Bandwagons

You may have noticed this. After taking a 34-0 thrashing at the hands of my beloved Packers, the local professional football team has suddenly won four consecutive games, many of them by fairly lopsided scores. And just as suddenly, the skeptical fan base is becoming interested in the team again.

This has caused some hooting in certain corners. In today's Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan wrote about the notion of people jumping on the bandwagon. Souhan's take is that using the word bandwagon is a sign of mental weakness. So I'm going to prove his point and use the word extensively. I take great pride in being a slack-jawed moron. Really, who wouldn't?

Souhan's argument is that being a fair-weather fan is rational, especially for Vikings fans. Generally I agree with him; no team has teased its fans more. And given the battle for entertainment dollars in the Twin Cities, it's not surprising that the team has had to rely on corporate largesse to keep their games on television most of this year. The cost of attending an NFL game is pretty outrageous these days; if I were inclined to take my family to the Dome for a game and were to pay face value for the tickets, I would reasonably expect that the total outlay for the day would be approaching $400, once parking and concessions are factored into the equation. I can take the family to a Twins game for a tenth of the cost and, not surprisingly, we go to several Twins games each year. I have only seen the Vikings in the Metrodome once and that was in 1989, I think.

Being a fan isn't about rationality, however. Especially in professional sports, it's about cheering a bunch of mercenaries who happen to be wearing the colors of the team assigned to your market. It's pretty much axiomatic that people who always stay on the bandwagon do so for reasons that have a lot more to do with emotion than intellect. As a Packer fan, I certainly understand the role of emotion in my support of the team. Despite whatever protestations the team might make to the contrary, the Packers don't need my support at all. If I were to switch allegiances tomorrow, it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the Packers. They have every ticket sold in their stadium, essentially forever; thousands of fans sit patiently on the waiting list for season tickets.

But there I sit on the Packer bandwagon, pretty much in the same seat I've held since I first started following the team as a child. I can quote chapter and verse about former Packers and I've watched hundreds of games in my life on television. Only once have I actually seen a game in Lambeau Field (Green Bay 48, Washington 47, a Monday Night game back in 1983). Is it rational that this team has such a purchase on my time and my psyche? Of course not. But it doesn't matter. I stay on the bandwagon. And I don't begrudge those who hop on and off the bandwagon. It doesn't detract from my joy one bit if people who might ordinarily wear purple, or silver and blue, or even navy and orange, keep a Favre jersey deep in their closet.

So if the Vikings lose this weekend and the all the people jump off the purple bandwagon again, that's fine too. And if they decide to join the Packer bandwagon later on, great. There's always room.