Fandom Changes With Age

Maybe there's less energy to go around in general as people age.  I think it has more to do with developing an identity.  Fandom is steadily fading year by year.  It will never go away entirely.  Football Sunday will still be football Sunday.  The Steelers will always be fun to watch and their games against the Ravens will always be my favorite games to watch and if they make the playoffs I'll watch those games too.  The Pirates are still the Pirates.  When I stumble across a game on the radio or on television I'll listen in or sit down for an hour or two to take them in.  The Penguins will still be the Penguins.  Their games will still be a lot of fun to listen to on the radio, especially on the radio.  Listening to hockey on the radio is one of those things that's actually more entertaining and exciting than watching it on television.

Fandom will not completely go away, but as I have more things to get done and have built a life in Pittsburgh I feel connected with the city without needing to feel like I have to embrace and demonstrate that connection through waving a sports flag.  Sitting in front of a computer screen, waiting for a fantasy draft to start, I had a moment where I heard a voice in my head say "what the hell am I doing" and I closed the screen.  No fantasy sports this year.  It's extraneous.  It's plastic.  I realized I didn't want to spend weekdays keeping an eye on waiver wires and fretting about teams I don't care about at all.  I follow the Steelers and that's good enough for me.

There's not much more to enjoy about your local teams besides watching them play once in a while and feeling a little civic pride when they win and a little let down if they lose.  However, as you grow into a person with your own loves and affections for the place that you live, your civic pride comes less and less from what happens to your sports teams and more and more from what you do within and around your town and city.

Two years ago, a Steelers loss could make the entire rest of my week until the next game absolutely miserable.  Three years ago, it was misery, screaming at the television and throwing things at the walls of my apartment.  The following year was screaming misery and jubilation and throwing things.  The following year, fandom faded to shouting at the television and occasionally jumping up and down.  This year, I'll probably still shout at the t.v. from time to time, but other than that, it'll just be a fun diversion once a week for the Fall and Winter.  I know some of the roster, but it's not encyclopedic knowledge the way it used to be.  I don't know when they play the Ravens, but I'll find out and probably mark the games on my calendar.

I'll still buy the occasional Black and Gold trinket as years go by.  I'll still go out of my way to hear about some sports news every day.  I'm going to be a fan for life.  As I get older, the fanatic in me fades away and I'm not unhappy to see it go.




/// Jimmy Pol - "Steelers Fight Song"