Football Politics

One of the nicer points in the great Michael Lewis book "The Blind Side" is that football fandom falls on a continuum. If you are more into offense and innovation, you fall towards the Bill Walsh side of life, which Lewis refers to as a kind of football leftism. If you like the smashmouth defense approach that's more in line with a Bill Parcells team, you are a right-winger. (Realizing, of course, that Walsh's teams were more physical than you remember, and that Parcells' best teams were smarter and more innovative than given credit for.)

Now, I'd like to take this farther.

If you're a football leftist, you are, I submit, in the majority of the audience, and definitely in the world of fantasy sports. (Perhaps this is even part of the reason why many fans have such an antipathy towards it.)

You can, of course, just say that network execs are more leftist, which, of course, falls into a standing litany of Red State America. However, the ratings also back it up. Ravens-Giants, also known as the worst Super Bowl in the history of the universe, tanked in the ratings. Pats-Giants, not such a problem. The XFL, a league of low scoring and hard hitting, tanked in a year, despite being closer to actual NFL product. Arena Ball, with pinball scoring and a near-total lack of meaningful hitting, will soon be in its second decade of existence.

Most people, of course, don't fall into one clear distinction, and will mostly follow their own team more than a kind of team. But I'd also submit that the kind of team that you have when you are growing up helps to inform your place in the continuum. For me, the Eagles were a right-wing club, with a defense that really seemed to prefer smashing mouths than preventing points. This might also help to explain why the fan base has been so snarly towards the Andy Reid Experience, because his defenses have never been like that.

I have no greater point to make here, other than to wonder if it makes you a better or worse fan to change your orientation depending on your team's talent. Steeler Fan last year had to feel some sort of cognitive dissonance for having a team that did best with Ben Rothlisberger throwing for his life. Niner Fan has been made even more miserable by their recent failures to score, in addition to, well, sucking. When your team stops playing in the way that it's always played, it feels like a betrayal.