warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Fickle Fans And My Struggle Not To Be One At USC

Sophie Pustil |
October 31, 2011 | 6:32 p.m. PDT

Staff Writer

 Sara Ramsey/ Neon Tommy)
Sara Ramsey/ Neon Tommy)
When I came to USC just over three years ago the hardest thing to adjust to was not the climate, the distance, or the fact that nobody seemed to understand what I meant by “washroom”. Since landing in LA, I have struggled to be a good USC Trojans fan - the kind of fan who would never miss a home game and who wouldn’t get self-conscious when pumping two fingers in the air in time to the fight song. 

After all, I am not a bandwagon fan. The teams I support are my teams for life, through thick and thin (and being from Toronto, there’s plenty of thin). I came to USC with all the intentions of jumping right in, but here I am three years later, the day of the USC-Stanford game, asking my friend if I can borrow her extra jersey for the game because I never bothered to buy my own.

Despite genuinely enjoying football, I never really followed the CFL back home. Although I have a soft spot for the Patriots, I would never feel comfortable actually referring to myself as a fan. I enjoy watching the Pats but they never really felt like mine.

So when I came to LA I was excited to be a part of that football culture and to be supporting a team that was indisputably mine (which, given the cost of tuition, seems fair). But something funny happened - they won a lot of games. In fact, when they didn’t win people were angry. Not the type of anger that comes along with heartbreak, the kind of anger that comes with entitlement. The kind of anger that probably fueled the Vancouver riots following the Canucks loss in the Stanley Cup Finals - they deserved to win, and the fact that they didn’t was insulting. 

Which isn’t to say I’m above that. I’m a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I have not experienced a single season that hasn’t ended with disappointment. Despite that, I still watch as many of their 82 games as I possibly can, knowing all to well how painful it may be.

So yes, I support losing teams and I am proud to say that not once has the notion of supporting another team entered my mind. How could it? Once you’ve committed to a team, that team is your family. You love them despite the trouble and pain they cause you, and even though you may not approve of everything they do, you are stuck with them. To be a fan is to know suffering, and if you have not suffered you are not a fan. 

Which brings me back to USC. That first season, with its blowout games, full stadium and packed student section ended with a Rose Bowl victory, but I wasn’t sure how to feel. How do you enjoy a victory without bearing witness to the work that led up to it? It felt inappropriate to act as though it meant as much to me as it did to the people around me who had presumably watched USC football for years. Celebrating a win as a fan has no meaning if the team hasn’t emotionally tortured you in the years that predate it. 

How can it be satisfying, or in any way validate years spent screaming at your television if it’s anything less? I was thrilled that the Trojans won, but much like watching the Patriots I felt like an outsider looking in. I wanted to be able to celebrate but it just rang false. 

Cut to three years later and the Coliseum is looking sparse. I’m able to show up thirty minutes before the kickoff and still get incredible seats, seats I couldn’t get freshman year when I was in line three hours before the start of a game. People tell me this is just sports in Los Angeles, but with college sports it should be different. Los Angeles is a city full of transplants, people who come here already having a pro sports allegiance to their home teams. With no pro-NFL team in LA, the Trojans have filled that void in the local sports market for students, alumni and local residents. They were all showing up mere years ago decked out in cardinal and gold—so where are they now?

 Sara Ramsey/Neon Tommy)
Sara Ramsey/Neon Tommy)
Yes, USC is dealing with NCAA sanctions that make it hard to get too excited about the outcome of games. The only thing really at stake with no chance at a championship game is integrity – staying motivated despite not having as clear a goal to work towards. But isn’t that what sports is really about? 

Obviously claiming it’s not about winning or losing is completely idiotic, but there is something to be said about “how you play the game”. How you play is a lot more impressive when it’s on the right side of a win, but as a fan, the integrity of the team matters almost as much. 

So yes, USC isn’t winning a title this year, but that doesn’t make them losers. It’s more important than ever to actually show up to games and let them know how much you as a fan appreciate how hard they are working.

The funny thing about all of this – about seeing how quickly the fans I assumed were diehards seemed to lose interest when the going got tough – is that for the first time I don’t feel like an impostor when I put on my friend’s jersey. In fact, I’m seriously considering investing in one myself. 

I’m still not sure I’ve suffered much though. Maybe it’s some sick form of masochism, but then that’s what it means to be a good sports fan. And the next time the Trojans do win a bowl game – presumably before the Leafs or Jays win anything in their respective leagues – I’m happy to say that I think it’s going to mean a little more to me than it did before.

 

Reach Sophie Pustil here.

Best way to find more great content from Neon Tommy?

Or join our email list below to enjoy the weekly Neon Tommy News Highlights.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness