Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather be told that something is absolutely awful before you tell me it's extraordinary.
I prefer my preconceived notions be surpassed rather than proved hyperbole. It's the reason I am able to enjoy every single movie that Vin Diesel puts out. You go in expecting the worst and the only direction you can go is up.
So when I traveled to Wisconsin last weekend to watch my beloved Giants take on the Packers at famed Lambeau Field, I was filled with apprehension. Everyone and his mother told me that there is no better place in the world to watch football to be played than on the frozen tundra.
They told me that no arena in sports matches up to the one Lombardi built and, most strikingly, that there are no better fans in all of sports than the ones who call Green Bay home. I told them, I'll believe it when I see it.
Well, see it I did. Not only did Lambeau exceed my highest expectations, my experience there actually caused me to reevaluate my entire conception of what it means to be a fan.
Now, please don't take what I'm about to say as an indictment of New York or its fans, because it most certainly is not. I love my city and - even though the Packers faithful were remarkably impressive - still think we have the best, most passionate fans in the world. I, however, can only write about my personal experience, and in this particular instance the offending party just happened to be some of my very own. Regardless, what follows can be said about any fan, in any sport and any city.
When watching your favorite team play, especially on the road, there is a stark difference between being a fan and being an a-hole. Crossing that divide is unnecessary and unbecoming.
For the most part, the Packers fans I encountered were exceedingly warm and affable. They were so hospitable that at times I felt like I may have been part of an unrealistically over-the-top Saturday Night Live skit. They truly wanted visiting Giants fans to enjoy their stay in Green Bay and to enjoy Lambeau as much as they do, and they did everything in their power to make sure that was the case.
Yet, in spite of the hosts' good-natured demeanor, there were still some Giants fans looking more to disrupt the natural order of the place than to cheer on their team. I actually found myself apologizing for people I had never met before. When you are a fan away from home, your actions no longer reflect only on yourself - you are representing an organization, a whole fanbase and in essence an entire city. If you want to be an insufferable wretch in the privacy of your own home, that is your own decision, but don't make me guilty by association.
You see, my frustrations stem mostly from a single gentleman - using the term loosely - who was sitting directly to my left at the game. I'd share his name with you but I never got it, partly because I only engaged him in conversation when a fight seemed imminent and I was hoping to act as a peacemaker, and partly because he may have been too inebriated to even remember it. Don't get me wrong, drinking and sports go hand in hand, but a good rule of thumb to go by is that when someone is clutching on to you to stay upright during critical plays, he's had a couple too many.
Swearing is another time-honored sports tradition, and if you have ever watched a game with me you know it's one that I frequently participate in. In times of pure exultation, or deep depression, it's often the only thing you can think to do. However, screaming F-bombs and other, not even abbreviate-able words on a whim deliberately into the ears of everyone around you, disregarding age and gender, is downright unpleasant and uncouth.
In reality, to be a good fan you don't have to offend everyone in your vicinity. There is no need to disrespect the opposing team, their fans, city or traditions. Love for your team does not equate to hatred for the opposing team, and being passionate does not sanction being intolerable.
It is one thing to proudly boast that your team is the best in the NFL, as even if someone does not agree, they cannot fault you for unadulterated love. It is quite another to say that Aaron Rodgers would do better as a farmer than a quarterback and that Green Bay is the worst city in the world to live - both direct quotes by the way. Not only do you sound uninformed and dimwitted, but you're also alienating an entire group of people that, apart from this specific sporting event, you have absolutely no reason to oppose.
The thing that impressed me the most about Packers fans was that they truly did their darnedest to ignore the offensive remarks being spewed at them, opting to take the moral high ground instead. Yet, at no time did I ever confuse their congeniality for apathy - there was no denying that they loved their Packers.
What the Green Bay fans seemed to realize better than most was this: As fans, you are not playing in the game, you are simply watching it, so there is no need to work yourself up into a seething fervor. Athletes, especially football players, oftentimes need to contrive hatred for their opponents to have sufficient motivation to jeopardize their health on the field. Fans do not.
As a fan, your job is simply to root for your team, however passionately you desire. Anything more is something else entirely.
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