Half Full
In this small world, relatively speaking by a sports definition, there are only so many really good players to go around. And they all know one another…play together at various times of the year. Take the guys who played for the Mann Cup Champs this past summer, the Brampton Excelsiors. An absolutely fantastic team, by any observer’s definition. But now it is the winter and the NLL season is in full swing. If you look at most of the rosters, there are members of the Mann Cup champs present. In the summer- teammates. In the winter- opponents. And once the opening faceoff is done, it is game on. They do everything they can to defeat their “friends”. Their teammates are the guys wearing the same uniform, in that moment..
But the game is on the floor. And when it is over, it is over. Finished. Done. Time to go for a beer and be friends again. Things are pretty clearly defined for them.
And they should be for the fans as well. The game is on the floor and the team- players, coaches, staff, management- make the best decisions they can. Fans, however, don’t always understand that. Part of that inability to understand comes from the fact that they do not or, for that matter, cannot have all of the reasons behind decisions that seem incomprehensible.
But I find myself wondering, when talking to fans who think they deserve all the answers, what it was that attracted them to a team in the first place? Was it a specific player….like a Jim Veltman, for example? Was it the game itself…for its speed and excitement and non-stop action and skill and difficulty and…well you get the idea? Like my first ever game- at Maple leaf Gardens? Was it the fact that the home team won that first game and the feeling of pride that outcome carried with it? Was it the fact that a player for the “enemy” (some guy named Tavares) clobbered the only player you knew (some ‘tender named Whipper), late in the game and you were less than pleased with that and decided those guys in the black and orange made excellent “bad guys”?
In the end, I am not sure it really matters how a fan comes to find their favourite team. What really matters is how devoted you allow yourself to be. The word fan comes from the word fanatic and that is defined as…” marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion “. And it comes from the Latin, fanaticus, which is defined as “inspired by a deity, frenzied “. Doesn’t sound all that reality based to me and that is what being a fan is all about. Blind faith maybe but your team should be your team, no matter what. Same as with your players. Good, bad, ugly….they are your guys.
Now throw into that the fact that you hang around the game enough, maybe get involved in some volunteer work like managing a team or writing for a lacrosse publication or a few; getting to as many games as you can; maybe helping with a national championship or taking your team to compete in one. You get to see all sides and, if you pay close enough attention to the boys on the floor, you come to an understanding about how the game stays there.
I clearly remember an incident following my Senior B team’s defeat in the President’s Cup at the hands of a team from Alberta. During the post-game handshakes, I hugged the guys on the victorious team that I knew. A few guys razed the largest guy on their team about hugging the opposition. And when he was asked why he would do that he simply answered….”because I can”. I was disappointed my team had lost but I had no trouble being delighted for my player friends on the other team.
So…back to the original topic of my blog. Why, in heavens name, after they fired my friend, the head coach, and “demoted” my favourite player from coaching staff to “special advisor” could I still cheer for this team? Pretty simple really. This is my team. Has been from the very first game. And while I don’t know precisely why all of the decisions are made, I am really one of those glass more-than-half-full types. I assume, right or wrong, that the ones making the decisions are making the best ones they can. And that my team will win again. And those things will happen exactly the way they are supposed to.