A Sweat Band and a Baseball Glove; The Journey to Find Out What it Means to be a Sports Fan

             If you follow me on twitter, you know I can be best described as all over the map.  Sometimes, I am dead serious as I share my feelings on a serious topic.  Other times, I couldn’t be less serious if I tried.  I’m usually trolling someone though, but you already knew that.

              Another thing that is all over the map is the way I “support” my teams.  For the Utes, I despise fair-weather, cynical fans.  For the Red Sox, I am a fair-weather, cynical fan.  For the Jazz I’m somewhere in between.  

              I got to thinking about why that is so.  I’m a Utes fan because my Dad played for the Runnin’ Utes and we just grew up cheering for them.  I’m a Red Sox fan because of the Carl Yastrzemski glove that my Dad got for his1 2th birthday in Bountiful, UT in 1968.  Dad cheers for the Sox, and he passed it on to me. 

              I have never been to Boston.  I don’t know if I’ll ever make it to Fenway.  I have always cheered for the Red Sox and always will because now, as I get into my late 20’s my Dad is still my hero and my role model.  

              The funniest thing about it is, through all of the frustrations that came as I grew up a Sox fan, I really have never had the chance to celebrate.  

              In 2004, when the Red Sox finally broke through and won the series, I was an LDS missionary in a tiny Midwestern town.  I didn’t hear about it until a week later and even then didn’t really think much of it because I was so deep into my time as a missionary.  In 2007, I was away at school.  I wanted so badly to be in my parents’ living room, to jump up and down and hug my Dad.  But there I sat watching it alone on a TV in Cedar City with people looking at me strangely as I pumped my fists.  

              Of course, Dad and I did get to watch Aaron Freaking Boone hit the Tim Wakefield  meatball out of the park in 2003.  Of course, the Sox have had one epic collapse after another whenever my Dad and I can watch games together.  So during the time of my Sox fanhood, I have enjoyed all of the bad and only a little of the good.  

              So, logically, why do I even bother now?  Why don’t I just write them off if I hate them so bad?  To me, my Sox fanhood is about the bond I share with my Dad.  It’s bigger than a trivial game.  I’m a Sox fan because it’s something that my Dad and I can laugh at together.  It reminds me that I’m so lucky to have such a Dad, and to not take him for granted.  

              In the meantime, I’ll probably troll them on twitter until the day that they block me!  

              What does it mean to be a fan anyway?  Is it being loyal to something your whole life? If that’s the case, I’m not a Jazz fan.  I was a die-hard Rockets fan until I was 10.  Tree Rawlins threw me his sweatbands at a game once!  To this day, Hakeem Olajuwon is my favorite player.  

              I think twitter has changed my view of what it means to be a fan.  

              For instance, I know that @davidwilbur and many others cheer for the Angels.  So, when I look at the box scores, I am always looking to see how the Angels are doing.   I always hope they are doing well, for the sake of my twitter pals.  

              I know that @clayjondavis and @utesfan89 are big Pirate fans.  So when I look at the scores, and see the Pirates doing well, I feel good for them.  

              Occasionally, I find someone like @crackalacka22, who cheers for the same teams I do, straight down the line.  I know I can tweet anything at him to get his take on it.  

              As another one, I know that @schumacherf2006 likes Formula 1 racing.  It was on TV the other day, and I gave it a try, simply because I knew that he was into it.  It was cool.  

              Heck, I am even starting to not be so bitter about the Yankees!  With people out there like @ChelleFC and @sublimed19, it’s so hard to remain bitter……thanks a lot guys! Why did you have to be so nice?!?!? 

              On Friday night, you may have noticed me talking about my little brother.  As I had the chance to kick back and chat with him about it, I had a wave of memories.  There we were as kids, pretending to be Ute football players kicking the football to each other.  He kicked the ball towards me and it sailed up and up and up and……………right into our sister’s window!  That cost a lot to replace…..  Or there were all the times we would make a snow man in the backyard, draw a big “Y” on it, line up next to each other in our three-point stances, and I’d yell “Hike!” and we’d run as fast as we could and hit that snow man with everything we had.  Then we would holler and yell like we had just won the Holy War!  

              Now he has worked hard to earn a walk-on spot at SUU.  And with him goes the spot as my favorite college football team.

              As I think about it, yeah, it’s possible to be a “fan” of multiple teams in sports because of the people you interact with.  I have a long-time friend named Brandon, aka @jazznmagic.  He invites me over every year for the first BYU game.  I always go, and I always want BYU to win because he and the other friends he invites have been a big part of my life, and I’m happy for them when their team wins.  

              I’m not trying to say I’m perfect (oh goodness no, not even close), but I just think that we get so bogged down with “I’m a fan of this team and to heck with everyone else”  It doesn’t have to be like that at all.  

              So what it does it mean to you to be a sports fan?  As you can tell here, I don’t have anything close to a finished product.  These are just some thoughts and anecdotes that have helped make me, me.  I’d love to get thoughts on what it means to you to be a sports fan.  Anything at all, it doesn’t have to be related to this, just tell me!