A Cup Of Coffee And...When Being a Fan Turns Into Fanatic

To my readers, I have found this great forum for my writings and for my first article here I want to write on a subject that is quite close to my heart, when being a fan turns into a fanatic.

I differentiate between fan and fanatic in that a fan is at heart a truly good person that knows where the line is drawn.  A fanatic has crossed over that line into what is a dangerous, sometimes lethal level. 

When I do write other blogs I like to include stories of my own personal life and include my family.  In the case of this story, I want to include a line that for me came to light a few days after my youngest son was born.  The line is, it goes #1. God #2 Family and #3 Sports.  You see my youngest son was born 4 days before what us Husker fans consider "Black Friday."  Yes, that awful Friday after Thanksgiving in 2001 when Nebraska was crushed by Colorado 62-36.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I rushed home from work, knowing absolutely nothing about the game.  I went to my computer, fired up the web browser and checked for the final score.  I was in shock, I was speechless, and my beloved bride did the greatest thing she could at that moment.  She walked over to me and placed my newborn son in my arms.  I looked down into his eyes, touched his cheek and at that moment it came to life, he didn't care about the score and he sure as heck didn't care about football in general.  He was happy because his daddy was holding him.  I very soon turned off the computer and my oldest son (my step son, but still my son), my youngest son, my wife, and I took a walk to a nearby restaurant for a post-Thanksgiving dinner.

Why do I point this out, easy because we as sports fans sometimes take the final results too seriously.  It gets to the point where if we are talking to fans of other teams, we bash their team or them personally for the teams they like.  I love Nebraska football and Chicago Cubs baseball.  On both fronts I have been asked if I had a death wish (No I do not).  I like San Fran and been called every name in the book on that front.  I am a member of a Husker fan website and many times over I am reminding my fellow fans it's just a game, the sun will come up tomorrow. 

There is talk across Nebraska fan sites about the so-called "hatred" with Colorado fans.  Yeah, there are bad CU fans, but every fan base has them.  I reminded a few of my fellow Husker fans that on any given Saturday, you could be hating on a CU fan and then the next morning hugging the same guy because the Denver Broncoes just scored a touchdown.  Or take Kansas City Chief and Royal fan back in the late 80's.  Depending on what time it was, he was either loving or hating Bo Jackson (famed Raider RB, Royal outfielder).

Why do I bring this up, because this is not how it should be.  When I was in college I was exposed to many different sports fans.  The funny thing was as much as we were fans of our respective teams, more than anything we were friends.  My roomate in college likes the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas Jayhawks.  I like Nebraska, North Carolina and San Fransisco.  Did we hate each other?   Nope, we respected our differences.  Did we disagree during the games?  Yes, and depending on the outcome there was some light rubbing it in going on, no name calling, and then we would hope in the car, go to a restaurant, eat some dinner and enjoy another game not involving our teams.  That is being a fan.

So are you a fan?  A person that just enjoys the sports and competition.  I know on any given college football Saturday I love catching a good shoot out or defensive battle when Nebraska isn't playing.  I love watching the other Big 12 schools to gauge just how far NU has to go to catch up.  I love watching SEC football because that is awesome atmosphere.  I love catching PAC-10 football because nothing ends a good day of football like a close West Coast battle.  The same goes for hockey, the NFL, college basketball, and the NBA.  If I get the luxury of catching a game, that is great.  If it's a close contest, even better.  And the few times when real life isn't interrupting and I get to catch my favorite team, well, win or loss, that's just icing on the cake.

Or are you a fanatic?  A person that swears up and down the sun will not rise the next day.  You believe since your team lost health care reform wont pass again this week (sorry, win or lose, it wont pass this week anyways).  Or even worse, those in your family shy away for a few hours because after that loss you aren't a person they want to be around.

So, a bit of advice fellow sports fans, be a fan, enjoy the games for those few great hours, then let it go.  Believe me, there are more important things in the world and believe or not, the sun will come up tomorrow.