The Nature of Fandome and the Future
July 12, 2022
by Steve Thomas
As it’s the quietest portion of the NFL’s annual calendar right now, I thought it was a good time to talk about the nature of fandome, where I’m at now, and the future as it applies to me and the Washington Redskins Washington Football Team Washington Commanders Washington. I wrote about my dilemma with regard to this team earlier this offseason, and at the time, I was unsure of what the future holds. I haven’t totally resolved my role at the website or my feelings about Washington yet, but things have become a little clearer.
From a psychological perspective, sports fandome is an interesting phenomenon. To some extent, it’s about the sport, but mostly it’s born out of a combination of (1) entertainment value, (2) childhood influences, (3) local pride, and (4) a desire for companionship and human interaction by being part of a group with similar interests. Don’t get me wrong: football is a great sport to both watch and play, but that’s not really what the massive popularity of the NFL is all about. The NFL has succeeded in a decades-long attempt to build a series of very loyal communities around the country, which has historically been the biggest key to the league’s success. In every city, a group of people bond over their shared experience and community pride. Sure, a subset of these people truly just enjoy the game and don’t care who they watch, and others are hyper-focused on fantasy football, but it’s mostly the comradery. That’s why Twitter – which is a horrible platform normally filled with hate and sharply left-leaning politics – works well for sports. In its rare reasonable moments, Twitter is an online gathering spot for people of common interests, and – the insanity of anonymous commenting aside – works well for 24 / 7 mindless sports chatter segregated by team.
For almost any Redskins fan over the age of 40 or so, the dedication to the team started in the Super Bowl era of the 1980s and early 90s. During this time, the community was united in its excitement over a successful team that respected its hometown and was at the highest levels of the sport. People younger than age 40 didn’t live through that era, and thus are missing a big part of the “local pride” element because they can’t relate to the impact of winning on community spirit. All that group knows in terms of on-field performance is mostly losing with an occasional bout of mediocrity thrown in. The impact of that has obviously been fewer fans, which limits the ability to gain companionship and human interaction.
Then, all of the scandals, from Dan Snyder’s terrible personal behavior, the hiring of awful humans as top executives, the implicitly-approved mistreatment of female employees and reporters, suing fans, and everything else, has destroyed most of what’s left of local pride and the ability to find companionship. It’s not hyperbole or exaggeration to suggest that Dan “I’m going to float around the Med for as long as it takes to pathetically dodge a subpoena” Snyder has personally ruined one of the NFL’s oldest and most historic franchises.
Add in the fact that the team voluntarily surrendered the name “Redskins” two years ago, and the trifecta of problems is complete. The loss of “Redskins” drove off a part of the fanbase from the team, particularly the older ones who had a strong connection to the Super Bowl era. That hurt three of four of the “fandome” elements: it disconnected people from their childhood influences, limited local pride, and made the desire for human companionship and interaction tougher to accomplish because of the shrinking fanbase.
Where does all of this leave me? It leaves me as a former fan, with no intent and little hope of returning. The team has intentionally and willfully cut itself off from its history, which ruined my link to my childhood. Furthermore, I’m not a DC-area native. I did live in the region on three separate occasions courtesy of the Department of Defense, but I’ve never had any sort of local, hometown affiliation with the Redskins, so that one never applied to me. The entertainment value of watching the team has plummeted after years and years of sitting through bad and mediocre teams, as has all of the scandals. So what’s left? For me, just what’s left of the fan community, which isn’t much; frankly, though, I don’t have much in common with them anymore.
I love all things football: watching it, talking about it, writing about it, and, a long time ago, playing it. That’s never going to change. What I don’t want to do, though, is continue to be as relentlessly negative about my former team in public as I have been in the past year or so. Also, my willingness and desire to tackle large, complicated research and analysis topics about the Washington franchise – which I’m good at – isn’t nearly as high as it used to be. Therefore, I’ve decided that I’m going to start watching a wider swath of games this year rather than being hyper focused on Washington as I’ve been in the past. I’m planning on starting with the New Orleans Saints since they are closest NFC team to my Houston-area home, but I’ll see how it goes. Along with that new approach to Sundays, I also decided that my role here at The Hog Sty is no longer going to be solely Washington-centric. Alex, Jamual, and I are still debating the future structure of The Hog Sty Podcast, but my weekly column is going to change. From here on out, I’m going to start focusing on a variety of topics – sometimes, Washington football issues, but sometimes broader NFL-themed issues, as well as sports business topics. Whatever keeps me interested. Our It’s Just Business show, which is all about sports business, is something I love and will continue, but more importantly, will start to yield some columns as well.
I realize that some of you fall into my situation, where you no longer have much passion for the team or are done with them altogether. If you’re in that group, welcome to the new reality at The Hog Sty. For the rest of you, we’ll still have plenty of Washington material, so please stick with us.
I’m open to suggestions and comments, so please leave them in the comment section.