Becoming a Better Fan

Who thought it was possible? I’ve become a better fan. And probably a better human being.

If you know me, you know where my allegiances lie. The Lakers, Dodgers, and UCLA (basketball and football) are the four teams I have always rooted for. For as long as I can remember, I’ve watched games either in person or on TV, willing my teams to victory. Even when players like Pig Miller, Kevin Elster, and Jerome Moiso have played prominent roles on my favorite teams, I’ve watched and followed closely. During games, I’ve been caught up in horrible officiating, bad coaching, and all the reasons why my team may not have been winning. While I felt like I couldn’t control it, being the fan I have been has become exhausting.

I’ve been changing my fansmanship though. Slowly and steadily, I’m taking control. Like any addiction. there are times when I fall back to old habits. But I am convinced that my new perspective on sports and on being a fan will continue to make me a better fan and enhance my life at the same time.

Eight years ago, I moved from California to Florida. Living outside of California for the first time in my life, one of the first things I did was to buy the NBA package from my cable provider. When there was a Lakers game, I would either stay up well past midnight to watch the game live from the west coast or I would DVR the game and watch it the next morning. Whether the Lakers won or lost, I’d figure out what they needed to do differently or what I really enjoyed about watching. When Derek Fisher beat the Spurs with .4 seconds left, my audible burst of delight probably woke up my roomate, who had long-since gone to sleep. The next day and for days following, I was in high spirits. Whether work that day went well or not, everything was wonderful in my world.

When the Lakers lost to the Pistons in the NBA Finals that year, it was just the opposite. While there were things I could do to try to take my mind off the bad finals loss, to who I thought was an inferior team, I carried the bitterness of the loss with me. While the Lakers hadn’t had a season end in anything but a championship the previous 3 seasons, the loss in the Finals and subsequent trade of Shaq to Miami left me (and perhaps other Lakers fans) with an empty feeling inside for the entire summer of 2004.

Fast forward now to 2010 and 2011. In the summer of 2010 the Lakers were once again in the NBA Finals – this time facing the Boston Celtics. Over the past 3 years, the Celtics have become a team I despised more than any in recent memory. Garnett’s big mouth has become insufferable in my mind and Pierce’s wheelchair incident made the duo the new Mahorn- Laimbeer in my mind.

Halfway through the finals series, I was sucked in. All my old habits were in full effect. My anti-Celtics sentiment had reached a fever pitch. Before a game in Boston that I knew in my heart would be frustrating to watch, I made the decision. I just wouldn’t watch. Instead, I went to the beach, exercised, and spent some time in the sun. The Lakers lost, people were upset, and the game had gone as I had predicted. Since I didn’t invest 3 hours of my day into this early game of the NBA Finals, I was not ultra-frustrated.

Days later, I watched every second of the 4th quarter of game seven of the series while standing up in my cousins’ living room. I yelled at the TV and was just like other Lakers fans in the room. Elated after the game, I got the same high as any other Lakers championship victory.

Today, I chose to visit with a friend I hadn’t seen in four years rather than watch the Lakers-Celtics game. I still dislike the Celtics; I’m sure Kevin Garnett still has a potty mouth. According to Yahoo! Sports, he also told a Lakers ball boy he had a better chance of catching bin Laden than getting an autographed ball from Mr. Garnett.

The NBA: Where being an a-hole happens.

OK, back to the point. I learned pretty much everything I needed to know about the Lakers by reading about the game afterwards. And I learned this without watching a minute of the game. Am I less of a Lakers fan for it? I don’t think so. When the playoffs come around, it will be more of a priority, but won’t mean everything like it used to. My outlook will be healthier than it used to be. And I will do my best not to allow a team’s performance affect my attitude in such a way. Just don’t remind me about who won the World Series last year- you might put me in a bad mood again…