We begin with a definition of terms. A sports fan, simply put, is someone who loves a game. If it's a team sport, the fan's allegiance is to the team that plays the sport the fan loves. Players can bring glory to that sport and pride to the team that plays it, and if they are fortunate enough to accomplish either of those things, they become heroes to the fans who watch them play.

Sports web sites are legion, and the fan's sources of information have never been greater. But here, at SportsFanMagazine.com, you find another story: the debates, dramas, agonies, and raptures experienced by the fans themselves.

Fans still debate a quarterback's ability to bring a team back late in the game, the makings of a devastating power-play, the mechanics of a hit and run, or the evolution of the lay-up - from sky-hook to jam - but these days they are also just as likely to second-guess a general manager's use of a team's over-all payroll, the wisdom of placing trust in free-agents as opposed to draft picks, and other decisions traditionally left to ownership and management. Fans can sit in the stands and do the numbers -- add up the receipts from ticket sales, media fees, and ad revenue -- making informed speculations regarding ownership's claims of poverty, players' assertions that their worth is limitless, and the effects that agents and signing bonuses have on ticket prices, while viewing the results on the rink, court, or field, as well as their pocket books.

When I first started watching professional sports in the 1950's, everyone second-guessed the coach. Now everyone second-guesses the general manager. We used to blame players for losing, and praise them for winning. Now we blame or cheer the owners. Now, fans young and old participate in fantasy leagues where they get to be owner and general manager, allowing them to play at the process of running a team, but also bypassing, along the way, the real games that were their interest in the first place.

Meanwhile, getting into the "real" games is getting beyond the reach of many fans. Even those who can afford it are wondering if it's worth  the time and effort. Ticket and parking costs have escalated so wildly in a single generation that everything related to being a fan has also changed. Corporations buy up the best seats while die-hards clog the nosebleed sections. Fans who used to go to many games a year, or took in a game on a whim, now have to plan far in advance, know someone who has tickets, take in a discount night when the opposition is unpopular, or simply stand outside and say, "Need two!" Attending major league sporting events is so costly, the games themselves have taken on an undue importance. Fans simply can't afford to cheer for a loser. As a consequence, fans' loyalties have begun to fluctuate according to whatever team is "doing it right" this year.

And then there's television. The amount of money four people spend going to an average major league game these days will pay for a satellite dish and a season's package for hundreds of games that fans can watch at home. And why not? The theatrical spectacle once directed to the fans in the seats has shifted to the fans sitting on their butts in front of the tube, leading to a popular misconception that TV is better than being there.

But broadcasters want you to believe it is. The sports media, once charged with "covering" the games, now pay for the right to "bring" you the games. The difference is that now they have a vested interest in believing their own hype. It's television that supplies the cash that fuels the high salaries; it's television that dictates changes in the rules to compensate for temporary trends that might affect ratings. The various sports media have become de facto publicity agencies to promote and protect the interests of franchises, advertisers, and their own corporations.

Fans are now subject to the whims and desires of what we at SFM have dubbed the Unholy Trinity of players' unions, owners, and media. This marketing combine is so sophisticated, they've even figured out how to get advertisements into the body of news stories, both print and broadcast, via the use of corporate names on the buildings where the games are played. But there's a fourth and all-important wheel missing from the buggy: the customers.

Casual observers are baffled that fans put up with so much. They chastise us for our loyalty, and suggest that the surest form of protest would be to stay away. Not being fans, they don't understand that doing without is not an option. Besides, fans have learned the hard way that staying away means losing their team, and hence their sport, to the next media-friendly city that is on an upswing.

SportsFanMagazine.com takes no prisoners in our advocacy of what we feel the rights of fans should be. Fans who attend games these days are treated as extras on somebody else's TV show, even though they pay dearly to get in the door. They are ignored when it comes time to alter the rules, raise salaries, license gear, and decide if and when a team should leave town. Lost in all this is the very human element of how much sporting events have meant to generations of families, friends, and neighbors. SportsFanMagazine.com has restored some of the art and dignity that the fan experience has lost.

The column originally appeared in Issue 1 of SportsFan Magazine.