Kelly's World | Some sports fans expect too much

I know that fans of sports teams take things seriously, but sometimes, I'm reminded of just how much.

There is a video going around of an irate fan aggressively scraping the name and squad number of a player off the back of a Manchester United jersey.

To top it off, he's doing so while cussing some 'claat' weh nuh sell downtown.

The player in question is Henrikh Mkhitaryan (pronounced Mi-kih-tah-reean), an Armenian footballer who recently transferred to Arsenal from the Red Devils.

Now, for the uninitiated, Man U and Arsenal aren't friends. They may not be the worst of enemies, but they really don't like each other.

So for the fan in question, I suppose he felt it was bordering on treason that Mkhitaryan went to the Gunners after being signed to Man U back in 2016.

And this isn't the first time I've seen this. In fact, scraping the name off the jersey is one of the milder things I've seen from angry sports fans.

When LeBron James announced that he was going to the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers fans burnt his replica jerseys in the streets.

 

NOT STAYING FOR LIFE

 

I've always wondered why fans expect sports stars to stay with a team for life like they do.

If you were born and raised in a city that has sport franchises, I totally understand why you would follow those teams.

I also understand if you started following a particular team during a notable time in your life, and so you stick with that team for life.

But don't expect the players to do that. It's not possible most of the time.

First off, people forget that players are actually workers. What is sport for you is work for them.

So like any other job, they will get better offers and will see better opportunities for themselves at other work places, which, in this case, would be other teams.

Some even see them in other sports entirely, like a basketball player deciding to try volleyball instead.

Furthermore, as we see in franchise systems like in Major League Baseball, there are many times the player didn't even want to move.

Players have been known to leave the locker room one night and wake up the next morning to hear that they've been traded to another team.

Sometimes they don't even have time to say a proper goodbye to their teammates. They just gotta pack up their stuff and go.

Fans should realise that some of these men and women in these various sports leagues have families, so to ask them to pack up and move at a moment's notice is hardly ideal.

For the fans who live and work in the team's home city or town, dem lucky! Dem nah go nuh weh!

Now, if a player is not showing any heart or endeavour on the field or court, then that's another matter.

Whether they're doing it for the love or the likes, you at least want them to look like they're trying.

But let's not get worked up about players going to other teams. It's a business, so money talks, and players better walk. Life.

Link me at daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com