To be a fan, or not?

They say some genetics skip a generation.  It could be a balding gene, or a musical talent.  My grandpa passed on to me his love of sports.  Neither of my parents have ever really cared about the outcome of a game that they weren't involved in.  My dad played football and my mom was a cheerleader, but from the time they graduated high school to the time I was able to walk, they probably never even glanced at the sports page.

One of my favorite stories about my childhood was about when I was 2 and my mom sat me down to watch some Sesame Street.  Like seemingly all kids in my generation, Sesame Street was a vital part of my childhood and I particularly loved Ernie.  However, when my mom left the room to do whatever moms do, and returned 2 minutes later, I had changed the channel to Wimbledon.  My mom assumed that it was an accident, changed it back and left the room again to do another mom task.  In the minute it took her to return, I had changed the channel once again back to Wimbledon and was transfixed by what was taking place on the screen.  My parents lost control of the TV from that day until I moved out of the house. 

I don't particularly care about tennis, but that wasn't the point of the story.  If it was an athletic event and they were showing it on TV, I found a way to watch it.  These days I particularly enjoy watching the English Premier League (EPL) on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Like a typical sports fan, I have been straining to figure out which team will be "mine" over the last few years.  But just this week I started asking myself why I felt the need to cheer for a particular team.

In the NBA I used to be a Seattle SuperSonics fan.  The franchise moved to Oklahoma in 2008 and I have been an NBA "widow" ever since.  Since I still like to watch the NBA, I run into situations where friends and even strangers will ask me who "my" team is.  I've never had a favorite NHL team, but again I've struggled at times with who I should cheer for.

Unless you have an emotional investment in any one particular team, it doesn't really make sense to limit yourself to 1 particular franchise.  In most American based leagues there are around 30 professional sports teams.  If you cheer for just one of them, the odds of your team winning a championship and you being happy are 1/30 or less than 4%.  Granted, if you cheer for the Yankees/Celtics/Lakers/Steelers/Red Wings your odds go up, but it is still a long shot that all of your emotional investment will be paid off at the end of the year.

As fans we buy gear, tickets, and pay for the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTv, but each year you are really paying for the small chance that you will be happy with that weeks game or the season as a whole.  Even if your team does win, is it worth the 1 year investment of over $500 (approx what I spent on the Broncos this year) to be happy in your living room watching "your team" celebrate the Super Bowl victory? What about all the Bears fans this year, were they ultimately happy that their team exceeded expectations, or upset that they lost to their rivals in the playoffs?  Why do we willingly pay massive amounts of money to experience gut wrenching pain for the slim chance of excitement?

The fact that your emotional investment will really be "paid off" is an interesting concept as well.  I didn't receive anything from Iowa State when they won their BigXII basketball title.  Sure I was happy, but the lasting feeling from those great seasons are the pain I experienced when less than a month later they lost in the NCAA Tournament.  The Broncos never really paid me anything when they won the Super Bowl and the Mariners never gave me anything but an opportunity to buy more gear when they set the record for most regular season MLB victories.  Essentially, as fans, we are spending gobs of money for a 4% chance of fleeting happiness.  If you look at it that way, it is a poor investment of both time and money. 

So why do we do it?  As I stated earlier, I have loved sports since I can remember, but why have I been programed to cheer for this collection of athletes over another?  The NBA/NHL/MLB/NFL all want us to buy gear.  Nike just signed a deal with the NFL for the licensing rights to all of the league's teams.  The terms of the deal were undisclosed, but many are reporting that Rebook, the current provider, lost a deal worth over $500 Million. Since nobody really wants to buy a hat with just the NFL logo on it, the league pushes for people to cheer for certain teams.  We often don't even realize they are doing it, but all of their commercials with happy fans cheering Super Bowl victories make us as consumers and fans want to be just as happy as the people on the screen. 

The solution I have recently come up with (with a major assist to my father-in-law) is to cheer for teams that you enjoy watching.  Barcelona is playing amazing soccer right now, and when they play I can't take my eyes of the screen.  Why should I cheer for anyone to beat them?  But in the same breath, why should I be emotionally and financially invested in them?  What if a major player gets hurt or traded?  Those things are completely out of my control and if I were invested in the outcome, even if just emotionally, I would be crushed.

The NBA right now has about 8 teams that I enjoy watching.  The Clippers with Blake Griffin, OKC and Durant, the Lakers, Heat, Magic, Celtics, and now Knicks.  Do I need to pick one team, go buy a jersey or t-shirt and start disliking the others in order to be a true fan of the NBA?

I'm 100% for being fans of certain teams.  I have been an Iowa State fan since I was 2 and will continue to be one until the day I die.  I spend money on tickets and merchandise as well as my substantial emotional investment.  I'm also willing to admit that even though Iowa State mathematically has a 1/120 (<1%) chance to win a title in football and even longer odds in basketball, neither will probably happen in my lifetime.  However, I have a reason to cheer for Iowa State, the Broncos, and the Mariners.  It doesn't really matter what the reason is that caused me to choose to cheer for those teams, just that I am already naturally invested in them.  I just don't see the point in creating an artificial reason to limit myself to one team in another league or sport when the bond is clearly a poor investment of my time, money, and emotions.