We Sherlockians.

Sometimes, when the Baker Street Babes haven't offered any new podcasts lately, I actually listen to other podcasts, as much as I hate to admit it. Sometimes even non-Sherlock-related podcasts.

This week's divergence from the sacred Sherlock found me listening to Penn Gillette's thoughts on sports fans on Penn's Sunday School, a fun little diatribe on the "we did it" school of talk that often comes up during the Olympics or local sports discussions. "We won the gold at swimming!" "We're going to the play-offs!" There's a tribalism when it comes to sports fandom where, right or wrong, even the most no-talent fan can feel like a part of a team of winners.

As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I've always felt and noticed a certain pride at our own tribe of fans -- despite the few extremely kooky sorts, we generally consider our fellow Sherlockians to be a higher quality breed of human. A little brighter, a little more knowledgeable, a little more accomplished. We're proud of our tribe, yes, but you never hear, "We beat Moriarty again!" or "We need to get a writer that can get Holmes on the New York Times bestseller list!"

Is it because our hero was so completely the individual, despite his friendship with Watson? Is it because we're a more reserved breed? Or is it because there just aren't enough of us that we could ever get used to being in a large enough group to ever consider ourselves a "we" hobby? (A lynch mob of Sherlockians is a hard, hard thing to imagine.)

Whatever the reason, we'll probably save our "we"s for the use of the royal "we" for occasions when we are not amused. (I miss Queen Victoria showing up at Sherlockian events . . .  seriously. But that's a topic for another time.)