by John C. Lemon
I, once upon a time, was renowned for my fandom. No matter the challenge, in my mind, my team had a legitimate shot of overcoming all who dare stand before them. Think vintage Saturday Night Live skit — “Bob Swerskis’ Superfans” (Da Bears, circa 1991). I held this opinion of my team despite evidence to the contrary. The win/lose column and consequent win percentage meant nothing. If we faltered today, we would indeed prevail tomorrow. My team was invincible until we were not. And when proven ordinary, which was often, I found myself at a genuine loss as to why we were unsuccessful. I blamed the referees and wasted far too many hours on what, in a perfect world, should have happened.
At the outset of every season, preceded by yet another year mired in mediocrity, I would laud my team’s potential to win it all. One year I noticed a classmate seated on a bench in the gym locker room. He waited until the lockers were nearly clear. He reasoned with me saying, “There are people who hold you in high regard. You are a smart guy. Why can’t you admit your team stinks?”
Special teams were suspect. Had I the power, I would have called for a special investigation into the offensive play calling. The defense had a penchant for porosity. My team was not competitive regionally and much less so nationally. Revelation – my football team did stink. An open-eyed, hard nose critique (something that I previously was unwilling to do) made way for the gift of objectivity.
I watch the news — the left and the right. I’m intentional in this endeavor because, like every other American, I have bias. But I desperately want to take hold of and maintain objectivity.
Decades latter I’m still a fan. I continue to purchase team paraphernalia and watch as many sporting events as I am able. But objectivity has been added to my repertoire. Imagine if athletic directors and professional team owners refused to objectively identify strengths and weaknesses within their perspective organizations. Only irrational fandom, sympathy or nostalgia would keep patrons in the seats. Discerning fans would demand cohesion, measurable progress and that a competitive product be placed on the field.
I watch the news – the left and the right. I’m intentional in this endeavor because, like every other American, I have bias. But I desperately want to take hold of and maintain objectivity. I see fans. One side pitted against another. All the characteristics are there — defense of the indefensible, exaggeration, alternate universe scenarios, lack of accountability, highlighting circumstances rather than taking the gutsy stand of acknowledging self-inflicted wounds and the staunch refusal to recognize the opponent’s strengths.
I don’t know if it takes a special acuity to see that we are on the brink of morphing into mindless fans of competing ideologies. I wonder what the cost of winning will be and if the victors would want to revel in it after the smoke clears. The fabric of this nation has forever changed and whatever it is we are to become, it is not in the past. We cannot go home again. The contest of ideas that ultimately moves our nation forward will be won by the objective – those able to empathize, see from different views and raise us all.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings (Proverbs 25:2, NIV).
JCLTalk.com 