I Am Not A Fan

I have wonderful memories of going to baseball, football, and basketball games with my Father. Whenever there was a break in the action he would talk/teach me about what we had just seen.

I know there are a lot of people out there who love sports, both watching and playing them. That’s great. I have no problem with that. I do get tired of people asking me if I follow my local teams or the teams of my alma mater. No I don’t. Whether a team wins or loses, it doesn’t effect me. I’m still going to do what I need to do every day.

My Father was a huge sports fan. He played a lot of different sports when he was growing up. He even went out for his college baseball team after World War Two and although not a starter he did make the team.

He taught me to play the big three, baseball, football, and basketball. He gave me an appreciation of those and many others sports. As a kid he would take me to boxing matches as he had quite a few friends who became boxers after the war. Sitting with him and his friends he schooled me in the finer points of boxing. Telling me to watch footwork, the way they moved their hands, and how they handled themselves in the ring.

I have wonderful memories of going to baseball, football, and basketball games with him. Whenever there was a break in the action he would talk/teach me about what we had just seen. He had a good eye for details and an amazing knowledge. We spent hours playing catch in the backyard either with a baseball or a football.

When I got older I learned that he had wanted to be a sportswriter, but after he and my Mother married and us kids came along, he put that dream away.

After his retirement and for the next thirty plus years he loved watching sports if he wasn’t out working in his yard. He developed a real love of college football in his seventies and eighties. (He passed away in his nineties.)

We would root for our favorite teams. Over time I found myself rooting less and less. By the time I was in college I had a lot less interest in sports. I attended both the University of Oregon and the University of Southern California. In my entire college career I only attended one sporting event. A basketball game while I was at USC. And the only reason I went was because my parents were visiting and I knew my Father really wanted to see a game. So I bought us tickets.

He enjoyed the game and mentioned it many times later in life. I can’t tell you who won, or even who USC played.

The last few times we went to a game together and there was a lull in the action, instead of being able to have a beer and talk, we were bombarded by “entertainment”. Games, give-a-ways, lucky numbers, and really loud music and announcers.

We couldn’t have a conversation because of the sheer volume of everything that was going on, and our attention was constantly being diverted away from the actual game. Everything, except the game itself, was bigger, louder, and in your face. And of course tickets, parking, and even beer became so much more expensive. It was no longer something either one of us could enjoy.

At some point I stopped watching sports all together. I no longer had any interest. Sports just didn’t seem all that important. Unless of course my Daughter was playing.

In my youth I appreciated the loyalty people had for their favorite teams. Now it’s out of control. Why is it when a team wins some sort of championship we have come to expect rioting and violence in the cities of the winners?

Your teams victory or loss doesn’t mean anything to me. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you are able to hurt people or damage property in celebration.

I look at this team loyalty thing as just another way to pit us against each other. The rivalries often get out of hand and “fans” do horrible things to each other. Why? What does your team winning or losing have to do with how you relate to others?

Many old time professional athletes had to hold down jobs in the off season because they never made much money playing. Sports was a way to make money but it also seemed like they did it for the love of the game. Maybe I’m being naive but that’s what it felt like to me.

I’m not bothered about players salaries as much as I am about the amount of money team owners are demanding from towns and cities to keep their teams there. The majority of owners in the major sports are billionaires, and yet when they want to have a new arena built they feel that local governments and tax payers should foot part of the bill for construction. And these aren’t traditional ballparks or football stadiums. These are state of the art entertainment megaplexes. And if they don’t get what they want they either move to another place or threaten to.

All the while pricing out a lot of people who would love to see a game.

If a player, or any other “employee” of these teams decides to speak out about an issue that’s important to them, the owners, league, politicians, and just about anyone else jump all over them for their stands. “We need to keep politics out of the games! Players should just shut up and play.” say the owners and league officials while lobbying the government for all sorts of special tax breaks.

And the media usually jumps in on the side of the owners and the league, because the media is in business with the teams. If they say anything disparaging about owners, their families, executives, or the players, they find themselves on the outside looking in. If a reporter or writer can’t get access to the team and it’s players they won’t be working in that market for very long.

Owners and the leagues always love to point out the special things they do to help in their local communities. What they spend on these events cost very little in the scheme of things but apparently are worth their weight in public relations.

Here in Oregon when Oregon State University and the University Of Oregon would play their yearly football game it was always referred to as “The Civil War”. Really? It may be a hard fought game, but to use the word “War” to describe it I find offensive to anyone who has actually been in a war.

I am also bothered by the way some athletes refer to themselves as “warriors” and talk about doing “battle”. They are playing a game and the stakes are not life and death as you would find in a real “battle”. And they’re being paid much better than anyone in our armed forces.

When it comes down to it, sports are just big business, big entertainment. Every year the presentation has to be bigger and glossier and the people who attend are getting bludgeoned even more by sound and visuals that have nothing to do with the actual game.

And another thing, how can you be a “World Champion” when your sport isn’t played in most of the countries of the world. It’s like a friend of mine used to say, “How come the winner of the Miss Universe Pageant is always from earth?”

I believe I’m in a minority here and that’s just fine. If you love your team, whatever sport it plays, and it gives you joy to watch them, then good for you. Enjoy it! Spend your money and time doing and watching what you enjoy.

I value the time I spent with my Father doing and watching sports. But the way things are today, I have other things I would rather do. I am no longer a sports fan and I don’t see myself becoming one again.

Sports doesn’t mean to me what it once did.

And don’t expect me to come to your yearly Super Bowl party. I know you just watch the Super Bowl for the “commercials” or perhaps the half-time guests. To me it’s all a giant commercial.

Count me out.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week.

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