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Sympathy

 I am a faithful fan of the California Golden Bears. I watch Bears football through thick (and it has been very thick as of late), and thin. But when they lose, and subsequently lose bowl game hopes, it begins to become tough to care about any college football. Whereas an Alabama Crimson Tide fan can constantly be involved in their teams season and games, I am forced to continuously hope that Stanford will lose, simply out of spite.

And as I have watched my fanhood wither this season, so has my interest in college football games other than #1 v. #2 matchups... Until last night. At around 3:30 (on the west coast), I texted an acquaintance of mine: "Wisconsin Michigan St? ur house?" At this point I will concede that this was a high-profile game, and being a sports fan, it does make sense that I would be interested in this game, but it was my subconscious Badger disposition that struck me as odd as the game unfolded. I found myself hoping that Russell Wilson would make a big play, or that Montee Ball would scamper for a touchdown. But why? I am not from Wisconsin, I did not attend Wisconsin, and I certainly don't care about the Big 10 standings.

The answer to this question, I began to realize, is the propaganda juggernaut otherwise known as ESPN. Earlier in the day, I had watched an hour long special called Depth Chart, which focused on the situation at quarterback for the Badgers, from spring football to opening day. It was a great story; the injured 1st string quarterback gets replaced by a three-year starter from another school. It discussed Wilson's thorough knowledge of the offensive playbook, and highlighted his ability to execute it to perfection in a game situation. But besides all of the talk about Wilson's success at quarterback, it was the persuasive quality of the show that got me. The video games in player's apartments and pizza parties with the captains, made the Badgers seem like just average people. In addition, the interviews about the perspective season, and the occasional analysis of a player's personality added to the persuasive nature of the show.

And on Saturday night, when the Badgers entered Spartan Stadium, I was rooting for Wilson and his Badgers; I had been conditioned to root for them. Thus, it seems ESPN is almost creating fans. At least in my particular case, ESPN was able to take a fan with relatively no allegiances, and persuade them to switch sides. Yet it wasn't as if I was rooting for a team, I was rooting for the players; I wanted them to succeed. And when they lost on the last play of the game, I was truly frustrated, simply out of sympathy.

I just want ESPN to stop messing with my emotions. Their ability to subliminally produce allegiance in the heads of unsuspecting fans is deadly. I want to watch Saturday Night football with no preconceived notions about the teams; unless, of course, my Bears are on the field.

Also, here's that last play. Even though I can't watch it without feeling bad for Mr. Wilson:


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