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Let's play a little game called "just the tip." As we continue our new weekly "Ask Complex" series, the tips and questions are really starting to heat up and open some great conversations. Today, we're dissecting fandom and just how much you inherit from your team's historical successes. Here's the question:
Q: Can fans claim championships won before they were born? —Mike, Houston
I used to equate this to birthdays. I never really liked birthdays, because you’re essentially taking credit for somebody else’s work. You have no stake in the sex, the months of pregnancy, morning sickness, and hours of labor that led to your birth. But it’s your day, even though you did next to nothing other than ruin your mother’s walls for life.
So you can argue that. However, look at the endless tears, stress, exaltation, and arguments caused by sports fandom. It’s deeper than a day of narcissism. The joy of sports fandom is its sense of community, and within it lies a birthright. The suggestion that fans can’t claim championships before they were birthed inherently gives such achievements temporal restrictions. Championships mark legacy, and that legacy dies when the fans—the only ones who supposedly can claim them—also pass away. And with that goes the franchise’s prestige. “Real” fans wouldn’t want that, right?
The idea that I wouldn’t be able to claim the Yankees’ other 22 championships or the Giants’ 1990 championship is made by uptight fans of perpetually struggling franchises who need such ideas to justify their own suffering. Like Buffalo...or Cleveland. Who they got? Kenny Lofton? He’s cool, but if I saw him at a Chipotle holding a tray with a burrito and the only thing between him and a seat was my backpack, I’m not moving my backpack.
But anyway, skedaddle with that nonsense. – Brian Josephs (@Bklyn_Rock)
1.
First of all, leave Kenny Lofton out of this. That man is a saint.
I get what you're saying, but it's one thing to know and appreciate your history. It's another to blindly use it as a weapon. You're certainly correct in saying that sports are all about legacy. Part of what makes them so great is the ever-changing storyline of your team, emotionally living each day by the glory and pitfalls of the games. But you didn't live and die through however many championships your team won before. That was not part of your experience as a fan. And that's what being a fan is really about. Being a fan is more than just saying, "okay, I'm going to like them now, check me out, my team is the best 'cause it has a million championships." Being a fan is all about building a collection of experiences.
This topic touches home for a few personal reasons. Most aggressively, I've gotten in this argument while living with a friend from Boston. Trying to have a discussion with this dude about the Celtics is pointless, because it always comes back to one thing: "17 championships, bro. Seventeen championships." To that, I say: "You were alive for one." You were literally not even an idea in your Pops' head when those 16 other NBA seasons, playoffs, and championships happened. As a fan, you might have rewatched some tape of the games, but you did not experience that. I legitimately do not think it's fair for somebody to try to flaunt something that they were in no way a part of. I don't accept somebody playing that card in discussions about current teams. Bringing up championships is for people who can't back up their sides of arguments. It's an easy, brain-dead fall back.
Brian, you said that this type of thinking gives championships temporal restrictions and said that teams would lose prestige this way. I agree. Teams do lose prestige, and that's another reason sports are fun. Things change. It's a constantly evolving environment. Teams have their time in the spotlight, then it's somebody else's turn, just like anything else in life.
This whole championship thing goes the other way, concerning the lack of championships, as well. I'm a Chicago Cubs fan...
...
Get your jokes out? You done? Look, I get it that it's been an extremely long time since the Cubbies won a championship. Yes, it's been more than 100 years, but guess what? I haven't been a fan for 100 years. I haven't been suffering for 100 years. I'm 25, so I've actually been closely watching a losing team for about 20. Is 20 still a long time? Yeah, sure it is, but it's not horrific. More than anything, it's got to the point where I just want the Cubs to win so everybody else can shut up. – Tony Markovich (@T_Marko)
Previously:
What is the Most Meaningless Stat in the NFL?
If the NBA Were a Fight Club, Whose Starting Five Would You Want?
The EPL vs. Bowl Season: Which Sport Is More Worthy of Your Valuable Holiday Season Hours?
