I spent this weekend reading Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy.
It really opened my eyes. As fans we are so ready to jump on any coach or player’s back about any decision. We constantly feel that since we are fans, we are owed something. We feel that the coach should belong to us and is there to please us.
I should know, I am a Cowboy fan – I have personally wanted to strangle Tony Romo with piano wire more than three times in the past couple of years. But this book will really help fans realize that football is just a job and not a life for these guys.
To be honest, hearing Tony Dungy talk about his faith, and how he has found God through football was really an amazing story.
I know this is hard for any fanatic out there to hear, but the sports we love, that we stay in line for season tickets for, is nothing more than a job to the athletes we love and care about.
I try to read a new sport biography every month or so. I am a huge sports fan, and I am shocked my girlfriend puts up with it. But the more I read the more I simply look back and laugh at the odd things I do.
For example: I have to wear a Notre Dame football jersey on the Friday before games. It’s not so much a compulsive need as it is superstition. Last time I forgot to wear a jersey before the season started, Notre Dame went 3-9.
I will never refer to my favorite team as “they.” I will always say “we” because as a fan, I feel that I have contributed to the team’s success.
If there is an MMA fight going on, and Michael Bisping is fighting, I have to wear his walk-out shirt. I feel like if I don’t wear it, it will impair his chances of winning, and what if he gets knocked out – that could all be my fault.
What I have learned most, through this book and through my life of sports, is that this love of sports and the game of sports are pure, and that sometimes a game is just a game.
People shouldn’t yell at coaches to find a new job because he loses a game. That coach has a wife and kids and people, myself included, sometimes need to grow up and get a life.