A baseball fan's rant.
I'm sitting here, listening to a Rays "fan" have a conversation. He keeps saying "we." We this. We that. I happen to know for a fact that he might turn on a game a half dozen times a season.
I have a problem with the "we."
Because the guys who go out & play 162 (plus Spring Training & if they are lucky, the post-season)? *They* are the team. They are the primary "we." Those of us who dedicate three or so hours of our attention to that 162+ are the auxiliary "we." I recognize that not everybody is going to sit down & watch the way I do, all 162+. And when I can't watch or listen? I am recording. Or getting play-by-play updates via text from someone who *is* watching or listening. It is ok not to be fanatically involved with "your team." They can still be "your team." But you don't get "we" status for watching .4% of the regular season's games & wear a hat or t-shirt sometimes.
I repeat: It's ok not to be fanatically involved, but then you have no right to say "we," which should be reserved for fans who invest time & energy from Spring Training on--and even in the off-season. "We" is for those of us who live & die, night after night, with their team. NOT the casual observer.
I'm not questioning your loyalty (until I hear you make remarks like "Baseball is boring & stupid, the season never ends, how can you watch it?" when "your team" is down in the dumps & then when they're winning again, you suddenly want to talk trash to me), but I will fully admit: I am a baseball fan snob. You don't earn the right to say "we" until you've invested yourself fully in your team.*
*Honorary "we" usage permitted for those who live & die by their team, but whose schedule or responsibilities do not allow for nightly participation, yet still manage to seek out information & remain as immersed as they possibly can.
2 with their own thoughts:
My opinion is one of that anyone who invests any time at all in the team can say we. The minute you spend a dime on anything that goes toward the team's bottom line, it becomes "we". My 2 cents.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. Where I live, surrounded by the most pathetic baseball "fans" ever, I do not feel the same. People who criticize the game, calling it stupid & boring the second their team struggles & only want to be around when they can gloat or talk trash, have soured me tremendously. And spend a dime? In Tampa? I believe the person I am speaking of has never spent money on anything baseball related. I know he's never been to a game in person (him & most of the people in the area, as is evidenced by their attendance) and I've never seen this particular person sporting or carrying anything with their logo. He does take the time to mock my Red Sox t-shirts, my key chain, the decal in my car window (he threatened to slice it with a razor once & to color on it with a Sharpie another time) or my desktop photo from the 2004 World Series though.
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