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"
Clean with alcohol only. Do not attempt to replace blown fuses. Do not remove access panels. Return to certified mechanic for regular maintenance. Made in the USA.
Showing posts with label steelers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steelers. Show all posts
5/16/12
The Super L33t Effect
The l33t effect in salary capped sports, and to a lesser degree uncapped sports, in America is a shame. It has nothing to do with LeBron as a person, or his mental toughness, or what he does in "winning" time, or crunch time, or whether or not he steps up in big moments, or is "passive", or whatever. The only thing it has to do with is the perception that you have to, absolutely have to be paid requisite to your abilities and relative to your peers at all times and to do anything less would be an admission of some kind of failing in your skill set, relative to everyone else playing the same game, and is absolutely unacceptable.
I mean, I get it: professional athletes are competitive in every aspect of their game and it makes sense that the competitive "I am the best, I will get the best" mentality bleeds over into other aspects of their lives. I wasn't terribly shocked when Tiger Woods slept with other women. The guy's a competitor. Were you really shocked back in the day when Tanya paid that guy to smash Nancy's leg with a hammer? Did I get those names in the right order? I hope I'm remembering that correctly. Anyway, when athletes do ridiculous things, why is anyone terribly shocked? 9/10ths of their lives is spent growing up in their sport and continuing that sport on an adult level against other people who have devoted the greater parts of their lives to the same game would, could, and does warp them with respect to 9 to 5 human beings who don't do what they love (not even close) and who haven't been doing it since they were old enough to... I dunno... carry a plate from the kitchen to their table and back when they were done eating.
What I've been thinking is that the LeBron effect basically makes it harder to win as a team, rather than easier. Maybe call it the A-Rod effect, or don't. That wouldn't be all that accurate as there aren't salary caps in baseball. You can throw away as much money as you want depending on your market. It's still there though, but a shadow of what it is in capped sports. In salary capped leagues the ultra l33t athlete effect is real. Basically, you are awesome. Well, I should start off by saying "this is where it starts." So, basically, you are awesome at what you do. Top twenty in the country. In the top fifty human beings on the face of the Earth at whatever thing it is that you do.
However, the only way you get to do it, is by signing on with a team and the team only has so much money to spend. On top of that, there is already an established amount of money everyone else who can't do it as well as you gets paid. So you have to be paid more because you're better than them. It'd be like a CEO of a grocery store being paid bagger money. The money establishes, or rather, confirms hierarchy. Pay grades are like school grades in that way. The problem arises when you are so good that a team has to pay you so much money that there is none left to pay the baggers or cashiers or maintenance staff and the grocery store eventually folds, but damn there was a good CEO leading them straight into the ground. You could take less money, but taking less money would be the same as saying "I'm not the best at what I do and I want to acknowledge it publicly."
The super l33t effect basically rots out the infrastructure, completely blows it out. So as contracts inflate, the model of a few super l33ts surrounded by dreck grows less and less tenable. I guess what I'm getting at is this: every time something goes wrong with the Miami Heat NBA team and the finger pointing starts up, I cringe a little bit. It is a no win situation for that team and everyone involved. If they do eventually win a championship or two, it will be great, but I think it will be the last time, at least for the foreseeable future, that any general manager will make moves that will eat the massive majority of their available folding money on a massive minority of their players (the elite few on the team). It's a bit ridiculous. It's a self perpetuating system. If LeBron could take less money to bring in a better supporting cast, would he? I guess that's up for debate too. But, we'll never know. So screw it.
Either way, athletes are paid way too much money regardless. Average people aren't paid enough. And God, if he exists, is a Steelers fan. That is all.
I mean, I get it: professional athletes are competitive in every aspect of their game and it makes sense that the competitive "I am the best, I will get the best" mentality bleeds over into other aspects of their lives. I wasn't terribly shocked when Tiger Woods slept with other women. The guy's a competitor. Were you really shocked back in the day when Tanya paid that guy to smash Nancy's leg with a hammer? Did I get those names in the right order? I hope I'm remembering that correctly. Anyway, when athletes do ridiculous things, why is anyone terribly shocked? 9/10ths of their lives is spent growing up in their sport and continuing that sport on an adult level against other people who have devoted the greater parts of their lives to the same game would, could, and does warp them with respect to 9 to 5 human beings who don't do what they love (not even close) and who haven't been doing it since they were old enough to... I dunno... carry a plate from the kitchen to their table and back when they were done eating.
What I've been thinking is that the LeBron effect basically makes it harder to win as a team, rather than easier. Maybe call it the A-Rod effect, or don't. That wouldn't be all that accurate as there aren't salary caps in baseball. You can throw away as much money as you want depending on your market. It's still there though, but a shadow of what it is in capped sports. In salary capped leagues the ultra l33t athlete effect is real. Basically, you are awesome. Well, I should start off by saying "this is where it starts." So, basically, you are awesome at what you do. Top twenty in the country. In the top fifty human beings on the face of the Earth at whatever thing it is that you do.
However, the only way you get to do it, is by signing on with a team and the team only has so much money to spend. On top of that, there is already an established amount of money everyone else who can't do it as well as you gets paid. So you have to be paid more because you're better than them. It'd be like a CEO of a grocery store being paid bagger money. The money establishes, or rather, confirms hierarchy. Pay grades are like school grades in that way. The problem arises when you are so good that a team has to pay you so much money that there is none left to pay the baggers or cashiers or maintenance staff and the grocery store eventually folds, but damn there was a good CEO leading them straight into the ground. You could take less money, but taking less money would be the same as saying "I'm not the best at what I do and I want to acknowledge it publicly."
The super l33t effect basically rots out the infrastructure, completely blows it out. So as contracts inflate, the model of a few super l33ts surrounded by dreck grows less and less tenable. I guess what I'm getting at is this: every time something goes wrong with the Miami Heat NBA team and the finger pointing starts up, I cringe a little bit. It is a no win situation for that team and everyone involved. If they do eventually win a championship or two, it will be great, but I think it will be the last time, at least for the foreseeable future, that any general manager will make moves that will eat the massive majority of their available folding money on a massive minority of their players (the elite few on the team). It's a bit ridiculous. It's a self perpetuating system. If LeBron could take less money to bring in a better supporting cast, would he? I guess that's up for debate too. But, we'll never know. So screw it.
Either way, athletes are paid way too much money regardless. Average people aren't paid enough. And God, if he exists, is a Steelers fan. That is all.
12/2/11
dear (______):
Dear Steelers fans,
Every game it looks like the Steelers may lose is not a "trap" game. There are definitions to these things. One definition you should learn is "Inadequate". Used in a sentence: the Steelers offense was inadequate to expect victory. Used in another sentence: the Steelers defense was inadequate against a sound offensive effort by the opposing team.
Sincerely,
An armchair coordinator and scout (at best) who is not so high on himself to believe every loss is due to apotheotic player talent and over achieving opposition or that he could somehow have been a more capable head coach for sixty minutes.
Every game it looks like the Steelers may lose is not a "trap" game. There are definitions to these things. One definition you should learn is "Inadequate". Used in a sentence: the Steelers offense was inadequate to expect victory. Used in another sentence: the Steelers defense was inadequate against a sound offensive effort by the opposing team.
Sincerely,
An armchair coordinator and scout (at best) who is not so high on himself to believe every loss is due to apotheotic player talent and over achieving opposition or that he could somehow have been a more capable head coach for sixty minutes.
2/10/11
dear (______):
Dear Pittsburgh Steelers,
It was a good year. Seriously. The entire season was handicapped like no other team in the league except maybe the Packers in one of the most difficult divisions to win except maybe the AFC East and we still kicked ass. And at least you showed us that Dixon can play. Please please please address the gaping hole behind Troy Polamalu at safety with a decent mid-round draft pick. Sweet cracklin' Jesus on a barbecue spit, I would like to not shit a brick every time he almost stubs his toe.
xoxo,
fan for life
p.s. I'm still mad at you.
It was a good year. Seriously. The entire season was handicapped like no other team in the league except maybe the Packers in one of the most difficult divisions to win except maybe the AFC East and we still kicked ass. And at least you showed us that Dixon can play. Please please please address the gaping hole behind Troy Polamalu at safety with a decent mid-round draft pick. Sweet cracklin' Jesus on a barbecue spit, I would like to not shit a brick every time he almost stubs his toe.
xoxo,
fan for life
p.s. I'm still mad at you.
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