Arena What do you mean "we"?

I've never understood fans who say "we" when referring to their teams, regardless of the sport. I think that unless you are personally employed by the team in question (ideally in a position that has some impact on the games, which can include people like scouts), you shouldn't be saying "we."

However, it became common some time ago for fans to refer to themselves as being part of a team, so I'm interested in why people say that (and things like "we've got to do a better job on defense," etc.).

You can and maybe should take it further and just say that unless you are personally on the playing field in some capacity, you shouldn't be saying "we," but maybe that's going too far.

 

I suppose it's the thinking that, since a team represents a specific entity, it's part of the identity of that entity that has some fans comfortable with using 'we'; ideally, being a fan of a team coincides with some positive feelings towards the city/state the team represents.

 

Well, I think "my team" is fine, since I doubt anyone would assume that you personally own a given team.

 

Having a one-word phrase like 'we' to describe a group of people who feel an association with a franchise is a lot easier than saying "the team" or something else that seems a lot more nebulous regarding the ownership of the team, etc. Basically, I just think it stems from fans feeling like they have an invested interest in the team because they spend their time/money investing in gear, tickets, etc., so there is a sense of "ownership" in those investments. Besides, humans are very group-oriented, and 'we' is commonly used to denote a group of people with like interests.

 

But none of that allows for any real influence on the actual games in question. The defense will get better, or not, regardless of what you as a fan say or do.

Some of what I'm getting at is what I perceive to be the over-personalization of sports. Most people don't go too far with it, but some do, and if you take it far enough, you end up with incidents like fights that put people in hospitals and alter lives in a negative way.

 

It's a common narrative in the last decade (at least) for contrarians to push-back against the "we" narrative for sports teams...

http://grantland.com/features/what-do-mean-we/
http://www.neontommy.com/news/2013/01/sports-fans-please-stop-using-word-we

There are also people who write the backlash to these articles:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...team-definitive-rules-on-when-fans-can-use-we

Basically, the majority of sports fans are part of a shared collective experience in my opinion. I don't think anyone literally believes a fan saying "we" is meaning they are a part of the sports team themselves. To me, I'm okay with either using we or not using we; live and let live.

 

Because people identify with the team. It's not them vs. them, it's us vs. them. The Packers are my side of this whole NFL thing, and since we're on the same side, we're an us. It doesn't mean I think I play for the team;* it's just part of being a fan and identifying with the team. No, it's not logical, strictly speaking, but it's emotional and it's completely harmless.


*Though I am the son of an owner, so . . .

 

Is it harmless, though? I don't know about that. Again, for most people it's fine, but not for everyone. Some people get so wrapped up in their teams(s) and the fortunes of said team(s) that they say and do things that are irrational by any measure, unless viewed through the prism of sports and its personalization.

 

Anything to distance myself from England's performance last night.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

Haha, I always point that out when sports fanatics say "we." It's yet another thing that I hate about sports.
There was an episode of The Wonder Years (season 5, episode 17) where Kevin Arnold, not a member of the team, badgered a player with supportive talk after a losing game with "we wouldn't have even gotten this far if it wasn't for you", and the player finally looked at him and said "we?"
I had a co-worker who would mope all through the break about "his" team's performance the previous weekend or his hopes that "we" win the upcoming weekend.

 

It's not a term that's used accurately, obviously, but it's the easiest linguistic shorthand for all those who do follow a team to form an association (however slim) with their heroes, and more definitively with their fellow supporters. Nothing wrong with that. Language is full of inaccuracies.

 

I say we because I'm not a grumpy old man who hates everything

 

Also because I root for the packers and am a shareholder. So I literally am a part of the team.

And I say it about the Giants AND the packers because any team with Madison Bumgarner or Aaron Rodgers is a NATIONAL TREASURE and as a tax payer and American citizen, I OWN THAT ****.

 

I assume the objection is perculiar to American sports teams? Liverpool and other English teams have many songs referring to 'we' which predate half a century.

 

To get likes?

 

But what others are there?

 

lol @ Everton

 

There are plenty! However, I only wanted to speak of the one I am most familiar with. I'm sure you can do the same.

Edit: nevermind, I did that. Duh.

 

For that same reason, I rarely include myself when mentioning others.

 

Yeah, it's harmless. The vast majority of people who call their team "we" aren't out there beating up the opposing team's fans, or being a-holes on the internet, or whatever, which suggests that it has no deep corrosive effects. If people are being ****s on the internet, or violent jackasses in public, it's probably because they're bad people, not because their overzealous fandom has warped their deep-seated good nature. If they didn't have football, they'd just be ****s on the internet about something else (and they probably are ****s on the internet about Game of Thrones and/or forty-year-old children's movies and/or politics and/or movie remakes of 1980s cartoons, which suggests that the problem is them, not "we"). If they didn't have soccer, they'd find some other excuse for hooliganism on the street. If they weren't unhealthily invested in baseball, they'd channel their obsession into politics or Harry Potter or model trains or something (and get into screaming matches on the internet about what scale of model train is the best, or whatever the hell model train enthusiasts care about). There are people out there who are stupidly invested in what brand of truck they buy (and some who are stupidly invested in how superior their decision to take public transportation instead of owning a truck makes them). The problem here is individual human nature, not the particular bugaboo they're shouting about. But people tend to fixate on the bugaboo and decide that's the problem, when it's really just a symptom.