Last night, as I was watching the Vanderbilt vs Tennessee NCAA Men’s basketball game I was reminded of the odd perspective I have on cheering for teams in the sporting world. To explain I need to give you some background information.
I grew up in western New York until the age of 8. During these crucial sporting development years I was given the bittersweet privilege of watching, what I believe to be, the greatest years in Buffalo Bills team history. Yes I am referring to the team that went to 4 consecutive Big Games and lost, but at the time it was enthralling. This team not only consisted of multiple HOF players (Bruce Smith, Jim Kelley, Thurman Thomas, etc) and recorded the greatest comeback in playoff history against the Oilers in the 92 Wild Card game behind backup (!) QB Frank Reich they were consistent performers. Even though they never won a championship, this team took you on a great ride.
Pick the story up a few years later, and I’m attending Vanderbilt University. Now the football program there wasn’t quite as succesful, but I was there to witness the season when we finally beat Tennessee at Rocky Top, first time since the 80′s, and were 1 atrocious excessive celebration call from going for 2 and beating Florida in the same year! I also got to witness two Sweet 16 games. There was the double overtime win over Washington State in ’06, beating both Florida and Tennessee when they were ranked #1 in the country, and a great home gym atmosphere. The sacrifice of schoolwork to attend home games was well worth it.
The highlights I mention above, are just that, highlights. For the Bills, since 1995 they haven’t had a playoff win (and the Cowboys fans think they’ve suffered!) and in fact the haven’t even made the playoffs since 1999. Commodores football never had a bowl eligible season while I was in school; that finally came in 2008/09 after 25 years of waiting. And despite two NCAA tourney births and an NIT birth, they have no hardware to show for it. this is how teams I root for perform. My teams don’t regularly win championships and they don’t dominate divisions or conferences. Yet I love it. How is that possible? Shouldn’t I want to root for the best team and always be on top? No. I’m a realistic fan.
Let me explain.
When I am watching one of my teams play a game, I watch with an ache in my stomach. After great plays my mind gravitates from celebration to worry. I brace for an inevitable, horrible, but unstoppable event. That event may be different in every game, but I believe that there will be a play or a foul that will suddenly steal the momentum from us, bring our moral down, and hand the game to our opponent on a shiny platter. I watch with caution. If were up by 4 touchdowns with 8 minutes left, I know I can relax a bit and start to enjoy the leads. However if the game is close, I don’t let myself get to excited. I try to watch with an err of restraint.
I’m not saying that I can’t enjoy a game, or don’t have any faith in any team I root for. I just have so much experience with disappointment that until the buzzer sounds, and the clock hits zero I won’t shake the doubt. I go into games, like last night’s against a higher ranked opponent, hoping to win but knowing that it will be an uphill battle. I am not saying that I never believe Vanderbilt or the Buffalo Bills can win, nor that they are horrible franchises in any way. But through all the heartbreak of blown leads and beat downs, I have become a realistic fan. And that’s where perhaps the oddities come from.
Living in Austin I am surrounded by University of Texas fans, and I notice that they have a swagger about them, an attitude that says, “Hey, we know we are good, in fact we’re so good I dare you to prove us wrong.” Now this past college football season they went to the National Championship game and had a chance to prove that they were the best. I guess that this attitude is what comes when winning is a tradition. It is something that is ingrained into a school, community, or city. When you have a strong foundation to build on it comes easy. I think that there is nothing wrong with this. The question I am left with is, do I envy these people who have this winning attitude, or do I feel bad for them?
Neither. I think that each person has their own way of being a fan and many people who flock to winning programs like to invest themselves into a team and be a part of that something that is bigger than they are. Yet, this can lead to great disappointments, and fair-weather fans. I see this and then I realize that I like being an odd man out. I enjoy that I can get emotionally involved into the game but that I still have that lingering doubt. It makes the victories so much sweeter. Isn’t it better to win when you aren’t assured a victory? Isn’t that what the Cinderella allure of the NCAA basketball tournaments are built around? Winning with less chips than your opponent, when the odds are stacked against you, is a far more satisfying feeling than picking on an inferior opponent. It’s that miraculous feeling of coming through in the clutch when no one expected it and sending the opposing crowd home in shock.
If you were to offer me championships in exchange for some of those close calls I believe that I would consider the offer. However knowing what I know now, I think I would pass. For all the joys those victories would bring, I would rather not be a part of a spoiled fan base. I want to be in the trenches with those who have suffered and who stuck with the team in both the good times and bad. No one wants to be the only on left on a sinking ship, and that’s what can happen with overly successful franchises who gain the fair-weather fans. Even if it means I have to go down with the ship, at least I won’t be going alone.
That’s why a bowl game win after a 25 year drought is so much sweeter. It’s why, when the Bills make it back to the top (they will…eventually), it will be so compelling. It’s the reason they play the game, and that is why being a supporter is better than a fan. Being a sports realist is almost like being a constant underdog and you never know when you will get that great surprise you didn’t quite see coming. And sharing this with hundreds of others who have been through those same troubled times makes it all the more fulfilling.
Considering this, I think that the best time to come into a sports franchise is when its not winning. When the team is in dark times. This way you will always be more appreciative of the good times. You will have understood and endured the low points, but the welcoming taste of success will be all the more sweet. Therefore my message to all those fans of losing teams is to hold on. Don’t let go of the treasured relationship you have with your team. You say now you’d sacrifice anything to win, and that’s what we do when we stay faithful in the bad times. There will come a time when you will take your turn on top and trust me, the time spent waiting will seem like nothing.
Love this article and wish more people applied it. I “unfortunately” have had the pleasure of following and being a fan of winning programs, University of Texas for everything college, Dallas Cowboys and yes somewhat random but the New York Yankees. I love the Yankees because my grandpa that I was very close to was a New Yorker living in Texas and lived and breathed Yankees baseball. My household didnt really have a pro team so when I was little, I guess I just began to watch and listen to my grandpa with that one.
Let me say though, Texas hasn’t always been great, well at least they had a down couple years. I remember my first seasons that my dad would take me to Ut games werent great. It was the old SouthWest Conference and for some reason the games against Rice always seemed to be close…thats a little different than today. I remember how frustrated my parents and their friends were from terrible coaching and players that were mediocre at best. Now times are different and I am loving them. I cant even imagine how much I would appreciate them if I had been old enough to understand how the games were so frustrating back then. I dolove the swagger though but you are right about the fair weather fans. Texas fans are probably some of the worst in the country also, the games seem to consist of people who want to say they went and make it a social event rather than watching the game and making the largest stadiums in the country the loudest in the country, but oh well. I’ll take the winning and laugh at those fans because it really is a lot of fun to see where you will end up at the end of the year.
GREAT STORY!!!