What Does It Mean To Be A Fan?

There seems to be a lot of discussion about what it means to be a fan of a particular team, in this case the Houston Rockets. There seems to be divergetn views, yet each views is espoused by it's proponents as being the only interpretation.

* Some here think that being a Rockets fan means supporting whatever they do whenever they do it.

*Others don't go that far, but feel it means you should make a concerted effort to stress the positives.

*Further along the slide scale you have those who feel that being a Rockets fan means rooting for the Rockets, but does not come with any obligations for giving the players or organization any benefit of the doubt; call it as you see it, but hope for the best.

*Then there are those who feel that the best way to root for a team is to look for trouble areas and address them; ie keeping them on their toes.


*And then we have people who come in here, nominally under the heading of Rockets' fans, but seem to rejoice in the failures of the organization.

I would like to make a distinction between the last category and the two before it; to people in the first and even second categories, people in the next two might appear to belong to the last, simply because they don't see or stress only positive aspects. I am not saying that there aren't those who do seem to belong in the latter category, but I would say, IMO, not nearly as many do as are accused of it.

Then we have other lines upon which fnas seem to be divided; along loyalties to certain players, certain schemes or styles of play, certain coaches, or certain positions on specific issues. We now have the Yao v Steve lables, the pro and anti Mobley, the Rudy vs JVG, or even Rudy was great vs. Rudy lost it folks, the inside out vs let them play brigades, etc. And seemingly whenever people come into conflict over these issues, they seem to throw out the lables fast and furious, as a means of dismissing the others' arguments. It is often assumed that if, say, you mention that Yao wasn't aggressive last night, two things will happen; a wave of people will defend Yao and call you a Yao hater, and another wave will support your position as if it were part of a greater pro-Steve attitude. Same goes if you criticize Steve, Mobley, etc.

Then we have the BBS versions of snobbery; it is assumed, now, that if you came on board after Yao became a memeber of the Rockets, you are somehow less legitimately a Rockets' fan. If you are from Asia, it is often almost said, you aren't really here to root for the Rockets, but for one players' success, irrespective of how that success translates to the team as a whole. There may be some truth in this for a limited number of psters, but the brush is, IMO, used much tooo broadly. In terms of reasons for why someone becomes a fan, I don't see that coming on board for Yao is less legit than automatically rooting for a team because of geographic locale, or becuase you like their uniforms ( my original reason for rooting for the Niners), or whatever. We need to stop looking for what seperates us, for how our roads to the Rockets came along duifferent paths, and concentrate on what unites us; we all, or most of us, feel better when we do well and win, feel worse when we do poorly and lose, and have our own ideas about what will make the former happen more often, hopefully often enough to be crowned champions.

That is the common link...who cares if someone has a different view than you do about how to use the players to get there...ignore them if you think it's invalid, take something from what they say if you feel it has merit, etc.

Much has been made of late about the overwhelming negativite tone of the majority of the threads in the GARM. I personally don't see 'negativity' as the cause, but entrenchment of positions. Those who feel A about an issue, when attacked by those who feel B, feel the need to reiterate their position whenever they see it vindicated in play, and vice versa. As such you get many posts which seem to be not really about constructive criticism, but about an attitude of vindication or told ya so! thinking. Then you get the response...and these back and forth conflicts invariably take on a negative tone; the Yao supporters find it easier to bash Steve then to praise Yao, and the Steve supporters find it easier to bash Yao than praise Steve. Let's face it, it;s easier to point out things which aren't working than things which are, certainly in terms of assessing responsibility.

I think it is important for fans to look for patterns of error, in players or teams as a whole, and try and offer their takes and solutions on same, but it is not really productive to this site to point out every mistake made by every player supported by those who oppose tyour view. When we stop doing that, this forum will improve. When we stop feeling the need to attack alternate views, thus leading to counter attacking threads ad nauseum, we'll be even better. I think it begins by ceasing to lable those with differing views as being only in it for one agenda, whatever that is said to be.


I think a discussion about what being a Rockets fan, out in the open, really means to people in here would go a long way to tearing down the artificial walls we've put up, and finding the commonalities might make us less likely to assume the worst about other posters and their positions. Yeah, you might have people with whom you will tend to disagree on some aspects of being a fan, but if we can agree on what being a fan is, on what we are all here for, then maybe the bumps in the road will remain bumps, rather than grow into walls.



It is my opinion that being a Rockets fan means rooting like hell for our success, but using our minds to try and identify and offer solutions for things, short or long term, which will keep us from winning championships, while at the same time identifying those elements which are working, and rejoice in the fact that they are elemtns which will, it is assumed, inevitably be part of our raod to the rings.


What's your take on being a Rockets fan?

 

In that economics is the study of limited resources, I would agree that those with a limited supply of thoughts and words should be economical with them...I leave it to you to decide whether or not you are among that group.