Blog You in the Schnoz: Amanda on Being on the Team: It's "Them," Not "We"

“Fan” comes from “fanatic,” defined as “a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal.” Not all fans are fanatics; it’s possible to enjoy something without it overcoming you. But one indicator that you’ve crossed the line from fan to fanatic is if you begin to believe you are a member of your favorite team. If you have reached this point, you have contracted this “excessive and single-minded zeal” like a virus. And when you are focused so intently on a team that you begin to think you’re on it, life becomes sad for you if you realize that you aren’t.

Friends, let’s come to reality slowly and together. You are not a member of the team, and life is still not sad. You have so many good qualities. I’m sure you are an excellent singer. Or you’re really good with kids. Your mom probably thinks you’re great. You might be a math genius or a really fast runner. Whatever the case is, just be you, which is a truthful role you can inhabit, not some delusion that you are a member of a multimillion dollar franchise that doesn’t even know your name.

I’m not a big fan of sports, but I am a big fan of lots of other things that I know have nothing to do with me. I don’t think I am a part of my favorite band. I know my favorite book was not written about me. I don’t try to wait tables when I’m at my favorite restaurant. I know there are boundaries between me and the things that I like, and that this is OK, and that happiness can be found in other ways rather than insisting that I am included in something that I am not included in.

The beautiful thing that you are a part of as a fan is a fan base: a group of like-minded people who enjoy the same thing as you do. This is great! This is coming together in a good, healthy way! In the case of sports, this is watching football or baseball or whatever and appreciating it, and identifying with the struggle of it, and maybe even getting a rush or two out of it. Making some friends because of it, and maybe having a disagreement or two with a fan of another team, but not declaring him your mortal enemy. Because you don’t need to hate any more people than you already do, and you especially don’t need to hate people because they like different guys who throw or kick or hit balls on TV than you like.

This is not taking anything too personally, and this does not lead to the maniacal burning of cars and drunken riots in city streets.

So let’s just let our favorite teams be our favorite teams, and us be ourselves. And in case I’ve left anything unclear, feel free to utilize the flow chart I’ve created to determine whether or not you are a member of the team.