What is a Sports Fan?

Sports constantly combine the past, present and future. Almost any sports fan can recal an early experience with a father or grandfather where they said, "that's when I became a fan." Kind of like that cliche story where Junior catches a foul ball in his cracker jacks. Moments like that are extremely special memories to the individual. But the irony is they are an overwhelmingly common experience. Not necessarily Junior showing up on the jumbotron, but any sports fan can talk about that first game, that first moment. The figurative contract that was bestowed for life.

The sports world allows traditions to be celebrated all over the world, a tradition that creates memories. When everyone sure as hell remembers the big play or moment, not everyone remembers it in the same way. Every sports fan has their own story. That can be what makes it special. Like anything else, being a sports fan is what one makes of it, and the experiences are indeed different for everyone, even though everyone's watching the same thing.

When people get older in life thing's change. Different people, different locations, different priorities. That's where the loyalty of being a sports fan can be a healthy reminder of a priority that doesn't change. Yeah, things change in the sports world just like anything else. Coaches get fired, trades are made, and heroes retire. One second a sports fan is witnessing moments of glory, soon to be followed with heartbreak and despair. But every sports fan has a personal association with the team and may choose to endure pain no matter how bad. Why do people for no reason at all put themselves through this misery with an emotional attachment to one team? They make a teams struggles, that sports fans have absolutely no impact on, have an effect on their lives. Broken down it really is an absurd pattern of behavior.

The suffering couplets with feelings of hope. The hope that one day the fan can witness greatness in the very team that he or she attached a personal identity with. To see heroes fulfill dreams, to see idols get it done, to buy that championship sweatshirt. This optimistic hope for joy is what causes the downswing feelings of suffering when a team fails. It's an emotional roller coaster that people bring upon themselves and it has different impacts on everbody. There's feelings of optimism, pessimism, belief, and doubt all rolled into one. Being a sports fan is complex.

Almost any sports fan at any point has dreamed of making it to the bigs.  To play for the team that has such an impact on the life of the fan. Mathematically in most cases that is an extremely improbable dream. And unfortunately that's a heartbreaking realization that most fans face. But for those who aren't genetically gifted and athletically superior enough to have the opportunity to try and play a sport for a living, those are usually the fans. And a sports fan is one that has to believe that something good can happen. It's a healthy reminder that everyone needs, and it's exemplified in being a fan. Sometimes something amazing can be witnessed, and it can be a story forever. And it's all because of the mental devotion that Junior had that one faithful day where fanhood was decided.

Being a sports fan is a healthy reminder that no matter what changes in life, a fan can always have the team that he or she grew up. And that fan always has the hope that this could be the year, game, or play. Fanhood is an endless duty fulfilled by countless individuals that really has no satisfaction limit.

It's simply about hope. The hope for good things in the future. A feeling that in sports and in life, everyone on this planet should feel.