Return from whence ye came, fair-weather fans
Sheamus Dalton
Our campus boasts great diversity among the student body. We have nearly every state in the country represented as well as numerous countries abroad. This has always been one of my favorite parts about our college. I grew up in a town that did not have much variety within its small population, so when I encountered this diversity during my freshman year, it was a breath of fresh air.
What I also noticed about our campus is how our students are very much sports fans. Students all across campus can be seen sporting their team’s jerseys on any given Sunday. The Saints, the Blue Jays, and even Manchester United have small pockets in our student body that are diehard supporters. I find this passion amazing. Sports have always been a fundamental part of my life, and the fact that I go to school with people who are equally uplifted by sports is inspiring.
While I may not enjoy watching every sport or every team, I generally have no problem with the diverse support of professional sports across campus. No matter the sport, no matter the team, sports fans all share a passion for professional competition. I think this should be common ground upon which we all can relate, even if we support opposing teams. Sports are awesome, so people that love sports are also awesome.
However, there are limits to my tolerance. I have never been inclined to start an argument with a Steelers fan simply because I am from Cleveland and am a Browns fan. The fact that someone supports a rival team is no problem for me. However, I tend to become aggravated when someone supports a team that is not their hometown team. In most cases these people follow teams for reasons such as their recent success or their superstar player who makes all the SportsCenter highlights. These people infuriate and confuse me.
I often find these dislocated fans to be the most superficial and arrogant fans. This only fuels my contempt. They have no legitimate reason to support these teams. In many cases, they have given up on their hometown teams after numerous disappointing seasons or after the star player left. Yet, I believe one should be inspired by a sense of community and loyalty to their origins in supporting sports teams. They should not be attracted to a team for its inevitable success year-in and year-out. In my opinion, it is more rewarding to support a team that has been moderately awful but wins an exciting game every once in a while.
It is for this reason that I will always be a Browns fan. Predominantly, they are painful to watch. They have had 19 quarterbacks in 14 years, a new coach every year (most of whom seem to have been hired after a particularly successful Pop Warner season) and have literally no chance of winning the Super Bowl in my lifetime.
Still, I am from Cleveland and I like my town and I will unwaveringly be committed to any below average sports team Cleveland has to offer. You will never catch me wearing a Broncos jersey just because Peyton Manning is putting up numbers that put the combined efforts of all 19 quarterbacks the modern Browns have named as their franchise QB to shame. I am a Cleveland, and only Cleveland, sports fan.
Not dissimilar to the federal government’s shutdown, by not supporting our hometown teams, we create anarchy in the American society. We are unable to define communities by their common passions for their NFL, MLB or NBA teams. While sports create some of the most passionate people in America, there are many unfortunate fans who reject their own towns and damage the power of this passion. Sports have the power to unite cities and even nations under a team. People who support teams for superficial reasons ruin this effect.
Many people would not find the issue I do with superficial fans. To each their own. While I can’t do much to force people to support their own team, I can urge them to give the teams who have many times let them down, another chance. If anything do it for the common identity they will share with their hometown. It will be worth the effort when they end up scraping together a win.