Two weeks ago, I watched Brett Favre's interview on Jay Leno. On the surface that may not seem so strange, probably many people watched one of America's most popular athletes on America's most watched late night show. However, it is misleading to say I merely watched the interview, when in fact, I stayed up specifically to watch this interview. I went out of my way to watch an unfunny talk show host, interview a football player, who I knew would not say much of substance.
Here's my problem. I am a Bills fan (a problem for many, many reasons). I have no business caring that much about the Minnesota Vikings. But there I was, staying up to see if #4 might give even the slightest hint as to whether or not he will come back next year (he, of course, did not).
I moved to Minnesota in June (Brett joined me in August); the fifth stop in my life's journey so far. My rooting interest in the Bills is a combination of being born in Buffalo, and falling in love with sports at a time when the Bills went to (and lost) four straight Super Bowls. The K-Gun Bills are truly the first team that I ever loved. But a few things have happened since 1994 that have made it increasingly difficult to continue to love the Bills:
1. The Bills began to steadily decline. The problem for me was not that the Bills were now a worse team, as I believe a true fan stays with a team through thick and thin. The problem is, when a team from Buffalo is no longer successful, nobody hesitates to scratch them from nationally televised games. It became harder to follow my Bills.
2. I moved to Omaha from Connecticut. Had I stayed in Connecticut during the decline, at least I would be treated to games against AFC East rivals. In Omaha, I was forced to watch the Chiefs, and the AFC West every week.
3. I went to college in Chicago. After struggling to watch the AFC West for six years, I got to see the other side of the coin: the NFC North (a combination of history, proximity, rivalry). I started to fall for the Bears during there improbable playoff run in 2001. I was jealous of three of my best friends who had grown up in the Chicago area, and lived and died with the Bears each year. I wanted to care like they cared, I wanted to enjoy local sports talk radio the way they did. I wanted to watch my team week in and week out. I went to my first live NFL game in Chicago (Bears vs. Vikings). I have never seen the Bills in person. The seeds had been planted for a change in loyalty, but I still couldn't make the switch. I was a Bills fan.
The Bears had become my second favorite team. However I warned my Chicago friends before I left, that I don't really believe in second favorite teams. I explained that my love for the Bears had mostly to do with the fun of following a team from week to week. When I sat down to watch the games, I wanted them to win. When I moved to Minnesota, I did not intend for the Vikings to become my second favorite team (again I don't believe in second favorite teams). But there was a buzz about the Vikings this year. I started to watch the games. And they were fun to watch. They had a playmaker at every position. And then I watched the Niners game with my youth group. Favre found Greg Lewis at the back of the end zone, we all went crazy. I was all in. For the rest of the season I didn't miss a game. I felt emotion for a team in a way I hadn't since the '94 Bills. I didn't try to, it just happened.
I value loyalty. Its always one of my strongest traits on a personality test.
When Favre came to the Vikings, people questioned his loyalty. How could Favre, who bled green and gold, join the hated Vikings? How could he abandon a fan base that idolized him? (Wrangler might have felt the same way about his choice of jeans on Leno). But I found myself taking Favre's side. He just wanted to play football. The Vikings gave him an opportunity to play football for him. Who am I to judge?
I just want to enjoy football. The Vikings have given me a chance to enjoy football in a way that I haven't since I was 12. This year the Vikings play the Bills at home. I will begin the game as a Bills fan. I am not sure who I'll be when the game ends. I can't force it. And if somehow I end up a Vikings fan, I'm not sure that makes me a bad person (or at least that's what I tell myself).
4 comments:
hmmm...interesting. I think you are basically trying to plant a seed that you are moving to the other side. I think you have already made up your mind and it will be no surprise that you are a Vikings fan at the end of the game. I am curious though...Did you not see the Bears/Vikings game? If you were going to change teams, I think there is a better choice. Well, whatever. Some people just cave to peer pressure. (ugh, it is SO hard for me not to write-just teasing you!) Congrats on the new blog!
I love that you are writing this blog on several levels- including the fact that it brings me back to days sitting in my office tossing a baseball back and forth as we discussed sports . . . er, i mean . . . uh . . . ministry. I miss those days.
Anyway, you could always do what I did with the Pirates. I have given them a deadline. If I do not seek marked improvement/ hope by the 2012 season, I am officially declaring myself a MLB free agent (that includes the possibility of writing off MLB all together as the chief sinner when it comes to equity and fairness in professional sports in North America). My situation is different than yours however. Namely, no other MLB team has tried to take my allegiance. I got into the D'backs when Schilling and Johnson won the series while I lived there. I got into the Red Sox when they won their first series (by the second, I came to realize that the Red Sox were part of the problem, not the solution, to the inequity in MLB, and I no longer rooted for them.). The White Sox came the closest with their 2005 run, but they were unable to sustain my enthusiasm.
So, I sit here today, in a land filled with Yankees fans, rooting for a team that makes less than Alex Rodriquez. I do not fault these people for being Yankees fans. It is their 'local' team. It is justified for them, but I just don't see a way that I can be swayed by the Yankees.
So, the most likely scenario is that sometime in the summer of 2012, I will swear off baseball altogether. But, I also know that the reality is that by January of 2013, I will likely be reluctantly drinking the Pirates Kool-Aid again . . .
Loyalty is a wonderful thing, except as it applies to sports. Why should I feel any loyalty to a bunch of overpaid and/or coddled athletes whom I will never know and who apart from their athletic ability are not better or worse than the rest of humanity? Spectator sports are intended to be entertaining, and when they cease to be entertaining I can't imagine why I should be "loyal". A case in point: For years after moving to Omaha, I enjoyed Husker football. I learned to appreciate the triple option and along with everyone else in the state, enjoyed their championship years. When Osborne left and Solich moved in, watching Nebraska football became only slightly less painful than undergoing a root canal. I got off the bandwagon without any sense of disloyalty. Now that Pellini is coach, I'm back on the bandwagon, not out of any particular sense of loyalty, but simply because Nebraska football is fun to watch again!
Kristin-you may be right, but I think you're just hurt that you've lost an ally in the family. Don't worry, in all other areas, I still have your back.
Paul-I also miss our important office chats, and your Detroit Tigers baseball. I also appreciate your insights as a long suffering Pirates fan. I look forward to hearing which direction you go with them. The Bills my make it easy for me and move to Los Angeles thus breaking up with me before I break up with them.
Dad-I am beginning to see your side of things, although I am not quite ready to say that loyalty does not belong in sports. I know that the 2004 World Series Championship would not be as entertaining to me, had I not been loyal to the Red Sox in the years prior.
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