Diary of a Mad Sports Fan

Imagine, if you will, something you care deeply for. Not a child or the love of your life, but something you are passionate about, a hobby maybe. Now, pretend your passion for said hobby were subject to ridicule. Other people, often times people you do not even know, making snide remarks, criticizing, even questioning your character simply based on your love of this polarizing pastime.

 Every sports fan experiences some level of this in regards to which teams they support, and they should. Debate, banter, even trash talk is part of the game. It’s what makes it fun to be a fan. However, it can eventually become exhausting to feel you are continuously beat over the head with ridicule over and over and over. I am a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Heat, the two most hated teams in their respective sports. While Dallas has long held this title, the Heat are a recent addition and, consequently, I have become a mad sports fan.

The Dallas Cowboys have been much maligned since right around the time they were glossed “America’s Team”, before I even existed on this planet. Considering I have been a fan since I was 9 years old and that the Cowboys are a religion of sorts in my family, I am very accustomed to the beating I must endure as a result. To those who may not be aware, it is, at times, brutal. 

There are days where walking into Wal Mart with a Tony Romo jersey on is as dangerous as walking into a Tea Party town hall meeting wearing a picture of President Obama chanting “Yes We Can!” Someone is going to tell you what they think about it and, odds are, it will not be positive reinforcement. Not to mention the constant jumping on and off of the bandwagon therefore leading half of the people you speak with to assume you are a “bandwagoner.” 

You deal with it even though you want to say “I am a Dallas Cowboys fan! Not a Terrell Owens fan. Not a Pacman Jones fan. Not even a Jerry Jones fan. Just a Cowboys fan!” It would be in vein, of course, so you take the abuse, stand by your fandom and keep moving.

However, now I must endure the same treatment as a Miami Heat fan. A little background: I am not a lifelong fan such as with the Cowboys. I did not grow up watching much basketball. Still, in 2003, I decided to start following the sport. All of my other sports allegiances lied in Texas, yet I’ve spent most of my life in Florida. I went in search for a Florida NBA team. 

After comparing the two (Orlando and Miami) I decided I preferred Miami’s look and feel so I dug further. I discovered newly drafted rookie Dwyane Wade, liked what I saw and was sold. 

Being a Heat fan was relatively uneventful as it relates to disdane from opposing fans. That is, naturally, until Lebron. The second James decided he was “taking his talents to South Beach” the Heat immediately became the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA. Fans literally rooting against them, not for the other team, just against Miami. Many people saw Lebron as a bad person and the Heat as an evil empire and therefore all fans were either one of two things: A bandwagon jumper or a supporter of all that is evil.

So somehow, for completely different reasons and under totally separate circumstances, I became a fan of the two teams people currently love to see lose the most. This is not fun. Again, not only do I accept trash talk as a part of being a sports fan, I welcome it. There are few activities I love more than a good sports debate. Still, there is a limit to what even a pretty thick-skinned guy such as myself can handle. 

This all happened by accident. If I had jumped on both bandwagons, I would deserve what I got. This isn’t the case. I am an innocent bystander being rundown by almost every vehicle on the road. I am a mad sports fan. A once prideful champion for my chosen franchises beaten into a bitter, spiteful man always on the defense ready to pounce on any hint of skepticism or doubt toward my fanhood.

There is, though, a bright side that runs parallel to all of this darkness. Think back on a time where you felt the world was against you. Maybe no one liked your significant other or people were making bets on how long it would take you to quit the football team (not speaking from personal experience or anything…) What happened? You defend yourself harder than ever. 

Knowing that the vast majority of the professional athletics vewing public is praying for your teams demise carries with it “increased fandom” as a side effect. You cheer harder, longing for the “How does that taste?!” moment. 

Still, the increased passion and desire to win and prove everyone wrong only lead to twice the fall when they let you down. When the world gets their “Told you so” and you have nothing to counter with, it hurts. I know I am not alone in this. Others have had or are currently having the same experience. This is why this is not just for me. This is not my diary. This is the diary of a mad sports fan.