LOST vs the Indianapolis Colts

Probably not the best way to start off a blog post, but this post will probably bother some people.  I know at the very least probably a lot of you will disagree with it.  It has already gotten me into a couple of disagreements just for mentioning it to a couple of people, so I have that to go off of.

Most, if not all, of my readers here likely live in (or have lived in) Indiana, I’m guessing.  And by default that probably makes quite a few of you Colts fans.  Now, while I wouldn’t necessarily define myself as a “Colts fan”, I’m all for them winning the Super Bowl.  I know barely anything about football, have no interest in it really, and haven’t even watched a game this season.  Sorry, but it’s the truth.  Doesn’t mean I don’t want them to win (as I said, I do), doesn’t mean I haven’t accumulated a few Colts shirts over the years, doesn’t mean I won’t be watching the Super Bowl and rooting for them.  But for the most part, I really have no major interest – it’s just something generic to connect with friends on, honestly.  I’ll clearly admit that.  In that sense, yeah – I’m a “bandwagon” fan.  My only interest is in the fact that everyone else around here cares, and it gives me something in common with them if I care at least a little bit too.  Is it wrong or unauthentic?  I don’t know, you decide – but I’m being pretty clear about what I think here, so I’m not sure it’s fair to call me unauthentic.

Now, while outside of the fact that it gives me a chance to connect with friends and have some fun cheering on a team they care about, Sunday is not that big of a day for me.  But this past Tuesday was.  It was the season premiere of the final season of LOST.  And I am a pretty big LOST fan.  I’ve been watching it since season 2, when a co-worker recommended it and I had a weekend to catch up on season 1.  I love this show.  Yes, it has its faults.  Yes, in some ways I can see how people think it went downhill by season 2 and all sorts of crazy things started getting introduced.  But it’s full of mystery, which I love.  When I was a kid, I wanted to be a detective.  And my love for logic and figuring things out is a big part of how I became a programmer.  So to me… watching this show and trying to figure out what’s going on – well, it just floats my boat.  Yeah, I’m “sucked in” – because I want to be.  It just does it for me.  Not all shows have.  I’ve tried to watch and catch up on both Heroes and Smallville, and I just can’t quite muster up the enthusiasm that I have for LOST.  It’s just an all-around interesting show.  And I have a feeling that most of my friends that are just as avid fans as I am feel very similarly.

So Tuesday was the season premiere of the final season.  LOST fans all over the country (or world, even?) spread their excitement and shared it with other fans via social media, particularly Twitter.  LOST was a trending topic on Tuesday, meaning it was one of the most talked about items on the social media site.  And, as almost anything, it got some haters as well.  People calling it madness, saying they would be glad it was over (presumably because they were sick of hearing about it), saying they’d never watched it and never planned on it, etc., etc.  See… to me, that’s kind of how I feel about the Colts.  Not that I dislike the team, not that I want them to lose, but honestly – yeah, I’m pretty sick of hearing about them.  During a Colts game, I cannot log on to any social media site and not see 90% of the content be about the team.  And the rest of the time, well even on an off day, I see at least one tweet or status update about them.  And I never really complain much about it (up til now, if you see it that way).  I get it – people are really into something.  And that’s ok.

Here’s my thing.  Pretty much all the people I saw complaining about all of the talk about LOST – are huge Colts fans that talk about the Colts quite a bit.  Isn’t this kind of hypocritical?  I mean, you can be a fan of something, but if I am, you make fun of it?  I saw tweets today wondering how people could live here and not be Colts fans.  Is that really that hard of a question to answer?  People like different things.  Is it not understandable that I really don’t care too much about football?  And it’s fine if you do, if you love the Colts.  But then what’s so bad about me loving LOST?  Why do you have to complain if it’s a trending topic for one day?  Is that really too much to deal with?  I see your tweets about the Colts all the time, and I don’t really complain much or let it get to me.  You’re entitled to be a fan of whatever you want.  I won’t try to stop you.

And you might say “well, it’s different”.  But here’s why I think it’s not.  Aren’t LOST and Colts games both there for entertainment?  Both consist of things happening… yeah, LOST is scripted, but it’s a story, even it’s planned out ahead of time, just the way the game is basically a story of what happened, only in real-time.  Both contribute to the economy by keeping people employed.  To me – it’s not that different.  Here are some of the arguments I’ve gotten otherwise:

- Colts football promotes hometown pride.

Does it really?  What do you define as hometown pride?  To me, it’s pride in where you came from, because you care about your roots and admire the place you came from.  What do the Colts really have to do with Indianapolis other than the fact that the name of the city is on their shirts?  The team originated in Baltimore, and I’m pretty sure that even in my limited knowledge of them, it’s safe to say that a lot of the players are not from here.  Is that really hometown pride?

- Playing sports promotes self-esteem and learning life lessons, but acting doesn’t.

I would beg to differ on this one.  Yes, Hollywood has its problems, but I’m pretty sure that people that get into acting make quite an impact on their self-esteem and learn plenty of life lessons as well, just like a lot of other careers.

- LOST started out with a good premise, but turned into just a way to make money.

I had a long conversation about this one.  First of all – I get it.  What happened with LOST was that no end date was set, so while the writers knew there was an end to the story… they didn’t know when they were supposed to end it, so plenty of things got thrown in there that probably really weren’t necessary, and yeah – caused some people to stop watching.  Heh – this is where I relate bandwagon LOST fans to bandwagon Colts fans.  I’ve been watching LOST for a while, and I like the story.  To me – it’s a good idea, and even though they might have gotten out of hand in the middle (when there was no end in sight), I will still watch until the end, because I am a true fan of the show and believe it will all play out well.  Isn’t this kind of like bandwagon Colts fans?  You know, those out there that really only care when the team is winning all the time?  If the Colts had started losing a lot over the last few seasons, I’m pretty sure they would’ve lost a lot of their audience as well.

Another point I would add to this one is that in both situations, there are people that are only out to make as much money as possible.  And there are also people that are out to put out the most quality product that they can, whether that be an episode that fans enjoyed or a game that was won.

I’ve made a lot of points here just to prove my parallel, but my main point is this: people have different interests, and different things they are a fan of.  A lot of them are just meaningless entertainment and don’t matter in the long run.  If you are a fan of one of these things, that’s great.  But don’t go on and on about how great “your” thing is and then bash what other people like just because they get excited about it for a day.  They let you have your fun – return the favor and let them have theirs.

Go Colts and yay LOST!