Since I started using the DVR a few years ago, I don’t watch many ads. I know, I know – I am not supporting free broadcasting on television. Let’s face it: ads are dumb. I am not convinced that ads, particularly television commercials, really work. Have you ever seen an ad and used that to decide what kind of car you are going to buy? In any case, the one ad that I have seen quite a few times recently for whatever reason is the commercial that plays Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious while showing a bunch of people performing superstitions related to the NFL. I can’t even figure out what the commercial is for. Actually, a bit of searching indicated the commercial is for Bud Light. This commercial is so stupid that I will never again buy Bud Light. First off, I railed against the effect of fan involvement in an earlier Manifesto about Bill Simmons. Second, the song Superstitious notes “when you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer: superstition ain’t the way.” I guess the lyrics don’t really matter, since the word superstition is in there and the song has a good beat. An ad I would watch and enjoy is to see people sitting in their lucky chair with their lucky shirts as their team loses. Where is that ad for Bud Light?
[As a side note about Simmons, I find it very interesting that he continues to beat his sports guy drum, while his site, Grantland, now hosts some of the best writers who take a highly analytical approach to sports. Zach Lowe, Bill Barnwell, and Jonah Keri are all excellent writers who decidedly do not take the dumbed-down fan approach of their boss. Perhaps this is by design. For me, it is working and Grantland has become a go-to destination for good sports writing, including Simmons.]
Sadly, I am beginning to learn that I may have moved to the land of crazy superstitions. Louisiana is known for voodoo practices among other things and it appears people believe their game day superstitions have an effect on the game. I know some of it is just silliness, but two weekends ago some of my co-workers told me of the lengths they will go to give the Saints good juju against the Patriots. Whatever they did, it didn’t work.
The saddest part was that the Saints-Patriots game was very exciting, but local loyalists found the game’s unhappy ending depressing. While I have written about this before, I was perhaps stupidly amazed that the fans I talked to could not take in that it was an exciting game because the result wasn’t the one they preferred. People who had barely mentioned the Saints at work after their first five victories were visibly depressed after one loss. They told me that it wasn’t so much that they lost, but the way it occurred. They blamed the refs for every slight misdoing. Perhaps unwisely, I asked if one loss made them so depressed, did they really enjoy sports? Needless to say, this did not produce a rational argument. I was told that I was not a passionate fan and I couldn’t possibly understand. I guess if I had sacrificed more chickens, then perhaps the Saints would have won.
It’s true that over the years I have lost my fandom for my teams. It seems apparent to me that whether the Cubs win or lose has no real bearing on my life, and I think this is true for most people, even the most ardent of fans. Let’s say Theo Epstein makes all the right moves for the next five years and the Cubs win their first championship in over 100 years. My guess is that Cubs fans (a number that would multiply manifold were the North Siders to start winning) would feel happy for a day or two, then would go back to their normal lives. After the Saints won the Super Bowl three and a half years ago, people at work were happy for a day, then it was forgotten about more or less.
I don’t want to take this in too deep of a direction, but I often feel like an atheist who goes to a church service. I will be accused of not having faith, which I will agree with. What I vociferously don’t agree with is that being a fan of one team leads to more enjoyment or even a better understanding of sports. I don’t expect people of faith of whatever Sunday (or Saturday) practice they attend to be swayed by rationalist arguments, but I won’t stop making them either.
Perry Missner is a college basketball enthusiast who writes for RotoWire along with several other outlets. He welcomes your comments on Twitter at @PerryMissner or via email at [email protected]
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