Every year, right around this time is when I get branded as a bad sport.
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![Josh Dugan and Nene McDonald after the loss to the Bulldogs on Sunday night, which ended the Dragons chances to make the finals. Picture: AAP Josh Dugan and Nene McDonald after the loss to the Bulldogs on Sunday night, which ended the Dragons chances to make the finals. Picture: AAP](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/4FavSveeQdYEHssZq5umRQ/0c1cbd38-3703-4022-9da8-e6b5aeeab39f.jpg/r0_0_5004_3312_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
See, I’m a Dragons fan. Have been since 1977, when I was rewarded with a premiership in my first year as a fan.
But the thing is, I’m a Dragons fan, not a footy fan. I’ll watch the Dragons game each weekend, even looking to move other events around so I don’t miss it.
If I have to record the game and watch it later, I put in a social media ban so I don’t find out the result beforehand. Because watching a game when you already know the final score simply isn't any fun.
Those other games that are played each weekend? I don’t have any need to watch them, because my team’s not playing.
Unfortunately – though not surprisingly – the Dragons lost a must-win game on Sunday. So now there will be no finals footy for my team. No footy at all until the Charity Shield next year.
So I won't be watching the finals – which is what gets me labelled a bad sport.
It’s as though I'm having a big dummy spit, taking my ball and going home because my team’s not in the finals.
But that’s not the case. I have nothing against the teams in the finals (except the Storm. My hatred for them burns white-hot). I bear them no grudges (yes, except for the Storm).
I just don’t want to watch them. Because I don’t care.
Look at it this way. My daughter plays netball each Saturday. I go and watch her games, and even get tense when the score is close.
But once her game is over, we go home. I don’t stay at the courts to watch the other matches.
Why? Because I don’t have any emotional investment in those games.
It’s the same with the Dragons. Footy is an emotional game for me. When the Dragons go my interest in the rest of the season goes too.