Growing up in the northwest, I was able to watch sports in two different camps. On the
one hand, I had the local teams that I avidly rooted for; the Mariners, Huskies and until
their tragic departure and ultimately a crime against sports fans, the Supersonics. I
loved all of these teams, through the good and the bad (example, my continued fandom
of the Mariners…..). However, I am also a passionate fan of teams not located in the
northwest. Much of this I owe to my father, who rooted for the Redskins and the Reds
since Seattle didn’t have baseball or football till he was nearly twenty, and I inherited my
love for these teams from him. With having teams near to me at home, but also having
ones spread around the nation, I developed a unique attitude towards my teams: That
watching from a distance was almost more enjoyable, solely through the fact that I did
not have to continually be berated by the negatives in a lousy season and the arrogance
in a good season.
The primary benefit to a long distance relationship with your team is that you don’t let
the down years affect you as much. For instance, being a Redskins fan and living
across the country has allowed me countless moments of not feeling despair for my
team. Not being in D.C. means no consistent bombardment of negativity from the radio
shows or twenty-four-hour sports show. It merely is easier on my mind being far away
(this is also exponentially so since the Reskins have had three playoff years in my living
memory). I can pick which analysis I look at and most important of all, I am better able
to back opinions of my team, without the influence of local sports analysts and fans. The
other aspect is that the disease of fan arrogance is avoided. The few times the
Redskins were good I was able to keep a level head about their on and off-field
performance, not getting swept at the moment. Being thousands of miles away saves
me from the over analysis of each game, every off-season move made and missed, plus
none of the team drama or fan incompetence and over-excitement that continually
assaults my brain cells.
But how do I know that living near my team and their mediocrity would wear me down?
The answer is found in our beloved Seattle Mariners. For what has seemed like
centuries the Mariners have consistently let me and all in the northwest down. Not since
the ancient past that was 2001 have we seen the playoffs. Granted we have had good
seasons (as the 2002 and 2003 90 wins seasons show or the almost 90 win seasons of
recent memory). Yet without playoff and division contention, daily life is relentless on a
humble sports fan. Every morning, drudging into work is made worse by the consistent
“our team sucks”, “we need to do x,y,z to get better” and “What are the front
office/coaching staff thinking”. Every day the armchair GMs and Head Coaches have
something to say. Even Gary at the water cooler pipes up and reminds you at work, “IF I
was in charge id do…..” Get a grip Gary, you’re an accountant at a mid-level firm and a
degree from Evergreen State. And if that not bad enough, you will inevitably have to go
home and face questions from your kid; “Dad, will the Mariners ever win a World
Series?” And in response, you say, “Someday kid, if we’re lucky we may just see the
playoffs.” To top it off, every time the Mariners get hot, whether it’s at the beginning of
the season giving us hope, or at the end making us think “what could have been”, the
no nothing fair-weather fans get WAY too excited. This is just as excruciating as when
things are bad. Those poor ignorant souls don’t know baseball and how fickle the sport
is (you know the ones, they go to games just to drink in the outfield and get excited at
anything that moves, especially a shiny Coors can). They don’t appreciate it enough
and degrade the experience. These are all effects mitigated by moving away and
watching the team from afar.
Fortunately, this all goes away as soon as your out of radio reception or television
distance. From afar you can pick and choose when you want to see your sports team
and all the commentary with it. For instance, with the Mariners, I decided to get away,
far away, another country actually. Here, I don’t hear any negativity about the Ms
season. Instead, I actively participated, watched and conversed with friends when the
good times were rolling (during that miraculous 13-2 start). But as things slipped, I
narrowed who I talked baseball with and limited my intake to general analysis and game
recaps, if only to save my heart from failure and my mind’s sanity. Currently I now just
keep up with prospects and draft picks in hopes for a better and brighter future where
we might just compete…. In our own division.
Yet for all the good reasons watching from afar has been great, there still is a feeling of
something amiss. For starters, being far away keeps you from being at the game. This
is probably the most significant reason to be close to your team or school. The
atmosphere at sporting events is like none other. Everyone is ramped up for the squad
hoping for a win. Even down years provide an opportunity for great in person fun. For
example, I have many fond baseball memories at Safeco in the bleak years. This
primarily stems from cheap tickets and my dad buying first or third baseline two rows
up. As a kid those are cherished memories, only found at the ball game.
The other instance is through the Huskies football program. For years I grew up
listening and watching them get trounced, I even picked a second favorite team to root
for (I still root for that squad to this day). Yet the years of suffering were rectified in
recent years. With the Huskies becoming a PAC-12 power (although that really doesn’t
say much) the stadium is packed. Just as college football should be 15,000 students
and 72,000 fans overall screaming for the Dawgs. What’s better is being in the stands
when the Dawgs go duck hunting and beat the wack quack attack, or best of all, beating
the Pullman Pansies so bad that for the last 5 or so years its made people question if
they will ever compete in the Apple Cup. Fans at these game create a great
atmosphere, one that rivals anything else in the world. The sight lines are fantastic,
seeing every aspect of the field and not being dictated to by the tyranny that is televised
sports. These are the feelings and the atmosphere that watching from afar misses.
In all watching, or better yet keeping track of, my teams from afar has lowered my blood
pressure and definitely reduced stress (anyone who has been with me during a football
game of one of my teams knows how intense I can get). Yet the feeling of being in the
stadium with your friends and family, yelling, cheering and taking it all in is an
experience that cannot be traded in. Watching from afar is a great way to shake things
up and even get away in bad times, while not wholesale abandoning your team.
However, nothing will replace being in the stadium and experiencing a sporting event…
even if it is the Mariners in one of their famous 90 loss seasons.
Written by: Charles Bauman
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