Admittedly, I’m fascinated by the burden of expectation.
I can’t fully explain why, but I’ve written about the concept of “championship or bust” a few times throughout the years. It intrigues me. It’s the psychology of sports fandom. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why are we so obsessed? Can we find joy in the mundane? Or are we only capable of experiencing sports fandom in a binary way?
The psychology of sports fandom often infiltrates the actual subjects we follow. For example, the Baltimore Ravens have been so good since Lamar Jackson’s arrival in 2018 that for many of these years, we’ve suggested that anything short of winning a Super Bowl is a failure. That narrative (and the accompanying pressure) is inescapable for the team. So much so that on the team’s own internal “The Lounge” podcast last week, head coach John Harbaugh had to address the concept. His answer was fascinating.
“All this garbage about ‘do or die’ or more about bust, ‘Super Bowl or bust,’ all that kind of stuff, it’s just so phony. I mean, anybody that says something like that has never actually accomplished anything. Because they understand it’s about the process and it’s about who you’re becoming. You want to win a championship, you’ve got to become a champion. You’ve got to be a champion. You’ve got to do the things that champions do. But then you go in there and fight and you let the chips fly and see if you can win it. And that’s what we’ve been doing.
“You know, our guys have been doing that at a championship level. We haven’t won the championship yet. Is that going to be in our future? Who knows? No one knows the future. We’re not given to know the future. Read your Bible. But we are given to take care of the day and today and the moment and be in the moment and to take care of one another, have each other’s back, share a vision, share an understanding, fight as hard as you can for that vision, that understanding, for that brotherhood, for one another, and then let the chips fly.”
To be fair, I’ll probably choose to skip this week’s Bible study, but I actually find the message particularly intriguing. I’ve always disliked the “championship or bust” binary narrative. But then again, I’m a former top-25 fastest man in my age group in Annapolis and a middle school geography bee runner-up, so I’m not part of the “never actually accomplished anything” group that Harbaugh refers to.
Even if the Ravens haven’t won a championship in 12 years, we know how much better is has been to be a Ravens fan than, say, an Arizona Cardinals fan in that time. We’ve experienced great joy! We’ve been able to watch Lamar Jackson play football quite frequently. There have been lots of jaw-dropping plays, inspiring and exciting moments, division titles and playoff wins. We’ve watched our city come to life each season. The team has drawn people together and helped business and made the winter a bit more pleasant than just the part where all of our noses are collectively running and we can’t feel our hands.
It has been particularly special for me to watch with my kids. They haven’t seen the Ravens win a Super Bowl yet, but they are passionate and invested. My youngest son (8 years old) had me take him to the Ravens’ “Ice Festival” before their playoff loss in January and had me get my car stenciled. When, literally three months later, I attempted to wash the stencil off at a gas station, my son cried until I stopped. The memory of that night and that feeling meant so much to him that he didn’t want it washed away.
No, it’s not “Super Bowl or bust.” There is so much more to the experience of fandom. There are the road trips you take with friends. There’s the time you met Zay Flowers at a restaurant. There’s hearing your dad talk about stories of when there wasn’t even a team here for 13 years. All of that reminds you of how fortunate you are to have this experience, no matter what level of accomplishment you’ve experienced in your life.
I love the message.
I don’t think it’s the right messenger.
It’s a weird thing. Harbaugh is right to explain his side of the equation. His side isn’t the side of a fan. It’s the side of a team that is experiencing real things in real time and understanding that only one team can win a championship and that Ricky Bobby’s dad even had to explain to him how, “If you ain’t first, you’re last,” only really makes sense if you’re high. There are lots of other things to experience and accomplish between “winning the Super Bowl” and “staring deeply into the void because nothing matters.”
But it’s hard for fans to hear it in any other way than Harbaugh being defensive because the Ravens haven’t won a Super Bowl in a very long time and he’s starting to feel some of the pressure. His point is correct, but it’s not necessarily beneficial. All fans ever want to hear is some version of “that’s the goal and we’re doing everything in our power to win that championship.”
Harbaugh’s answer was more interesting, but it can be shared by dummies like me. From the coach, from the quarterback (who reminds you every chance he gets) and everyone involved with the team, the only thing you ever want to hear is, “Yep, that’s what matters and it’s all that matters and that’s what we hope we’ll be doing this year.”
The rest of us can remind you to enjoy the ride.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox