The life of a fan is filled with ups and downs. The beginning of a season is full of renewed hope and promise; the idea of winning it all is not too much to hope for. Throughout the season there are the edge-of-your-seat moments of big games when the win or the season is on the line. All too often there are the heart-wrenching moments when a player is injured and you fear for his health, the season and his career. There are the deep lows, when the season ends all too early, the disappointment and heartache are raw and you can’t bear to think of another long off-season. And sometimes, there is the euphoria of winning it all.
There is no “typical” fan. Among us are the ritual keepers, the statisticians, the face painters, the casual fan, the fairweather fan and the lifers. We congregate in bars, in parking lots, in the upper decks, on couches, around radios and sometimes alone in cars. We drink beer, cook hot dogs, order pizzas and eat potato chips. We have rivals and second favorite teams. We root for our fantasy players and maybe secretly hope someone sprains an ankle (but not too badly). We know the schedule. We know the Monday Night Football music.* We take off our hats for the National Anthem and sometimes sing along. We reminisce about our first pro game. We talk about how we would manage the team differently.
We are fans. We love the game. We love our team.
What I don’t understand is how one player can ruin it all for some people. Yesterday the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick to a two year contract. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Michael Vick has spent the past eighteen months in a federal jail for conspiracy and crimes related to running a dogfighting operation. Understandably, the Philadelphia fans and media are upset for a variety of reasons. What he did was despicable, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about here. From what I’ve read on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, some fans are saying they are going to stop watching and rooting for the Eagles. Is picking up one player enough to derail a lifetime of support for your team?
I grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan. There are pictures of me as an infant watching the games with my dad and one of my first words was touchdown. I continued watching games with my dad growing up and he taught me about the game. It was what we did together on Sundays. For a couple of years, though, he stopped watching Pro Football because he felt like they made too much money. He was protesting.
Putting aside the financials (how much the Front Office brings in from ticket sales and merchandising versus how much the players make), I didn’t understand then and I don’t understand now how you can stop loving your team, even for a little while. And now with Vick, I don’t understand how he taints the whole Eagles organization. Even if they somehow acquired (shudder) Peyton Manning — my least favorite player, despite his undeniable talent — I would still be an Eagles Fan. I just wouldn’t wear a Manning jersey. And I won’t wear a Vick jersey either. But I will always be an Eagles fan.
On second thought, maybe my dad just didn’t want to watch with me, an annoying adolescent who knelt in front of the TV singing to Randall Cunningham. “All we need is you Cunningham, all we ne-ed is yo-ou.” To the tune of All We Need is a Miracle (Mike and the Mechanics).
*We haaaaate Joe Buck. Ok, maybe that’s just me. I haaaaate Joe Buck.
