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Is Your Team Really “Your” Team?
October 1, 2013 was the last time I was as excited as though I were still a young boy.
That was the night of the first expanded format of Major League Baseball’s Wild Card game. I had made the trip from Columbus, Ohio to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to see my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates face the Cincinnati Reds.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Reds’ starting pitcher Johnny Cueto had his name mockingly chanted by over 40,000 Pirates fans.
Cueto then dropped the ball.
On the next pitch, the Pirates catcher, Russell Martin, lifted the ball into the clear evening Pittsburgh sky. I can still see the ball traveling toward our section in the outfield, as if in slow motion. Just after the baseball appeared to enlarge to the size of a softball, in dropped in among our seats.
Pandemonium erupted.
I, along with most of the people of Pittsburgh, became elated that evening. Especially since it was our first postseason appearance since 1992—and we won the game.
Fast forward to this spring. The Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a rousing start. However, when their record tailed off to 12-10, I decided for the first time in 50 years to reevaluate how I was spending my time with my favorite team.
Just because I had dedicated hours over the last five decades following the team (or if I wanted to be really honest, months), did I really want to continue this way? As I tell my time management classes, it is often a choice in our lives of “discipline now or regret later.”
Bob Costas, in this book Fair Ball, quotes a Major League Baseball official who said that at the start of each new season, only a handful of MLB teams have a legitimate shot at playing in the World Series. The remainder of the clubs play for “entertainment value.”
During the half century I had been a Pirates fan, did the club ever send me a thank you note? Had a player or manager ever invited me over to their house for a cookout? Of course not! (Now, to be fair, the Pirates don’t even know I or most of their fans even exist.)
When you come home from work or school, does your family charge you to park your car in the driveway, eat dinner or sleep in a bed? (I sure hope not!) But to see “your” team play, don’t they charge you $20, $30 or even $50 to park, and then also charge you for your seat and concessions? If this were truly “your” team, shouldn’t “your” team offer you those amenities … for free, and only charge the fans of the “other” team? Of course not! Why not? Because this is not truly “your” team, this is a business. And this business believes that you will give them more business if you can think of their team as “your” team.
After a critical loss by your team, can you find yourself “down in the dumps” for hours, maybe even days? Yes, that loss affects the players, too. But realize that after the game they may be jumping into their Ferraris and Maseratis to drive to their multi-million-dollar mansions in the suburbs to be consoled by their trophy wives. Me, I would often just need to wallow in the loss by myself.
Two clerks at our local post office seem to know everything about the local college football team. They are each frequent winners on a local radio station’s football trivia contest. Why, they probably even know the players’ shoe sizes and the names of the players’ wives or girlfriends! But do these post office workers’ lives feel so empty they must live their lives vicariously through the lives of local celebrities? Do the football players know the shoe sizes and names of the postal workers’ wives, too?
So I decided to no longer follow or listen to each Pirates game, and I have only checked the MLB standings once a month (or less). It surprised me how easy it was for me to make the transition from such a long-standing habit. Yet it was because I had a why. (I wanted to make more of my time, my time.)
There is nothing wrong with having a favorite team to follow. We each need to have outside interests and recreation to live a balanced life. It can be especially beneficial if we can find a passion that we can share with family and friends. But when we have that passion to the exclusion of spending time with family and friends, it can become a problem.
An addiction to sports can be like an addiction to a smartphone.
I must admit that my iPhone is my “best friend.” However, it troubles me to see some parents at the local park with their young children. The kids are trying to get Mommy’s and Daddy’s attention but the parents are oblivious as they gaze into the small screen of the device they hold in their hand.
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Photo credit: Flickr