Vanderbilt: 72 - SMC: 70 It’s hard to emotionally... - Stuckinstasis

Nov 21, 2009
Vanderbilt: 72 - SMC: 70 It’s hard to emotionally invest oneself in a team that is not one’s own. We grow up in households that are “true blue” or “bleeding red” and teach us where our allegiances lie. Or we find ourselves in close proximity to a school or team, making it much easier to attend games and thus become a part of the team. In essence, our fandom comes from a mixture of socialization and access. It’s what explains my desire to consistently watch the losing Lions (socialization) and my intense passion for all things Golden Grizzlies (access). I hesitate to say that the two parts of this thesis are connected because, at least in the case I was given, I did not need to be socialized into liking the Grizzlies. However, the two are related in the sense that it is harder to access out-of-market or small-time teams without socialization. The obvious example is the young child who grew up in a Miami Dolphins household in Detroit, Michigan because the father grew up in Miami (therefore the father, a die-hard Dolphins fan, will take extra steps - perhaps purchasing an out-of-market TV plan, listening through the radio, planning trips around Dolphins home games - to provide access to the household). What’s more interesting to me, though, than exploring this subsection of the thesis is the thought of becoming a fan of a team with no socialization or access. Prior to the advent of the Internet and television, the only likely way this could be achieved is by scanning box scores and “picking a team” to root for in a far away land. I suppose access could come into play if one were to go to a hometown ballgame to see the opposing team, but if anything this would happen once or twice per season, pending the sport. Nowadays, with amazing sites like justin.tv, channelsurfing.com, and (more legit options like) espn360.com or a good old satellite package, investing in a team has become a lot simpler. But there are times where even these new innovations limit us from accessing these teams. Case in point: Saint Mary’s College of California, or the Gaels. SMC was a team that I loosely followed last year because of one player, Patty Mills. I did not even get a chance to watch him until the West Coast Conference tournament and then the NIT because of limited access (and a hand injury that put him out the game for a while). He was amazing, and better yet, the facility he played in was exactly what I loved about college basketball: small enough to be intimate, yet large enough to look legit on televison. Moreover, their fans are truly dedicated and thoroughly interested in their basketball program. And they are exciting! They play a quick brand of basketball, led by speedy guards who have, oddly enough, always had a few more than capable big men in the paint. With Mills gone, I wasn’t sure if there would be much reason to follow SMC this year. However, they were lucky enough to be featured in the 2am spot of the ESPN 24 Hoops Marathon against an always lively San Diego State team, and they absolutely killed it. Mickey McConnell became my new three-point shooting hero (surpassing the now defunct Erik Kangas), Omar Samhan showed me what a big man can do in a small conference, and Dellevedova proved that the Aussie connection is still alive and well in Moraga. Since watching that game, I have longed to watch the team again, but once again ran into access problems. So I took it into my own hands, and I listened to their latest game against SEC mid-runner Vanderbilt on the radio via the Internet. I could hear the excitement in the small facility as SMC came back from a 14 point deficit to get it within two by the closing possession. The radio will never replace being able to see the actual product, as was the case in the final seconds when SMC failed to convert on a three-pointer to win the game. The radio man did a fine enough job giving me the play by play, but it was the crowd reaction that truly told me that SMC had just lost to a major conference team by just two points. In that moment, I was sad. Perhaps not as much as that I feel after a loss of my “own” team, but I felt for the Gaels and their fans. It was in this moment that I had realized I had made an emotional investment, and I too could be considered one of them so long as I sustain this. Never a fan of west coast hoops, this may be the year I finally convert in an effort to keep tabs on some WCC favs, but SMC specifically. Let’s go Gaels.

Vanderbilt: 72 - SMC: 70

It’s hard to emotionally invest oneself in a team that is not one’s own. We grow up in households that are “true blue” or “bleeding red” and teach us where our allegiances lie. Or we find ourselves in close proximity to a school or team, making it much easier to attend games and thus become a part of the team. In essence, our fandom comes from a mixture of socialization and access. It’s what explains my desire to consistently watch the losing Lions (socialization) and my intense passion for all things Golden Grizzlies (access). I hesitate to say that the two parts of this thesis are connected because, at least in the case I was given, I did not need to be socialized into liking the Grizzlies. However, the two are related in the sense that it is harder to access out-of-market or small-time teams without socialization. The obvious example is the young child who grew up in a Miami Dolphins household in Detroit, Michigan because the father grew up in Miami (therefore the father, a die-hard Dolphins fan, will take extra steps - perhaps purchasing an out-of-market TV plan, listening through the radio, planning trips around Dolphins home games - to provide access to the household).

What’s more interesting to me, though, than exploring this subsection of the thesis is the thought of becoming a fan of a team with no socialization or access. Prior to the advent of the Internet and television, the only likely way this could be achieved is by scanning box scores and “picking a team” to root for in a far away land. I suppose access could come into play if one were to go to a hometown ballgame to see the opposing team, but if anything this would happen once or twice per season, pending the sport. Nowadays, with amazing sites like justin.tv, channelsurfing.com, and (more legit options like) espn360.com or a good old satellite package, investing in a team has become a lot simpler.

But there are times where even these new innovations limit us from accessing these teams. Case in point: Saint Mary’s College of California, or the Gaels. SMC was a team that I loosely followed last year because of one player, Patty Mills. I did not even get a chance to watch him until the West Coast Conference tournament and then the NIT because of limited access (and a hand injury that put him out the game for a while). He was amazing, and better yet, the facility he played in was exactly what I loved about college basketball: small enough to be intimate, yet large enough to look legit on televison. Moreover, their fans are truly dedicated and thoroughly interested in their basketball program. And they are exciting! They play a quick brand of basketball, led by speedy guards who have, oddly enough, always had a few more than capable big men in the paint.

With Mills gone, I wasn’t sure if there would be much reason to follow SMC this year. However, they were lucky enough to be featured in the 2am spot of the ESPN 24 Hoops Marathon against an always lively San Diego State team, and they absolutely killed it. Mickey McConnell became my new three-point shooting hero (surpassing the now defunct Erik Kangas), Omar Samhan showed me what a big man can do in a small conference, and Dellevedova proved that the Aussie connection is still alive and well in Moraga. Since watching that game, I have longed to watch the team again, but once again ran into access problems. So I took it into my own hands, and I listened to their latest game against SEC mid-runner Vanderbilt on the radio via the Internet. I could hear the excitement in the small facility as SMC came back from a 14 point deficit to get it within two by the closing possession. The radio will never replace being able to see the actual product, as was the case in the final seconds when SMC failed to convert on a three-pointer to win the game. The radio man did a fine enough job giving me the play by play, but it was the crowd reaction that truly told me that SMC had just lost to a major conference team by just two points. In that moment, I was sad. Perhaps not as much as that I feel after a loss of my “own” team, but I felt for the Gaels and their fans. It was in this moment that I had realized I had made an emotional investment, and I too could be considered one of them so long as I sustain this.

Never a fan of west coast hoops, this may be the year I finally convert in an effort to keep tabs on some WCC favs, but SMC specifically. Let’s go Gaels.

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