Football: identity or entertainment?

[PatsFanSince74]

Yes. I've been a computer and stats/data guy since I was a kid. I used to chart everything for my baseball team, and compile it on old-time Apple computers like the IIe. I didn't get into it as a career, so I'm able to enjoy it as entertainment.

And if the NFL ever takes away the Super Bowl after playing the full season, I'll stop watching it just as I stopped watching MLB after they took away the World Series.

As for the posts, I'm stuck in front of the computer(s) for hours on end, I'm a very fast reader and fairly fast typist, and I'm not the type who can only focus on one thing at a time, so posting doesn't really take much time.

Oh, Deus of the 26,000 posts...

Look us all in the eye and tell us that, if the investment we each have in the Patriots falls somewhere along the Spectrum from "Pure Identity" to "Pure Entertainment," that your investment in the Patriots is purely a function of the "Entertainment" they provide you and that you could care less if the team wins or loses as long as the game is entertaining to watch.

I'm not saying you have to be a "fan"atic who can't sleep after a loss, but tell us that it's purely a matter of Entertainment and the outcome of the game doesn't matter at all to you.

 

[Deus Irae]

Oh, Deus of the 26,000 posts...

Look us all in the eye and tell us that, if the investment we each have in the Patriots falls somewhere along the Spectrum from "Pure Identity" to "Pure Entertainment," that your investment in the Patriots is purely a function of the "Entertainment" they provide you and that you could care less if the team wins or loses as long as the game is entertaining to watch.

I'm not saying you have to be a "fan"atic who can't sleep after a loss, but tell us that it's purely a matter of Entertainment and the outcome of the game doesn't matter at all to you.

I'm generally much more entertained if the side I cheer for wins. That's true of any contest I enjoy watching, be it boxing, football, hockey or whatever.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I'm generally much more entertained if the side I cheer for wins. That's true of any contest I enjoy watching, be it boxing, football, hockey or whatever.

Well played, as usual.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I think we're all instantly put off by the choice of word, "identity." But when I think about it, just as I laugh at people who say things like, "When I go to Bennigans I always order the chicken wings and a Sam Adams -- that's just how I roll..." or have a sneaking suspicion that some folks who say "I can't drive over a bridge, I'll drive 40 miles around it, no matter how small the bridge is..." are substituting quirks for self-awareness... If I'm honest, there is definitely an identity component to fandom.

Very strange notion to think about "who I would be w/o the Patriots component."

Of course there'd be a nearly unchanged core... but I dunno about claiming my Pats loyalty is "separate from myself," if it's been there since before I was a conscious adult. Even in the strike year I wanted us to have good scabs, and was always looking forward to the next time the "real" Patriots were on the field.

So hmmmm, unless we're over say 60, how do we know just how much identity is bound up in the Pats?

 

[Elijah T.]

It's not an identity or entertainment, IMO. I call it my hobby of passion. I have other hobby's like golf. But football is a year round thing for me.

Also being a hobby of passion it has to have a target and that target is the NE Patriots. So I don't "identify" with being a football/Patriots fan and somethings it's not entertainment, it can be hard work (reading up draft and FA prospect and searching for the right info on both), and it's certainly has it's highs and lows.

Here is how "hobby" is defined:
An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

So yes it an interest outside my occupation and family. But I'm passionate about it but I also don't want it to be my "identity" and certainly I don't want it to be "entertainment", like going to the movies or watching a TV show.
​

Good post.

I don't have many hobbies. For me it's family, football, and the gym. This sums up my life all the way around (career and interests), besides my spiritual faith-- this is what I do and who I am.

If I'm not doing one I'm doing the other, and that's it.

So I think I invest more than I should in the team from an emotional and mental standpoint. I have to remind myself at the end of the day that I'm not on the field, or on the sideline, or installing the gameplan during the week etc... I can't control anything... I'm a spectator; a fan.

I seem to take the losses personal...they affect me more than they should. When we win I feel good for a minute, but then I immediately start focusing on the next opponent and what the team has to do to win that particular game.

The Super Bowl loss still bothers me.....Just nags me.

So I don't know, my wife is teaching me how to put everything in perspective..

 

[FCB02062]

Boston sports is my identity. I go off the deep end when my teams loose, and I am through the roof when they win. Right now I'm freaking miffed that the Bruins got shutout by little more than a freaking AHL team this afternoon on NATIONAL TV. SB 42 took a piece of me with it, and I won't get that back until the Patriots, if the Patriots, win another one in my lifetime. The Celtics, then the Bruins took a great deal of the sting of 42 away, but the Patriots had a chance to be the best team ever in the history of SPORT - a least for one season, and it slipped out of their hands...thanks Assante.
I'm the type of guy who when my team looses, I look at all my other team's schedules to see when their playing next because a victory will assuage the bitter feelings of the prior loss. I used to get violent and loose my temper - punch holes in walls, throw sh#t at walls, and just go crazy. But that was before marriage and kids; now I just get pissed and hold much of it in - which probably isn't a good thing.
I knew I probably couldn't deal with another Patriots loss in the SB, so I hatched a plan for the game a fortnight ago - I would drink to the point where I'd be drunk enough to pay attention to the game but not sober enough so that I'd remember every play. It worked. I was over that game in a couple of days.
I don't "talk smack" to fans of other teams - maybe it's because I'm closing in on f#cking 40 - but I love the feeling that comes after my team wins. The Red Sox will be opening up in a couple of months, but I don't have great expectations for this team that's finished third two times in a row. Bobby Valentine is nothing more than a PR move for the club. The best thing about baseball is that it's on almost every day - if the Sox go out and get hammered 8-1, they can get it right back the next day, so there's no real simmering time for fans to go apeschitt....anyway, GO PATS, GO BRUINS, GO CELTICS, GO RED SOX, GO HUSKIES (NU), GO FC BAYERN, GO DEUTSCHER FUSSBALL BUND....those are all "my" teams
Also, has anyone else noticed that the Bruins AND Celtics are about a combined 5-15 since the Super Bowl????? Not good....

 

[Sparetire]

A little of both i guess. dont need to be extreme

 

[PatsFan24]

Entertainment all the way. I enjoy watching the games and I comment on them here and other places, but at the end of the day it is all about having fun. People know I am a Patriots fan and have been since I was a kid, but that does not define who I am, nor do they ID me as that. Being a Pats fan is one part of me. I am also a huge fan of Guns N Roses, but that is entertainment all the way as well. It is great to be at a sporting event or a concert and having a great time, you feel like you are part of the excitement. I find many sports fans take the games far too seriously. They riot, they get into fights, they insult people just because they are fans of another team, and so on. It's too bad that some people use being a sports fan as an excuse to judge people or act like a jerk. I understand it is not a game to the players and coaches, they have a job on the line. However as a fan I look at it as a great way to have fun and get away from some stress. I hope being a fan does not define who I am. In fact I hope no one thing about me does that. Good thread idea and interesting responses.