In Defense of the Bandwagon

We all know one.

If you’re a sports fan you know who they are.  In the 90s it was all about the Dallas triplets and the basketball dynasty in Chicago.  In the 00s, you couldn’t tell them nothin’ about Kobe or Shaq nor that the Patriots weren’t the greatest team in NFL history (before they earned it).  Now? It’s all about wherever LeBron plays, Golden State, and the Pats (legitimately now).  Those of us who’ve been loyal to one team for decades, hate them like wives hate homewreckers.

But why?

Ok maybe I can think of a few reasons...

Because we know that the ultimate price of loyalty is time invested.  We give our most precious most irreplaceable commodity to these organizations who rep our homes (or closest city) in the hopes we get some return on our investment.  That means championships.  The Lakers, Steelers, Packers, Cowboys, Celtics, NY Giants and Yankees do this better than most.  More than half the championships from the top 3 American sports rest with those “flagship” franchises.  It’s why they still get nationally televised games even when they suck.  We feel good when they win because by proxy it makes us feel like champions.  But what about those teams that have been bottom feeders for decades?  The “loveable losers?”  The Browns, Bengals, Red Sox, Cubs, Lions, Clippers, Bucks, Knicks, Nets, Jets, Bills and until last night, the Eagles?  How much time, emotional energy and money should you spend on a franchise that either can’t or won’t get it together to pay you back?

 Most loyal fanbase in all of sports.  0-16 in 2017.  FIFTEEN seasons without even a playoff appearance. 

There was a time that I could to tell you the starters of every NBA and NFL team from memory.  I knew the Knicks and Giants rosters by heart.  I lived and died with every Knicks playoff series and every Giants’ playoff game.  But I’m getting older.  I have a family now.  Priorities have changed and where I invest my time, even in leisure, matters.  It’s not disloyal to break ties with anyone who doesn’t keep up their end of the bargain.  Pain and disappointment are an inevitable part of life but the reason we watch sports is to escape.  Why should we invest in franchises whose leadership is historically incompetent?  I’m not talking about cyclical ups and downs.  I’m talking about teams that haven’t even made the playoffs in over a decade!  We sit and endure blunder after blunder, failure after failure because that’s what “loyal” fans do but where is the payoff?  The old fans who essentially waited until the Sox and Cubs finally reached mountain top before they died make for great human interest stories but they’re terrible investments in time.  

No words necessary.

The bandwagon fan, who we despise, wouldn’t ever make that trade off.  We shit on them for being disloyal but they’re anything but.  They’re just loyal to themselves and aren’t willing to waste years investing in a franchise that isn’t doing what it promised.  In a way, they respect themselves enough to know that their time and energy is valuable and they’re smart enough to put it where they’re most likely to get the best emotional return for their attention.  It’s true the good times are sweeter when you’ve lived through the  worst.  Shared adversity is one of the most powerful bonding experiences.  But at some point, it becomes masochism or mental abuse to subject yourself to decades of consistent failure.  If the whole point is to experience some sort of proxy joy by watching your team win championships then what is it doing to your mental state to watch that same team fail time and time again?  In some cases, since your childhood?  Some of us can carry that lesson far beyond the court or the gridiron but that’s a discussion for another day, I have to go watch my Knicks.

This is the Wanderers Voice...