When I was a kid, back in the “Olden Days”, we used to be able to tell you anything and everything you wanted to know about the players on our teams that we rooted for. As a matter of fact, we could tell you the same about our rivals. Think in terms of Hatfields and McCoys. Years of slowly changing players on teams meant that years of history and animosity towards opposing players and teams were built into the games and built upon with each game. And most importantly, they represented you, and your town.
All of you can remember back to the simplest times in your lives when the players on you elementary school classroom, or school were playing against the other classroom or school. It is very tribal, I suppose. We quickly become passionately invested in those players and teams that represent us. Heroes are born. Then, high school and bragging rights have our heroes competing against our serious rivals. For some, the passion may wane and for others it is intensified. Those who go on to college become part of a new team, a new family, the family of your school, and the teams are your representatives. When they win, we win and we are therefore winners and when they lose, we lose and we are losers. The players and coaches aren’t necessarily the kids we grew up with anymore, but they are our guys and we usually have them for a few years. That gives us enough time to get that whole knowing about them and who they are, after all, they are our new family members and it is harder to root for the brand new brother-in-law that you just met than it is to root for the family you have known for years. He’s family and he is welcomed with open arms, but only with a little time will we get to know and love the guy.
Now, back to when I was a kid. Back then, players basically belonged to the teams that signed them. Those teams invested in them, developed them, and hoped that they would get a great return on their investment. We fans were right there the whole time and we invested our time, energy, and passion too.
Then, the courts found that Roberto Clemente was right to claim that he was now a slave to his owners as far as his career was concerned and they gave him, and all other professional athletes their freedom and Free Agency was born. Clemente rejected the investment in his development by his employer and the fans of Pittsburg. Y’all don’t own me! This made him now available to the highest bidder for his services, he was no longer a family member, he became a mercenary. He rejected loyalty for money. So did every other professional athlete. Their loyalty was to themselves and money was the tangible reward for their loyalty to themselves. Teams, owners and fans were thrown under the team bus by the very players they had grown to love. That was the end of loyalty. Players waved goodbye to their fans with a middle finger and a fistful of Benjamins.
But, the feelings, passion and desire to have a team to root for and to represent us is strong. It has been bred into us forever. It is developed and nurtured during our formative years. So, we go along with the new way of putting together our team. It is no longer assembling family members, it is hiring the best mercenaries and keeping them together long enough to win. So what was once a passionate love of team and “family” is now devolved into rooting for your collected hired guns against the other guys gang. I went to Oakland Raiders games when they played on a junior college football field and sat on aluminum bleachers. Loyalty to the fans went out the door many years ago. They are my NFL team, but I don’t much give a rat’s ass about them and haven’t for years. It is Sunday sports. I may or may not watch. The NFL seems to be on a drive to eliminate whatever there may be left in y interest entirely.
The NCAA, the players, and college athletics are starting to look more and more like the pros with each passing year. The players are abandoning the idea of development being worth something that they get in return for some level of loyalty to their teammates and coaches and their school. College basketball is where it is most apparent. Transfers, hardship waivers, and a short one year of extra preparation sitting out are the equivalent of the college player’s free agency. It has made half of Division 1 basketball the minor leagues for the Big 5 Cartel schools. It has made coaching and recruiting a nightmare for the mid majors.
All of this sounds like an old man complaining about the good old days fading away and the dawning of the new day and new ways. It is, and that doesn’t mean I am wrong about it, though. The new day and new way is a way with no loyalty, no emotional investment, and no history or tradition. The new way boils down to either win and we all like that or lose and you are on your own. How long do you think that is really going to last? The NFL may be finding out just how quickly a fan will drop a hooker as opposed to leaving his wife.