Fans

I’m struggling with my identity as a Bengals fan given their consistently poor leadership and on-field performance over the past 20 years.  That got me thinking, why am I a Bengals fan?  Or, more generally, what makes me a fan of any particular team?  Here’s the reasons I came up with:

1.      Affiliation (geographic, university matriculation) - growing up in Cincinnati, I was raised to cheer for the hometown teams: the Reds and Bengals.  In the four years as an undergraduate at Notre Dame, I became a big Notre Dame sports fan.  Affiliation is probably the most commonly listed reason people give for cheering for a particular team.  I’m no different.  In fact, I’m being converted to a Packer fan since my fiancé is from Wisconsin. 

2.      Management/Ownership – most owners and managers/coaches are very serious about putting together and sustaining winning programs.  It is these programs that I respect, even if they lack the other 3 characteristics on this list.  Prime examples are the Steelers , Patriots, and Yankees.  Many people, including me, love to hate these teams because they have won more championships than any other team in their respective leagues.  They are the ‘goliaths’ that no one likes to root for.  But for this very reason, I respect the fact that they are able to win more consistently than any other organizations.  Some might attribute their success to deep pockets, but in the NFL, where parity is the name of the game, it’s hard to ignore the Steeler and Patriot (and Bengal, on the opposite end of the spectrum) outliers. 

3.      Player character – It’s hard to root for quarterbacks who allegedly rape women, players and coaches who are arrested multiple (1 would also be unacceptable) times for drunk driving, and college coaches who recruit student-athletes who, for whatever reason, graduate at rates of less than 50%.  In fact, this makes it much easier to root against those teams.  On the flip side, it’s very easy to root for guys who give back to the community, stay out of trouble, and are known to be team players. 

4.      Fan character – The example that prompted me to write this: I just overheard a Green Bay Packer fan walking through the Atlanta airport, on the eve of Super Bowl XLV (Packers v. Steelers).  Two weeks ago, Green Bay defeated Atlanta in the NFC Championship, shouting “Thank you!...fine people of Atlanta, and the Falcons, for getting whooped, and sending the Packers to the Super Bowl.”  Clearly he had a few on his arriving flight.  Now, up to this point, I would say I’m progressing into more and more of a Packer fan.  But this guy just caused a temporary relapse.  If the Packers do lose this Super Bowl, I wish I could be there to hear that inevitably drunk and annoying Steeler fan berate him a little. 

My message to him and all fans is that you can still enjoy your team’s success without being an a-hole.  Unfortunately, there are annoying and uncouth fans of every team.  There just seem to be a lot more Ohio State Buckeye fans! 

In short, I think Notre Dame and the Reds do well at #1-#3 and, for the most part, 4.  They are my favorite teams.  The Bengals’ overwhelming deficiencies in departments 2 and 3 have led me to officially (if you call this blog official) renounce my status as a Bengal fan.