Here’s a good piece from @williamfleitch about a quirky feature of our sports fanaticism. Actually, all fanaticism, as he mentions. Something to chew on.  

[From Op-Ed, February 27, 2018 in the Canton Repository, hometown newspaper of the NFL Hall of Fame] In 1975, my senior year of high school in the Philadelphia area, I took the stage in front of 2,000 classmates for some long-forgotten student council event. Most of the audience didn’t know me personally. But they knew [...]

Here in the Born Fanatic space, the theme is always team, where everyone is an important part of something greater than themselves. I like to focus on the something greater, the goal teammates work to achieve, the adversity they join to overcome. But today is one of those days to celebrate an example of someone [...]

The first official online review is in. I’m grateful to have the message out there that “sports . . . play a pivotal role in our social discourse. It’s something we may all benefit from remembering from time to time.”  I'm also grateful for all the help so many have provided. Baby steps, but steps. [...]

You know an ocean of advertising money gets poured into sports. You also know advertisers use particular hooks to get the biggest bang for their buck. It’s likely no surprise to you, then, that advertisers do a lot of research about those hooks. The subject of that research is you and me. One of the [...]

* BIRG = Basking In Reflected Glory, social science’s acronym for how a fanatic enjoys her team’s victory. It’s too soon to blast on pro football’s dysfunction. The League and its Players Association still have lots of problems to solve. But those problems aren’t going anywhere. So let’s enjoy a couple more nuggets in honor [...]

Super Bowl preparations interrupted blogging this week. That included securing under lock and key all means of self-destruction in case things don’t go well for my team. Okay, I’m kidding. Nevertheless, with thanks to Bryan Tomasovich from The Publishing World, I’ve curated here some recent articles, all close to my heart. Enjoy! [More]

Oh, how I would jump at the chance for dinner with Colin Kaepernick. I’d ask him for specifics about the social justice programs he supports. I’d ask him what he thinks that I, a privileged white male, am not seeing that I need to see. I’d ask him what I can do to support social [...]

Pro football has returned to solid footing, starting with last weekend’s playoff games. Go figure, it’s the action on the field that’s doing it. Aside from the inevitable outcome associated with Brady and the Patriots, the games went down to the wire, capped with the Vikings’ walk-off win. Games like these give us a good [...]

A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.   - Tom Landry  [MORE]