Monday, February 11, 2013

Becoming Apathetic - a Die-Hard Fan's Struggles

    On Saturday night, I found myself making the long walk through the Wal-Mart parking lot when my phone buzzed.  Looking down, this is what I saw:

FINAL: Jazz lose 120-109 to Kings. Next up: OKC Thunder on Tuesday -  

     This came from the official twitter account of the Utah Jazz.

     I looked at that text message and my only thought was.......

    "Huh"

     That's it.  Nothing more, nothing less.

     As I thought about it, this was the worst thing in sports fan-dom.  Apathy.  Total and complete lack of care.  As I continued, I tried, I really tried to care or be upset about this loss.  But I wasn't.  And it scared me.  Was it not me who skewered apathetic fans last month?

     I am not writing this to give my opinion on what it will take to get me interested again or what the team needs to do for me to be happy.  That's just the point; I have watched so little of the team this season that I don't know what needs to change.  I am usually more than happy to enter a debate about my favorite teams and take/throw a few punches.  But with this Jazz team?  I don't know enough to do that.

     I don't want to be "that guy"; the guy who only cheers for his team when they win.  But I feel so disconnected.

    So, here is the time when I turn it over to you, the reader.  For those who are Jazz fans, are you feeling this way also?  Do you feel as strongly about the this team as you have in the past?  For those who are just sports fans in general, have you ever felt this apathy for one of your teams?  If so, how did you get out of it?