The Nature of Fandom

The last six weeks for the Steelers has made me reflect on the nature of fandom.  The Steelers in particular are a top tier team in the NFL in terms of prestige, and therefore have a lot of fair weather fans (which is easy when the weather is often fair for them).  It is these fans who are the ones cursing the team after a loss like last night, calling them bums, and giving up on them.

Coming from Pittsburgh originally, though, I have been a Steeler fan, and with much greater difficulty, a Pirates fan my entire life.  2009 marked the point in which the Steelers proved to be the best NFL franchise of all time with 6 Superbowls, and the Pirates proved themselves to be the worst franchise of all time with 16 consecutive losing seasons.  And yet I root for each team with the same passion, and experience the same heartache with each loss.

Being a real fan is heartbreaking.  You don't have the luxury of turning your allegiance on and off depending on whether your team is a success or not.

A slide like the Steelers have been on these past six weeks is like a kick in the gut.  To simply dismiss the team and turn on them is, to me, not what a fan would do.

You wouldn't do that to a team that a member of your family was on.  That's what these teams feel like to fans.  You have grown up with them, and you don't get to choose whether you like them or not: it's in your blood.


And it hurts more than it should.  It's silly, but you can't help it.