Paying Allegiance to the Team

              Yesterday, I set up my blog profile under the Denver Bronco community which I could only imagine caused indigestion to my die-hard Steelers fan father. I was never a Denver Bronco fan until recently and to be honest, I was never a fan of John Elway. I was and will always be a Dan Marino girl. This too does not does sit well with my father, but at least Dan Marino is from Pittsburgh.  So in light of my personal catharsis I had to question today’s allegiance to the team.

                With free agency and many players changing teams not just every season, but in the middle of seasons, it is very hard to be true to one team. This becomes especially true for those who are have more allegiance to fantasy football teams then actual NFL football teams. I must admit, I too am a fair weather team fan as you can see by my football community. One team you will never see on my list is the Dallas Cowboys.  It will be Armageddon when this PA steel town girl cheers on the Cowboys.

                Ironically for a “team” sport my allegiance is toward the players, the coaches and sometimes the organization.  I find myself fans of players, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and others. I always held to the belief that men, players make the teams, not teams make the men, players.  A team can have the most talented players, but have the worst team. We watched this team on Sunday, the Oakland Raiders.  We also should recognize the team personality is the direct relation to the front office management. Team’s management can make or break any team.  If that is the case, are we loyal to brand names and corporations? 

                So how does fantasy football affect team allegiance? It is a crazy scheme if you think about it. We vote on specific player’s performance, but in many cases these players are as good or bad as the team they play on.  To be honest, I don’t know how fantasy football works, but I can say this, “It is a fantasy.” The teams we create don’t exist. The players we pick don’t actually play together on a team and don’t create that team bond that is football.  Can we say we are true football fans when we follow an imaginary league?

                It is the special team fan that stays with a team through the good and the bad times, who is there through the years, through sun, rain, sleet and snow. I know as my father and brothers suffered ulcers during the Kordell Stewart and Bubby Brister years of the Pittsburg Steelers. I know this as I tried to keep my head held high during the Buddy Ryan years of the Philadelphia Eagles.  I give credit to the Chicago Bears fans who continue to cheer on their team without a decent quarterback, or those die-hard Raider fans who come out every Sunday dressed in costume. The one fact that remains true, players don’t win championships, teams do and when we chose to stand behind a team, we should stand behind every player on that team. That is a true fan. That is paying allegiance to the team.