Unpopular Opinion: Being a Sports Fan In America Sucks

The fan experience in Europe is passionate, more affordable, less distracting, and a whole hell of a lot more fun.

Hey guys!

I'm in that weird holiday week zone where I'm losing track of what day it is and reminding myself not to take it personally that NOBODY is writing to me. (Hint hint: if you want to submit a story for publication here, it will really stand out right now, so send whatever It Happened To Me or Unpopular Opinion you thought wasn't worthy to jane@anotherjaneprattthing.com.)

And for a break from Low Standards Week, I am overjoyed to present this actually good piece from Charlie. I know nothing about sports. I've read the piece five times and I finally think I understand much of it. I love Charlie and I love his attitude and he makes me laugh and I love the premise of this piece and I love that he is very patient with my asinine sports questions. Let's see if you are as charitable in the comments.

Have fun!

Jane

Look at that idiotic grin. I’m not a religious man, but going to North London to watch Tottenham Hotspur felt like a sacred pilgrimage (with better fish and chips).

By Charlie Connell

Given the billions of dollars Americans pour into the sports industry each year, one could easily make the assumption that we’ve completely figured them out. And yet… nearly every aspect of American sports is designed with profit in mind, with almost zero regard for the fans.

Every year, I become more disillusioned by how professional sports are conducted in this country. From the billionaires crying poor any time they want a shiny new stadium to the hot take industry to the second mortgage required to attend a game, being a sports fan in America sucks. Despite the experience getting a little worse every single year (like my beloved Chicago Bears!), this idiotic passion was imprinted on me as a little kid. It’s in my blood. I’m not going to stop watching any time soon because when sports are good, goddamn are they good.

A few weeks back, the Premier League team I support, Tottenham Hotspur, won the Europa League despite being mired in a season best described as a dumpster fire. I took the afternoon off to watch at a bar filled with Spurs supporters, and when the final whistle blew, the entire bar exploded with joy as Spurs ended their 17-year title drought. I screamed myself hoarse, then sang myself hoarser. A tear or three was shed. It was a beautiful moment to cap a season filled with misery; a reward for all the hours spent in epic frustration watching my team every Saturday morning. It was a fantastic day that left me still buzzing a week later. And it wouldn’t have been possible in America.

The Europa League is a tournament outside of the regular season, something that none of the major leagues do here (the NBA in-season tournament isn’t the same type of thing), so it didn’t matter what Tottenham did during the season as long as they kept winning in their tournament games. And that’s how you end up with a team in 17th place raising a trophy, a true anomaly. Which led me to think, why don’t we do that here? From there, I just kept thinking of the reasons why being a fan is so much better in Europe than it is here.