“Hail, hail to the good times
‘Cause rock has got the right of way
We ain’t no legend, ain’t no cause
We’re just livin’ for today”
“For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” - AC/DC

Australian rockers AC/DC had already established themselves firmly in the rock community by 1981, when they released their eighth studio album, with “For Those About to Rock” as the title and lead track on the album. While it was the title track on the album, it was not the first single, though it was the most successful single on the record, reaching No. 4 on the rock charts but never reaching crossover success onto the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached the top spot in the United States for three weeks despite the lack of individual single success.

A big reason for that success was the title track, a call out to AC/DC’s fans that became either the opener or closer to nearly every live show after the record was released. The song’s climax chorus that includes “cannon fire” has always been mixed with a heavy dose of pyrotechnics, so the song has frequently been staged as the opener or closer for that reason as well, as the setup and cleanup for the pyrotechnic charges during the song are significant.

More than anything, the song has endured because it was a moment of a band not just thanking the fans during a break at a live show or doing an interview on television and thanking their supportive fanbase, it was a group writing an entire song dedicated to thanking fans for their support.

Fandom is a very interesting thing.

We find a music group, an artist, an author, or, most well-understood, a sports team to dedicate our allegiance to through the good times and the bad. We often chastise those fans who back away from cheering on their favorite squad when the team is in the midst of a losing season as “fair-weather fans.” We dig into those who seem to only follow the “big money” or successful organizations as “bandwagon fans.”

For decades growing up, I experienced what many pre-Internet sports fans experienced.

I fell in love with the Atlanta Braves as a youth. For Christmas this past year, I received the Hank Aaron book from the Wolsey Elementary School library that I read numerous times, developing my fandom. I’m certain if the checkout slip would have been included from the mid-1980s on the book when my family got the book before Wolsey schools disposed of it, you would have seen my name or initials all over the checkout card.

Except in that era, there was no internet with detailed reporting of every game. There was no MLB.tv to watch every single game of a favorite team if you lived outside the broadcast area. I was still a baseball fan, so I listened to a lot of Herb Carneal Minnesota Twins broadcasts as I drove a tractor through the field, but seldom did I get to cheer on my own team.

…and I really wouldn’t have had much to cheer about as I became a Braves fan.

The Braves in that era were bad. Not just bad, but from 1985-1990, the Braves averaged 96 losses per season and finished last or second-to-last in their division every single season. I was lucky enough that TBS existed and I could follow my favorite team frequently when I was somewhere that had cable (which we didn’t at that time).

Then, the internet age came. In the late-1990s, chat rooms and message boards became significant connection points for fans to interact. As a Braves fan, I relished in the opportunity to talk about the game with fans from throughout the country, and I made many lifelong friends in those chat rooms and message boards.

We all had one thing in common - our love for the Braves.

I also know that there were mixed feelings often among message board members when a player for a division rival went down with injury. You don’t want to be seen as the guy who is cheering for another player to get injured, but you also can see how that would improve the chances of your own team for success.

Huron athletics (and the drama programs and music programs and most things at the school) enjoy a very strong fandom in the community. That was made tremendously evident this week when a legislator in Pierre decided to attempt to make a point to the Huron School District through a bill that was based on one report and an article on an issue-focused non-journalistic website.

Rather than having a conversation with Huron school officials or even taking the 30 seconds required to look up policies in the district’s widely-available handbook, he dropped a bill that intended to cut off all funding from the school.

The response was immediate and, frankly, heart-warming. The initial thought that this could be targeted at the diversity in the Huron system led to many people changing social media profile pictures to the Huron School District logo, to calling and emailing legislators, and to many former Huronites encouraging their former home for the upstanding work the school district does on a daily basis.

The significant push was not “for Huron,” though, it was frequently against the person who would have the audacity to attempt to challenge Huron.

Cheering against someone is significantly more emotionally-engaging than cheering for someone. That’s a psychological fact. We engage more “satisfying” areas of our brains when we get the release of unleashing contempt or frustration than the brain chemicals we experience from having something we love succeed.

That has been seen since, as the “article” has now been shared as fact rather than the poorly-sourced hit piece that it was, and now social media has been filled with those who are venting their dirty laundry with the same district they were bashing someone else in support of less than 24 hours previous.

As we sit down to watch the Super Bowl this weekend, think about how you’re cheering. If you’re supporting the Chiefs, do you cheer more for a sack by the defense or that it led to an injury to Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts? Similar question for Eagles supporters in the same scenario if Patrick Mahomes is injured?

My weekly Bible study reviewed Luke 6:32-36 this week and it fit something I was working up for a sermon this weekend already.

Verse 32 spells it out pretty clearly, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” (NIV) It’s easy to fall into the trap of supporting our own and cheering against those who don’t look, sound, think, or believe as we do, but that’s exactly what we are called to do in this human condition - love and support all.

Enjoy the game!