Would anybody care to jump on the Denver Broncos bandwagon
with me? There’s plenty of room, especially now that Tim Tebow is in New York.
Ever since I first learned of the existence of the National Football League, I have been a fan of Peyton Manning. As any football aficionado will tell you, the guy is a walking playbook with a rocket arm and old-fashioned home-grown charm. He reads any defense like a map, threads the needle against even the tightest coverage, and can rattle off more audibles than an auctioneer during his forty-second pre-snap routines. So when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay announced in March of this year that Manning was to be released from his contract, I naturally had a small identity crisis. This was the organization that Manning had led to eleven playoff bids and two Super Bowl appearances during his fourteen-year tenure, and the same team that I had pulled for since the tender age of seven.
Ever since I first learned of the existence of the National Football League, I have been a fan of Peyton Manning. As any football aficionado will tell you, the guy is a walking playbook with a rocket arm and old-fashioned home-grown charm. He reads any defense like a map, threads the needle against even the tightest coverage, and can rattle off more audibles than an auctioneer during his forty-second pre-snap routines. So when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay announced in March of this year that Manning was to be released from his contract, I naturally had a small identity crisis. This was the organization that Manning had led to eleven playoff bids and two Super Bowl appearances during his fourteen-year tenure, and the same team that I had pulled for since the tender age of seven.
What am I to do now with just two months left before the
first kickoff of the season? I rooted for the Colts during the best of times (a
crushing victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI) and the worst of
times (the 2011 season featuring a sidelined Manning and a 2-14 record). Should
I stick with my guns and watch a burgeoning new roster helmed by Andrew Luck,
the most celebrated rising NFL quarterback since Manning himself? Or should I
abandon my team and follow the four-time league MVP to the Mile High City?
While pondering this momentous decision, I have contemplated
the role of the bandwagon fan in the intense and often unforgiving crucible of
competitive sports. We all know the bandwagoners. Following any major sporting
event, they will invariably flood every known social network with updates
proclaiming allegiance to the team that is currently holding the trophy. An
alarming number of those friends on Facebook who last year waxed poetic about
the Packers and the Mavericks are suddenly fans of the Giants and the Heat. Even
in my hometown in coastal South Carolina, where most people have never seen
ice, much less a game of professional hockey, I saw dozens of Tweets following
Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals from acquaintances who proclaimed themselves
fans of the Los Angeles Kings.
To most actual die-hard sports fanatics, bandwagoners are,
of course, anathema. No self-respecting devotee of the Kings, who waited
nineteen years to play in a Finals pairing and forty-six years to win their
first championship, will sit idly by and watch as hockey ignoramuses from the
Deep South try to lay claim to their long-awaited success. For true fans, following
a team is about more than just winning. To them, fandom is about sharing in
every facet of an organization’s performance, from the highest highs to the
lowest lows. They stick with their team even when they are down and out, so
that when fortune finally does smile on them, seeing that championship banner
hoisted up in their home arena is that much sweeter. And because of the
bandwagoners, those true fans can no longer content themselves with simply
cheering for their favorite teams. They must sound trumpets and shoot off
flares to rise above the noise of Tweets and Facebook statuses and announce
that they have in fact been fans all along.
But surely I, who have legitimately felt the pains and ecstasies of Colts fandom, am not in the same category as those bandwagoners who invite the derision of avid sports nuts. Am I? Is it so wrong for me to remain loyal to the quarterback who first sparked my interest in football? Even the impassioned Colts disciples who line the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium will readily acknowledge that it is the house that Peyton built. Must I remain forever a supporter of the same team to avoid scorn from the sports community?
At long last, my conclusion is a resounding no. In an age in which players display no sense of fidelity to their teams (see LeBron James and “The Decision” or Albert Pujols’ egotistic departure from St. Louis), and teams display no fidelity to their fan bases (see the Seattle SuperSonics’ move to Oklahoma City and similar musical chairs by franchises), I can think of no reason for fans to hold each other to the standard of never changing allegiances ever. At the end of the day, professional sports exist purely for the purpose of entertainment. Yes, it may be admirable to be entertained by the same organization for an extended period of time, but ultimately I see no harm in switching loyalties, as long as the switch is done tastefully.
In the end, taste is what differentiates a bandwagoner from a fan in transition. If you recently announced to the world that you are a huge fan of Webb Simpson following his U.S. Open victory, please do not proclaim your undying support for the golfer who lifts the Claret Jug at next week’s Open Championship. If you hail from Boston, you have no business spouting how much you love the Yankees, no matter how good their record is coming out of the All Star break. And if you live in Philadelphia, please do not walk outside sporting Eli Manning’s jersey and a Super Bowl XLVI Champions cap. Certain lines are simply not meant to be crossed, even if it is just a game.
But surely I, who have legitimately felt the pains and ecstasies of Colts fandom, am not in the same category as those bandwagoners who invite the derision of avid sports nuts. Am I? Is it so wrong for me to remain loyal to the quarterback who first sparked my interest in football? Even the impassioned Colts disciples who line the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium will readily acknowledge that it is the house that Peyton built. Must I remain forever a supporter of the same team to avoid scorn from the sports community?
At long last, my conclusion is a resounding no. In an age in which players display no sense of fidelity to their teams (see LeBron James and “The Decision” or Albert Pujols’ egotistic departure from St. Louis), and teams display no fidelity to their fan bases (see the Seattle SuperSonics’ move to Oklahoma City and similar musical chairs by franchises), I can think of no reason for fans to hold each other to the standard of never changing allegiances ever. At the end of the day, professional sports exist purely for the purpose of entertainment. Yes, it may be admirable to be entertained by the same organization for an extended period of time, but ultimately I see no harm in switching loyalties, as long as the switch is done tastefully.
In the end, taste is what differentiates a bandwagoner from a fan in transition. If you recently announced to the world that you are a huge fan of Webb Simpson following his U.S. Open victory, please do not proclaim your undying support for the golfer who lifts the Claret Jug at next week’s Open Championship. If you hail from Boston, you have no business spouting how much you love the Yankees, no matter how good their record is coming out of the All Star break. And if you live in Philadelphia, please do not walk outside sporting Eli Manning’s jersey and a Super Bowl XLVI Champions cap. Certain lines are simply not meant to be crossed, even if it is just a game.
Come football season, I will be watching Peyton Manning and
the Denver Broncos on Sundays, and in the privacy of my own home I will cheer
at every touchdown and groan at every interception. And if by some miracle they
take home the Lombardi Trophy, I may even do a victory dance in my living room.
But I certainly won’t be Tweeting about it.
I cannot describe how much I disagree with you on this one champ. The meteoric rise of the bandwagon and/or player attached fan ("fan in transition") coincides with the downfall of our culture. Nowadays, fans latch on to a specific player because of his success and talents. People are Peyton Manning fans or Lebron fans or Pujols fans because they like the feeling of winning. Nobody likes to lose. Losing sucks. So when Lebron goes to Miami, and wins go to Miami, pleasure goes to Miami, and with it pleasure addicted fans. Modern culture avoids suffering at all costs. We stuff our mouths with double cheeseburgers at the first feeling of hunger. We pop an Advil every time our heads hurt. When a team loses a great player and the pleasure of winning leaves with him, the modern fan follows the source of pleasure. He can't do without it. As you say, these players are ego maniacs. But by switching allegiances, you are only fueling their egos. I urge you to reconsider your choice of switching allegiance to the Broncos, recognize how you epitomize modern society's obsession with pleasure, and accept the imminent, yet hopefully fleeting, suffering that life threw at you. Overcome the attraction of expediency, and you will be a better man.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting. I was actually planning on writing another page or so delineating my thoughts about how the exact opposite was true for bandwagoners in college sports, basically for the reasons you just outlined, although you stated it much more eloquently than I could have. Expect that article sometime soon. But since I'm of a very utilitarian mindset, I fail to see the pitfalls of expediency in professional sports. I'm sure I would think differently if I had grown up in a city (or state) that actually had a Big Four team, but currently I don't foresee losing much sleep over changing allegiances. The way I see it, the fact that an intellectual midget from the Deep South just decided to watch the Broncos in the fall will not have one iota of impact on anything remotely significant.
DeleteNonetheless, I appreciate the commentary. Do I know you?
I'm talking more about an impact on your personal pride. To me your search for pride is really a search for belonging. sports such as football, cricket, rugby, basketball, and baseball are team sports. when you play one of these sports you are part of a the greater team. you find your place on your team and develop your sense of pride. your belong to the "team" just the way you belong to a school or synagogue or fraternity. likewise, as a fan of a team sport, your pride should be with the team--not the player. if you want to claim allegiance to one player, become a fan of golf or tennis. in these sports, players develop a pride on their own. To me the expedient is telling yourself that it is okay to be a fan of a particular player rather than a team. you're only hurting your own pride. so no, there is no "iota of impact on anything remotely significant" on the macro scale. but at a personal level, i would beg to differ.
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