Rude Football Fans: My Husband is One of Them
When it comes to watching sports on TV, I have know many viewers who forget all social etiquette and act like asses in front of the telly. Sports fanatics are not limited to Americans, but the belligerance, anti social and time wasting behavior can really be annoying. My husband is one such viewer.
It Started with College Football
Ever since he attended Berkeley, (or "Cal" as alums like to call their alma mater), my husband had followed its football team. His brother played football as an offensive lineman for Stanford, so the rivalry at home could be fierce and snarky. After college, following Cal football has become an obsession. My dear husband watches every game, every pre-season game, listens to the analysis afterwards, and gets online to read what other Cal fans are saying. Unfortunately, Cal football team is not very good, so most of the commentaries out there are negative, filled with lamentations, and sometimes "woe is me" kind of funny. Husband relishes in being part of a group of long suffering fans and I sometimes feel for him and his lot.
Now, that's 13 games, or 13 Saturdays (not counting playoffs and bowl games) out of a year when he is glued to the TV for Cal games. Of course, he'll be watching, or at least checking in on all the rest of the Pac 12 teams' games to see where Cal stands within Pac 12, and he'd be checking on the other college teams in the nation as well to see where Cal stands in the national rankings. (Mostly low). When he watches Cal play, he always downplays Cal's chances as if he doesn't really care. However, when the game is on, his true color comes out. He squirms, agonizes with each play, shouts at the poor kids on the team for failing to execute some play, and curses the referees. When Cal wins, he pretends that it wasn't that big a deal for him, but one can sense his overwhelming satisfaction nonetheless. When Cal loses, he will turn off the TV, pretend that he knew what the outcome would be all along, and will go online to "The Bear Insider.com" forum to see what all the other long suffering fans are saying in order to wallow in virtual communal misery.
The Fanaticism Continues to NFL Football with Players from College Football
Then we have Sundays. That's the NFL professional football time. Actually, they now have games on Fridays, and Mondays as well. To give him credit, hubby doesn't watch every NFL game that's on, but there are certain teams that he follows because players on those teams went to . . . you guessed it: Cal. This year, we have Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.
Hubby and I got into a fight this weekend over football. It was Martin Luther Kings weekend, and he was exhausted from work. He said we should go somewhere. He needed a break. We decided to spend one night in Ojai and then go shopping at the Camarillo Outlet Mall with the kids on Sunday. Before we left home, he suddenly said that he didn't feel like going away anymore. When I said that the hotel is already booked, he came along. It didn't occur to me that NFL playoff games were happening, and I certainly didn't anticipate that he was so invested in the games.
On Sunday, while driving to the mall, he mentioned that the Green Bay Packers were playing the Seattle Seahawks, and he needed to check the score. He spent the next hour in the car asking the rest of us to stream ESPN on our cell phones to give him play by play reports of what was going on in the game while he was driving. He wasn't satisfied with just knowing the score. He made snarky remarks at us when we couldn't find the play by play information for him. When we were shopping, he was glued to his iphone. He wanted Green Bay to win because he desperately wanted to prove to others, and to himself mostly, that Cal can produce fantastic quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers. Then he would keep telling me about what was going on in the game which I was not interested in while I was shopping. I humored him by agreeing that the game indeed sounded exciting.
Hatred and Love of Players and Teams Can Get Intense and Behavior Gets Ugly
When we got home after shopping, you'd think that was the end of it: The game was over, Green Bay lost in a series of unfortunate play calling and failed executions, and hubby was in a pissy mood. Lo and behold, Patriots started playing against Indianapolis. Now, hubby needs to watch this one too because it exemplifies "new guard vs. old guard": Andrew Luck v. Tom Brady. I said it would be nice for a new team to win the Superbowl since both Patriots and Seattle won recently. Nooooo: Why? Apparently hubby "hates" Indianapolis because its quarterback Andrew Luck went to Stanford, a team on his perennial hate list. I can't believe he takes these games, personalities and loyalties so seriously as if his reputation and well being depended on them. Each play is "critical" "old guard against new guard". He totally buys into the sports world's hype and characterization of these teams and games as if we are all witnessing global warfare or something. He becomes an armchair expert of all the teams' strengths and weaknesses based on what he hears the commentators say and gives predictions which are usually wrong. Pretty sad, in my opinion.
Anyway, during this game, hubby called his brother Andy to report about what happened in the game. This is to rub it in because his brother played for Stanford and was backing Indianapolis and Andrew Luck. His brother would always call to rub it in whenever Cal loses too. Apparently Andy the super sports fanatic got a life this weekend and didn't even watch the game on Sunday, and I made a comment that hubby was watching more TV games than Andy now. Hubby got mad, blew up at me, told me to "shut up" because I was insulting him by comparing him to his brother. I didn't see this coming, didn't know why his anger was directed at me, and sure didn't think I was insulting him. I got so pissed off I left and went out to have dinner by myself. The next day, he apologized. I was not, and still am not amused.
What do people think about behavior of sports fans? I am sure my husband is not the rudest person when it comes to football watching. My sister says that her husband, a Pittsburgh Steelers die hard behaves in an ugly manner when the Steelers play, but these days, at least he knows to just record the game and watch it later after he knows the scores already so that his emotion and ugly behavior don't get the better of him. Social etiquette aside, this type of elevated emotion during games cannot be good for a guy's physical health as they get older, can it?
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| Cal Bear Meme |
It Started with College Football
Ever since he attended Berkeley, (or "Cal" as alums like to call their alma mater), my husband had followed its football team. His brother played football as an offensive lineman for Stanford, so the rivalry at home could be fierce and snarky. After college, following Cal football has become an obsession. My dear husband watches every game, every pre-season game, listens to the analysis afterwards, and gets online to read what other Cal fans are saying. Unfortunately, Cal football team is not very good, so most of the commentaries out there are negative, filled with lamentations, and sometimes "woe is me" kind of funny. Husband relishes in being part of a group of long suffering fans and I sometimes feel for him and his lot.
Now, that's 13 games, or 13 Saturdays (not counting playoffs and bowl games) out of a year when he is glued to the TV for Cal games. Of course, he'll be watching, or at least checking in on all the rest of the Pac 12 teams' games to see where Cal stands within Pac 12, and he'd be checking on the other college teams in the nation as well to see where Cal stands in the national rankings. (Mostly low). When he watches Cal play, he always downplays Cal's chances as if he doesn't really care. However, when the game is on, his true color comes out. He squirms, agonizes with each play, shouts at the poor kids on the team for failing to execute some play, and curses the referees. When Cal wins, he pretends that it wasn't that big a deal for him, but one can sense his overwhelming satisfaction nonetheless. When Cal loses, he will turn off the TV, pretend that he knew what the outcome would be all along, and will go online to "The Bear Insider.com" forum to see what all the other long suffering fans are saying in order to wallow in virtual communal misery.
The Fanaticism Continues to NFL Football with Players from College Football
Then we have Sundays. That's the NFL professional football time. Actually, they now have games on Fridays, and Mondays as well. To give him credit, hubby doesn't watch every NFL game that's on, but there are certain teams that he follows because players on those teams went to . . . you guessed it: Cal. This year, we have Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.
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| Aaron Rodgers as a Cal Bear |
Hubby and I got into a fight this weekend over football. It was Martin Luther Kings weekend, and he was exhausted from work. He said we should go somewhere. He needed a break. We decided to spend one night in Ojai and then go shopping at the Camarillo Outlet Mall with the kids on Sunday. Before we left home, he suddenly said that he didn't feel like going away anymore. When I said that the hotel is already booked, he came along. It didn't occur to me that NFL playoff games were happening, and I certainly didn't anticipate that he was so invested in the games.
On Sunday, while driving to the mall, he mentioned that the Green Bay Packers were playing the Seattle Seahawks, and he needed to check the score. He spent the next hour in the car asking the rest of us to stream ESPN on our cell phones to give him play by play reports of what was going on in the game while he was driving. He wasn't satisfied with just knowing the score. He made snarky remarks at us when we couldn't find the play by play information for him. When we were shopping, he was glued to his iphone. He wanted Green Bay to win because he desperately wanted to prove to others, and to himself mostly, that Cal can produce fantastic quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers. Then he would keep telling me about what was going on in the game which I was not interested in while I was shopping. I humored him by agreeing that the game indeed sounded exciting.
 |
| Packers Lost in Dramatic Fashion |
When we got home after shopping, you'd think that was the end of it: The game was over, Green Bay lost in a series of unfortunate play calling and failed executions, and hubby was in a pissy mood. Lo and behold, Patriots started playing against Indianapolis. Now, hubby needs to watch this one too because it exemplifies "new guard vs. old guard": Andrew Luck v. Tom Brady. I said it would be nice for a new team to win the Superbowl since both Patriots and Seattle won recently. Nooooo: Why? Apparently hubby "hates" Indianapolis because its quarterback Andrew Luck went to Stanford, a team on his perennial hate list. I can't believe he takes these games, personalities and loyalties so seriously as if his reputation and well being depended on them. Each play is "critical" "old guard against new guard". He totally buys into the sports world's hype and characterization of these teams and games as if we are all witnessing global warfare or something. He becomes an armchair expert of all the teams' strengths and weaknesses based on what he hears the commentators say and gives predictions which are usually wrong. Pretty sad, in my opinion.
Anyway, during this game, hubby called his brother Andy to report about what happened in the game. This is to rub it in because his brother played for Stanford and was backing Indianapolis and Andrew Luck. His brother would always call to rub it in whenever Cal loses too. Apparently Andy the super sports fanatic got a life this weekend and didn't even watch the game on Sunday, and I made a comment that hubby was watching more TV games than Andy now. Hubby got mad, blew up at me, told me to "shut up" because I was insulting him by comparing him to his brother. I didn't see this coming, didn't know why his anger was directed at me, and sure didn't think I was insulting him. I got so pissed off I left and went out to have dinner by myself. The next day, he apologized. I was not, and still am not amused.
What do people think about behavior of sports fans? I am sure my husband is not the rudest person when it comes to football watching. My sister says that her husband, a Pittsburgh Steelers die hard behaves in an ugly manner when the Steelers play, but these days, at least he knows to just record the game and watch it later after he knows the scores already so that his emotion and ugly behavior don't get the better of him. Social etiquette aside, this type of elevated emotion during games cannot be good for a guy's physical health as they get older, can it?
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