Pre-Game Fan Acts

Let’s face it”¦match days are amazing, especially if your favourite teams are playing or you have bets at stake (which is a different scenario). The weekend or mid-week games come and the only thing on your mind (when they come) is how much fun you’re looking to get out of the game(s). So you get home and do a number of things to prepare for the game”¦just to get your mind ready for the fun you want to have or to provide a bit of luck for the results you’re looking for. The drinks? Wearing your team jersey? Perhaps you sing some team songs with fellow fans? If you do anything similar to what I just mentioned, then we’re talking about Pre-Game Fan Acts.I call them Fan Acts because”¦well”¦they are acts done by fans (like you and me). Some may be ridiculous (most are) while some are done behind good rationales. Either way, whatever ensures your fun right? Thought so. By the way, I love pre-game fan acts. For one, you don’t realize they are pre-game fan acts until you think about why you’re doing them. Why save a special drink for the game? Why put your team jersey on for that game alone? Why invite friends over only when that game is on? Why do any of that? Well, they always help us to enjoy the game (if we’re getting the result we want)”¦and if we’re not getting the result we want, well”¦these acts help us get through the disappointment. So I guess they’re pretty valuable.But I’d like to understand why we have these acts as fans. Mind you, there is no research involved here. I’m just trying to give a rationale for a lot of these acts and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thought about this topic in this light. There are some acts that I like and some others I think people could do without. In some circles, these acts would be called Rituals (I don’t like that word”¦makes this feel like a scene from that Chucky movie or any classic Nollywood home video) probably because people do these acts in a bid to give some luck to their team or to have good results for their bets. The aim of these acts is perhaps the reason for them being called rituals…but I want to focus on other possible rationales.For instance, if I’m preparing to watch a game and I decide to clean my house, invite friends, get everything I’ll need during the game (like snacks and power supply), wear my favourite team jersey, and maybe even sing a few songs”¦I’m not really looking to influence the result. Rather, I just want to enjoy the game and to do that, I need the best possible environment. Looking down at specifics, having snacks helps for those nerve-wrecking moments while power supply is too important (I don’t really need to explain that). I’m not like most guys who would just wear my team’s jersey or apparel just for fashion. For me, that is a special attire and match days are special (don’t judge me). As for the songs, I don’t usually sing but if there’s a time where my horrible singing voice is excused, it’s on match days (check it, most fans are horrible singers but we don’t mind”¦because”¦its match day).There are other stuff I can add here but if I get too much into it, this article will get weird. However, I want to start that conversation. There are many stuff we fans do on every match day, just before the games start. Either it makes us feel good, or it’s for good luck on your bets or your favorite team, or it helps you to just enjoy the game. On a final note, if it’s going to cause you some pain (maybe you choose not to use the toilet until the games are over), you might want to re-check your life goals”¦because they don’t give awards for such.Later.