Sunday, October 18, 2009
All weekend long I was reminded of how pathetic hot-headed, short-tempered, sport-crazed knuckle-dragging male sports fans are. It's easy here in Columbus with the Buckeyes cult in full effect. At the gym, exasperated, know it all sideline critics barked at the TV and offered their sage tips at how they would coach the team and how unbelievable all the calls that went Purdue's way were. It was all I could do not laugh out loud at some of the comments. These were by in large, old, overweight men who I assume have no formal training coaching a football team yet the seemed to know it all! And they were ready to let everyone else know exactly what they were thinking. Now I like the Twins. I've blogged about them many times on this very blog. But I don't claim to be a coach. And I don't bark angry bile at the TV during a game. And if the Twins lose, I don't hang on to 'rage' or disappointment after the game. Why? IT'S A GAME! And even more specifically, it's not a game I or anyone I personally know was playing in. Get over it! It continued Sunday with bars and restaurants full of jersey-clad, uber fans who spent the day glued to TV monitors everywhere we went, cheering on the Bengals & Browns.
I guess I just find such fanaticism not just extreme, but an extreme waste of time. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a game... of feeling the camaraderie that goes along with having a unifying reason to cheer with other people you are with. It's the face and body painting, the screaming at referees, the vein-popping, angry barking at TV screens, and the lengthy 'my world is ending because our coach and team owners sucks' blog critiques on sports pages that I don't understand. How about getting a hobby that you actually participate in in a real way? And one that doesn't result in your parking your butt on a couch for three hours stuffing your face with greasy, fried food while you tell professionally trained, in-shape people you don't know how much better you'd be than them if you had their job? Just my two cents.
