I practically skipped to my polling place that day to bubble in my vote for president-elect Kerry (voting to me is not unlike a field trip to a fourth grader). That evening, I anxiously tuned in to see if maybe, this would be the season the Kings would go all the way.
No wonder I went to bed angry that night.
Bush was looking to win by midnight, prompting me to send evil thoughts to every state south of the Mason Dixon line and to swear never to be nice to an Ohioan. The Kings also lost.
But somewhere between sleep and extreme disappointment it hit me: being an American is a lot like being a Sacramento Kings fan.
How many times have you heard sports bar patrons grouse over this, or any other, sports team.
“Goddamn Adelman, take a timeout!”
“Webber’s gonna loose the game for us again.”
“Good time to go cold, Peja!”
“Could you get a rebound, please!?”
But these are their fans. These are the same people who wear purple on game day and put Kings license plate frames on their cars. These are the people who write out “GO KINGS” in Christmas lights on the roofs of their houses. These are the people who wear jerseys with numbers of them … 16, 21, 4 - even when their player is in a slump.
These are the people who say, “Get rid of Adelman! Trade Webber!” And are they not still Sacramento Kings fans?
They are.
And that brings me around to my point: you can criticize your favorite team and still be a fan the same as you can criticize your country and still be patriotic.
But some don’t make this connection. They say, “Democracy worked! The people voted for Bush, so quit complaining.“ But our country was built on complaining. If we didn’t pen the ultimate pissed-off itemization of grievances to George III, we might still have an outrageous tax on tea.
Another example: If you oppose the war in Iraq, you are not patriotic. The president even made this argument in the debates. If you say the war was wrong, you are not supporting the troops and thus, not patriotic. But can’t you criticize the coach and still love the players?
Criticism is what makes our country great and strong. It’s what our foundation is built upon - a belief that when the people do not agree with their government, they have a right to change it, or at least vote to express how they would like it to change. We have a duty to question our leaders, one that is the job of an increasingly slackening press.
The way the climate is in our country, bullies in the media, and our own leaders would have us continue to spend $100 a ticket on a team that isn’t going to make it to the finals. They would have us not make any trades for better players because everything’s all right as it is. They would have sports columnists eliminated from newsprint so no dissenting opinion exists.
They want us to pledge our blind allegiance and chant “USA! USA!”