Why be a sports fan, you ask? It’s “dumb”, you say. NO!

If you say being a sports fan is dumb, I’m here to change your mind. The people saying this are normally fans of something you can compare to a team. For the sake of the argument let’s say the company is Apple.

For the next lines of text I am going to be comparing Apple to sports teams, and why people who say being a sports fan is dumb are hypocrites. Example one, let’s a team is doing bad,the bandwagon fan leaves that fan base because the team’s poor performance. But when they start getting better they jump back on.

Now let’s compare that to Apple. Apple drops a bad product, the fans leave for another brand. When the product gets fixed, they jump back on.

Example two, people might say you’re making the rich richer by buying gear and supporting the team, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU DO WHEN YOU BUY APPLE! Consumers making the company more rich than any one team, more than some pro teams make combined.

Example three: people ask, why do people  get attached to a team they not part of? Why do these people get attached to a company they are not part of? Like a sports fan when they find a team people find Apple; they stick to Apple.

Now I am going to list the benefits of being a fan. Sports can bring a sense of community to a town, city, or state.  For example, the Houston Astros. After Hurricane Harvey they won The World Series, the MLB’s championship. That might not have brought houses back, but it did help people recuperate after that tragedy for a little time.

In October there was a shooting in the town of Las Vegas; 58 dead. The Golden Knights Vegas hockey team is now in the Stanley Cup, the NHL’s championship. This helps because it helps a city recover from such a massacre. The team is bringing a sense of community and pride to the city.

It also brings countries together, mostly in FIFA and during the Olympics. Yes, FIFA has been called corrupt since 2015 when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. And when the whole Russian debacle happened with the Olympics, but at the same time what company isn’t a little corrupt?    

Here’s a good point anti-sports fans bring up: why are there riots over a team? That’s a good point. In the US and Canada there hasn’t been a big sports riot since 2011 when the Vancouver Canucks lost in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Most riots happen in Europe (95% percent of the time soccer) but over there people dedicate their life to a team. Not even just soccer, sometimes basketball to. Over there they bring in flares and shoot them on the pitch. And it’s not just one or two people, it’s a whole section.

But at the same time that shows hard dedication. Even though it’s a little extreme.

Company fans still stay dedicated when products harm them, let’s say Apple again. Even though phones cause accidents, bad stance, and anti socialising. Fans still stay, we can compare that to sports injuries and the long term effects it can have on player.

Being a sports fan can also teach you somethings. Like how to have dedication and to cope with loss. Now, I’m a New York Jets fan so when I lose something, I’m not that affected.

Sports can also start wars, seriesly. In 1969 a war was started over a FIFA soccer match between the Central American countries of EL Salvador and Honduras. Tensions were high between the two nations before the match but this lit the flame. At the end there was about 3,000 dead.  

Now I know this article probably won’t change any minds but I want people to see both sides f the story.