The Chicago Bears have "Bear Down." My beloved New Orleans Saints opt for the more colloquial and more expressive, "Who Dat Say Dey Gon' Beat Dem Saints?!" But for several teams locked in the cellar of the NFL standings this year, a new slogan has emerged: "Suck for Luck."
Apart from its secondary function as an inappropriate innuendo, the new catchphrase applied to such teams as the Colts and Dolphins has become a rallying cry for embattled fans who are both resigned to their team's present futility and giddy at the prospect of cheering for standout Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck, who returned to Stanford for his fourth year despite the certainty that he would have gone to the Panthers as the 2011 NFL Draft's top pick, efficiently runs his pro-style offense at Stanford with a lethal arm and sneakily explosive running ability. He has the size, savvy and cool name requisite of a great NFL quarterback. And for league bottom-feeders, he's there for the taking in 2012 for the price of a wretched 2011.
Now step into the shoes of a Colts fan. Your team, which was likely on the decline anyway, has suffered more from the loss of Peyton Manning than TMZ would suffer from Lindsay Lohan entering a convent. Sunday night, the Colts became the first team in 36 years to allow 62 points during a regular season game. Without their iconic quarterback, the most compelling storyline surrounding the Colts other than the Luck sweepstakes is whether their hyper-stoic coach Jim Caldwell is actually a mannequin adorned in team paraphernalia and placed on the sideline every Sunday. And Colts fans are hardly alone in their misery after the Dolphins did everything but request a tip after serving up a game to the Broncos. With nothing but misery and embarrassment on the horizon for those who persist in cheering these teams on, why not abandon pretense and openly hope that your team snags a potential franchise quarterback in a league which exalts quality quarterback play above all else?
The question at hand is not whether yearning for an undeniably wretched team to lose on behalf of draft position makes intuitive, logical or economic sense for the loyal NFL fan, because it clearly does. Replenishing your enthusiasm for a woeful team is much easier when an exhilarating young prospect such as Luck injects optimism into a franchise and its fanbase, as my fellow New Orleanians and I learned five years ago when Reggie Bush fell into the Saints' laps.
The question, rather, is whether it makes moral or ethical sense - is a professed fan obligated to support his team's effort to win regardless of the circumstances?
If you consider yourself a "casual fan" - one who perceives the NFL as simply a particularly engrossing form of entertainment and your team a pleasant but ultimately nonessential diversion from the doldrums of routine life - then of course you should harbor no misgivings about desiring an underwhelming season to bear fruit in the form of an Andrew Luck-caliber newcomer the next season. Otherwise, the motivation to sustain your interest dissipates, and you substitute to other, more enjoyable forms of entertainment until your team someday once again becomes a pleasant diversion.\nBut with all due respect, casual fans, you're not what immediately comes to mind when I contemplate true sports fanaticism.
I think of the fans who suffer from an unhealthy obsession with their favorite teams, whose moods fluctuate with their teams' positions in the standings.
I think of the throngs of rabid Redskins fans I have encountered here in Charlottesville who still fawn over their team despite its affliction with a bad case of Dan Snyder or the Chicago Cubs fans who voluntarily torture themselves on an annual basis just because they love watching their boys play baseball too much to stop.
And of course, I think of my fellow Saints fans who were there through 40-plus years of disgrace and there again when the team conquered the football world in 2010, chanting "Who Dat Say They Gon' Beat Dem Saints?!" all the time.
For these fans the team transcends a form of entertainment - it becomes a member of the family, an object of love and affection. A fan like that would never wish his team to endure the kind of season the Colts and Dolphins are trudging through during 2011 despite the potential payoff in 2012, just as a responsible parent would never send his children off to Siberia for a year even if he was promised a million dollars upon their return. The diehards in Indianapolis and Miami, therefore, do have an obligation to keep urging their teams to victory for the rest of the season. Just as in life in general, the good times are far more fulfilling when they arrive if the bad times are faced bravely.
So casual fans, fret not about rooting for your team to "suck for Luck." You might get to urge on the heir-apparent to NFL quarterback royalty next season, and if not, there is always the consolation that you likely live a much saner, more balanced life than us rabids. For the zealots, however, take it from someone who has seen the lowest trough and the highest crest as a fan: Don't cheer against your team, no matter how hopeless the situation or how enticing the benefits of losing. Remember that, in both prosperity and calamity, supporting your team is a labor of love.
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