Tomorrow we are headed to Michigan to visit the family and take in a game. It's going to be a lot of fun. We haven't seen the cousins in a couple of years and we haven't been to a game in the same amount of time. Odds are the visit will be much better than the game. Not just because we are going to have fun seeing them and they are always the best part of going back to Michigan, but because the team is not doing so well this season.
In fact a lot of the teams we follow are having rough seasons. It's a time that separates the fans from the funs.
See following a winning team is a lot of fun. It really is. Winning is always fun. And losing always sucks. It's just the way the world turns and as a sports fan you deal. You shrug your shoulders and say things like, "You win some you lose some" and "Losing builds character" and "There's still a lot of season left"or if there isn't "There's always next year!" or in the case of the early 2000s and the 49ers "We are in a rebuilding decade"
It's part of being a fan of a team. You are a fan. For whatever reason you have decided to like that team you like them. Win or lose you trot out your gear you put it on, you sit and watch the game, you shake your head or yell at the TV or eat more chips. You deal with the loss. When you win you wear your gear, you cheer at the TV you eat more chips, but with swagger. It's the fun part.
But when a team starts losing more than they are winning the people who are only in it for the fun parts leave. Oh they will come roaring back when the winning starts again, but it takes a certain mindset to watch and support the team when you know odds are not good that there will be a win in the cards.
I've seen it on feeds for teams when they post the score of the latest game. Michigan especially. Now I'm not happy with the coach or the AD, I've said it before. I think they both should be fired. The coach committed the unforgivable sin for me, not losing, but endangering a player. Never okay. Not at any level of play but especially not at the college level when you are talking about a kid. So I am fine with people calling for his exit from the program and with the AD following. But it bugs me to read people talking about how they are not going to go to the games until they start winning. Excuse me? Who guaranteed you a win in life? These kids are out there playing for your entertainment and that's not good enough for you? They have to always win as well? Yeah, losing sucks, but if you cannot even imagine going to a game until the wins start happening you are a fun, not a fan.
And as much as I love fun and doing things that make me happy, I've got no use for you.
Because life can be hard, sunshine, and if you are only in it for the fun and easy parts then I really sort of , kind of, completely believe you don't deserve them. It's the people that stick around when it's ugly, when it's sad, when it's just so fucking hard you cannot believe it that deserve the fun stuff. Those people though? The ones that are always there? They deserve a little fun, don't they? And the ones that can make the hard stuff, the ugly stuff, the painful stuff a little more fun? Well they deserve it all.
Yeah, it's another metaphor..
Be a fan.
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