I know exaclty what you need.

Is it just me or does anyone else see the irony in fans supplying professional athletes with advice on how to train, play, or rehab from injuries? Let me first state that there are a few coaches out there who never played the sport that they coach. Mike Leach being a great example of one who has achieved a modicum of success. Additionally many athletic trainers or rehab specialists could probably offer some good advice but most professional athletes are surrounded with the best medical advice around. Having said that I somehow doubt that anything John Q. Public has to offer in the way of game strategy to his favorite player will make a difference in the next game.

I liken this to the mentality that surrounds Mormon Basketball leagues. Each congregation in a geographical area puts together a team of men from 18 to 98 to compete in a short season and tournament. For the most part there is a lot of sportsmanship and goodwill and not a lot of good basketball. It seems that every team however has one or two players who feel the eyes of the NBA scouts on them and who act like the NBA championship is on the line. Their play is sometimes skilled but usually more like they just had a hip replaced and their eyeglasses prescription needs adjusting (both are fairly likely).

People who love sports passionately will often act in utterly irrational ways because they've somehow tied their sense of identity and self esteem to their prowess on the court or their attachment to a team or player. Dodgers fans hospitalizing a Giants fan. Detroit Pistons fans assaulting Indiana Pacers players and the Pacer players reciprocating. Eagles fans raining snowballs down on the Jolly Old Elf himself. Fifty year old ecclesiastical leaders duking it out over contested shots on the basketball court. What in the world is wrong with people?

Emotion. I think that during our participation in sports as children and on up through adulthood our experiences are often closely tied to profound emotion. We played catch with dad in the backyard. We experienced "the Catch" on our living room floors with the family gathered around the TV. We "caught the fever" of whatever sports franchise was currently using that slogan. Those emotions bind us to our teams and sports and some people can't handle any form of attack on the institutions that they love and that love them in return. It boils down to "just a game" but it takes on a whole new meaning when that game involves a game that you or I have a vested interest in. 

Say it ain't so, Joe!!

I recently read a Facebook post by one of my high school buddies who is an avid member of Red Sox Nation.

"I feel like a part of me has died today! 7 Players from the 2013 World Champion Red Sox, were traded this week, 5 of them today. It doesn't feel right. I think that I will be watching a bunch of Red Sox in the World Series in October, except they will be playing for other teams. — feeling pained."

As social media has opened up more direct communication between fans and players, it seems that more traditional fans are having a harder time dealing with the comodification of their favorite athletes. As youth, they idolized their favorite players with full sized posters on bedroom walls and binders full of trading cards. Now fans can get "close"to their idols through twitter, Facebook and individual blogs like Kurt Schilling's 38pitches.wordpress.com. Para-social interaction is defined as one sided social relationships from fans directed towards celebrities. These relationships tend to create stronger bonds between the fans and the players they cheer for. 

That attachment comes with some challenges however. For a more in depth look at the rules for becoming a "true" fan check here. Players who go from team to team create fans who are either tied to the player and the fan ends up with a closet full of jerseys or the fan is tied to their team which constitutes a rotating cast of characters. Just like the mythological boy who reached out to Shoeless Joe Jackson fans want to feel a connection with their idols. But when the idol's value has reached its peak the fan finds himself torn between his love of the player whom he admires and the logo on his hat. 

Just ask Harvey Langi's fans.