Fan obsession

You might think from the title of this post that it's about fans who are obsessed with watching sports above everything else in life.

It's not.

It's about the growing obsession with fans -- by athletes and especially the Sports Blabosphere.

I was watching a little post-disaster coverage of last night's Sox loss when Mike Felger and the Globe's Bob Ryan (he looks much taller in person than on TV) began a rant and a rave about how awful fans are today and how the teams are mostly to blame for all the extra entertainment they've added to the experience.

Felger was all bent out of shape that Sox fans sang the "Sweet Caroline" song with great joy during the seventh inning stretch of a game the Sox were blowing, A big game. Against the lousy Orioles. How dare they have fun between innings? What kind of fans are they? Surely, not true ones like Felger and Ryan. They know the right way to root for your team.

Felger put it succinctly: They shouldn't be singing "Sweet Caroline," they should be booing because this Sox team is so bad.

Ryan even went so far as to call the singing of the Neil Diamond song a "national embarrassment." I've been to several Sox games since the "So good" tradition started. I don't love it. But a lot of people do. It's harmless fun. And I've thrown out a few "woh woh wohs" and enjoyed it. It's BETWEEN innings. Of a baseball game, not the United Nations Security Council. Baseball can be slow. You know? And Neil is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Felger and Ryan (and beat writer Peter Abraham, who actually tweeted about the singing after the game) would prefer that you sit and stew (or worse) that Daniel Bard has blown another lead or that Darnell McDonald has dropped another ball. That would be much better. Then the team would really feel bad about the fact that they are losing. Because according to them the players don't care. Maybe a good dose of booing will make them play better or try harder. Funny, looking at the Sox leaving the field at the end of another tough loss ... well, they looked like they cared. I don't think a few bars of "Sweet Caroline" would have brightened their mood.

The debate about fans and the dreaded "fan noise" has been a good space filler in the Sports Blabosphere for a while. Gillette fans have been the subject of scorn for a few years now. It's all much ado about nothing. Brady handled it right when he joked about getting lubed up and rooting for the home team. He also said "We need to give them something to cheer about." The crowd was great Sunday against the Chargers. Anyone who was there for the halftime ovation for Drew Bledsoe had to have a few chills. Would that have been wrong if the Pats were losing badly? Should I just sit there and curse and have a miserable time? Isn't there enough of that in life today?

When did it become preferable that sports fans be the kind that boo the players and kick their dogs when the team they root for loses? I've know some fans like that and it's not pretty. They're not welcome at any tailgates I'm drinking at. I think the word I'm looking for is perspective. The Sox are playing lousy. But it's just sports. It really is supposed to be fun. I have to go to work today win or lose.

My daughter and a few of her college friends sat in the bleachers last night. It was the first time at Fenway for some of them. That in itself is a great experience. Something most in the sports media have either forgotten or just never understood. I'll bet good money Amy and her friends enjoyed the "Sweet Caroline" sing-along. They were in the bleachers. It's as much about the party as the game. It has been since I was a kid going there in the '70s. The technology is just better.

The Blabosphere says the Sox and other teams have ruined the experience with all the bells and whistles and videos. I say to each his own. I prefer my sports experience to be about the game. But when I'm spending a couple of hundred dollars, I have no problem with some extra comfort and entertainment. It's not like Wally runs across the field during the game and plays center instead of Ellsbury or Gino goes up for a dunk on Rondo in the fourth quarter. I can watch the cheerleaders and talk about the big fourth down play coming up at the same time. Really. I can.

Ryan and Felger actually agreed that most fans leaving a Sox or Celtics game (yes, Ryan brought up the Garden Jumbotron -- again) don't even know the final score. Talk about arrogant. Because fans had a little fun singing a song, or doing the wave (another thing I don't love so much), or catching a T-shirt shot out of a cannon by scantily-clad women (something tells me Felger kind of likes that), they can't POSSIBLY be real fans. Or know anything about the game. I can't help but wonder when was the last time either of them bought a ticket like a fan, drove through traffic, found a parking spot, walked with the crowd to their seats, bought some pricey snacks and souvenirs, and really rooted for a team. Only to see their hard-earned money spent on a dissapointing loss.

(A note to Ryan and Felger ... my daughter knew the final score of the game. Just like she knew the final score of the game she went to a few weeks ago ... Rangers 11, Sox 4. Singing was the only enjoyable part of that game but she stayed till the final out.)

That's one of the reasons I enjoy tailgating. Even if the game turns out to be a bomb, it's still a fun day and me and my friends have a lot of laughs.

Oh, I guess that makes me a lousy sports fan.