Narrative Essay Sample: Game Day

In the sports world the biggest contributors are the fans. Fans express themselves at stadiums or even just watching the games from their television. Fans all around the world will go to great lengths to do whatever for their favorite teams. Some fanbases do things that regulars see as insanity but to them it’s their passion. Fan bases in the United States and the United Kingdom are similar and different in ways such as how they attend games and what they’ll do for their favorite team. 

Waking up the day of a sports event is a real thrill. Knowing that you get to watch your favorite team on television, or go and support your team in the stadium, should excite you. Once you put your team’s jersey on, you’re pumped up and ready to go. And typical people who are from the U.S. will meet up and tailgate before the game. At tailgates people will cook food, drink, and play games like cornhole. Tailgating really helps make the day even better.  People from the United Kingdom, however, will meet their friends or family at a pub which if you’re underage, you can feel left out. There isn’t really any entertainment before the game besides drinking and mingling. 

The atmosphere that the fans create is a huge contribution to the team’s performance. Typically, U.S. fans will use the noise they make to their team’s advantage and to the opposition’s disadvantage. The New Orleans Saints are the masters of knowing when to go loud and when not to. Making noise can help throw the opposition off guard and lose concentration. Players get confused and flustered which leads to mistakes on their behalf. It’s important though that they make less noise when their offense has the ball to avoid that distraction on their players. But not many teams have that “12th man” effect. U.K. fans try to cheer their team on with songs and chants. Constantly throughout the stadium, you hear home and away fans singing songs and chants that their fans may have made. English professional club, Liverpool, have an iconic song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” which has become the club’s motto. Sometimes it is clear that the players feed off their fan’s cheers. Both U.S. fans and U.K. fans want their team to win so they’ll do anything to help and motivate the players. 

Every team have those fans that always go to the home games, buy the new merchandise and sometimes travel cross country to go support their team. It could be pouring rain or even in the middle of a snow blizzard, and still some fanatics will be there to cheer their team on. Both U.S. and U.K. have fans that will do anything to see their team play and support them. Fans will always go and buy season tickets and buy the new team jersey with their favorite player’s name on the back to show their support. 

Rivalries between two teams is the same everywhere. Both despise each other and the competitive nature between the two is higher than ever. This isn’t just any other game. Both would love to beat their rival and have the bragging rights. Notable rivals are Yankees/Red Sox, Celtics/Lakers, and Cowboys/Eagles. Rivalries tend to be between franchises that were at a time dominating the league or their division. A derby is a rivalry between two local teams. You could argue that a derby is more competitive than a traditional rivalry. Two teams from the same city, bragging rights are up for grabs. 

Although it is just sports teams there is still serious crimes that happen usually between rival teams that have hatred against each other. One crime that happened was at a 2011 preseason game between two Bay Area teams; San Francisco 49ers and The Oakland Raiders. Things turned bad when after the preseason game two men were shot and one was beaten unconscious in the stadium’s bathroom. Obviously, this is too far and should never happen. The hatred that rivals fans have for each other is mind-blowing that would even try to take someone’s life. There have been similar crimes like this in U.K. games. These crimes are led by hooligans. Hooliganism is usually led by a gang of supporters that commit violent crimes. Hooliganism isn’t as severe as it was in the 1980s but is still happening today. Obviously, all fans become competitive, they tend to get riled up and can get annoyed if their team isn’t performing well. People feel humiliation when their team loses, and hate being humiliated by other fans. 

When things aren’t going good around the team’s performance, fans let it be known that they are unhappy. Lower attendance, less income from merchandise, and frustration amongst fans across social media is notable signs that fans are not happy. I think the U.S. fans will always feel positive. They tend to feel frustrated but always keep in mind about the future and that things can quickly go from bad to good.  But to the U.K. fans they are serious and if something isn’t the way they want it then they let their voices be heard. People often call them negative, but I think it’s fair to say that a lot of fans pay a lot of their hard-earned money into the team and should expect good and positive results from the team.

With the topics discussed it is fair to say that fan bases in the United States and the United Kingdom are similar and different in ways such as how they attend games and what they’ll do for their favorite team. The key difference is the presents of the fanbases around the team. The atmosphere that stadiums have in the U.K. is unbelievable. Fans in both the United States and United Kingdom give up a lot of money, time, and effort for their favorite teams. They both find pleasure to see their team win and they want to be apart of their team’s success.