Monday, October 8, 2012

What Kind Of Fan Are You?

During a hard fought game between the Ravens and the Chiefs, Matt Cassel was knocked unconscious during this play.  

  
 You can't hear through the video but the fans cheered when they saw their quarterback laying on the ground.  I guess his play had been terrible enough to warrant cheers for his physical demise.  


Here is a quote by Eric Winston (Chief's offensive lineman) in reaction to the home field fans that cheered.  


  
What does it say about us as a people?  I know I've been guilty for cheering when others have gotten rocked on a football field.  I've even screamed for Vitor Belfort to pop and break Jon Jones arm during their fight.  

    
Does that make me a bad guy?  Am I blood thirsty?  Or am I and most Americans detached from reality?  Of course I don't feel like a bad guy and to my knowledge I'm not a vampire.  So I must be detached.  

How have I gotten this way?  Personally, I think it's the fact that it's on the tube, which has desensitized me to violence.  For example, you can see a person's head blow up on a popular show like "Bones".  So when you see a guy get crushed on the field, it doesn't seem as violent.  

Secondly, professional athletes like to talk a lot of smack (to build up fan excitement).  So much smack that you think they really do hate each other and like most reality shows, it's all about the drama.  So like any drama the audience ends up taking sides and viewing the "other side" as a villain (deserving of poor fortune). 

How do we become reattached to reality?  By visualizing if we personally knew the players.  We need to realize that the personalities we see on television aren't 100 percent real.  Bad guys aren't that bad and good guys aren't that great.  We need to recognize that every athlete is a son, husband and father.  If we were to see them as a family or friend we might not cheer so enthusiastically for them to get their arm ripped off.   

When we are able to do that we'll be a better fan.  A humane fan who realizes a person's life is greater then a win or a loss.     

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