While I’m neither a thirteen-year-old girl, nor do I have one in my life, I’m smart enough to update or contemporize my analogies. For me villains are Iago, Richard III, Thane of Cawdor and Delores, the witch that lured Hentzel and Gretel. I do get that Wicked is filled with witches both good and bad and that the bad ones are villains. It with all of this in mind that I wanted to consider what constitutes villainy in sports. Are all rivals villains? Is it necessary to have bad guys to make stories more entertaining? Fans of professional wrestling will answer in the affirmative.

Listening to Bears fans this week, I hadn’t realized how the lines of villains/rivals and adversaries had blurred. Heading into Sunday’s game against Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers I found out how some fans really hate Rodgers and would like to see him hurt, maybe more than merely being beat. Rodgers record against the Bears while with the Packers is legendary, but as far as I know he never did anything dirty or illegal in any of those games and unlike Packers of the past, nothing dirty. He merely beat the spit out of them and told Chicago, he owned us.

Fans impose their feelings and emotions on their teams and the guys playing for them. We tend to forget the players have more in common with one another than us. That’s why perceived insults and injuries are rarely felt by the players. They are only bothered by crap on the field and even that can be forgotten. Editor’s note: Dennis Rodman was one of Detroit’s Bad Boys, a group that stretched the boundaries of the game, but when Jordan and Pippen welcomed him, almost all was forgotten. Others from those Pistons were never seen as anything but the villains they were.

Professional sports are replete with examples of actual villainy. Fans and the media often overlook certain actors when they don their colors. Sometimes fans confuse dominance with nefariousness. It’s easy to confuse the two when one is looking for answers as to why someone continues to defeat you.

As is the case with professional wrestling, some athletes embrace the notion of being the heel as they thrive on being booed and reviled. Some even cultivate the role doing stupid things to capitalize on the role. For years, some ML pitchers threw high and tight to intimidate and control the zone, but some seemed to have little regard for batters’ safety. In recent years, the NHL has tried to eliminate unnecessary fighting and goons. In a bygone era, defensive backs and linebackers who had a penchant for knocking the spit out of receivers were labeled headhunters and praised for their aggressive behavior. Eventually, the NFL found out the givers often got as good as they gave.

None of this is to suggest I care for Rodgers or his schtick, but I’m also not stupid enough to think no matter how badly they destroy him, and the Steelers is going to prevent his entry in Canton or his past with Green Bay will be erased. Rather, I suggest fans concentrate on this Bears team, who really has no history with GB Rodgers, and worry about beating Love, McCarthy, and Goff. The Bears used to own the NFC Central and controlling the NFC North should be their focus.

It’s great that fans are passionate even as it crosses lines of civility, but we have to temper are rage because it really isn’t life or death. I will be posting more about fans crossing lines in the near future.

Go Bears!