Chapter six – The Fan
On May 13, 1994, at the end of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Bulls and the New York Knicks were tied at 102 with 1.8 seconds left. Bulls coach Phil Jackson designed the last play for Kukoč, with Scottie Pippen charged with inbounding the basketball. Pippen was so angered by Jackson’s decision to not let him take the potential game-winner that he refused to leave the bench and re-enter the game when the timeout was over. Kukoč did hit the game-winner, a 23-foot fadeaway jumper at the buzzer. It was Tony Kukoč’s moment.
Tony Kukoc was drafted by the Bulls in 1990 but didn’t actually start playing until 1993. When he did arrive he was not put in the starting lineup. Even though that was the year Michael Jordan retired, there still was not a place for him to start. So he made the best of the circumstances. Maybe it was because he was from Croatia and was thrilled to finally be in the NBA or maybe it was just his personality. He assumed the role of “sixth man”, a title he won in the 1995-96 basketball season.
The National Basketball Association’s Sixth Man of the Year Award is an annual NBA award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the league’s best performing player for his team coming off the bench as a substitute. Toni Kukoč is to date only one of three foreign born players to win such an accolade. It is clear it takes a certain type of humility and perseverance to ascend to that accomplishment.
The sixth man is also a term that has come to be used in other sports for the crowd. It has come to mean the added benefit brought by people who actually never step foot on the court. The thought is simple, with enough of a backup the starters don’t have to do it themselves. There are other factors that contribute to success and ultimately to winning. When the Los Angeles Raiders returned to Oakland Jim Hudson, a fan, termed the phrase “Raider Nation” and spectating was taken to the next level. People began dressing in KISS-like outfits, donning the team colors of black and white and behaving in ways that caught a great deal of attention.
This is the place where the fanatical observer lives.
In 2014, Arrowhead Stadium set the Guinness World Record for stadium noise in a game against the New England Patriots when they hit an eardrum-rattling 142.2 decibels in a 41-14 win. That’s louder than when a jet airplane takes off.
What makes a man take off his shirt and expose a large number or letter on their beer belly? It is simple. A desire to impact their team or at least intimidate the opposing one. For some, watching the sport isn’t enough, they want to participate. Maybe they were athletes at one point in their life and are trying to recapture their youth. Maybe they just want to belong to something. Some want to be part of the team, not just witnesses. The role of the fan is enhanced today by the vapid marketing that sells authentic gear, so that you can wear exactly what your favorite athlete is wearing and if that isn’t enough you can even sleep in pajamas with your favorite team’s logo and put on a jacket for a team that never even goes outside. It is part of the tribalism that motivates people to do outrageous things, like stampede at a soccer match.
Though I have used the terms interchangeably, no doubt there is a difference between being a spectator and being a fan. Everything about the sports industry motivates us to make the leap from former to latter. It encourages the person watching to participate. It gets the heart pumping. It happens the moment when the spectator jumps up, yells out or even throws something at the television. The real aficionado will route passionately for the elite and the journeyman athlete alike. It gives the spectator something to believe in. (This was made popular by Ted Lasso’s “believe sign” but truly originated by the 1969 Mets “You Gotta Believe.”)
Yet, in most games the team on the field, court or ice will do something that will quiet the crowd and take them out of it altogether. A home team might be on a run and a steal, a dunk by the opposing team will immediately draw silence and in many ways change the nature of the players. While a basketball player trying to make free throws is rarely disturbed by fans from behind the basket waving and gesticulating, a sudden silence in the crowd can lift an opponent immeasurably. It is this understanding that has brought announcers in arena to launch noise Meters tat measure the decibels of sound produced by a crowd in what may be a degradation to a mob mentality from normal cheering, from encouragement to deafening noise. It is amazing that simple tasks can be accomplished in that environment and bewildering that fans participate.
This is the essence of what is called home court, home field advantage. You would think a professional athlete ought to be able to, through training, fine tuning muscle memory and uncanny concentration would not be affected by some screaming onlookers, However, people sitting in seats watching the action can motivate and distract.
In some sports any sound is considered unacceptable. In tennis and golf, players will wait while judges and referees plead with the crowd to settle down. Tennis players have been known to be bothered by the sound of a camera shutter while hockey players play through fans slamming their hands on the glass that separates them from the players.
There are ways fans seek to influence play and there are many ways spectators show their appreciation. Skaters will receive teddy bears and flowers. Baseball players will be called out for a standing ovation and my favorite is hockey players who score three goals, called a hattrick, will have their fans flood the arena with hats and in some cases some fans will even throw octopus. This is well beyond the child who just wants to give a high five or get an autograph and certainly it takes more preparation. The athlete is more than happy to encourage these forms of idol worship by throwing them parts of their uniform, albeit sweaty and filthy.
The boundary between the field of play and the stands (I assume the place where people sit to watch the event are called the stands, not because people sit there but because the activity causes such excitement that people spend a considerable amount of time standing and cheering) blurs. Fans throw things from their seats which will provoke athletes to engage the crowd. In the rare occasion altercations break out between athlete and fan but despite the incredible media coverage of such events, they are extremely rare.
At some point all of us watching must realize we have become the person cheering even though we imagine ourselves as the batter at the bottom of the ninth two outs bases loaded wondering why the athlete being paid millions of dollars seems to strike out. Many fans began as young people who remember getting their first uniform and checking out our number on the back. The pride we felt in being part of a team. Many remember the pulling on socks and lacing up sneakers and imagining the play they might make on an early Sunday morning in a local YMCA gym. Some of those little players will grow up to be weekend warriors but the vast majority will simply take their seats with a beer in their hands criticizing every referee for missed or mistaken calls because while their vision may have faded and they have now started wearing glasses, they still see way better than the professionals assigned to keep score and order. Those who watch will become the athlete once again only once the weekend is over and they become the Monday morning quarterback.
One final comment about fans and athletes. Some athletes take themselves too seriously, while others remember to have fun in 2017. Kim Clijsters was playing doubles at Wimbledon, on the hallowed ground of The All England Club, arguably the most stayed courts in all of tennis. The requirement for bowing to the Royal box and wearing all white remains steadfast in the commitment to serious protocol and custom. As Clijsters was about to serve a fan yelled out that she ought to serve into the body of the opponent. Finding the humor in this, she challenged the spectator to come out onto the court and try and return one of her serves.
With the third wall between athlete and fan broken, the man agreed and was encouraged out onto the court. With this break in play, and understanding the traditions of Wimbledon, Kim brought him a white skirt and top, which he promptly adorned. This created one of the most memorable moments at Wimbledon and the world was able to see the pure joy and laughter of an athlete clearly enjoying the sport she had grown to master. And a spectator got to play on the grass at Wimbledon.