Discussing The Concept Of Liberated Fandom

I was introduced to the term while reading Freedarko, which is a blog that discusses basketball, usually by comparing styles of play and/or players to film directors, schools of political thought, or psychological styles, to name a few. So you get posts and comments where the Phoenix Suns of 05-06 are compared to Godard, while the 07-08 Lakers are Bertolucci. As a biology major, most of that just goes right over my head. If it's going to make sense to me, compare the Suns trade for Shaq, and its subsequent failure to produce better results to the Biological Species Concept.

Actually, don't do that, because I've decided I will.

At any rate, "liberated fandom" as I understand it, is that a fan should not just be someone who always roots for a team, and does so because they've rooted for that team since they were a child, just like their father and grandfather (or mother and grandmother, or whatever). That kind of fandom is perfectly OK, but so is the Freedarko style of rooting for a team because of the way they play, or rooting for a player because of their style, or what they represent, and that can vary with each fan's personal taste.

To me, it seems that the later in life I became invested in a sport, the more my fandom incorporates the latter style. I started watching baseball when I was five or six, and for me it has been pretty much the Cardinals or bust*. There are players on teams other than the Cardinals that I like, or respect the skills of**, but it isn't enough for me to really root for their team due to their presence.

I started watching the NFL in 1993, and while I have stuck with the Arizona Cardinals through that, there have been a host of other teams I rooted for at various times, usually because of a particular player. In a lot of cases, that player was a quarterback, usually one with a fairly average arm, but good mobility. I rooted for the Chiefs because of Joe Montana, and I stayed with the Chiefs until they decided to go with Elvis Grbac as their starting QB, and let Rich Gannon go***. So I followed Gannon to the Raiders. When the Bills signed Doug Flutie, I had the opportunity to read a few articles about him, and so I rooted for the Bills as a result. When the Bills opted to dump Flutie to stick with Rob Johnson, I started following the Chargers****. I sort of idly watched the Rams during their first 2 "Greatest Show on Turf" years because I like high-octane football, and the Rams were providing it. I only actively rooted for the Rams when Arizona traded Aeneas Williams to them, because I wanted him to get a ring*****. When Vermeil took over the Chiefs, I went back to them because we got the best kind of football for my viewing pleasure: A team with a great offense and lousy defense, so everybody scores lots of points. Woo-hoo!

I didn't really start watching the NBA until 97-98 (also known as the 2nd year the T-Wolves lost in the 1st round). I was a Timberwolves fan for about 8 years, but when it became clear that it wasn't going to happen for them, I kind of lost interest and gravitated to the Suns and eventually the Warriors, with their run-and-gun style. I don't know what it means that I seem less loyal to teams as I get older, but that seems to be the trend. Maybe I figure I can't keep adopting sad sack franchises, when I've already got Arizona.

* There was a time early on where I chose the Blue Jays as my AL team, but then I decided I had no use for the DH, so that died a quick death.

** Jamie Moyer in the first category, Alex Rodriguez in the second. Mostly I feel bad for A-Rod. He takes so much shit when he doesn't merit it.

*** That certainly worked well for Kansas City.

**** Man, general managers are some dumb folks some time. Just because a guy has a big arm doesn't mean he's any good. Honestly, you'd think Montana would have taught them that.

***** He came so close, too. Stupid Martz and his refusal to run the football.