I had a moment the other day when I recognized that I am starting to enjoy football again. One of the things about being fiercely loyal to and supportive of a bad team is that it is hard to recognize the good in other teams or to feel good about getting behind them for a while. Sports, in that sense, is a relationship, and checking out other teams felt like cheating.
I got over it, eventually. At first I just watched Raiders games, exclaiming that I was watching Beast Mode and not the team itself. In time I grew to recognize the raw idiocy of that idea. That I even felt the need to qualify watching other teams is ridiculous. I have no tether, physical or otherwise, to the New York Giants that precludes me liking other teams. Any boundaries drawn in that sense are entirely social. For whatever reason we are taught that we are to like one team–usually the home team–and this philosophy is socially reinforced at every level of organized sports.
I showed up to my kids’ wrestling match last night accidentally wearing the other teams’ colors. People did not react well. Some of the more serious supporters of the team did actually mention the gear as a joke. I’d worn the colors basically as a personal homage to the days of street corner mafioso jumpsuits.
Some Thoughts:
- More info came out on the NFL and ESPN folks suspended due to allegations of sexual misconduct. What I find interesting is that in the sea of women employed and the open ability of these powerful and brave women to make comments, the only comments have been directed towards the executive named in the suit and nothing outside of the singular claim has been said suggesting the behavior of the former players was in any way out of line towards other women. It continues to feel like part truth and part money grab and that is a sad commentary on our society.