January 18, 2020
This Sunday I’m going to join my tribe in a war dance. We will dance to destroy our enemy. Then on Monday we will attempt to be magnanimous in victory. But should we lose on Sunday, we’ll have to pretend to be magnanimous in defeat.
I don’t want to pretend to be that virtuous. I’d rather privately gloat with a win.
As a Bay Area native, I root for all of our local professional teams. This Sunday my football tribe, the San Francisco 49ers, plays the Green Bay Packers for the National Football Conference championship. The winner will go on to the Super Bowl on February 2.
I must confess that I’m not a true football fan, or even a true 49er fan. It’s not the game that I love, or even the team, but rather the vicarious pleasure I get from having my community (Bay Area) enjoy success. And in recent years we’ve had the pleasure and good fortune of reveling in several national championships: three World Series titles by the San Francisco Giants baseball team, and three NBA crowns by our basketball Golden State Warriors. And now it’s time (we hope) for the 49ers to win their sixth Super Bowl. But first we must vanquish Green Bay.
“We?” Whether the 49ers win or lose, I’ll have nothing to do with it. I’m not on the team. But don’t tell that to my ego.
It’s interesting to me how I and others can allow our identity to be shaped by our affiliation with a sports franchise, a political party, a religion, a racial category, a community, or a nation. Often those identifications are fairly benign. But sometimes they can turn ugly.
In high school I cheered for our football team until their group verbal abuse of a female classmate caused me to criticize their behavior in the school newspaper. A team member then warned me that they intended to assault me after school. Fortunately that never came to pass.
Some fans allow their tribal team identification to lead to violence against opposing fans in the viewing stands. And recently, while reading fan comments online about various football playoff games, I’ve seen denigrating references to opposing teams: the Vikings referred to as Viqueens, the Seahawks called Seahags, and the 49ers dismissed as the Forty Vaginers. Notice that the insults all have an undercurrent of disrespect toward women.
But if sports can bring out the worst in people, they can also bring out the best in them. In a recent New York Times article about the 49ers, the writer reported that General Manager John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan hire players who are not just skilled athletes, but who have good “moral fiber” who can contribute to “a harmonious locker room guided by an altruistic culture” that gives back to the community.
And my support of the 49ers is contingent not just on winning, but on character.
Yesterday I had lunch with several fellow hikers, and one of them, Kathie, is a long time faithful 49er fan. She mentioned to me a quote from the revered former 49er coach Bill Walsh: “Playing to one’s full potential is the only purpose of playing.” Kathie says that to her, this means giving it your all, or don’t play. I told Kathie that I agree with her and Bill that doing your best is an important lesson from sports. But I said that I would add one more thing to that quote:
Play (live) to your full potential. And have fun while you do it.
David Wigginton 