Lions4ever wrote:sj-roc wrote:
I noticed one guy wearing, in addition to a Lions jersey, an Atlanta Braves hat and carrying some sort of bag with a NY Knicks logo on it.
That's the sports fashion faux pas that is like nails on chalkboard to me. Mixing the gear!
On TV (Argos game on Friday)the camera flashed on a guy wearing a Broncos jersey and a Blue Jays hat (backwards, just to emphasize the douche factor I guess). Wear what you like, of course (at least he came out to game, so kudos etc.) but that one makes my eye twitch like Chief Inspector Dreyfus.
If I'm throwing on a Lions T even to walk the dog around the neighbourhood and need a hat (sunny/rainy) I MUST wear a Lions hat even though I have many many other team hats of one stripe or other. Fortunately I have about 15 or 20 Lions hats, so I don't have to look too hard!
Yesterday a guy came into our office (client) wearing a Winnipeg Jets jersey and a Calgary Flames hat. Just a tiny internal silent scream, that's all.
This is one of those topics that often gets discussed on many chatboards and blogs. And there are as many different opinions on "sports fashion rules" as there are self-appointed experts who espouse them. I checked out a few of them since this topic came up on here to refresh myself on some of the more commonly discussed nuances.
Some will say it's only appropriate to wear team jerseys at the game or in a sports bar and absolutely nowhere else, while others say they can worn practically anywhere. Some will have strong views on whether or not they should be tucked in, or whether they should be worn only with shorts. Some feel it's fine if the jersey lacks a number or nameplate; others insist this is gauche, or that the nameplate "by-laws" dictate that it should be present or absent in accordance with the practices of the team (and era) to which the jersey pertains. Putting your own name on the nameplate is endorsed by some, frowned on by others.
There are disagreements over whether it's acceptable to wear jerseys of retired players, and even over what constitutes valid exceptions to this "rule", depending on various criteria (for which of course there is no consensus) that the retiree in question must satisfy. And of course, there are conflicts over what level of "mixing" is allowed. Some say items from different teams in the same market can be worn together, some are adamant that you can only wear stuff from one team regardless, and others go even farther, that you can't mix stuff from different eras even if it's the same team.
There are even some who regard wearing jerseys as kid stuff, that anyone over 20/30/40/(whatever age) who wears one is an Overgrown Manchild who
(A) hasn't accepted that his dream of playing for his favourite sports team is never going to happen, or
(B) is a loser who has nothing going for him in his own life, so he has to adopt the identity of a Group of Arbitrarily Assembled Young Men who happen to play a game together in a stadium in close proximity to the residence of said OM and thereby live vicariously through whatever accomplishments can be mustered from said GAAYM, or
(C) both (A) and (B).
Some might adopt the Jeremy Piven school of thought, that wearing a jersey to the game is "trying too hard".
This sheer variety of opinions over the "rules" of sports fashion tells me that all of the above is one huge pile of bull *poop*, and that it's a debate engaged in mostly by people who like the sound of their own voices.
Let's go back to our Lions/Braves/Knicks friend. Chances are none of us on here, not even myself, know anything about him other than the one sentence above that I wrote. So I feel we're not in a position to judge him. L4E, you say you have over a dozen Lion hats, which is fine. Good on ya for supporting the team like that. But for all we know this guy could be living a low income life and only has that one Braves hat to his name, one that someone probably gave him. Or not. Maybe it once belonged to his best friend who was killed by a drunk driver and he likes to wear it to keep his friend's memory alive. The point is, it doesn't matter why he wears it. He has no one to answer to for doing so.
He might listen to your dogwalking anecdote and say you're a bit OCD to insist on such level of matching. And I'd defend you to him in reverse, in analogous fashion. You don't have to answer to him, either.
Let me quote something I wrote previously in this thread. You've no doubt already read it but it bears repeating for a broader point I want to make.
...there are degrees of fandom — and I see no need to get into value judgements of what constitutes an acceptable level of CFL/BC Lions fandom. Especially when we never fill the building, even in a reduced capacity configuration. AFAIC it serves little purpose but to alienate those who don't measure up to these arbitrary standards, which in the long run does nothing to build attendance. As fans ourselves who want to see the game thrive, I believe our outlook should be more inclusive.
I'm repeating this because WADR I find your views on sports fashion counterproductive. Here's the thing: you've lamented (as have many of us, including myself) that crowds @BCP aren't what they could be. But suppose this guy in the Braves hat were to venture onto this board. Maybe he's a relatively new fan of the team — one who would help in overcoming these attendance shortfalls — and he just wants to chat with other Lions fans. He would probably feel insulted and alienated to hear comments like yours and decide being a Lions fan and buying tickets just isn't worth it. And so the cycle of lagging crowds continues. As some of the most devoted Lions fans there are, I feel we should assume more of an ambassador role if we want to see the bigger crowds that so often fail to materialise.
Who's with me?
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
