"When we root-root-root for the home team, we're rooting for our home as much as the team"
About this Quote
Sports fandom, in Roeper's framing, is less about the scoreboard than about a kind of low-stakes citizenship. The sing-song "root-root-root" borrows the cadence of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", smuggling in nostalgia as an argument: this isn't just cheering, it's ritual. By repeating the verb, he mimics the chant itself, suggesting that what feels spontaneous is actually practiced, inherited, and communal. The effect is to elevate the supposedly trivial act of fandom into something closer to belonging.
The key move is the quiet substitution of "home" for "hometown". "Home" is warmer, more intimate, and less geographic; it can mean a neighborhood, a family history, even a version of yourself that exists only when you're in the stands or on the couch with the same people every season. Roeper implies that the team functions as a public shorthand for private identity. You can move away, change jobs, drift from friends, but the logo and the colors let you re-enter a story that still recognizes you.
As a critic, Roeper is attuned to how mass culture becomes a mirror. He's pointing at the way sports compresses civic pride, nostalgia, and tribal comfort into a consumable product - tickets, merch, broadcasts - while still delivering something real: a shared language for "us". The subtext isn't naive boosterism; it's an explanation of why fans endure bad seasons and heartbreak. They're not just loyal to players. They're protecting a feeling of place.
The key move is the quiet substitution of "home" for "hometown". "Home" is warmer, more intimate, and less geographic; it can mean a neighborhood, a family history, even a version of yourself that exists only when you're in the stands or on the couch with the same people every season. Roeper implies that the team functions as a public shorthand for private identity. You can move away, change jobs, drift from friends, but the logo and the colors let you re-enter a story that still recognizes you.
As a critic, Roeper is attuned to how mass culture becomes a mirror. He's pointing at the way sports compresses civic pride, nostalgia, and tribal comfort into a consumable product - tickets, merch, broadcasts - while still delivering something real: a shared language for "us". The subtext isn't naive boosterism; it's an explanation of why fans endure bad seasons and heartbreak. They're not just loyal to players. They're protecting a feeling of place.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
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