The Rise of the Jerk Sports Fan
The business model of the modern sports team encourages overzealous fans
Some data points this week:
Yankee fans in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium mocked an injured Cleveland Guardian player, and then threw full beer cans and water bottles at other Guardians outfielders and umpires after the Yankees hit a game winning hit in the 9th inning.
The New York Times reported that there is a shortage of officials for youth sports, because 50,000(!) have quit the profession due to, among other things, parents who argue calls and treat them with utter disrespect.
Irate fans followed MLB umpire Angel Hernandez out to his car in the parking lot after a Brewers-Phillies game so they could yell at him.
Just another week in the wild world of American sports. What is the commonality of all these stories? Simply put, that a lot of sports fans are jerks.
It was not always thus. Watch old footage, or listen to old radio broadcasts of baseball games from the 1950’s, on YouTube. You will hear barely any boos. Back in the day, when they introduced the starting lineups at the World Series (which was almost always carried on television), the fans would politely cheer the other team unless there was a known antagonist like Reggie Jackson, who would get booed. And believe it or not, when I was a kid, you could wear opposing team colors to Dodger Stadium (many LA fans were transplants and had prior loyalties) and nobody would give you any grief.
There were exceptions, of course- we all heard about the fans in Philadelphia. But Philadelphia was something of a punchline- they even booed Santa Claus! They had jail cells built into Veterans Stadium!
We are all Philadelphia now. Stories abound of fans getting in fights with players, fans yelling racist taunts at players, and fans beating up opposing fans in parking lots. What happened? Well, our culture has coarsened. We are more polarized in all sorts of ways. All true.
But what also happened was sports marketing.
Here’s a telltale. When I was young, if you went to a game, the souvenir stands inside the stadium sold a few trinkets with the opposing team’s logo on it. It allowed the host team to make a few more dollars from visiting fans. So if the Cardinals were in town, the Dodger Stadium souvenir stands were mostly filled with Dodger stuff, but had some Cardinal stuff as well. Now? No way. They don’t want you wearing Cardinal stuff in Dodger Stadium. You are the enemy, in enemy territory.
Or take the way the games are announced. Here’s John Ramsey, who used to be the main PA announcer of almost every professional sports event in Los Angeles, introducing the teams for the 1973 NBA Finals. Notice the totally respectful way the Knicks are introduced, and the fact that Ramsey does not in any way go over the top in introducing the Lakers. This sort of announcing is unheard of now- PA announcers scream out the home team, with spotlights flaring and music blaring, and try to say as little about the opposing team, and in as low a voice, as possible. Many teams play “Darth Vader’s Theme” when introducing opposing players. They aren’t subtle about it.
At the game, it used to be that rooting for the home team was pretty much limited to the organist or band trying to fire up the crowd with “Charge”. Scoreboards that displayed statistics, and, later, replays were pretty even-handed about what they showed. Now, game management inundates you with everything from taped “defense” cheers and gongs and noise when the other team has third down, to a barrage of one-sided features telling you only about the home team and its members.
Or how about teams’ television contracts? Back in the day, most games that were televised were on free local over the air television. Anyone could watch them, and did. While there were some famous “homer” broadcasters like Chicago’s Harry Caray, most announcers played it fairly straight- after all, a variety of people were watching or listening, and the opposing team’s fans had every right to a credible broadcast.
In contrast, these days, teams own profitable sports cable channels where all the games are shunted off, drawing much smaller audiences than they used to. Announcers are not only homers (they can get fired for showing too much enthusiasm for a great play made by the opponents) but wear team gear instead of professional suits. The telecasts are marketed towards the die-hard homer sports fans that root for the team. Nobody else is invited, or, really, wanted.
This is all, of course, very profitable. Professional sports teams make a ton of money. But the way they are making that money is by creating a world where the only thing important about an athletic competition is your team. The opponents are somewhere between irrelevant and evil, and nobody invades OUR house! Our fanbase isn’t just a fanbase, it’s a “Nation”, and its purpose isn’t simply to enjoy the action and be entertained, but to help us win by disrupting the opponent and scaring the referees. Is there any wonder that people who become sports fans in this sort of environment turn into complete douchebags?
We need to take a step back. The other team isn’t evil. The people who root for the other team are your guests and entitled to respect. The officials are doing the best they can, and are integral to the game; it isn’t good when they screw up, but it should be kept in perspective. And if they screw up in a youth game, it’s really irrelevant. We are all fortunate to get to witness athletic contests, sometimes involving some of the world’s finest athletes, and we ought to always keep that in mind. These people endure tremendous sacrifices and put their bodies on the line for our entertainment. It doesn’t matter what color they are wearing.