An Interesting Argument from Will Leitch

BringBackKosar — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:41:33 -0000

I'm assuming most of you are familiar with the sports blog Deadspin and its founding editor, Will Leitch. I was perusing his book, God Save the Fan, which is actually pretty solid and worth the read, when I saw a reference to our beloved Browns in the section of the book about Fans.

He's discussing the oft-debated subject of what makes a "true" fan, and he makes the following interesting argument about loyalty to a franchise:

".......Because a real fan never leaves his team...even if they leave him. A friend of mine recently told me how difficult his life is as a Cleveland Browns fan. He had the usual complaints: They don't care enough about their fans, they don't have a concrete plan in place[NOTE: this book was written previous to last year's resurgence] , and (of course most important) they'd never made it to a Super Bowl. My friend went on about this.......at least I think it was my friend; he was wearing one of those Dawg Pound masks at the time, I suppose it could've been anybody.

But I had no sympathy. If he were a real fan, he would have celebrated his first Super Bowl win 7 years ago....with the Baltimore Ravens."

Moving a bit forward in his rant, he continues:

If something as silly as geography guides your rooting interests, isn't it wishy-washy to move your loyalty around just because someone realized the franchise could make more money in Topeka than Boise?

........And as for "abandoning" a city..please. NFL Teams and their fans live in the same city about 27 days a year. A team and its fans have as much in common as your hand and a vending machine.

......I looked at my Browns fan friend and just shook my head. I didn't want to hear it; if he were a real fan he'd have his Super Bowl. Eight years ago against the Giants. You can look it up."

I find this position, that a true fan follows a franchise regardless of city, to be...interesting. Of course, I sharply disagree; I think geography has and should have a lot of influence on who we root for., especially with teams like the Browns , Packers and BIlls-places where that team is an integral part of the community.

This reminds me of a question(or taunt) I hear a lot out here in SoCal...I'm a proud Brown's fan, have been since I was 10, but I'm not from Ohio. I've never lived there. I chose Cleveland to root for when I was a kid because I hated the LA teams and my mom's side of the family were all Ohio natives. Because of cost, I may never be able to attend a Brown's game in person. So, am I less of a "pure" fan because my geographic ties to the team are tangential?

Anyway, I was just interested to hear any thoughts on Mr. Leitch's argument.

Colts lose..HA!

BringBackKosar — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:35:43 -0000

San Diego 28, Indy 24. And with the Chargers minus LT and Rivers in the 4th quarter. I haven't been able to wipe this smile off my face all day.

The football gods are vicious...guess that's what they get for offering up zero effort to win that Titans game. Maybe they wouldn't have been so rusty, eh?

I love it when the universe balances out.

SB Nation User Blog: BringBackKosar

An Interesting Argument from Will Leitch

Colts lose..HA!