Riding the Sports Bandwagon

It had been 10 years since the last time the Detroit Lions hosted a Monday Night Football game. Charlie Batch was the QB, James Stewart was the RB, and Johnnie Morton was our #1 WR. The same guy who was once #3 behind Herman Moore and Brett Perriman was our top guy. That year the Lions finished 2-14. In ’01 and ’02 Coach Marty Mornhinweg led the team to a 5-27 record.

And that wasn’t even the lowest point.

In 2008 they dared to dream the impossible. 0-16. Our team was so bad that they couldn’t win once. This feat was never done before and will likely never be done again.

In a country where football is king and in a state where we have two great college football teams (I know that’s debatable) it’s no wonder that fans refused to pay the money to go to the games or cared enough to really follow them closely during the last decade. We could get it every Saturday.

But now that the team is on an upswinging (winning 9 straight regular season games going back to last year) we are witnessing one of the most hotly contested issues in sports and I think a story from last night’s MNF game sums it up well.

My wife and I went to the game with a group of church planting friends from across the country. Out seats were in the family section and we were seated by some Chicago Bears fans. They were loud but pretty cool. We had fun going back and forth all night and with only a couple minutes left in the game they decided it was time to go and left with some friendly high fives. They “fans” two rows in front of us weren’t as friendly. All night they hurled incredible well thought out and creative insults like “BEARS SUCK!” and “GO HOME BEARS!” to every Bears fan in the area. Finally, these Bears fans behind us had enough. They shouted back “Don’t talk to me, bro. You’ve been a Lions fan for all of one day.” To which the Lions fans replied “Go home bears!” and started chanting “BEARS SUCK! BEARS SUCK!”.

These Lions fans were being called out as the second worst kind of fan: bandwagon fans. (The worst kind of fan is the guy who likes whatever team is the best that year. To that guy I say “Knock it off. You have no moral character.”)

Then on the way home and to the airport after to drop a friend off talk radio was filled with calls of “real fans” bashing the bandwagon fans.

I don’t know what it is that we find so offensive about the bandwagon fan. For whatever reason, because they haven’t suffered like we have enduring a team when it was terrible we hate these fans and think less of them. We often take every opportunity to remind them how weak their fandom is and how we deserve to be a part of the winning team. But there’s a little story from the Bible that I think fits well here.

There’s a story in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus tells a parable (a made up story that teaches some truth). He tells a story about an employer who needs some workers and at about 6 AM he heads down to the local unemployment office and hires some help. Later, about noon, he realizes he needs more workers so he heads back down to the unemployment line and hires a few more guys. And then he needs more and hires more just before quitting time. At the end of the day the employer gives everyone the same amount of money for their work. The people who worked all day and most certainly invested the most of themselves were ticked. They didn’t see why they should all get paid the same. That seems to be a legit argument until you hear the employer’s response:

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

As fans we don’t really have the right to complain about who is a fan and who isn’t because the ultimate person who picks (the organization/team) has already determined that they will take anyone as a fan who is willing to spend cash, watch their games, or do anything else that drives up their team revenue.

IN NO WAY was this Scripture written for the purpose of solving the “how do we treat bandwagon fans” debate but I think that it gives us a good idea that it is ok to be a late adopter to a team. They can join the fun too. The more the merrier.

While it may eat you up inside to see people suddenly start wearing your favorite team’s jersey just remember that it doesn’t cheapen what your team has accomplished and it shouldn’t destroy the excitement you feel after suffering with them for so long.

Think of it this way – while everyone celebrates a win those who went through the valleys with the team often enjoy the victories more because they’ve experience the full range of emotion. But don’t be the guy who tells everyone how they’ve been there through the worst of times because nobody likes that guy.

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