Anti-Fan

If you read yesterday’s article, I talked about superstition and how it fits into sports and also our everyday lives. I mentioned how stupidstition, as I like to call it, is usually just a metaphor for failure. There are other times where superstition and the stupid practice of it are the results from something other than personal or group failure. I am going to utilize myself as an example for this article. Yes, I am the guinea pig today, the fodder it feeds upon, and the person to make fun of after you’re done reading. As you can see, today’s article is titled Anti-Fan. That’s me. I am the anti-fan, the anti-hero for your team, the antithesis of good luck (when it comes to who I want to win). So, this particular stupidstition is not a result of my personal failure or involvement in a group failure, but rather from an outsider’s perspective of failure. Failure is still the key, but just not my own.

From the previous articles, you have gathered that I am a sports fan. Starting from about the age of 11 or 12, I really focused on baseball. For the next few years, I played in a variety of summer leagues to satisfy my competitive needs. After baseball, I found out I liked basketball. Basketball took over for me after I broke my arm a couple of times playing baseball too foolishly. Just a little insight into my playing style, I played to win, I played hard, and I was ultra competitive. Winning to me was everything and I would do everything in my power to make sure winning was a potential result. It’s a typical male perspective, the alpha male syndrome. So, after the broken arms curtailed my baseball pursuits, basketball reignited my competitive flame. Hours upon hours and weeks, months, and years of playing took its toll upon my body. As a result, a serious knee injury knocked me out of the game forever. Of course I had to replace it with something, so softball came into play. There is always a sport to move on to if you have a need for competition coursing through your blood. I spent a few years playing softball, but an injury didn’t curtail that career, boredom did. Softball just isn’t exciting. What’s next you ask? Let’s go for bowling. Currently, I am in my bowling career. Exciting? No, not quite. Competitive? Yes.

That’s my background to this point involving sporting activities. I guess you can throw in ping pong, horse shoes, and even some football in there. I haven’t devolved into golf, shuffleboard, or backgammon just yet. What I am trying to get across is that I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the sports field. If it’s a sport, I probably know something about it. Along with that, I probably have even developed affection for a team that I “root” either for or against. Yes, I admit, I root against teams. In actuality, I think I have more fun rooting for people to lose than I do for teams to win. Maybe that’s where the title of my article comes into play. Could that be why I view myself as the Anti-Fan? Let’s get into my stupid little superstition involving sports.

My personal stupidstition, and the only one that I knowingly participate in, involves my choice for who I want to win in ANY sporting event. Now, first off, I want to make sure that you know this is not a 100% stupidstition, there is some risk involved and success has been known to happen. The whole situation consists of this: If I want a team to win and I watch the game on television or listen to the game on the radio, chances are, they are going to lose. The opposite is of course that if I do not have any knowledge of the game, they will win. Now, given the introduction to me and my sporting activities along with my desires for competition, you must also know that I actually care who wins or loses. However, over many years of being a dedicated sports fan, I have come to the conclusion that I am the reason why my teams lose. Yes, everyone that roots for the same team can publicly blame me for their demise. I have big shoulders, I can take it. Better yet, make me the superstition for the results of your team’s failures. If they lose, I must have been watching or listening. If they win, my electric was probably out. You’re welcome by the way.

As I stated earlier, I enjoy rooting for teams to lose. I think the only possible explanation for me being the anti-fan is that statement. My stupidstition’s payback for enjoying other team’s losing more than my team’s winning has resulted in my teams never winning. Well, not never, but you get the idea. I’ve even tried (pretended) to say it didn’t matter who won or lost, but during those last few minutes, I DO care! The stupidstition knows this and pays me back accordingly. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that about 80% of the time, if I want the team to win, I can NEVER watch or listen to them. I have to be a closet fan. NOBODY can EVER know I like them. I can’t buy a hat, a shirt, or even have their logo around me, the stupidstition will know. It’s just that bad. Is there a problem with this stupidstition? If I root for a team to lose, and I am the anti-fan, shouldn’t they win? OF COURSE! Guess what, that happens. I can thoroughly enjoy the demise of a team I dislike only for them to pull out some sort of miraculous breakthrough win. I can give example after example supporting my stupidstition since I began watching sports closely in 1982. Yes, it goes back that far.

Where’s the twist for today’s article, shouldn’t there be some metaphor I turn to or introspective look inside myself to support a claim? Not really a twist, but the theory I have resigned myself to, is that you should not enjoy the failures of someone else, no matter what the circumstances are. My support of and rooting for teams to lose is repaid to me in the fact that my teams do not win. Thus, I am the anti-fan. Stay away from me or I may infect you. The only way for true closure of this stupidstition is to begin rooting for those teams I cannot stand. Yes, the only true path to victory is to support other people in their paths to success. This does not only apply to sports. Here’s that twist I’ve been leading up to. People in our world sometimes revel in the fact that those around them are failing and in turn, potentially open avenues for success in their own world. What they do not know is that they are becoming the anti-fan to their own success. Supporting and basking in the failures of others will only lead to your own failure. You cannot win by living upon the demise of others. So I go forward, rooting for the Lakers, Notre Dame, and even the Chicago Cubs to do well. Yes, I said it and no, the St. Louis Cardinal fan base has not kicked me out.

Today’s article comes down to one thing. You must support other people in their pursuits of happiness and success. If you do not, your own pursuits of success could be negatively impacted. Stupidstition or not, you just cannot feed upon the failures of other human beings. Go forward in your life rooting for people, not rooting against. If other people follow the same ideology, imagine how many people are rooting for you in your quests. It feels good to root for someone, much better than rooting against them. Live your life rooting for success. Focus on the positive and remove the negative. It’s a way of life and not just some stupidstition.