. They’ve been loyal to their teams since they lived on the East Coast.
Being a fan is as much a right as it is a privilege. So don’t knock your club when they fall below .500; feel lucky to even have a local team to share misery with. Things could always be worse. At this time I’d like to recognize the most factually loyal fans in sports: Chicago Cubs fans. The pride of the North-siders truly knows no boundaries. For them and every professional team and fan, remember this: Your day will come.

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