I despise bandwagon fans.

[ChiefScott]

You know these assholes. The ones that showed up Monday morning following the Super Bowl wearing Broncos ballcaps and jerseys.
These fuckers don't have the time nor the inclination to follow a team, but once one makes the playoffs they become Joe Yankee/Met/Red Sox/Indian!

I proudly wear Philly Eagles paraphenalia. I have done it since I was a kid. Likewise I support the Phils and Flyers.

And these fuckers have the nerve to tell me my team sucks!

I know the Eagles blow! But they're still my fuckin' team! Since I support them during their bad seasons, I believe, I've earned the right to rejoice when they make the post season.

If anyone deserves a swift kick in the 'nads, it these assholes.

[Revtim]

If a team is losing, then what are you a fan of? Their proximity to where you live? Obviously not of their playing ability.

If you were to start sucking at your job, do you expect your boss to give you raises, promotions, etc? Just because your cubicle is in the same city he lives in?

This is why I'm not a sports fan, bandwagon-type or otherwise. But the bandwagon-type fans at least are rewarding good performance.

[Mullinator]

Amen ChiefScott. As a lifelong Cubs fan I have no love for people who are now Cheeseheads, Spurs fans, Cowboy backers, etc. It takes a real fan to stick with a loser (that may be the worst rallying cry of all time.)

------------------
I got a lot of energy ready to be wasted on somebody - Mookie Wilson

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

I agree with every word you said, ChiefScott. I've been a fan of the Colts and the 49ers since the days Johnny Unitas and John Brodie were their respective quarterbacks.
Revtime, loyalty is a virtue to a certain extent. I've stayed a fan of the Colts because I'm still grateful for the thrill of watching them win Super Bowl IV. Also, I live only 1 1/2 hours drive from Indianapolis, so geographic proximity does play some minor factor.
I think I liked the 49ers because of their cool uniforms. Also, in the 1980s, as they were starting to make it big, my best friend and I became real rooters because we liked Joe Montana. After he and Dwight Clark hooked up for The Catch that beat fuckin' Dallas, I was a fan for life -- no hope of shaking that loyalty.
To some degree it is easier to root for a winner, but backing a loser gives you a special thrill, especially when your team knocks off a good team. I can still remember my best friend and I dancing around when a 4-12 Colts team upset Washington, and I remember being a drunken madman -- yelling at the top of my lungs and pounding the floor -- when a young Indiana University team upset high-and-might, No. 1-ranked, coached by Dean Smith North Carolina in the 1984 NCAA college basketball tournament. So many people in Indiana was so giddy after that win, it was like the state was stoned.
I don't mind rooting for a loser, I guess; I even cheer for IU in football. The Hoosiers beat Northwestern 34-17 today as Levron Williams ran for a career-high 241 yards, and I was in Bloomington watching it.
Go Hoosiers!

[timmar68]

Say, Mullinator, you'll find that "cheeseheads" aren't ones who are fans only when the team does well. They have stuck with the Packers through thick and thin, through all those years when they didn't do so well. They are among the most loyal fans in the league. Oh, yeah, and they laugh a lot when they beat the Vikings. ;)

------------------
MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!

[Falcon]

Amen, Chief. I'm a Redskins fan. I was a fan when they went 14-2 and won the Super Bowl, and I was a fan last year when they lost their first 7 games.... (Hell, if they could have found a way to lose the bye week, they would have.)

And man, I remember when the NFC east was the toughest conference in football... *sigh*

Being a fan is not only being there when the team is winnning. Wish I could make more people in DC realize that....

[Drain Bead]

Bills fan here. Have been all my life. The only bandwagoning I've ever done is because I followed Randy Moss from Marshall (practically my entire family went to school there) to the Vikings, so now I like the Vikings, too. But I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been raised a Herd fan.

Bandwagon fans blow. The worst ones are the Cowboys and Raiders fans, most of whom wear the gear because it looks cool and not because they like the team all that well. I hope, anyway.

[ChiefScott]

Falcon -- The Eagles suck so badly they actually found a way to lose in the bye week. IIRC, they were shut out, averaged .3 yards a carry, had two interceptions returned for touchdowns, and their offensive line got the shit beat out of them by the Moonies in the airport. What's sad is Jeffrey Lurie still thinks a new stadium will bring the fans back.

[Narile]

For the most part I don't follow sports, but I have a tendancy to root for Ohio teams. So yes, I am rooting for th Indians, and I hope they go all the way. I also root for the Browns, never mind they have trouble finding the playing field, much less the football. And now that Schott is no longer Reds owner, I'll start rooting for them...and I do call the Bungles that out of a sense of affection. :)

------------------
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry....unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<

---The dragon observes

[pldennison]

Ever since I was in junior high and high school (roughly 82-87), I have been an Indians fan. My mother and I would go to the Stadium 20 minutes before game time on weeknights and get lower box seats by third base, in a facility with seating for 70,000 people. I sat through stinker season after stinker season, loyally wearing my Indians cap.

Now, Jacobs Field is full of people who were nowhere to be seen during those seasons. It's impossible to get tickets, and if you do, you pay through the nose. I hate those people. Eventually, the honeymoon will be over, and I'm sure those folks will all disappear. They don't know from being a fan.

Not a sports fan, but:
GO VOLS, win or lose.

P.S. How 'bout them Lady Vols?
Now that's a team to be proud of!

[chief]

Chicago Bulls anyone? :)
now look what happened...

------------------
Chief's Domain - http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ravi

[Satan]

My motto on this subject:

"If you do not stick with your team in the bad times, you have no reason to celebrate the good times."

After many years of bad Giants teams, we won the Superbowl in 1986. I was lucky to miss out on the years of putrid teams due to my age, but my dad was not.

At the end of the game, they showed a shot in the stands. A Giants fan had a sign, "Dad, out dreams have come true."

It got me all teary-eyed and it did my Dad as well. Heck, I'm misting up right now thinking about it...

Or maybe it's because we are so LOUSY now!

Oh well... There's still the Yankees...

------------------
Yer pal,
Satan

[Satan]

One more thought:

Anyone who is wearing a Cowboys jersey, a Bulls hat and a Yankees wrist-bands should be hung by their bandwagoneering testicles!

[ChiefScott]

I kinda thought Satan'd be a New Jersey Devils and Duke fan...

What next... season tickets to the Anaheim Angels?

[Mullinator]

You are right MaryAnnQ. My mistake for lumping cheeseheads in there. That's a case of typing without fully thinking. How about we substitute Bulls "fans" for cheeseheads. That seems a little more along the bandwagon lines.

------------------
I got a lot of energy ready to be wasted on somebody - Mookie Wilson

[timmar68]

It's a deal! :)

------------------
MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!

[Satan]

pldennison:

Sure there are bandwagon Indians fans, but the main reason is the new stadium. Baltimore and Seattle are not winning a ton of games lately, but the new buildings attract marginal fans as much (if not more) than simple winning does.

[UncleBeer]

New Orleans Saints, 'nuf said.

------------------
"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind." - Humphrey Bogart

[PatrickM]

Satan: IMHO, Jacobs Field is 5 years old now so the newness and novelty has worn off. The Indians success (excepting the last two nights' playoff losses to Boston) has been the main reason for the continued big crowds. As soon as the Tribe starts losing the sellout crowds will stop coming just like the Toronto fans stopped selling out Skydome after the Blue Jays stopped winning.

I strongly disagree--"The Bandwagon" is a delightful film! Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan; and that great "Triplets" number! Who could take offense at that?

[Enright3]

Satan sez...Anyone who is wearing a Cowboys jersey, a Bulls hat and a Yankees wrist-bands should be hung by their bandwagoneering testicles!

Ahh yes, being a life long Cowboys fan is not always easy. Please don't make the assumption that all of the Cowboys jersey wearin' mo-fo's out there are bandwagoneering fools. I grew up in Oklahoma and TX and have always been a fan of the Cowboys, Rangers, Stars (but not the Mavericks - they suck, then again, I don't like basketball)

Oh, and Satan, one more thing... put some underwear on! You're going to catch cold!

Enright3

[Missy2U]

An idiot friend of my SO was over this weekend, on Sunday. He wanted to watch Green Bay on ESPN last night because he's "a huge fan".

This MORON had NO IDEA who Holmgren was, but he's a BIG FAN?

Yes, I made him leave. Grrrrrr.....

[Drain Bead]

*chuckle*

Green Bay fans generally hate me, probably because I always make fun of Brett Favre and his Vicodin addiction. Terrible, I know. But Favre is just such a mo-ron...what was up with that weepy press conference after their first game this season? "Waaaaah, we won."

And Satan? Need I remind you that your precious Giants have won another Super Bowl since 1986? At least you've HAD that pleasure...

[Mojo]

>>>I grew up in Oklahoma and TX and have always been a fan of the Cowboys, Rangers, Stars

You predicted their move from Minnesota?

[Satan]

Missy2U:

You are aware Holmgren is in Seattle now, right?

[Satan]

Enright3:

I have no problem with you. For you are not supporting the other two teams I mentioned there. Please note the conjunction "and" that was used in that statement...

I hope your team doesn't kill us too bad in front of a national television audience yet again next week! *sob* :(

[Satan]

Oh, but we KICKED YOUR RANGERS ASS!

Sorry... Needed to retain a shade of my dignity here...

[Rysdad]

Being a lifelong Vikings fan, I well understand heartbreak.

This year, though, I joined a fantasy football league. Ambivalence is seeing your defense sack Randall Cunningham three times.

[LongHrn99]

Lifelong Astros fan. Was an Oilers fan until that rat-bastard Adams had to move the team to Tennesee (granted it IS the most beautiful area in America). Always loved both, even when they lost (or should I say, even when the WON?). I hated all those people who were all over the Oilers until they blew the infamous lead. Who was wearing his Oilers shirt shortly thereafter? Me. Not anyone else I knew. Mock me all you want, but there was just something about both teams. Never pulled for the popular college teams when I was a kid, either. I knew people wearing Miami, FSU, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, etc hats all the time, but I could never get myself on the bandwagon.

------------------
"There are many sweeping generalizations that are always true" -Space Ghost

[Mr Thin Skin]

You people got it all wrong.

You're not supposed to root for a team, you're supposed to root against a team. It's way better that way. For me, if the Dolphins win, they got lucky. If they lose, the truth is out! I actually root against all Florida teams. I lived there long enough to dislike them all. Just think, the annual Florida/Florida State game is pure pleasure for me.

-----------------------------------------
"Yes, she was wrong once, but, you sir, are always wrong"


-My Mother-in-Law

[Missy2U]

Yes, Satan, I am. :)

[Polycarp]

I'd post that I agree with Chief, but I'm afraid he might think that I was jumping on the.... ;)

[Enright3]

Mojo sez...You predicted their move from Minnesota?

Uh... no, I didn't. Then again I don't think I ever said I was a NORTH STARS fan. The North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993. So, YES, I've ALWAYS been a STARS fan.

Hey! Guess What? I DIDN'T predict the Texas Rangers' move here from Washington (Senators) in 1972 either! I guess according to you, I'm a bandwagoner because I didn't pledge allegiance at the teams inception. Puh-leeze.

Enright3

[Enright3]

Oh, and by the way, I'm sure everybody knows that losing to the Yankees in 3 was part of our master plan.

Wait 'til next year damnit!!!

go sooners

Enright3

[manhattan]

Don’t worry about it. New Yorkers are used to seeing the Rangers lose.

Waiting for 2048...


------------------
Livin' on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine

[SoxFan59]

Amen ChiefScott. As a lifelong Cubs fan I have no love for people who are now Cheeseheads, Spurs fans, Cowboy backers, etc. It takes a real fan to stick with a loser (that may be the worst rallying cry of all time.)>>>> Mullinator

But what if you care about whether your team wins? I mean, as a "lifelong Cubs fan," son't you wish and hope that they put it together and the team wins the pennant, and the World Series?

Then is there some twisted logic in being a "real fan" and "sticking with a loser?" I mean, Phil points out the Indians are packing them in, game after game after game, but -- they are WINNING! The Cubs pack the fans in game after game after game, and have finished above .500 3 times since 1973, and a grand total of 12 times altogether in the last 60 years. What impetus do the owners of the Cubs have in putting a winning team on the field, when their "loyal" fans continue to pack the ballpark, and every 6 year old kid in the Chicago area has a Cubs cap on? "Loyalty?" If the businesses I work with supplied me with that kind of service, do I continue to frequent them?

As long as Cubs fans stay as "loyal" as they apparently are, there will never be a pennant on the north side of Chicago, because the bean counters at the Tribune are saying "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" At least in Cleveland, the ownership got sick of it and made the necessary changes. If only we could make such changes on the south side of Chicago.

------------------
SoxFan59
"Its fiction, but all the facts are true!"

[Frankie]

I'd like to thank the Peytote Cowboy for proving why I HATE the niners. You have really stuck with them through the tough years. There was that one year that they almost missed the playoffs in there!

Rat Shit Bastard...you are the reason I can never see anybody but the fucking niners or the shit ass broncos! Fuck off and die all of you. I want to watch my Lions baby!

[Sake Samurai]

Why should I be a loyal fan when the players aren't? Or the coachs? Or the sponsers?

We've totally lost the Greek ideal of sports competition. Maybe that's just as well, I sure as hell wouldn't watch a single NFL game if they played the greek way.

[ChiefScott]

Sake Sam --
We aren't asking you to be a loyal fan. Do as you wish. We are just supporting our assertion that if you show up to work the day after the World Series ends wearing the winning team's ball cap, bragging about how great that team is you should be prepared to have your coffee spit in, car scratched, ridicule heaped upon you and to suffer a ritualistic stoning in the parking lot on your smoke break.

[manhattan]

a ritualistic stoning in the parking lot on your smoke breakOT, I know, but remember when this was redundant? Ah, high school.

------------------
Livin' on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine

[dramatoig]

I know this is a little late, but I take serious offense to Satan's comment regarding Bulls hats. I was a Bulls fan back B.M.J. (i.e. I remember when Jawann Oldham was my favorite Bull--yeesh), and I was able to reap the reward during the M.J. years. Not to mention that, considering the current Bulls team, wearing my Bulls hat is not exactly jumping on the bandwagon of a popular team...

SoxFan--while I share your enthusiasm (why do I always think of DeNiro playing another famous Sox fan when I say that word... :))for the Sox, I think that the company analogy is a bad one for most fans, particularly avid ones. I think that more would regard their favorite team almost as a member of the family. Now, while I might regard my (fictional) Uncle Fred as a supreme idiot, I don't kick him out of the family after a few bad years...or even 80 or so. (And I might unfortunately point out that the Cubs have seen more postseason play than our favorite team in the last fifteen years...sigh...)

------------------
"You must not mind me madam; I say strange things, but I mean no harm."
--Samuel Johnson

[Sake Samurai]

I gotcha, Chief! I can relate - it's the same thing with music and bands. I was a huge Metallica fan in the early and mid 80's when only hardcore metal-heads were into them (like Slayer fans).

You used to be shunned for sporting a "Metal Up Your Ass" shirt, but then they won "best HM band" and "best HM album of the year" and suddenly I saw black Metallica T's adorning 8 year olds, bankers, and even grandma jumped on the bandwagon with a classic "Harvester of Sorrow" black tee.

I wanted to stone her then and there, let me tell you.

[Mullinator]

Soxfan59, there is a point to owner's accepting failure as long as they are packing fans in at Wrigley. But there is something more fun about rooting for a team in spite of recent history. It makes the winning seasons seem all the better. Sure, I want them to win every year, but I also want to root for a team that doesn't buy a title one year, dismantle the next, sit idle for a while, build a new stadium for revenue, threaten to relocate, etc. The Cubs provide year to year continuity (usually sub .500, but it continuity) but they also bring in lifelong fans because a person can identify players, have favorites and know they will stay around for a while, and it is the best dang ballpark in the world. The Red Sox may win a series first, but at least we had the good sense to get rid of Buckner when we did.

------------------
I got a lot of energy ready to be wasted on somebody - Mookie Wilson

[ChiefScott]

Sez manhatten quoting me:

"'a ritualistic stoning in the parking lot on your smoke break.'

OT, I know, but remember when this was redundant? Ah, high school."

Don'tja just hate it when you're pithy, clever and funny and don't realize it until someone points it out?
A doff of the cover to manhatten.

[tracer]

Heck, people like a winner. Everyone tends to side with the winners. That little instinct is one of the reasons our species has become so prosperous -- if the group we're "with" becomes a bunch of total losers, we can jump on a new bandwagon. There is NO rational reason to stay on board a sinking ship.

Loyalty to a team through thick and through thin is nothing more than displaced loyalty to one's family. If you help your family out, you're helping out people with copies of your genes, which benefits your genome. Shrewd -- and devious -- leaders know how to play up that family loyalty instinct into one that protects their group, even though their group carries none of your genome.

Oh, and GO DODGERS! :)

------------------
Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992.

[SoxFan59]

Soxfan59, there is a point to owner's accepting failure as long as they are packing fans in at Wrigley. But there is something more fun about rooting for a team in spite of recent history.>>>Mullinator

"Recent" history? To support an argument I put forth in another thread regarding how the Cubs and the Red Sox are somehow similar, the facts are these:

Since 1945, the last time the Cubs were in the World Series, the Cubs have finished over .500 in only 14 of 55 baseball seasons. I only did an overview of a few other teams, but its hard to imagine a greater record of futility for a single team over that time period. The laws of averages would indicate that if you don't try, you should win a little more often. For example, if you compare the Cubs against other teams since 1969, we find that both the Cubs and the Padres have both had 9 winning seasons vs 22 years in which they lost more games than they won. Yet, the Pads have been to the Series twice in that time period.

So when does being a Cubs fan get to be "fun?" (That is, with anything having to do with the game on the field, not the other distractions the Cubs hold forth as being part of "Cubs tradition.") A professor I had in law school explained that he grew up a Cubs fan, but after a while, if you keep hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, you stop, because it hurts so much. An apt analogy, I think. Wrigley Field, packed with Cubs fans, all with hammers protruding from thier brains.

------------------
SoxFan59
"Its fiction, but all the facts are true!"

[Mr Thin Skin]

Why despise them?

They buy that stuff (merchandise), don't they?

The owner of you're beloved (fill in the the name of the team that you live vicariously through) is in it for the money, no?

They (the bandwagoneers) may help keep your team in town.

I know you local franchise probably make a ton of money in other ways, but when a new stadium is required, the voters may have a say in it (e.g., Houston: then and now). Don't think of them as bandwagoneers, think of them as "the lobbied."


(the above remarks don't really apply to Green Bay)

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Dear Frankie:
Obviousily, you cannot read the English language. I said I have liked the 49ers since the days of John Brodie (I assume a football fan like yourself knows who he is). Believe me, there were a few lean years in there, including the season they blew a 20+ point lead and lost 30-28 to Dallas. Talk about the ignominy.
But thank you for your foul-mouthed and gratuitously rude post. It proves my theroem that only ignoramuses, losers and jerks root for NFC Central teams.
GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO NINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO INDIANA UNIVERSITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if y’all don’t like it, you know what part of my anatomy you can kiss.

[ChiefScott]

Per Peyote Coyote's last post, and back to my original post.

How can you root for two favorite NFL teams? If they played each other who'd you root for? That would be your team -- no one else.

I understand all the benefits bandwagoneers provide for teams. I just want to reassert that those that follow and root for their teams through lean years are better fans. Those who jump on and fork over the bucks can be appreciated for the cash boost they give their teams and the league as a whole, but they still deserve a swift kick in the nuts. And I hate 'em.

[SoxFan59]

(And I might unfortunately point out that the Cubs have seen more postseason play than our favorite team in the last fifteen years...sigh...)>>>> dramatoig

But our favorite team has just as many post season victories as the Cubs, despite one less playoff appearance. And, year in and year out, the White Sox, on average, have an exponentially more competitive team then the Cubs and, prior to the last strike, regularly outdrew them at the gate as well.

------------------
SoxFan59
"Its fiction, but all the facts are true!"

[WallyM7]

I've been a Cowboy fan since the days when Tom Landry used to tell Roger Staubach to line up in shotgun formation on third and six.

Win or lose, they will always be my team.

Of course when they finally won the big enchilada, I started to see a lot of Cowboy sweaters and hats.

------------------
If you're hot, that's good.
If you're cool, that's good.

I don't get it.

[WallyM7]

I've been backing Dallas for more than a quarter century, and I'm on the bandwagon?

May your beloved Lions find ever more interesting ways to lose, if they have not already exhausted all the possibilities.

Fuck me?

Well, fuck you!

Communist.

------------------
If you're hot, that's good.
If you're cool, that's good.

I don't get it.

[NicePete]

I've been a Rams fan ever since they moved to St Louis. Granted, it hasn't been that long, but hey, I've certainly satisfied the "lean years" requirement. So, I feel perfectly justified in staying on their bandwagon now.

And, Peyote Coyote... IU SUCKS!!! Bobby Knight is an overblown, loudmouthed, outdated, arrogant idiot! Kentucky kicks your ass in basketball every year and we have been in football lately, too. GO BIG BLUE!

------------------
Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars.

[Frankie]

Mullinator-
You forgot Eric Hipple and Billy Sims, and Eric Andolsek, and Mike Utley, and Reggie Brown, etc...
and yah my issues may be a bit misplaced.

and Wally and Cowboy...I think you have won enough championships to soothe your souls against my little rants!

And Wally... there is nothing new with the Lions losses. They shoot themselves in the foot and lack in talent every game!

Frankie- Lions-If I don't love em, Who will?

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Dear ChiefScott:
Where is it written that one must restrict one's affections to only one team per sport? I like both the Colts and the Niners, although I must confess the Colts are my favorite, and believe me, people, that has meant backing them in some pretty lean years.
I would point out they play in different conferences, so they rarely meet each other in the regular season. When they have met in the regular season, I generally support the team that needs the win the most, although I like to see the other make good plays.
If they were to meet in the Super Bowl, I would be in seventh heaven and yelling my fool head off on every play, although I suspect I would want the Colts to win on a last-second field goal. After all, SF has won more Super Bowls.
I remain in agreement with your opinion of bandwagon fans
Frankd6: Of course, Kentucky beats Indiana regularly. Big Blue is a pro team while IU is a college team. (Sometime, Frank, ol' boy, compare how often the two schools have been hammered for gross violations of NCAA rules).
I am not going to defend the Sweatered One because he has turned out to be an embarassment to my alma mater, which incidentally enjoys a better national reputation for academics than Lexington High.
Finally, to the point of this thread, if rooting for Indiana's football team does not prove I am a true-blue fan, nothing in the universe will. Talk about backing a team through lean years.
Frankie: You wouldn't like it; I would just lie there and laugh.

[WallyM7]

Well, you gotta have a grudging admiration for Frankie. It's been a long and bumpy ride with the Lions and he's still there.

Frankie, I'm sorry I called you a communist.

Yankee capitalist oppressor!

[Frankie]

So Wally?

Thru thick and thin is through a 1 and 15 season and a couple of 500 seasons??

Last time I checked they've been to the super bowl 5(?) times?? Yah I feel so bad for your fucking trevails! Get real you bandwagon shit. You jumped on the bandwagon and haven't had reason to jump off yet!

Fuck you all!

Frankie-Who loves the Lions from 1-15 all the way through 500!

[Mullinator]

I think Frankie has some misplaced issues with Scott Mitchell, Andre Ware, and Rodney Peete that he is trying to dump off on Wally.

------------------
I got a lot of energy ready to be wasted on somebody - Mookie Wilson

[Squid Vicious]

Chief Scott et al,

I certainly understand your ire when confronted by these bandwagon Bozo's; however, if you are a fan of any Chicago sports team, you have to root for someone else in the post season. In order for me to enjoy sitting through a game I wouldn't otherwise care about, I fabricate a reason to like one team over the other. This year I picked Boston to root for. I am hoping that if Boston finally wins a series, they'll forget about Bill Buckner (who I really liked when he played for the Cubs). Of course Boston aquired Beck. You would think they would have learned better. Do you think there is a connection between the Cubs' curse and Boston's?

------------------
"If you stick your finger in a pie, whatever is in the pie will be on your finger, and whatever is on your finger will be in the pie...unless you wear a rubber glove"----some demented old lady

[Mojo]

[stands up]

Hi everybody. My name is Mojo and I'm a Washington Bullets fan.

[sits down]

"Wizards"? Ugh.

[manhattan]

mojo: I sympathize. Red Storm, indeed.

------------------
Livin' on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine

[ChiefScott]

Squiddly Diddly and Peyote Dude --

I understand that you may pull for another team in the post season. I myself root for the underdogs each year during March Madness, even if I haven't seen them play that year. It's just my way of enjoying the tournament. But that is a far cry from going out and proclaiming their perfection as soon as they win a championship. Crowing to friends and neighbors that they are the best team ever assembled. That everyone else's teams suck.
There's a difference between rooting for a team to better enjoy a game or tournament and being a bandwagoneer.

True fans know the difference.

Additionally, I can't bring myself to root for two teams consistantly. I have one fave and put my heart and soul behind it.

I just don't understand, so can't support, NFL bigamists.

[meredith]

Try being a Dodgers fan in a state where its practically illegal not to be a Mets and/or Yankees fan!

[ChiefScott]

Frankie --

You succinctly summed up my thoughts. I choose to root for only two teams though...

the Eagles and whoever's playing the Cowboys.

[Falcon]

Mojo -

I hear ya. I remember when they used to play at the Capital Center....*sigh*

< USAir Arena? HAH! >

[Mojo]

Red Storm, indeed.

Yeah, that one was bad. Lou Carneseca must be turning in his grave. Even if he is still alive.

And how could they change the name of Capital Center, where the unforgettable "Heavy Metal Parking Lot Video" was filmed?

[Mojo]

And ChiefScott, to claim to be a Philly fan is about as anti-bandwagon as you can get. Do you realize you're aligning yourself with a group that:
-Assaulted Santa Claus with snowballs
-Beat up the 'Skins mascot (Chief Ike- an eldery black man in native american garb) while he was using the mens room
-Threw batteries at a baseball player who chose not to sign with Philly (wonder why)
-Cheered for Michael Irvin's serious spinal injury

If you had mentioned the Sixers, I would have thrown in Barkley spitting on a little girl. But you didn't so I won't.

[NicePete]

Peyote:
Just yanking your chain. Clearly your devotion to the hapless Hoosiers demonstrates you are NO bandwagon Indiana fan. RE: UK's academic strengths -- Of course, this is endlessly debatable, but I will say that in certain areas, especially the medical school, UK has a national reputation.

Chief Scott:
Are you suggesting you have to limit yourself to one team to be a good fan? I disagree. There are levels of loyalty. For instance, I am a diehard Miami Dolphins fan. Have been since I was a kid -- don't know why. But I also like the Rams, the Raiders and the new Browns. Of course, if one of those teams play the Fins, I'm rooting for the Fish. But the rest of the time -- go for it!

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Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars.

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

ChiefScott, there are more things in heaven and the NFL than dreamt of in your philosophy.
Let's agree to disagree.
GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO NINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[techchick68]

I am a devoted Broncos fan have been since I was a little girl.

After two Super Bowl wins they sure as hell are screwing up, on top of that all the injuries.

BUT I still wear my Broncos clothing and earrings, go to the games and even sport a Bronco name on my AOL account.

They are saying that Broncos items are falling in sales this year....but those are the people that like you said, jumped on the bandwagon but now are jumping off.

I was raised a Broncos fan, will always be a Broncos fan regardless of the worst start for a Super Bowl winner in the following season.

Elway was one kick-ass quarterback and it's no wonder they retired his number so soon after his retirement.

[Troy McClure SF]

Meredith, I just lost all respect for you.

All hail Dusty!!!

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JMcC, San Francisco
http://members.tripod.com/~weirdstuff/index.html
"Hear the voices in my head, I swear to God it sounds like they're snoring"

[Satan]

Alright... Where are those bandwagoneering COWBOY fans now!!

HOW 'BOUT THEM GIANTS!!! WOOOOOO!

[DoctorJ]

Interesting observation from a few years ago:

Kentucky basketball tickets are hard to come by, and never as much so as during the 1995-96 season (when we won the NCAA) and 1996-97.

(I should get this out of the way--GO BIG BLUE!! YEAH!! KICK ASS CATS!! OK, so now that that's done. . .)

I noticed that in 1997-98 (the first post-Pitino year), it was much easier to get tickets. A patient individual could stand outside Rupp and come by a lower arena ticket for $5 for a big weeknight game. I asked several people why that was, and most of them said, "Well, they're not the national champions this year."

Well, no--but they were the runners-up!

This was also the year when Tim Couch started making his collegiate mark, and I heard several people say that Kentucky's emphasis might shift to football. (Never in a million years.)

Of course, that basketball team went on to win the NCAA tournament, and the bandwagoners came jumping back.

Don't get me wrong--I'd say that 80% of Kentucky basketball fans are in for the long haul (and proved it back in the Eddie Sutton days). But we're not immune to the bandwagon effect.

Another important thing to remember here is that the definition of success is different for different teams. A small school may erupt if they make it to the dance at all. If UK's football team makes it to a shitty bowl, we go nuts. But if the basketball team only makes it to the final 8, we start talking about firing coaches.

Sorry for the long, rambling post--it's late. Please note that I will soon be starting up what I hope to be a season-long thread over in MPSIMS for discussion, analysis, side betting, good-natured trash talk, and all other things College Basketball related.

Dr. J

PS: You know why Kentucky doesn't fall into Tennessee? Because Indiana sucks. :)

[DoctorJ]

That said (and my insomnia not relenting), I'd like to offer another view of this argument.

Eastern KY (where I grew up) is probably as far as one can get from a pro sports team. As such, other than the religion of UK basketball, I have no lifelong loyalty to any teams.

I am only recently getting into baseball. I don't "have a team", as they say. However, the classmate most responsible for getting me into baseball this year is a lifelong and decidedly non-bandwagon Yankees fan, so I have been pulling for them.

I do not and will not wear Yankees merchandise, nor would I disparage the good name of Satan and his ilk by calling myself a "Yankees fan". I do not claim to have always loved the Yankees, nor am I following them because I think they're going to win. (They are, but that's not the reason.)

My question, then, is this--what is the offensive act? Is it following the winning team, or claiming to have been a hard-core fan all along? In short, does my attitude offend the true Yankee faithful?

Dr. J

PS: Situation reversed--it wouldn't make me mad for a casual and non-affiliated basketball fan to jump on UK's bandwagon when they're winning. If he claims to have been around since Joe B. Hall was a boy, then switches over to Louisville's side when they start winning (snicker), that pisses me off.

Once again, I don't mean to ramble--damn insomnia.

[Satan]

DoctorJ:

There's nothing wrong with your team winning. But if the Yankees start to suck and you suddenly find yourself not a fan anymore, or even worse, rooting for someone else, then you are on the bandwagon...