Fans Need to Keep Proper Prospective

Recently a construction worker in New York, a Boston Red Sox fan, secretly buried a Red Sox t-shirt underneath the area where the new Yankee stadium is being built. In case you haven’t heard, they’re serious about their rivalry up there and the Yankee brass ordered the t-shirt dug up and removed before a curse ensued.

I appreciate this guy’s loyalty to his team. I’ve been a die hard Pittsburgh Pirates fan since 1971, sticking with them most recently for fifteen straight losing seasons. And with them I will remain.

I would, however, like to offer my thoughts on the extent to which sports team loyalty should be taken. I burned the baseball card of Pirates’ pitcher Bob Moose when he blew a decisive playoff game in 1972. He died tragically a few years later in an auto accident and a child’s sense of guilt persists to this day.

A huge on-the-field brawl between players took place a few years back after a Clemson-South Carolina football game, resulting in injuries, suspensions, and an even deeper intensity in the rivalry. What bothered me was what happened the following year at the game. The teams walked out and met at midfield immediately before the game to shake hands and exhibit sportsmanship. Refreshing. But some fans- and I hope it was only a few- booed loudly to voice their displeasure with the peace offering. Apparently they thrived on hatred and to demonstrate any indication of the opponent’s humanity was unacceptable to those few boo birds.

I know there are those who disagree, but I don’t believe your school colors or your team loyalties get you any points in Heaven. Bumper stickers claiming that God is a fan of their team based on the color of the sky or the shades of the leaves in fall are humorous- probably even to God. Surely these are done in jest.

But it can be taken too far. All the talk about Roy Williams- the basketball coach at North Carolina- wearing a Kansas sticker during the championship game perplexed me. Kansas gave him his first head coaching job and fifteen wonderful years but some fans took his attire to mean that he might not have done everything he could to help his Tar Heels win.

What no one mentioned- at least not when I was watching- was the ribbon he wore on his sports jacket during every game. It was a tribute to the recently murdered student body president from UNC, a young lady named Eve Carson, who was admired by everyone she came in contact with.

When my baseball team at Gardner-Webb played against UNC recently, I asked my friend and colleague from UNC if I could wear a ribbon to show my respect for Miss Carson. He gladly agreed and offered a ribbon similar to the one he was wearing.

Yet a few days later, the basketball coach at that same institution had to answer questions about a Jayhawk symbol on his shirt while the ribbon on his jacket went largely unnoticed. It makes me wonder about the priorities in our “enlightened” society.

I just hope the next time I make a poor coaching decision that costs my team a game, some overzealous kid doesn’t find a picture of me and toss it in the fireplace.