You can feel the excitement as soon as you step out of the car. The noise, the atmosphere, the intensity building up as you get closer to the stadium. The scent of burgers and cheesesteaks fills the air as vendors fill the sections.
Once you take your seat and just look towards the field, that is when it hits you. Emotions take over. The team runs out from the tunnel as everyone cheers from the first row to way up in the nosebleeds.
Fans of sports teams go all out as they show their dedication for their team, organization and city. These diehard fans watch every game regardless of how bad the team might be that year. The screaming at the TV is all worth it when your team finally brings home a championship. So why is it that people dedicate themselves to sports and to players they do not know?
Gail Wehmeyer has been an Eagles season ticket holder since 1961. That is 57 years of dedication to a franchise.
Wehmeyer shows her dedication by wearing a customized Eagles jersey to every game that says “STH Since ‘61.”
Wehmeyer has dedicated her whole life to watching the Eagles every Sunday regardless of how cold it might be.
To a lot of people, being a sports fan is a lifestyle, whether they are watching the game from the stadium or arena or watching on their couch. Dedicated sports fans stick with their team no matter what and they will defend their team against any other team’s fans just because that is what sports does to people.
Gerald Healey, a sophomore accounting major, has been a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Eagles the past three years, good as well as the bad with the Eagles.
Healey said, “My dad is a huge Eagles fan as well as his father, so growing up, all I watched was the Eagles.”
Healey went on to explain what it means to him being a Philadelphia sports fan.
“Philly is such a great sports city. Every sport has been successful and watching every sport with passion is what a Philly sports fan does,” Healey said.
Sports fanatics are passionate about their team and that passion fuels the team. Players and teams always mention their fans’ energy throughout the stadium to get them pumped. Fans have no physical correlation with their team, yet bring the same intensity watching the game on their couch as the players on the field do.
Sports fans in Buffalo created The Bills Mafia. One fan in this group literally jumps through burning tables tailgating just to liven up the atmosphere.
Chiefs Kingdom is another fan group who had a fan jump off a portable toilet so everyone around tailgating will feel that fire.
Sports fans that are truly dedicated will give up anything to see the team they love win a championship. With the Eagles in the playoffs, the whole city of the Philadelphia has been on edge.
An estimated 500,000 people tailgated for the NFC Championship game for the Eagles and Vikings game. The passion sports bring out of people is without parallel. This passion fans possess include excitement and cheers when it goes good, but it also includes the sadness of tears when things do not go well.
The secular feeling that causes this obsession cannot be explained. What fans do know is simple: the love they possess for their teams is a large part of their lives and allows many an outlet to express themselves.
Healey said, “I love this team. I go to every game, every Sunday and I love every second of it.”
