Sports Fans, Please Stop Using The Word “We”
Comments (11)
Sports fans too often use the word "we" in discussing their favorite teams. (Ingy The Wingy, Creative Commons)
If you’re like me, you would assume that this is a quote from Buster Posey or one of his San Francisco Giants teammates. If you’re like me, you would also be disappointed every time it actually leaves the mouth of a fan.
If I have one pet peeve in life that has no impact on the real world, it is the use of the word “we” by fans. Living in L.A., it is something I hear all the time from the fans of any of the six major professional franchises in the city (male sports).
Call me cynical, but it makes no sense for a fan to refer to an organization as “we.” As a fan, you are not on the court, in the front office or even one of the young boys mopping sweat off the court after every free throw. You have no direct impact on the game, no matter how much you may enjoy telling yourself that by chanting “defense” you are intimidating a grown man making millions for ignoring you as you do just that. Too often you hear how “we are having a good stretch” or “we lost tonight; this sucks.” While I may agree that your favorite team losing does in fact suck, by no means does that justify claiming that you are a part of that team.
The argument I hear all the time about this is that as fans, you have put money into a franchise and invested yourself into that franchise so the use of “we” is justified. I readily admit that I am a fan of Apple products. I own an IPhone (thanks, mom!) and am currently typing this on a MacBook (before you feel the need to leave an anonymous “spoiled” comment, just know that I paid for that one myself). I have arguably put far too much money into Apple products, and have even gone so far as to have ridiculous debates with PC advocates. By all means, I have put as much money and time into Apple as most fans have into their teams (if you have a team logo tattooed on you, feel free to not include yourself in the “most” category).
Yet, I have never once looked at the share price of Apple and said the words, “gosh we had a great quarter.” You know why this is? Because I had no impact on that quarter! I don’t work for Apple or make any decisions for the company! Although, I would be willing to argue that my purchases had more impact than anything a fan can do.
The usual response is something like this: “but sports are entertainment, it’s entirely different than a product like the IPhone.” While I would love to channel my inner Bill Simmons and spend the next 10,000 words debunking that, let's keep it semi-brief. If you own a smart phone, my first question is this; did actual cell reception have anything to do with why you bought your phone? If yes, feel free to stop reading, because this no longer applies to you. If no, you clearly picked that phone for a different reason, such as how much entertainment it offers outside the convenience of phone calls?
If you still find yourself unconvinced, let me offer you this. I am a Tom Cruise fan (if you feel I just lost all credibility, I mostly understand). He gives me all the entertainment I look for when I go to the movies; let's even go so far as to say that I am incredibly disappointed when he releases a sub-par film. As a law-abiding citizen, I pay good money to go see Mr. Cruise’s movies. Having said all of this, I have never walked out of a theatre and said, “you know, we made a great movie there.” I paid my money to be entertained, had no discernable impact on how the movie itself was shot or produced, and therefore have no right to claim any stake in that film with the word “we.”
But Calum (if you’re still reading after finding out I like Tom Cruise, we’re on a first name basis), Calum, you say, part of being a fan is investing yourself in a team. It brings you community. That may be true, but I ask you this: what is the plus side of that? You are subjecting yourself to a franchise and being used by it (why do no Burger King fans say “we”?). You are spending more money and creating more stress in your life, all for something that will leave you disappointed 95 percent of the time.
There is no justifiable, logical reason to refer to a professional sports team as “we.” By using the word “we,” you are knowingly acting irrationally, and even promoting that behavior. For the sake of this country, I can only hope you didn’t wake up this morning wanting to be irrational; and if you did, you may want to email Mr. Cruise and let him know that the two of you made a great film in “Jack Reacher” (just make sure he knows it was “we” who acted those scenes).
Comments
I'm glad i'm not the only one that feels this way. It's understood that "fan" stands for "fanatic" but us "fans" are in no way entitled to use "we" when speaking about our favorite sports teams. Only marginal exception is a college sports fan who actually attended said college. Great column!
There is a psychology term called Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRF). Most humans maintain a self-image based on their perception of how others perceive them. If their team does good, then that success (glory) will somehow be reflected to them by their association with the team. It is irrational but obviously helps many people cope with their lives.
Get a life and write about something real.
screw u
You're such a hater. just let people enjoy being fans. There's nothing wrong with having a stake in your teams success and feeling connected to them.
Your argument means that no one could say "we" when talking about the U.S. because we don't get to determine its laws or policies or things of equal absurdity.
In that case "we" would be the fan base,, still not the team.
According to curriculum presented in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, communities can be defined in several ways, one type of community being a "community of collective interest." These types o communities are comprised of individuals who gather to celebrate or practice collective beliefs and ideas. Church or religious congregations fall into this category of communities, as do crowds of sports fans go gather at a common location (an arena or stadium) to root for a collective goal. Thus, it is not only appropriate to label a conglomerate of sports fans as a community, but it is also possible to use the term "we" to describe one's own community of fans. More importantly, who cares? Does each community member not have the individual right to term his community as he sees fit?
Well first even the most staunch "we" hater usually makes one big exception. If its a college team and you went to that school, you are allowed to say We because you going to that school directly supports the team. Also you are both Trojans or Sun Devils or whatever.
The problem with comparing your love of Tom Cruise with the love of a sports teams is because there is so much passion in sports. When a large portion of people start playing Fantasy Hollywood and become more invested in their favorite actor. Sports is a game of passion and leads to a huge us vs them (and the entire league).
For Example living in the Los Angeles Area, the Dodgers are the dominant baseball team and I happen to be an Angel fan in the middle of a Dodger zone. For me then most of the time I'd have to deal with crap from people because I'm not supporting the Dodgers, I'm not one of them and not being one of them was just insane to them. As I'd talk to Dodger fans more often though we'd tend to say, how are your guys doing? You guys gonna win the World Series?
Your Apple analogy also doesn't work because you've stated yourself to be a pretty strong Apple fanboy. For some reason you then decide to argue with others about the superiority of Apple computers over Windows PC's. It was to an extent because that person wasn't on your team, "Why would that person really think the other "team" is better than Apple" (mine). Perhaps you don't believe that but I assure you a large portion of the "Apple Fanboys" do. When Apple does well they feel a bit better and when Apple does badly they don't feel as good.
Besides I'm a Raider fan and it's been a tough 10 years. Even with the ineptitude of this past decade, I still stick with "my" team. I'm invested in the Raiders and like with the Apple example, when the Raiders succeed I feel good and when they suck I don't feel as good.
Unlike electronics or entertainment though the big difference and the reason why most sports fans refer to a team as "my team" or "we" is because a good sports fan only sticks with one team. The team bandwagoners are never taken seriously because of this and when a perceived bandwagoner even dares to use the term we, they are derided by the "real fans". The only way for Your Tom Cruise example to fully work would be if you only watched Tom Cruise films and that was it.
Really though saying "we" isn't a big deal and usually the people I see that do get annoyed with the word we are the ones who have to hear the newest sports champs fans starting to gloat about their teams championship. A bit bitter, perhaps.
Hey, commenters, you can throw out ticket sales or stadium funding, or whatever, as rational reasons, but if his argument is based on true rationality, he's right.
At the end of the day he just doesn't get sports.
And that's fine. There's is no reason he can drop too much money on a Lakers ticket (Clippers tix still cheaper) and go be entertained by some extremely skilled individuals display their prowess. Hell, I do it, sometimes, when I'm in a foreign city/ no team I care about is on TV.
But if he thinks using "we" to describe the team you live and die for, who you know (or feel you know) like your own brothers, who dictate how well any week will go, doesn't make sense, he just doesn't get sports.
He doesn't get the beautiful way simple, unfettered narratives of larger than life characters serve as a microcosm of life itself, allowing us to throw our emotional weight into something that feels like real life, that offers the full breadth of human passion, but that doesn't spell unemployment when the worst happens, like real life does.
And that's ok. Not everyone does get it. Makes it the more special for those of us who do.
And this investment is not of the voluntary nature that includes ticket sales, merchandise, etc...