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Thread: My year of sports fandom!

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    My year of sports fandom!

    I am, on April 1st (no foolin') going to become a sports fan for one year.

    Insights, ideas, suggestions, and words of caution are welcome.

    Yes, this is a lifestyle experiment. And my intention is to become a fan of one major league baseball team, one NFL team, and one NHL team.

    Obviously I will be a fan of the OSU Buckeye football team. That almost goes without saying.

    My goals are to learn about people, our culture, and to have some new and interesting experiences.

    Thoughts?

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    I’m not sure that word means what you think it means...

    deciding to to “become a fan” seems like deciding to fall in love or find religion....

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chicken lady View Post
    I’m not sure that word means what you think it means...

    deciding to to “become a fan” seems like deciding to fall in love or find religion....
    1. It is just for a year.
    2. I think it is different than deciding to fall in love.
    3. It is like a religion, I suppose, minus requisite belief in the supernatural.

    I actually have two "spiritual guides" on this journey. Two coworkers who are huge sports fans are helping with this process.

  4. #4
    Yppej
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    You can combine attending live games with televised ones, but to best understand the sports you should play them yourself. Do you get free phys ed classes as an employee benefit? Or will an amateur league welcome you?

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    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    I think you definitely will experience a kind of tribalism that you'll find interesting.

    My suggestion is to read a lot, both about the team you follow and about other teams and the sport itself. IME only listening/watching quickly devolves into an echo chamber.

    And go to a game. Even just one game. Any game. All the sports are very different when they're away from the long lens of the TV camera.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

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    Doesn’t “fan” come from “fanatic”? It just seems like something you either feel, or you don’t. I don’t know how you decide to feel something. (I know several bad ways to decide to NOT feel something...)

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    You should choose the Arizona diamondbacks! I’m not a fan but I love going to their games. For a few years I lived within sight of the stadium and we would walk to a game now and then. Watched the home game Friday night fireworks from our apartment.

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    You can combine attending live games with televised ones, but to best understand the sports you should play them yourself. Do you get free phys ed classes as an employee benefit? Or will an amateur league welcome you?
    I have played backyard football and baseball when I was a kid. But I have not played hockey. I am not much of a skater.

    The experiment is mostly about fandom rather than actually playing the sports.

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    I think you definitely will experience a kind of tribalism that you'll find interesting.

    My suggestion is to read a lot, both about the team you follow and about other teams and the sport itself. IME only listening/watching quickly devolves into an echo chamber.

    And go to a game. Even just one game. Any game. All the sports are very different when they're away from the long lens of the TV camera.
    Yes, the tribalism is intriguing.

    I do intend to attend some games, either home, away, or both.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chicken lady View Post
    Doesn’t “fan” come from “fanatic”? It just seems like something you either feel, or you don’t. I don’t know how you decide to feel something. (I know several bad ways to decide to NOT feel something...)
    That is part of the experiment. Can I feel it? If I do, what will it feel like? If I can't feel it, then what? And so on...

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