The Challenge of Being a Padres Fan or A Primer to Being a Better Baseball Fan
by Dex on Jan 31, 2012 7:59 AM PST
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PrintI recently finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, which I would recommend to most. If you're not familiar with it, Gretchen decides that she's not as happy as she should or could be and undertakes a series of resolutions throughout a year in an attempt to do things to make herself happy, or maybe more accurately, help her appreciate life more. Everything's based on philosophers and writers and popular opinions on happiness.
I generally think of myself as a happy person, but when I think about the blog, I can't help but think that we, as a Gaslamp Ball, aren't necessarily "happy" all the time.
Not that there's typically a lot of stuff to be happy about if you're a Padres fan, so any happiness we derive from last place seasons is bonus. Personally, I know we're going to be outspent on the field by larger markets. There's no shaking the idea that we typically will have players leading up to the best years of their career or potentially finishing out the tail end of a great career, as opposed to that sweet spot in the middle. Some of our local media seems to relish in the unattainable "fact" that our millionaire owner and his ownership group should field the most expensive team possible for no reason other than out of the goodness of their hearts. There's a weird perception that there are billionaires that are out there that are lining up to buy the Padres, or would want to buy the Padres if only they heard our stories about why we deserve a team and pretty things. Like Mark Cuban is Daddy Warbucks and we're a bunch of ginger orphans.
On the other hand, let's say you're a fan of the Yankees. You have a rich tradition to draw from. Even non-baseball fans can probably name 5 to 10 Yankees past and present without batting an eye. So your team is part of popular culture. You can rest easy in the knowledge that you will be competing for a post season spot and even in an off-year, you're fairly confident that you're watching a team that's made up mostly of All-Stars, former All-Stars, future All-Stars with a touch of Hall of Famers scattered in. Money for players is spent like a spectacle.
The Padres are a quiet independent film while the Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers/Giants are spectacle summer blockbusters. When they're big time, they're amazingly big time and enjoyed by lots of people. When they flop, they flop in amazingly spectacular fashion and people laugh. Quiet independent films win little awards here and there (best farm system, best front office, best grounds crew). When they win the big awards, it becomes a big deal, but most people go back to watching the blockbusters next year.
So what's this all leading to? I've decided to undergo a Gaslamp Ball version of a Happiness Project this season!
Every month, there will be a series of resolutions and activities that I'm going to focus on (and that you can focus on as well). All of this is geared towards making us more appreciative Padres fans, but also better baseball fans in general. Sorting out the schedule, but on the calendar for this year:
- Be more statistically inclined
- Root passionately for no logical reason
- Empathize with other fans
- Look forward to the future
- Appreciate the present
- Reflect on the past
- Do things in the name of fanhood that make no sense
We'll square away the details as we go, but February is coming up and is just as good a time as any to start. Let's get pumped, people! It's almost February! Pitchers and Catchers reporting any second now!
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Leave this at the first 5 paragraphs
and it may be the best post every written on SBNation
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
by Ron Mexico on Jan 31, 2012 8:12 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
When you say "Empathize with other fans", you mean other Padres fans, right?
Because I will show no empathy for our enemies.
by Darklighter on Jan 31, 2012 8:13 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
I have empathy for other fans
there are a few teams’ fanbase we don’t really play or have a rival with, that I feel bad for.
My parents are diehard Pirates fans along with about 80 of my cousins. I feel bad, as they have a solid but shrinking fanbase, a beautiful stadium, horrible ownership issues, and an annoying instate rival from a bigger, financially more successful city (Philadelphia). Plus they have almost no hope for the future due to terrible front office. They had a stretch of 3 years were they may have been the best team in all of baseball, but no one remembers because they could not punch it through. They have one of the 10 greatest players of all time die suddenly and is not remember for his greatness but his ethnic ties. (and a bat shit crazy son). Plus the city is going nowhere.
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
No! No mercy!
Not even for lovable losers! I don’t care how awesome their throwback uniforms are!
It's not mercy
It’s more like having an understanding that, should we be in last place, there are five other teams also in last place. Maybe we’ll find more appreciation like, “At least we’re not the Kansas City Royals”.
I'd be glad not to be the Royals even if they were in first place.
Because they A) live in Kansas City and B) play fake baseball.
by Darklighter on Jan 31, 2012 10:07 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
not even a tinge of envy for the powder blues?
by Stephen (shaynes41) on Jan 31, 2012 1:36 PM PST up reply actions
empathy does not mean mercy.
Trust me on this, and your relationships will be better.
You can empathize with someone and not agree with or approve of their actions and/or thought processe.
You just feel and connect with their emotional state. You are not evil person, you don’t want someone you like to feel bad, Sure they may be the dumass that stuck their finger into boiling caramel sauce and burnt all the skin off their hands. Yeah, it is funny as hell, and they were super stupid, but you can still feel for their pain.
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
I want to have empathy for the Pirates
but they A) Have won the World Series at some point in their history. B) They are Pittsburgh. They have the Steelers, and I can’t help but think the Pirates are their Karma for their obnoxious (yet passionate) fan base.
Scowling at Padres Losses since 1981
by Nater Tater on Jan 31, 2012 10:49 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Flags fly forever
but I don’t agree with another sport championship (Steelers/Penguins) means that its hurts less that your team sucks. Basically you are saying that the sports are interchangeable.
I am a die hard Padres fan. I have season tickets. We refer to bowel movements as “making a dodger”, I like watching and rooting for the Chargers, but the personnel emotional scaring of the season is not even measurable compared to a Padres season.
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
by Ron Mexico on Jan 31, 2012 1:07 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
I agree
Just because your favorite team does well in one sport does not make you feel good about the the other. I am a NY Giants fan (since I was 6 years old, not a bandwagon), and I became a Padres fan when I was a teenager and started to like baseball. A Giants Super Bowl win will not make up 5 months of losing by the Padres at all.
I just made a dodger laughing so hard at the term making a dodger.
It's Quentin time.
by turbopan on Jan 31, 2012 5:39 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I understand what you mean
on crossover championships.
Im still laughing on the making a dodger.
Scowling at Padres Losses since 1981
Agreed - the only think missing was how the joys of schadenfreude
Are available to all of us, no matter how our Friars are playing, we can still enjoy the misery of others as well.
queen of the rec fairies
although it broke our hearts it did not break our will the herd
Amen.
Especially to rooting without logical reason.
by Imissburritos on Jan 31, 2012 8:22 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
That one will be easy.
I’ve been doing it since I was 3.
by Darklighter on Jan 31, 2012 9:38 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs
that's better than me
I always reference WAR. But I think for people who are already paying attention to the advanced stats, we’re gonna change this to “Understand the Numbers” and include some resolutions learning the business of the game. I have a little bit of a background, but I think it would help people’s happiness if they didn’t have unrealistic expectations for how things should operate. Also, for people who know the advanced stats, a refresher on what really makes for a small sample size is probably a good thing. Maybe the reading will be The Numbers Game or some other similar “history of baseball stats” book.
great little article on MLBTraderumors
that showed all the awful contract extensions signed two years ago.
Its amazing how few of them actually work out.
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
You ought to read The Book.
Bolts from the Blue // "At least when Wade is spewing vitriol he does so with an intellectual flair." - insanebolt21
Bloody Elbow // "I think we're poking fun at Leland's 'boner.'" - Michael Fagan
by Richard Wade on Jan 31, 2012 4:04 PM PST up reply actions
WAR is to baseball as..
… the Higgs-Boson is to physics. IE the answer to everything except we haven’t found it yet. One of the problems with WAR is which one you take. Fangraphs incorporates UZR into WAR and many say that UZR is still flawed. I forget how Baseball Reference calculates their WAR. You’re trying to whittle a player down to one encompassing statistic to determine value.
The more you really think about baseball the more you’ll realize how deeply flawed “old school” stats like RBI, pitcher records, saves are.
btw...
Don’t get me wrong. I totes appreciate the input, but when it comes to analogies, I’m fairly certain that comparisons to particle physics is not one that will help the cause of “learning baseball stats is fun”.
Hey, particle physics is totally cool!
They use giant freaking lasers!
If they aren't attached to sharks' heads,
I’m not interested.
www.FriarsOnCardboard.blogspot.com
"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev
by TheThinGwynn on Feb 1, 2012 11:23 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
i like war as a quick reference stat
but it quickly falls apart when discussing roleplayers. for example LOOGY pitchers aren’t really valuable at all in terms of war, but situationally they carry a great deal of weight – just look at how the giants’ LOOGYs helped them get past the phillies in the 2010 nlcs.
likewise, hitters that have specific skillsets like mark kotsay or david eckstein (two guys that never strike out) can be great bench weapons because they are great at moving runners over, hit and runs, bringing a guy in from third, etc. kotsay is one of the worst hitters on the team if you go by WAR, but he’s probably one of the top few guys you’d want at the plate when the winning run is on 3rd and you’re facing the team’s closer.
on the subject of closers, they are also undervalued by war because it isn’t situationally aware. based on WAR, mariano rivera is worth about as many wins as james loney or kyle lohse. of course any sane person would value rivera higher than either of them because he makes a 9 inning game into an 8 inning game essentially. being able to use one of your best players exclusively in high-leverage situations maximizes his production in a way counting stats don’t show.
by iheartyourfart on Feb 1, 2012 2:51 PM PST up reply actions
"Do things in the name of fanhood that make no sense"
Hmmm, could get interesting/out of control….
No GLB streaking at fanfest.
GO Friars
by mrbarneydangles on Jan 31, 2012 12:07 PM PST reply actions
Love it
to be honest I don’t need all that much to become happy about the Padres. Being this far away from them I’m really content with everything I can get especially just a simple well played ballgame even if I have to watch it the day afterwards. Hell my best ever Padres moment was a relatively meaningless win against the Dodgers last september that I watched in Petco!
I also have to admit though that by being in Belgium I don’t have to deal with fans from another fanbase, mediabias and crazy local media all the time so maybe that enables me to have a very simple approach to Padres Happinness! Everything Padres related that I see, hear or read is just a bonus to me
by sixpakfrombelgium on Jan 31, 2012 1:27 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Start teaching the Belgians about baseball.
I mean they are already obsessed with a sport that has very little scoring (soccer) so they should definitely related with the Padres in that regard! Instant fans!
"Rooting without logical reason"
Isn’t that the only way to root for a team? I mean, not using logic is how I got through the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010 seasons as a Dbacks fan. In other words, the only way I’ve ever really been able to support the Dbacks
isitspringtrainingyet.com
by imstillhungry95 on Jan 31, 2012 1:58 PM PST reply actions
Some people have a weird logic...
I think this is easier for Padres (or DBacks) fans as opposed to Yankee/Dodger fans. Though I’m also thinking of when people pick favorite players, not because they’re “good”, but because they just like something not quantifiable about that person. JBox makes the argument that the happiest people at baseball games are the young kids and crazy groupie looking girls, so part of that month’s resolutions will be to pick a favorite player or two based on the logic of a young child or a horny groupie.
mancrushes count?
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"
I like being grumpy and tortured (to an extent)
It makes the good times that much more enjoyable. I sort of like having the NL championships about 15-20 years apart. I don’t want to be happy and optimistic all the time. Though I suppose you could say that being unhappy is what makes me happy.
BEAT L.A.!
by kevintheoman on Jan 31, 2012 2:36 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I think there's a fine line
It’s one thing to fully experience the bad times because it makes the good times that much better. You don’t want to be too fair weather. But you also don’t want to fall into the trap of being the fan who never believes that the Padres will win. Like you don’t want to be the guy who gets to the 10 game losing streak in 2010 saying, “I knew the Padres would regress to the mean. They always do.” Because that’s foulweather.
Me, I like having the NL championships exactly 14 years apart.
www.FriarsOnCardboard.blogspot.com
"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev
padres rule
all other baseball teams are total douche farms
cash rules everything around me CREAM get tha money dolla dolla bill yaaaaallll
by staceyaugmon4HOF on Jan 31, 2012 6:41 PM PST reply actions 2 recs
look on the cheery side
I have been a Tampa fan since conception. Things DO change!
You write remarkably well for someone <14 years old.
Oh, since their conception, not yours; I get it now.
…just kiddin’ with you. Welcome to Gaslamp Ball! I think you’ll find the level of Yankee and Red Sox hate here to be appropriate for your liking.
www.FriarsOnCardboard.blogspot.com
"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev
I just discovered
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you? ◔ヮ◔
Uncommon Sportsman :: Absurdity in play
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