You might say I was born to be a Steelers fan. Late December 1978 - mere days before an important NFL Playoff game - I came into the world in a way that I envision happened something like this:
-Cue "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project
Announcer: At Outside Linebacker, weighing in at 10 lbs, 13 oz and measuring 24 inches tall, from Western Pennsylvania.... Todd Ellis!
There might have even been some baby powder thrown in the air, LeBron-style.
Seriously, the nurses gave me a hand-painted Terry Bradshaw ornament because I was so big, I should have suited up that week to help my team. Not that they needed it, as they went on to win yet another NFL Championship. Like I said - born to be a Steelers fan.
Fast forward a few decades...
Last night culminated a long two weeks. The Steelers lost Super Bowl XLV to the Green Bay Packers. After a week of heckling from people I haven't spoken to in years and two weeks of getting more and more homesick for being around "my fans" rather than being stuck in Upstate NY in no-persons-land, I endured a night of sitting on the same couch as a woman whom I had never before met that just kept pushing and needling and taking shots that were getting increasingly personal. I faked a stomach bug so I didn't completely lose it in front of colleagues and friends. I entertained thoughts of how quickly I could find a new job back in Pittsburgh so that this never happened again. I went home depressed and embarrassed - that a game could bring so many of us to so base a level as to render meaningless, even for a moment, the real tragedies in life. Tragedies that are so numerous and current that if we think for a moment, we should all be embarrassed that we ever let them slip our minds. I went home and realized that sports was not the pleasant diversion I was pretending it was... it is a stressor, and a big one at that. The first step is admitting that I have a problem. I don't say that lightly or to kid.
It's time for a change.
While I don't know how I am going to pull it off, my goal is to go off-the-grid with sports for the next year. No Sportscenter. No games on TV. I'll allow myself the occasional visit to the Baseball HOF since I'm still a member there for the year, but otherwise, I want to remember who I am without the antagonism and anger of being a fan. And I plan to use this time to explore the theme of how sports has infiltrated so much of our lives. I'm hoping that, by standing on the outside, I can see things more clearly, question some priorities for myself and our society, and share insights as they come. I'm going "off-the gridiron", I'm hoping you'll join me and that it'll be worth your while. But even if this is nothing more than my personal journal, it'll be worth it.
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About Me
- Todd Ellis
- I'm passionate about educating everyone about weather and the climate. (P.S. Climate change is not a belief, but a documentable scientific phenomenon) Plus, I'm an avid sports fan, who has sworn off sports for the year. That ought to be interesting...
I want to be your first follower, but for some reason it is "unable to process my request at this time." I have bookmarked your blog, though! Great opening!
ReplyDeleteSometimes we meet theology in the strangest places. I spend my days as a "theologian" thinking and writing about how the way we invest our deepest loyalties affects the way we live our lives. Seems to me you are daring to do something similar. Seriously. Not all our "deepest loyalties" are divine. And not all our loyalties are dysfunctional. But the deeper we hold them the more they do shape our lives. Sometimes for better. Sometimes for worse. I suspect you're in for a very insightful year. I'll look forward to reading more!
ReplyDeleteJust curious: will this experiment include giving up newspapers? conversations with friends and family about sports? or is your self-imposed limit only for electronic media/communication forms?
ReplyDeleteI think it's quite an undertaking, and look forward to hearing more of your discoveries as you go!
@Tim - it's a good question. I am planning to avoid newspapers and block the sports internet sites, and I think some of the discovery I'm looking forward to it finding out how effectively I CAN avoid it. And as a professor with students talking sports all the time, I'm going to learn a little about what it's like when you're out of the loop on this. I really don't know how well I can do this - but that's why I think it's going to be interesting
ReplyDeleteI'm an ex-Vikings fan. I was pretty rabid in the late 70's and early 80's. Talk about a set-up for depression. Year after year Bud Grant would take us to look over the River Jordan into the promised land and then we'd find out that we'd have another 40 years (maybe more)of wandering in the dessert without a super bowl ring. Oh, there was pain, frustration and high blood pressure when there was a loss and it was very real. You'd think that world peace was riding on every play and eternal salvation on making it through the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteThen came the NFL strike (1982 or 83?, I forget) and there was no professional football for several weeks. The autumn of that year became mine. I could spend time with the kids, take a walk, paint, whatever. I found a life again and I loved it. When the abbreviated football season resumed I had a certain detachment to Viking football in specific, but sports in general. I became somewhat of an indifferent fan. I was not the slave of the game, but more of a by-stander. I found that I didn't have to shape my Sunday's and Monday's around football. I could read the summary in the paper the next day and feel a little bad if the Vikes lost, but not devastated. It was refreshing from time to time to go to work on Monday and ask, "So, who won the game?"
I think you're going to find that after the initial "cravings" pass that you are going to like your new life-style. When you do resume your following, I think you'll find a new balance where you can still have favorite teams, but that you won't be ruled by their outcome.
Good luck, I'll be interested to hear how things progress.