I would never cheer against my team – or country

Some sports pundits on an ESPN morning radio show I listen to daily made an interesting point the other day, one in which I wholeheartedly agree.
The program hosts were lamenting the tendency in our society to justify a negative opinion by rooting against their home team, just to “prove” that they were right.
You’ve seen it, haven’t you? A “fan” of a particular team will grow angry with the performance of said team, and after spouting off about it on social media or via texts or other communication, will cross his arms and hope the team or player continues to struggle. And if the team or athlete starts to improve, the negative Nelly will sometimes root against his supposed favorite team or player just to be proven right.
It’s more important for them to be able to exclaim, “See?! They stink! I told ya!” than to enjoy the improved play on the court or field.
I’m certainly not immune to griping. Decades of life as a Wyoming Cowboys fan will wear you down, no matter how much you love the Pokes. It’s akin to being a Cleveland Browns fan. The Pokes (and Browns) will get your hopes up and then bash them on the rocks. It can make a guy bitter.
In our family, we tend to whine about things from time to time, and those who marry into the family have come to call it “Peckamism.” In my case, I think the practiced wailing and gnashing of teeth is a protection mechanism, because, as anyone knows, optimism for a Wyoming fan is a death sentence for the team.
Seriously! Any time the Cowboys are ranked highly in the pre-season prognostications for a given sport, forget about it. They will plunge straight to the bottom of the standings, leaving fans muttering to themselves about what could have been. The Cowboys always – and I mean always – do better as underdogs. And we’re great at being called underdogs. We wear it like a badge of honor.
And so I wail and complain and grumble and moan and grouse and carp about a team during a game and, voila!, the team will rally and win. I have cussed many a team to victory. It’s an incredible power, I must say.
The truth is, I’m really a pretty positive person in just about every other area of life. I see most people in a positive light. I love the community, state and country in which I live, and I don’t understand why many people are never happy.
Complaining endlessly is endemic in our society. Some people – maybe most people – are simply never happy, even though we live in the greatest nation on Earth. “Don’t like it here? Good. Move to Libya or Iran and see how that works for ya,” I sometimes want to say.
And the aforementioned “negative rooting” is a huge, and I might add, destructive part of national politics. Our nation has become so polarized that many so-called leaders would rather see our nation harmed than agree with the other side of the aisle, even if a program or bill makes perfect sense and would help many people.
Those not in power, for instance, will actually hope for the economy to struggle or a program to fail, just so their political party can gain the upper hand. It’s like the fans who hope their team continues to struggle, just so they can be right. It’s maddening. We’re supposed to be on the same side.
I think the best thing to do is to tune it out. And not to go all sunshine and lollypops on you and go against my natural Peckamism, but there is no place I’d rather be than right here, right now.
And while I may complain, grumble and moan about my Pokes or Cardinals, I will never root against them. Let’s all apply that to our country, too.