How will Vince fair with fans over the course of his career?

In my earlier piece I detailed what I think fans should be required to do for their teams. Originally I was simply going to switch the concept but then I realized that it was quite a bit more difficult to do that, due to various differences between leagues and such. So instead I’ll go with this.

I, the undersigned professional athlete, vow to always deliver this to my fans.

I will always understand that I represent my city to a nation. And while they have no right to expect anything regarding off-field activity from me I will make damned sure I give them an effort on the field commensurate with what they have expected. Furthermore I vow that I understand the nature of rivalry. I may have friends on my team’s chief rival, and fans may know and understand this. But they will look at every nice action I take through the prism of that hatred, and will expect me to act accordingly. And for the most part I will.

I will sign love of the game contracts as many times as I can, and then proceed to cut a swath through one coast of the country to the other in the summertime playing in as many open games as I can. I will even build fields, rinks, and courts in parts of town that need it and play pickup games with neighborhood kids, especially the ones who aren’t naturally skilled.

When the team I play for callously and cruelly betrays its fans and moves to a different town I promise to thank the fans in every seat for all the years they spent believing in us, carrying us through disappointment and loving us in victory. After all I was drafted out of college or high school, made into a star, and an icon because I was a Winnipeg Jet, a Montreal Expo, a Cleveland Brown, or a Charlotte Hornet. If we have to leave I owe the fans to let them know that I had nothing to do with it.

I vow to know the history of my team, and treat it with the reverence it deserves. To know that someone compares me to legends and immortals should not be an unberable yoke, but rather a compliment to my own skills. And, when it comes time to retire, I will once again say thank you.

Finally I promise to remember that I am an integral link in a relationship with town and team, and that every sporting fan resident looks at me as a member of the family. They always let me in their houses, and for that I owe them at the very least a thank you.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.