Fair Weather Fan

I must've read at least a bazillion sports novels, or sportlerroman, as references for my thesis. Some were incredible! Some were not. Most of the books I read were contemporary pieces. Some were written in dark ages of the early 1950's. All in all, I discovered that there were distinct voices, ways that authors approached the aspect of sport in their stories. I found that an author's perspective on sport is revealed in how their character actually connects with athletics.

One style of writing sportlerroman is what I have termed the voice of The Fair Weather Fan. A true fair weather fan likes sports all right. However, should inclement weather arise rather than risking getting wet, they are more than happy to give their tickets away. Fair weather fans tend to maintain a sort of 'take-it-or-leave-it' attitude. There is a distance between them and a deep, passionate connection with the game. The same attitude is prevalent when reading novel  written in the Fair Weather Fan approach to the story. (Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of very popular and quite successful novels written in this slant. It is just harder to plausibly pull it off.)

Many times these writers gloss over aspects of athletics in the story. They tend to refer to athletes as merely 'jocks' rather than developing the athletic aspect of their character. I wonder if, perhaps, these authors have not had the knee-scraping, bone-crushing, stinky-sock-smelling, crowded-locker-room innate connection with sport themselves. Or, if they felt that developing the aspect of an authentic sports experience might detract from their original story's intent.

One very popular book that is written in the Fair Weather Fan voice is Nancy Werlin's Impossible.There is no doubt that Werlin knows how to weave an intricately woven, fascinating plot. Oh, my goodness.

In Impossible, the protagonist is in track. She jumps hurdles. Though we don't actually see her sprint down the asphalt, we believe this author when she tells us because Werlin's writing is just that good. We don't agonise over big team meets or whether she will place in the top ten hurdlers. Werlin glosses over the aspects that are intrinsic to a passionate, committed athlete. The protagonist has been cast as an athlete because she needs needs to be strong and focused, demonstrating her competitive resilience during the dramatic climax of the story. Though she's not at the track at this pivotal plot point, it is game time! She has to deliver. All or nothing. Do or die.

Though distant from the trials of the track, Nancy Werlin pulls off the Fair Weather Fan slant successfully. She uses sport as a complimentary literary element, a sort of invisible characterizational thread holding protagonist together...something innate, or maybe dormant, within her. Werlin's athletic protagonist taps into her connection to sport as a strength just when the story line needs her to.

I maintain that the reason the Fair Weather Fan slant works in this case is because the reader is solidly in the hands of a skilled writer. Not so in all cases.