On Being A Fan: Living and Dying with Arsenal

Fan (n): A fan, aficionado, or supporter is someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking and enthusiasm for a sporting club, . . . (courtesy Wikipedia)

So what does it mean to be a fan. Is it to express an interest in specific team or organization. Some would argue it is. Me – I would contend that being a fan, a true fan is a borderline manical fanaticism for a team so much so that engulfs most of your every day life.

While I am a fan of many sports teams they are not nearly as intense as my love for the Red and White of Arsenal. How I came to love Arsenal is not important – what matters is that it has been a part of me for a very long time and it only intensified when I launched this blog.

In light of our recent loss to Manchester United and the endless back and forth about what that loss means for the team and accusations of one person being more of a fan over another I thought it would be interesting to explore this thing called fandom.

 Michael Mandelbaum, a prominent professor of foreign policy at Johns Hopkins is the author of The Meaning of Sports, a book that examines “what it means to be fan.” Or in other words  why do reasonable, well-adjusted people — you know, like us — invest so much time and emotion and passion watching the sweaty and genetically gifted play games? That is the question we should answer.

First for my readers lets look at Arsenal fans as I would group them:

Kool Aid Drinkers: Doesn’t matter what happens – the team, the manager, the players, the overall organization can do no wrong.

Doom Mongers: The minute one minor thing goes wrong, injury to a key player, a loss to a rival, this fan will immediately cry all is lost and we should abandon all hope.

The Nay Sayers: Along the same lines of the Doomer Mongers but will rationally look at the team and tell you what needs to be fixed, players bought /sold or loaned out, manager fired, organizational changes, etc.

The eternal pragmatist: The fan who has the emotional connection that all the others do but sees the positive and the negative and sees the practical in both arguements and takes a side in neither court but makes a rational decision based on the evidence (and their heart) at hand.

I would classify myself as a blend of Kool Aid Drinker and eternal pragmatist. I am a Kool Aid drinker because my team can do no wrong in my eyes – even when they BLOW. But when I stop to look at the team and the situation as a whole, I understand the negative and positive complexities of the situation and look for what really is the best answer.

Now let me make this remark – it doesn’t matter what group you fall into here – no one is saying you are any less committed to the team than anyone else. Though I could argue Doom Mongers need to really check their team credentials.

Fans should be allowed to aruge that they are tired of being spoon fed the same old statements around the age of the team, they are tired of being priced out of their seeing their favourite team, and having “tourist” fans take their place.

As an Arsenal fan we also have the right to tell that other groups of fans to stuff it, that Arsene has plan and regardless of the duration winning a trophy we want him as a manager and we want him to keep our club from the perils of debt laden hell.

As a fan I get tired of being told I can feel one way or the other. Hell, I am tired of the pit that rests in my stomach after a loss. I get tired of looking at the same old tired arguements about the failings of our team and without any nods to the positives of the team.

Conversely the opposite number have a right to tell me to pound sand.

And see that’s whats great about being a fan – we all support our team and are equally as passionate. We all feel the pain of defeat (some of it for different reasons) some like me take days to recover from it. (I can’t look at the press, I don’t want to write and I don’t want to engage on Twitter – that’s how bad it gets). But in the end we all love Arsenal win or lose.

I discovered Arsenal in 1989. I was temporarily assigned duty in London for Commander In Chief US Naval Forces Europe and working across from my Brit counterpart he asked me if I was in the mood to go on a sojourn to go see Arsenal play. It would require requesting a personal day of leave in order to make the trip. I was able to get the day off (thank PO Guilliano). And on Friday 26 may 1989 I saw my first Arsenal match and the rest we shall say is history.

Since then I bleed red and white and more so than my Hockey team, my baseball team or my throwball team (I HATE BASKETBALL – except Villanova). I buy the FIFA series because I can be Arsenal. I read Arsenal articles incessantly. I argue with Stag and Fred and other Arsenal fans ad nauseum (though Fred and Stag get me too many times for my own liking). I go head to head with Chav fans on Twitter and I long for St Totteringham’s day. I will never again support Adebuywhore and watching Kolo Toure and Patrick Vierra in powder blue hurts in so many ways. Fandom is so many things to so many of us.

It doesn’t matter how we came to Arsenal the fact is we support them. We can all get guffed at each other but that’s what it means to be a fan. I dread reading some of the comments on here but in same vain I’ve really come to respect the opinions of all the supporters who comment here.

One final word: The Doom Mongers – more than any other group these guys piss me off – when Vermaelen was injured last week and it looked like he had a broken leg – you would’ve thought that Arsenal would never win another game again. All was lost and we should just give up. These aren’t the same creatures as Nay Sayers. Nay Sayers bring something to the table, they validate their point with evidentary and argumentive evidence – the Doom Monger is the fair weather fan that gives all supporters a bad name. Sorry I had to get that off my chest because that grip just irks me.

And no guys I don’t care how you came to Arsenal – this isn’t AA.