I'm Going Down to the Central Part of Town
As part of my ongoing quest to fully elucidate my reasons for continuing to support the Cowboys and Rangers despite the fact that I now live in a city that is home to teams in each of those respective sports, more particularly the Texans and the Astros, I submit the following argument from Mr. Will Leitch.
From pg. 236 of God Save the Fan...
It's a full-time position, rooting for a football team [baseball team, jai-alai team, curling team, nursing home shuffleboard team, etc.]...so how am I just supposed to say, "All right, yesterday I cared about these players, but now I care about these"? If something as silly as geography guides your rooting interests, isn't it wishy-washy to move your loyalty around just because someone realized the franchise could make more money in Boise rather than Topeka? Yes, it's a corporation you're rooting for, but they're your corporation. There's nothing rational about it; being a sports fan never has anything to do with being rational.
[Leitch is from central Illinois and grew up as a fan of the St. Louis football Cardinals who now play in Arizona] But what about the St. Louis Rams, you ask? Yeah, what about them? The Rams came to St. Louis in 1995. I simply did not understand why St. Louis fans transferred their loyalty. Sure, owner Bill Bidwill had left St. Louis for what was presumed to be the greener pastures of Tempe. But how does that change my life? Sure, a sports team can offer civic value to a city, but not just out of nowhere. The reason the St. Louis Cardinals are a fixture in the city is because families like mine have patterned their entire [this seems a BIT strong] social structures around them for decades. How can a team just show up and suddenly have devoted fans?
And as for "abandoning" a city...please. On the whole, NFL teams and their fans live in the same city about, oh, twenty-seven days a year. A team and its fans have as much in common as your hand and that vending machine. It's all sentiment. And I don't get to be angry about Bidwill and company leave St. Louis; hell, I don't live there anymore either.
So the only way to be honest with oneself is to pick a team and stick with them. Sure, I wish I had picked a better team, but true fans stay around, no matter what; people from Houston should root for the Titans, people from Charlotte should root for the Hornets, and people from Minnesota should root for the Dallas Stars. Otherwise, you're the one who's disloyal. You're just following whomever it is convenient to follow.
From pg. 236 of God Save the Fan...
It's a full-time position, rooting for a football team [baseball team, jai-alai team, curling team, nursing home shuffleboard team, etc.]...so how am I just supposed to say, "All right, yesterday I cared about these players, but now I care about these"? If something as silly as geography guides your rooting interests, isn't it wishy-washy to move your loyalty around just because someone realized the franchise could make more money in Boise rather than Topeka? Yes, it's a corporation you're rooting for, but they're your corporation. There's nothing rational about it; being a sports fan never has anything to do with being rational.
[Leitch is from central Illinois and grew up as a fan of the St. Louis football Cardinals who now play in Arizona] But what about the St. Louis Rams, you ask? Yeah, what about them? The Rams came to St. Louis in 1995. I simply did not understand why St. Louis fans transferred their loyalty. Sure, owner Bill Bidwill had left St. Louis for what was presumed to be the greener pastures of Tempe. But how does that change my life? Sure, a sports team can offer civic value to a city, but not just out of nowhere. The reason the St. Louis Cardinals are a fixture in the city is because families like mine have patterned their entire [this seems a BIT strong] social structures around them for decades. How can a team just show up and suddenly have devoted fans?
And as for "abandoning" a city...please. On the whole, NFL teams and their fans live in the same city about, oh, twenty-seven days a year. A team and its fans have as much in common as your hand and that vending machine. It's all sentiment. And I don't get to be angry about Bidwill and company leave St. Louis; hell, I don't live there anymore either.
So the only way to be honest with oneself is to pick a team and stick with them. Sure, I wish I had picked a better team, but true fans stay around, no matter what; people from Houston should root for the Titans, people from Charlotte should root for the Hornets, and people from Minnesota should root for the Dallas Stars. Otherwise, you're the one who's disloyal. You're just following whomever it is convenient to follow.
I know that I still fully support the Tyler Wildcatters (yes, Dorothy, they have a Wikipedia page), wherever they might be in the vast universe that is minor league baseball.
[The words in the brackets above are solely those of yours truly]
Labels: Dallas Cowboys, Houston, Houston Astros, Houston Texans, Sports Neuroses, Texas Rangers, Will Leitch
posted by Justin @ 6/20/2009 10:11:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Page 236, Scott?!?! PAGE 236??!! Didn't you get this book, like, yesterday? Don't you (sorta) have a job? Broman, get outside once in a while.
Lancelot,
You don't understand. It's big type, and there are PICTURES.
Ok, who am I kidding?
No television+no income at the moment=large amounts of reading.
I've been thinking about this issue. Obviously, I can't support either the Redskins or the Ravens. And I'm inclined not to root for the Orioles. I see the difficulty of shifting allegiances. Who is Baltimore's Ian Kinsler/Josh Hamilton/Kevin Millwood? I can name their Elvis Andrus, but does that really count? My last thought is this. I plan on attending many more Orioles games (baseball is baseball yo). Nobody can replace the Rangers and the scars and joys they've given me, but what if I start to [gasp] like them? I don't know, man. I just don't know.
Forgot to subscribe to comments . . .
Jeremy,
There's nothing wrong with going to the O's games, in fact I plan on becoming a regular attendee at Minute Maid Park, but I'm just going to warn you this before you even begin to think about flirting with the O's:
Peter Angelos is one of the worst, if not the worst, owners in sports. That's a scientific fact. Just ask Stephen Hawking.
On Thursdays here, they do Boog's Beer and Baseball for $15: barbecue sandwich, a beer, and third row centerfield seats. Very nice.
You know, I am jealous of their tradition and pride. Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, multiple 100-win seasons, Billy Ripken's bat . . . we're not very close, I'm afraid.
That's a great deal, my friend. I agree that the O's have great history, which makes their current state all the more troubling. There are some franchises that always need to be and in contention, if only for the good of the game, and I think the O's are one of those franchises.
Also, I'm pretty sure Billy Ripken's bat is now in the Smithsonian along side the lunar landing module from Apollo 11. Simply a national treasure.
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