"Top Five Double Play 2B/SS Combos Projected For 2016."
Me: "Huh. This is probably worth reading and may contain very vital information for the forthcoming season."
I guess part of me is trying to avoid, inevitably, getting too emotionally invested in this Super Bowl. The other part of me understands that it's not terribly often that the team you've been pouring over since 1999 makes it to the biggest stage in football 2 out of 3 years. (Unless, of course you're a fan of the Patriots and, vicariously, their methods of cheating or cutting corners.) So it's hard to not get invested.
I guess I have such a love hate relationship with watching professional sports. While it's worth the risk/reward supporting one franchise for your life, it never really pays off like it should. You can have a lifelong devotion to a team and never have the satisfaction of rubbing it in your enemies face, or even have the team acknowledge you. For instance, there are Cubs fans who have lived their whole lives and then died before seeing them win a World Series. Seriously, it's been 100 years. However, there is something so admirable about picking one team (per sport) and being a fan regardless of good years or bad. On the contrary, I have never had patience for the dip shits that say "I am a fan of players." That may very well be true, but it doesn't make you any less of an asshole for buying/wearing a Richard Sherman/Marshawn Lynch jersey in 2013. It makes you look like you're a fan of winning teams.
I have just found an odd stigma in professional sports, and sports in general. People (Myself ABSOLUTELY included) feel an odd sense of entitlement when it comes to professional sports; a game in which we do not play. We don't participate, the coaches don't call us for advice/reports in between quarters or after the 7th inning stretch, we don't attend the press conference afterwards to give our analysis of the game, and we sure as hell did not hit a home run or score any touchdowns. We simply picked a team, bought a hat/shirt, and now they are winning instead of losing. So now we get to thumb our noses at the Los Angeles Dodgers or Oakland Raiders fans, and in some cases verbally/physically assault them. We also get to express a seared in hatred for opposing players we dislike like Chase Utley, Charles Woodson, Yasiel Puig and Johnathan Papelbon. We may even say that they are awful players, bad people, need Jesus, are responsible for your divorce, gave your child a poor body image, and should be locked up for the rest of their life and maybe even chemically burned to death.
I think it's strange how easy it is to develop a hatred for someone you have never met in real life. You don't know where they live, what their favorite snow cone might be, or even what car they drive. But, you know that you hate them based on the way that they present themselves in a child's game they get paid millions of dollars to play. I'm not scolding, because I do it too. They're getting paid lots of money to play a game, which means we, the fans, have a right to scrutinize, scold, and (hopefully) bring to punishment, no? I even do it with actors/actresses; ask my wife how much I hate Anne Hathaway and how earnestly I believe that she ruined the Dark Knight Rises (Maybe I will publish a book on the subject.) I just find it interesting that it is so easy to hate someone based on what team is signing their checks. More importantly, how easy it is to hate someone because they are so incredibly talented and playing for a team that isn't the one you signed with (Figure of speech.) Looking at you Tom Brady and Clayton Kershaw; you assholes.
More importantly, I think it's strange that people justify shitty actions like stabbing, violently approaching and even verbally abusing another human being based on what jersey they are wearing; fan or player. I sometimes read about people beating the hell out of one another because they were wearing the opposing teams merchandise. Why? Did that team say your mother was fat? Did the organization write you a letter stating that they slept with your wife while you were away on business? And now you have a personal vendetta to destroy them, one fan at a time? Look, I am as competitive as anyone, and I am also a very sore loser, but never would I ever physically fight someone because they are a Dodgers/Seahawks/whatever fan.
If you are planning on starting a fight over sports, I'll say this: Fight the fair weather fans. Those kids that are wearing Golden State Warriors hats this year that were wearing Miami Heat hats 2 years ago, those are the kids that need a punch in the ear. Not the 30 year old wearing a Diamondbacks hat (He's had it hard enough.)
My very good friend Nick Peterson put it in perfect light: "Being a fan of a sports team is never a good enough reason to be friends with someone. It's also never a good reason to fight someone. It really doesn't matter THAT much."
Couldn't have said it better.
I do have 2 final complaints about professional sports. I have found that my biggest flaw as a fan is that the taste of victory does not even come close to the sorrow of defeat. It doesn't matter what sport. I have to admit that winning the AFC Championship this year was really awesome as a Denver fan, however, it was not nearly as wonderful as knowing the Patriots lost. I don't really know why that is, but I relish far more in the loss of my enemies, than the victory of my friends. And seeing people I dislike succeed is always so difficult to watch. I'm sure there is some psychological diagnosis for me. But, being a sociopath pays off occasionally.
All in all, I think my biggest problem with professional sports is the sense of helplessness you feel when your team is getting a good old fashioned ass kicking. I lived through the days of Jake Plummer, Jay Cutler and Tim Tebow at the helm of the Broncos offense. I know what it's like for a team to have you bent over a barrel. The strangest contrast I found in that, was that I never felt that way while competing myself. I could be going into a state wrestling tournament for 3rd place, heading into over time and still feel a shroud of hope that if I put forth the effort I can still win. You can never really trust professional athletes to have the same resolve. Sometimes I think that when the game has gone tits up, they're content to let it float. I saw the 2014 Super Bowl; well, the first 3 quarters, I left after that.
May the Lord bless your teams and future endeavors. Unless you're a Yankees, Dodgers, Packers, Patriots, Seahawks, Bulls, Lakers, Kings, Cougars, or Panthers fan. Then I hope your family gets the bird flu.
Go Broncos. Hail Peyton.
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