The Fickleness of Being a Fan

Seahawks Game Face and Wig: $49

Good seats to a Seahawks Game: $150

Ability to change your opinion about a player or coach at a moments notice: PRICELESS!


Isn't it funny that a couple of weeks ago, if a Lambs fan wandered into a forum and attacked the skill level of Koren Robinson, many of us would have fought over eachother to be the first to defend our player with stats and past feats of greatness.

This week however, we kick him to the curb and treat him like the scraps from last nights dinner.

WHICH IS THE RIGHT AND PRIVLEDGE OF BEING A FAN!

Being a hard core sports fan is like being in the Mafia (well, so I've heard!).

When someone is IN the family, they can do no wrong, and nobody better speak badly about THEM or the FAMILY!

However, if for some reason an individual finds himself OUTSIDE the family, then they become an insignificant piece of garbage who gets the bejeezus beat out of them on the way out the door, and at worst, they become part of the upper deck at the Meadowlands! (and does anyone else see the irony of the daughter on the Soprano's being named Meadow??!!)


There's some on this and other boards who take offense to people lashing out against the Coaches. Whether it's Holmgren or Rhodes, for every person who thinks they may be dinosaurs whose best days are behind them, there's at least one or two who will step up and defend them.

There's some that think it's unfair to continue to bash Koren Robinson, after all, he's a human being suffering from an addictive behavior, and he's no longer a Seahawk, so why should we continue to ride him?

The answer, in my opinion, is at the top of this post.

As fans, for the most part, we represent middle America. We're guys who have to work for a living, pay for our transgressions, and even in our best year may not earn in salary what one of these guys pays in fines for pretending to moon the crowd! So, the way we justify and rationalize the amount of money these players and coaches earn for doing something they love is to de-humanize them to a degree, and give it to them with both barrels when they mess up.

Is it right? Maybe not. But it's what happens to everyone in the public eye, politicians, movie stars, recording artists, celebrity attorneys.

As fans, we live and die by the success or failure of our team. Our friends know it. Our family members know it. Our coworkers know it. So when the team fails, we take it personally, because it costs us personally in the eyes of these people.

And when someone like Koren messes up the proverbial "wet dream", it's not enough to just wish him well in his next endeavor, and hope he conquers his demons. We need to drag him and his name through the mud as a symbolic gesture of trying to kick some sense into him, or at least pay him back for the tremendous disappointment and let down we feel as fans.

If Koren cleaned up his act as promised, and had a breakout year, we'd all be first in line to shake is hands. He would have been a "MADE" man.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and since we cannot dispatch Luca Bradzzi to Medina to make him "sleep with the fishes", we lash out at him through these forums, sometimes sophomorically, sometimes crudely, but as long as we're footing the our share of the bill for their services, it's our God given right as Americans to do so.

So to apologize for it would be un-American.

You should celebrate and exercise the right of Fan Fickleness at every opportunity!