The fence between sports fans and old age

When the prospect of rain dripping down your neck even when you're in the grandstand is no longer “character-building”; when the lure of public transport, a few refreshments and “sportsground snacks” isn’t appealing as it once was.

Those were the days when hot chips qualified as the vegetable component in your food pyramid. Today we know they are the dietary equivalent of Satan’s hot breath on your neck, hardening your arteries with every exhalation.

For the less tech-savvy among us, there's always that eternal, but unspoken fear, of turnstile humiliation.

That's when after you've allowed yourself a tiny smug smile at successfully negotiating a ticketing website; and having sent money into cyberspace and received a squiggly square code. But then you’ve turned up at the gates of that hallowed sportsground and the swinging arm has remained steadfastly unmoved despite your best attempts at doing the same thing over and over.

Yes, there’s a turnstile attendant there to smooth your path but it's the utter embarrassment of being “that” person. The person who holds up the expectant queue.

Then there’s the most concerning one. This is one that sneaks up on you like, well, old age maybe (?).

It’s a generalisation but it's safe to say many sports fans are opinionated. 

For whatever reason it may be you support your team – regardless of the nay-sayers. You hear them but you have a riposte – and sometimes one even factually based – for every situation.

But as a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, one-eyed sports fans it seems have the ability to morph into more fair-minded rational incarnations of their previous selves.

Imagine a once rabid Australian cricket fan approaching the start of summer (ie: the first Test of the cricket season) with the following quote: “I’m looking forward to watching Kohli spend some time at the crease.”

What? Surely you want to see his stumps splattered before he starts swatting Aussie bowlers to all parts of the outer?

No, our now fair-minded (ageing) cricket-lover is allegedly keen to enjoy the technical superiority of the Indian captain.

Right, that confirms it: Old age is about losing your inherent bias; hedging your bets and just chilling.

Or is that just Aussie cricket fans this summer?

Janine Graham is an ACM journalist.