The sporting youth

I haven't been around for a little while because of a weekend excursion to the wilds of Illinois, and then another day spent recuperating. In the meantime, distressed about keeping up with my fantasy team and numerous sports blogs, I thought about the lengths that modern sports fans go to in following their sport. I think the young sport fans today don't quite get the credit they deserve. Allow me to ramble for a bit...

I've noticed an interesting trend in my generation--and no, I don't mean drunkenness, bad music and Paris Hilton (sometimes all at once!). This is a sports blog, goddammit, and that's what I'll talk about. See, there just aren't as many sports fans as there used to be. People are doing other things, and it's becoming more and more acceptable for a young Clevelander to just say "Hey, you know what? I just don't care whether the Indians score more goals than the Steelers."

I mean, sure, there used to be guys like that, but they would just get shoved in a locker by a burly jock and never heard from again. Now these are the cool kids. And it's not like I begrudge them their interests--most of these guys are the ones I hang out with--but I miss the time when you could go up to a random stranger on the street and say "Hey. Browns, eh?" and the other guy would go "Man, do they suck this year," and you'd be buddies just like that.

But while my generation might not boast as many fans, we sure have a lot more FANS. My grandfather talks about the good old days, listening to games on the radio and getting up each morning to check the box scores in the newspaper. I scoff at that. I've got one game going on the T.V. while I keep a running tab on the others over the internet. My daily routine takes me through my local paper, over to the online wire stories about last night's action, past my fantasy baseball team (The Evil Dead) and then into five different sports blogs (but never to ESPN.com; the true modern sports fan hates ESPN)--all before lunch.

There's just so much more to engross yourself in these days. There are more sports, and where there isn't sports, there's content about sports. If the major sites aren't enough for you (they aren't), then Deadspin will tell you what pickup lines the broadcasters use. On the DL will show you Major League Baseball players playing beer pong at frat parties after games. Fire Joe Morgan is even devoted to writing about sportswriting. And all it takes is a couple of fantasy teams to give you a rooting interest in every single game.

We even communicate about 'em differently. When I went off to college in Illinois and my fellow Cavs fan went to Purdue, we still talked after every game--but usually through smiley or frowny faces in instant messenger. There's some perception that we don't have the passion that the older crowd does, but it's there.

But in Cleveland, where the misery is the currency of sports credibility, it's all about your age. You might have experienced the '97 Indians World Series collapse and Bernie Kosar being cut, but are you old enough to remember The Shot? What about the Indians' 30 years of futility? Oh, and you weren't even alive for Red Right 88? Then don't even talk to me, whippersnapper.

Well, old fellas, you've got me there. But were you young enough to sob all night after the Tribe lost the 1995 Series? Did you write a letter to Kosar when Art Modell moved the Browns because your 9-year-old brain knew you had to do something?

We've had our misery in spades, too, but if anything our youth insulates us. The older generations were pounded down by the defeats and have all but given up, but the young crowd still believes in Lebron and holds out hope that Charlie Frye will turn out differently than Vinny Testaverde.

In the end, we'll be beaten down too, by steroids and failure, pitchers punching their wives and GM's trading future all-stars. But until then, despite our growing numbers of disinterested peers, we read more, watch more, know more and care more.

Kids these days.