Maybe you don’t know much about sports but just swiped right on someone wearing an NBA jersey. Maybe your roommate has been talking about their fantasy football team nonstop for the past 14 weeks. Hell, maybe you just want to know what’s going on when there’s a hockey game on (I actually can’t really help with this one. Just complain about the fights and you’ll be fine). Regardless of why you need it, I’m here to offer a comprehensive guide on becoming a casual sports fan, or ‘a casual’ for short.
Some may say that being a casual is a bad thing in sports fandom. I, for one, disagree and would argue that being a casual is an important step in becoming a ‘true’ sports fan. A casual fan has a certain beauty that when you become a so-called superfans. I have gone through many phases of my sports fandom, but I would consider myself no more than a casual for many sports. So, here is my guide to being a casual while passing as a die-hard sports fan.
Picking your team
The first step to being a sports fan is to pick a team. This is the easy part: either pick a team near where you’re from, one that you like the color scheme of or maybe one that rosters Taylor Swift’s new man. Your criteria for why you pick the team you like really doesn’t matter. The other great part of being a casual is that you don’t actually have to stick with the team you pick, so no pressure if you ditch them after they trade Kendall Jenner’s current boyfriend and follow him to a new city.
Looking to the stars
Once you pick a team, you’ll need to do a little research. First, know the stars of the team. This is the easiest thing to learn: just look up the team and the player on the front of everything is their star player. Even the worst team has a star. They may get the most tackles or points. The star player doesn’t necessarily have to be that great, they are just the player you need to be able to talk about. Try to decide if the prevailing narrative around that player is that they are playing well or underperforming. It is normally pretty rare that a player is just doing what everyone expected, especially if they are the star of their team. This player will be your key to holding a conversation about this sport. In football, most star players are fantasy-relevant, and in basketball, they may be in trade rumors. Basically, if you know a little about the star it can propel you far in the game of pretending to be literate in sports.
The youth movement
Another great point to discuss to keep the ruse alive is to know about the ‘young guys’ on the team. In professional sports this is easy — just look up your team’s most recent first-round pick and, when in doubt in a conversation, just bring up that name and ask your interlocutor their opinion on the player. Nine times out of ten that’ll start up a conversation that you can smile, nod and seem informed without having a thought behind your eyes to contribute. This can be a little more tricky with college sports, but if there is a freshman worth talking about on a college team, they are probably one of the stars. From the previous step you should already know about them.
Game time? Probably not!
Some easier ways to get in the know about your new ‘favorite’ sport is to find a content creator that covers the league as a whole. There are many creators on YouTube that make 10-12 minute videos discussing the state of teams and sports leagues. Your huge sports fan buddy watches these guys too. It’s how they form opinions on sports they don’t understand and teams they don’t watch. These are sometimes easier to digest than entire games for someone just getting into sports fandom.
If you are new to the sport you are becoming a casual of, sometimes creators that analyze plays or possessions can be helpful to improve your overall understanding of the game. However, understanding the sport you are discussing is not terribly important in the grand scheme of things. Use your knowledge of star players and some sports buzzwords, throw in a stat that may or may not be true and you are good to go.
Your time to step up to bat
Picture this: It’s boys night. You walk into your friend’s dorm and they have the game turned on. You may want to try one of these classic sports lines: “Oh lord, *insert star player’s name* just made that man touch earth!” Or: “That was an absolute frickin swamp donkey from *baseball player who just hit a home run*.” If someone clearly just did something remarkably sporty you could try: “Yeah, that’s gonna be on SportsCenter top 10 tomorrow.”
Seal the and-one deal
There are other optional tips that may make your life easier in a sports conversation, but they are certainly not necessary. Try to pick up the names of a few coaches. This will come with time, as the same great coaches get mentioned nonstop in pretty much all sports coverage. You don’t have to know the coaches by name — just recognize the names and you’ll get by. You can also always go with the classic “What is that one coach’s name?” and the person you’re talking to will get you through. The more advanced you get with the casual fan tactics the more you’ll know.
The Final Buzzer
Even if you’re just becoming casual so you don’t feel lost when talking to your friend who is a little too big of a LeBron fan, you may very well start enjoying the sports you follow for yourself. You may start watching the games or having your own piping hot takes about who the GOAT is. You may not, and that’s perfectly alright too. That is the beauty of being a casual — it’s low stakes, high reward. You can talk to the dude standing at the bar about the game, but you don’t have to own a jersey. Come Superbowl Sunday, whoever is throwing the party probably has an extra jersey anyway, so just ask to borrow it. They’ll be happy to share. So remember, pick your team, know your stars, care about the young guys and flaunt your stuff. You are now ready to show those sporty people in your life just how much you care about sports (or at least you won’t feel so lost watching the game).
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