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David Spates You can have my seat on Titans' bandwagon Sunday would have been much more enjoyable
were I not so loyal. Even though the Tennessee Titans lost the
Super Bowl by mere feet, they made it to the show. My favorite
team, the Washington Redskins, didn't. I guess I could have hopped
on the Titans' bandwagon, but my conscience wouldn't let me.
I can't have two favorites. Now I know we're just talking about sports
here, but the premise is one that applies to many other areas
of life, nearly all of which are much more crucial that football.
Loyalty is important. Loyalty helps define who you are. Loyalty
shows what you're made of. A person of character cannot simply
toss aside loyalty in favor of what might appear at the time
to be a better offer. I'm a Redskins fan, and while I enjoy watching
the Titans, I cannot consider myself a Titans fan. A long time
ago I chose one team and one team only, and while I may not be
as good a fan as I should during some of the lean years, the
sentiment remains. Probably the biggest reason I'm a Redskins
fan is because of my father. He indoctrinated me into the fold.
Football allegiance seems to be akin to religious affiliation
in that regard. In most homes, the son often becomes a fan of
that father's favorite team, just as in religion when a child
often aligns himself along the same religious beliefs and denomination
as the parents. It's not always the case, but it happens more
often than not. Sure, sometimes you'll get a rebellious child
who will buck tradition just for the sake of sticking it to his
parents. Maybe he'd cheer for the Dallas Cowboys and convert
to Islam, all the while his parents are attending Sunday Mass
and cheering for the Steelers. But like I said, I'm a Redskins fan primarily
because of my father, whose father also was a Redskins fan. My
grandfather, who was the kindest man you will never meet, even
played in the Redskins stadium band at one point (Hail to the
Redskins, Hail victory. Braves on the warpath, Fight for old
DC!). Plus, add to the equation that during my fan-forming years
of the middle to late 1970s, the Redskins were on TV in East
Tennessee nearly every weekend. We could watch almost every game.
That was key. It's hard to cheer for a team you never see. So with all that history, you can see how
I find it hard to throw it all away and start earnestly cheering
for another team whose primary selling point is proximity. What kind of fan would I be if I jumped ship?
Would you think very highly of a person who tossed away all history
and commitment? I dare say that's not the kind of fan the Tennessee
Titans want. The Titans, like every other team in professional
or amateur sports, appreciates loyal fans. And to those people
who have forsaken their favorite team in favor of the AFC champion
Tennessee Titans, shame on you. The Titans aren't going to be
champions every year, and eventually the team you cheated on
is going to be on the top of the heap again, and then where will
you be? Will you hop from the Titans back to your old favorite?
Or do you simply cheer for whatever uniform makes it to the playoffs? It's easy to support a winner, but the true test of one's loyalty comes when support is needed for a loser. Plus, when you support a loser in the doldrums, it makes it all the more enjoyable when the loser turns into a winner. Take my alma mater, Virginia Tech, for instance. The Hokies football team absolutely sucked when I went to college, and that makes it all the sweeter now that they have turned it around. Sure, they lost to the Criminoles of Florida
State, but I appreciate the effort as any true fan would. Hail to the Redskins, Hail victory. Braves
on the warpath, Fight for old DC! |