SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
We say we don’t care about the NFL, but don’t mean it
Aug 31, 2018, 3:14 PM | Updated: 4:20 pm
Seahawks fans stand in the end zone stands during the first half of the final preseason game against the Raiders on Thursday. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
So there’s a new Wall Street Journal poll that says fans are less interested in the NFL than they use to be. I read the results and I acknowledge that it accurately reflects what people said. But I don’t believe it.
Unpopular opinion: It’s OK Seahawks fans, paint your face
Let me explain. I think what we have with the ongoing debate about the NFL, politics, and the National Anthem is all in the eye of the beholder. If you’re a 40-50-year-old white male and you are contacted about your opinion by the Wall Street Journal, you’re going to answer what you think you should believe more than how you actually behave.
In psychology, they talk about this phenomenon as the battle between the Real Self and the Ideal Self. Nearly every person has idealized their beliefs about themselves and makes them more pure and resolute than they are in reality. I think the Ideal Self is answering this poll and “stopped following the league [and] overwhelmingly see the player protests as not appropriate.” The Ideal Self not the Real Self.
Case in point: I went to the Seahawks game Thursday night. As far as I can tell, the Real Self doesn’t give a rip about the National Anthem. The Real Self is grabbing one more beer and trying to find your seat. The Real Self is checking out the new NFL merchandise at the table on the concourse. The Real Self is sampling the new Chicken and Waffles from Ezelle’s at the ball park.
Now don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of 12s that stood at attention during the National Anthem, but it was not even close to everyone. There was a legion of white, middle-aged men in Seahawk jerseys disrespecting the flag.
People like to imagine themselves as patriotic, and principled, and superior to those “other NFL fans.” But they are not. People like to believe that the Anthem is beholden to the police or the military in some special way. It is not.
The Real Self will still buy a basket of wings and a cold beer and miss 90 percent of what your wife said cause it’s looking at the TV behind her as a big play unfolds.
Wait, was that a touchdown? Do I have that guy on my fantasy team?
What did you say honey? Oh yeah, I’m less interested in the NFL, too. ‘Merica!
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