Reflections of a Dawg Fan

“Glory”
(Played after a score)

I am a huge fan of college football, especially the Georgia Bulldogs. I’ve loved football since I was old enough to run around with a ball, and even when I lived in Ohio I cheered for the Dawgs.  As anyone who has visited our red walled living room knows I proudly display my support…especially at this time of the year when Georgia plays Florida.I happen to feel that if Divine Preference is involved, then God probably loves UGA football more than UF’s program. I have no real evidence, but it feels good to me.Perhaps my experience is a revelation of a greater truth. Let’s use Saturday’s game (incredibly disappointing!) as an example:On Saturday Georgia got beat by Florida (in overtime!) . The game was intense and close.  As I watched “my team” go down in flames, I was more and more frustrated. I started fiddling with my computer while only partially paying attention. 

As I watched, I saw many of the things I’d seen so many times: cheering and elated fans for the winning team while the losing team had people crying and holding each other from the loss.  I watched fans with their hands together, looking up at the sky, as the final seconds determined who would win.  I watched kickers point to the sky after making a field goal and look to the ground when they missed.  And I listened to the QB for UF, give an interview after the game in which he first praised God for the joy and the thrill of the victory. What I’m talking about is nothing new in the realm of sports.  We’ve watched baseball players do the sign of the cross as the come up to bat, we’ve seen keepers kiss and “bless” the posts before soccer [football] games…the use of prayer and religion on the field is nothing new.  I tend to be understanding of this: if they are praying for strength to overcome adversity.  While a sport often has an opponent, the drive most athletes have is to perform at their best, be mentally and physically prepared, and to block all things from their mind except the task at hand.  I pray for many of those things each day, except I don’t go play 60 minutes of professional soccer or football afterwards. What I question is the intentions of fans, myself included.  Watching football can be a means for disconnection within the family, or a way to spend a day in front of the TV instead of doing something productive or active.  In this country, the popularized view of a football fan is an overweight middle-aged man who looks too out-of-shape to ever play the game again. Whether I cover myself in paint, tail-gate to every game, or am able recite my team’s offensive statistics for the past 4 seasons, I don’t really know “my” team.  They are just big guys in pads-when the game is done, I go back to my life.  And perhaps that is my biggest concern with the energy put into the game.

 Looking at how I and others watch our beloved teams, there seem to be 4 key elements:

1. A personal investment, emotional or otherwise, in the success or failure of the team.
2. A display of commitment to the team, personal or public…especially in times of great success or continuous loss.
3. Public witness or defense of the team; (Last year I watched Georgia vs. Georgia Tech at a bar full of drunk Tech alumni.)
4. Support of the team can be a focal point for energy. In spite of other issues going on, team support can override everything else, especially if one has a lot of personal investment.

A person who fulfills these guidelines with regards to sports is often considered a “die-hard fan.” In spite of the eccentricity, their “sometimes crazy” devotion is accepted. A person who fulfills these guidelines with regards to the poor, marginalized, and underclass is often considered a “bleeding heart liberal” or maybe a “Socialist.”   Those especially eccentric are often written off as idealists.  Before I get too political or preachy, the overarching problem I saw was the sense of solidarity for a fleeting game (evident even within myself) versus those issues that exist within our community. And maybe I am reaching to make a parallel.  Comparing my undying devotion to the UGA football team is a different matter than my relatively low concern with sex-trafficking and child labor around the world.  Watching every Georgia game is on my calendar, but I have no idea what needs exist for the local homeless/hungry contingent in Athens.  One set of events is not on par with the other…are they? I offer, if only as a self-reflection, that the investment I have in  any  event can be seen by how I feel.  I’ve wanted to cry when I see “my team” lose…just as I’ve wanted to cry when I watched a friend “fall off the wagon.”  I felt a disconnected kinship with the players as they embarked on their season, just as I’ve felt that same kinship with visiting missionaries or inmates at the jail.  But most of all, I’ve felt the exhilaration of listening and being involved with the victories…and I can remember something about every one of them.

I am not bashing sports.  I’m just reflecting that how different I would be if I were a fan for the poor, the marginalized, the hungry, and those that have been cast aside by society as much as I am a Dawg fan.