Question about fans of college teams

[qbdog]

I know that there are a lot of fans of college teams that never went to school there, and I'm ok with that. However, I work with a guy who lived in California and then Arkansas for most of his life. He claims to be a diehard Alabama fan, but he has NEVER been to Tuscaloosa or ANY Alabama football game. It pisses me off so much to hear him talk about Bama as his team. I would think that this isn't that normal. Usually, people who claim to be diehard have actually seen the team play at least once.

Am I just being naive, or have you guys run across this a lot?

Also, can you be considered a diehard fan of a college football team without ever seeing them play in person?

 

[qbdog]

I know that there are a lot of fans of college teams that never went to school there, and I'm ok with that. However, I work with a guy who lived in California and then Arkansas for most of his life. He claims to be a diehard Alabama fan, but he has NEVER been to Tuscaloosa or ANY Alabama football game. It pisses me off so much to hear him talk about Bama as his team. I would think that this isn't that normal. Usually, people who claim to be diehard have actually seen the team play at least once.

Am I just being naive, or have you guys run across this a lot?

Also, can you be considered a diehard fan of a college football team without ever seeing them play in person?

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

I really don't think there's a difference

 

[cb6228]

I had some "KY" baskeball fans sit behind me at the SECT CG in NOLA a few years back. I asked him what Rupp was like and they said they had never even been to KY. WTF?

 

[BigMotherTucker]

after Jr college doesn't make me less of a fan of MState sports... Right?

/Not your point, so I digress.

 

[AssEndDawg]

I know that there are a lot of fans of college teams that never went to school there, and I'm ok with that. However, I work with a guy who lived in California and then Arkansas for most of his life. He claims to be a diehard Alabama fan, but he has NEVER been to Tuscaloosa or ANY Alabama football game. It pisses me off so much to hear him talk about Bama as his team. I would think that this isn't that normal. Usually, people who claim to be diehard have actually seen the team play at least once.

Am I just being naive, or have you guys run across this a lot?

Also, can you be considered a diehard fan of a college football team without ever seeing them play in person?

People in a state latching on to a state college team. Hell, even one close. You lived in the area, you know what they are about, and in the South it's all about college football with the pros only getting a glance because it's the only football on Sunday. But if someone latches onto a team with no ties at all you usually find they liked one thing and once that is gone they bail. for example I used to love the 49ers when Montana was QB and Rice was tearing it up, I could care less about them now. Those type of people aren't real fans.
</p>

 

[qbdog]

I don't care as much. Probably because I don't really have an NFL team that I'm a diehard fan for, so I don't care what other fans do. It just seems that college fans could get tickets to see their team a little easier because they most likely either went to school there or live close to the school.

As for the NFL, it seems that there are fans of teams all over the country, so it would be a lot more expensive to actually make a game. There are Bills fans in MS who will never see them live. It could be considered hypocritical but that doesn't bother me as much.

 

[muddawgs33]

I really don't think there's a difference

I think there is a difference. You can't go to the University of New Orleans Saints, but you can go to the University of Saban... I've never been to a Falcons game, but I'm a big fan because I lived in Atlanta when I was a kid. Also, you have to look at it as, you're not a Saints fan because they have a long history of winning like say Alabama. Plus, you may be a big Saints fan, because you live close by or they have some of your favorite players on the team while said fan probably couldn't tell you 2 players names off the Alabama team.

Like Memphis basketball fans. I bet over 90% of "Memphis" basketball fans aren't Memphis football fans. I know alot of the Memphis b-ball fans that I know, are Alabama football fans or Lsu or Auburn. These are the fans I have a problem with. This is where the term bandwagon fans comes from.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

a team is a team. People start liking strange teams as kids sometimes. They may have never gone to college or gone to one that isn't D1 or something. I've become a fan of pro teams just watching on TV, don't see why someone can't do the same for a college.

 

[Brutius]

There are definitely a lot of them in Mississippi and Alabama (and other states obviously). Are they just supposed to not like college sports at all? They can't suddenly determine that they like say, Notre Dame, because they see them on TV a lot? I'm sure Mr High School graduate working at Bubba's auto detailing has never been to see a live game of his favorite team if it happens to be outside of the southeast.

The reason I've been a lifelong Cowboys fan is because they were always on TV when I was about 6 years old. I've been a lifelong Celtics fans for that reason as well. I've never seen a game live at Texas Stadium or the Boston Garden, although I have seen them both play numerous times on the road.

 

[qbdog]

a team is a team. People start liking strange teams as kids sometimes. They may have never gone to college or gone to one that isn't D1 or something. I've become a fan of pro teams just watching on TV, don't see why someone can't do the same for a college.

I understand your point. I just think that, especially for college, if a person claims to be a diehard fan (follows recruiting and every news break about the team) then that person would try their best to at least make it to a game to take in the atmosphere and everything that goes with it. This guy lives about 3 hours from Tuscaloosa now, you'd think that he'd have made it to a damn game by now.

I just think it's different for pro teams. There are a lot less pro teams and you can see any pro NFL team on TV if you want to. It's not the same for college. Why isn't this guy an Arkansas fan or a USC/UCLA/any other team from California fan? That would make much more sense. It's not like he was raised during the Bear Bryant years, he's younger than that.</p>

 

[gptdawg]

To me the point is more about fans of others schools who never attended those schools thinking they are all better than me and dissing my Dawgs . At least I attended my school and definitely have blood equity.

 

[saltybulldog]

they seem to come across as "bandwagon fans". I generally associate the teams I follow with something I have in common.

MSU = alumni
Saints = Badluck, voodoo cursed
Braves = my grandfather always pulled for them so I latched on....of course he like Old Milwaukee and brussell sprouts and those didnt take.

Being a Cowboys fan, Lakers fan, or Celtics fan is borderline-ish

 

[dogmatic1]

I don't like smack talk. I never do it and I sure as hell don't like to listen to it, and it boils down to the fact that if the fan doesn't have some paper from "their school" or at least a few tuition receipts, I don't feel like the fan has a vested interest, and when they give me smack on Friday about how the Gators are going to kill MSU, then on Monday after the Bulldogs have taken the job off the Gators' hands and I come in and hear the fan backpedaling with "I actually went to school at XYZ Polytech," I want to choke the fan until his eyes pop out of their sockets.

I've learned to take this talk from those with paperwork, however, because I know when their school does something stupid, they'll have no choice but to tuck in for their share of that **** sandwich, and even though I don't intend to be the one serving it up, somehow that makes it OK.

My definition of Smack Talk, by the way, extends to include Indirect Smack, such as when the fan is telling me about what his team did or is going to do in an upcoming bowl game, national championship game, etc.

Also, it seems like quite a few of these sidewalk alumni are bandwagon jumpers. There are lots of sidewalk alumni for Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, etc. Not too many for Vandy. How many people who've never been to Miami do you see wearing Hurricane apparel now? But how many did you see in the 80s?

Being an MSU fan of any type is a lot like being a good Catholic. There's lots of suffering involved. If you're not somehow permanently attached to your school, I think you'll cut ties when the going gets rough. What idiot wouldn't?

Maybe it says something about me, I don't know. I know I wouldn't be a very loyal fan of a team when times got tough if I wasn't somehow thoroughly connected to them. Maybe others are different. But I doubt very many are. I've known a few loyal MSU sidewalk alumni over the years, but I've known 10 times more Bama walk-ons who were bandwagon-jumping ********.

 

[Fdawg.sixpack]

There are definitely a lot of them in Mississippi and Alabama (and other states obviously). Are they just supposed to not like college sports at all? They can't suddenly determine that they like say, Notre Dame, because they see them on TV a lot? I'm sure Mr High School graduate working at Bubba's auto detailing has never been to see a live game of his favorite team if it happens to be outside of the southeast.

The reason I've been a lifelong Cowboys fan is because they were always on TV when I was about 6 years old. I've been a lifelong Celtics fans for that reason as well. I've never seen a game live at Texas Stadium or the Boston Garden, although I have seen them both play numerous times on the road.

</p>I dont see how you "suddenly" become a fan of a team and that has always been one of my pet peeves. To me you are either born a fan or youre not a fan. The only exception would be when you a attend a university because you obviously develop a passion for the school you are attending that will outweigh any previous ties you had. The teams I have been a fan for other than state however I grew up knowing nothing else. My mom lived in Buffalo and for as long as I can remember thats all I knew was Buffalo Bills football, also my parents met at The Ohio State University so i was raised to like that team and still have a huge passion for them today. It just baffels me that someone can wake up one day and decide they are a fan of a team, to me if you werent a fan for the start then you cant "become" a fan...the only exception being like i said when you attend a university.

 

[Brutius]

that tells you which team to support and you can't learn to like another team after a certain time? I say this in the nicest possible way: you sir are an idiot.

Many factors come into play when a person decides who "their" team is. For me, it was seeing Larry Bird, watching Dale Murphy, and seeing Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett on Sundays. Hell before I went to school I was the biggest USM fan there ever was. You don't think someone can watch Notre Dame and decide that they really like them? Someone who didn't go to college has no collegiate allegiances to tie themselves to any local teams. It's just stupid to think that everyone will know their favorite team by a certain point in their life, especially if they don't grow up in a major city or near a major university.

 

[seshomoru]

There are definitely a lot of them in Mississippi and Alabama (and other states obviously). Are they just supposed to not like college sports at all? They can't suddenly determine that they like say, Notre Dame, because they see them on TV a lot? I'm sure Mr High School graduate working at Bubba's auto detailing has never been to see a live game of his favorite team if it happens to be outside of the southeast.

The reason I've been a lifelong Cowboys fan is because they were always on TV when I was about 6 years old. I've been a lifelong Celtics fans for that reason as well. I've never seen a game live at Texas Stadium or the Boston Garden, although I have seen them both play numerous times on the road.

</p>I dont see how you "suddenly" become a fan of a team and that has always been one of my pet peeves. To me you are either born a fan or youre not a fan. The only exception would be when you a attend a university because you obviously develop a passion for the school you are attending that will outweigh any previous ties you had. The teams I have been a fan for other than state however I grew up knowing nothing else. My mom lived in Buffalo and for as long as I can remember thats all I knew was Buffalo Bills football, also my parents met at The Ohio State University so i was raised to like that team and still have a huge passion for them today. It just baffels me that someone can wake up one day and decide they are a fan of a team, to me if you werent a fan for the start then you cant "become" a fan...the only exception being like i said when you attend a university.

Well, ****. Somebody should let all those teams out there know this. They could save millions alone each year advertising dollars.

Congrats, though. You win poster of the week! Where should I send the Bops coupon? </p>

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

I sure as !+!! didn't grow up one. And to think, all along I figured it was because that was the only damn team I could watch every week for five years while living in Oxford. I guess I've just been lying to myself.

Dumbass

 

[Fdawg.sixpack]

i know its different for people who arent born with a team to like but from my point of view i just cant ever imagine waking up one day and suddenly being a fan...would you have liked any of those players and teams if they werent good?? no so the way i see it you started to follow a team that had good players and was winning and then you suddenly decided you liked them which to me sounds an awful lot like a bandwagon jump. ive gotten in this argument countless times w my friends and i understand that not everyone is born w a team to root for so i guess we just see things diefferently
just my opinion</p>

 

[DovaDawg]

I was born in New York, first MLB game i went to was NY Mets. Been a Mets fan ever since. Usually see them at lest once a year (@Atl or @St Louis)

I moved to Baton Rouge as a child. Whole family went to LSU. I tend to root for the Tigers when State is 3 and whatever. I also root for the Saints.

Went to MSU and got my undergrad. Most of my money goes to MSU football.

Moved to Memphis and got my masters at U of Memphis. I like Memphis basketball and go to games. I would like to go to more State b-ball games but the game times don't make it easy. Fedex Forum is easy for me on a Wed. I don't like Memphis football because it sucks and I feel like I am in that stadium from Black Hawk Down when I go to a Memphis home game. I also like the Titans as a Tennessee resident.

I don't know if I am really bandwagon. I root for all of the teams I like consistently through thick and thin, but I do usually have some type of geographical connection to the teams I choose to root for. I guess the only two that I am die hard for are MSU and the Mets.

 

[Brutius]

maybe mapquest can help find a route.

 

[MSU Moral Victory]

Think about how much money some of these schools make off of bandwagon fans like this guy.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Page 2

The important excerpt is below. The whole article is rules about being a college football fan, partially about whether or not you can be a fan of multiple schools.

1. As a fan, you have to pick a school, one school, same as if you were filling out applications to, you know, go to school there. You may not be a fan of a conference, teams from a specific state, "West Coast football" or college football in general. Nobody is a fan of college football in general, not even Lee Corso. Nor may you root for Harvard and Yale, any more than you could matriculate at both places, unless you're really, really smart, in which case you're probably building prototype military surveillance nanobots in your MIT dorm room, and/or devising a computerized ranking system* to shame Jeff Sagarin.

1a. Under extenuating circumstances, however, you may have up to three Division I-A rooting allegiances, so long as the schools meet the following criteria:

(a) Your birthplace/family school - especially if an inheritance is at stake, or if a campus library bears your last name.
(b) Al(most)ma mater - the school you transferred from.
(c) The school that actually handed you a diploma. Or would have, if you hadn't finished three credits short.
(d) Your spouse's school, especially if the program is vastly superior to your own, or your spouse cares waaaay more than you do, in which case: good call on getting married!
(e) You're a bandwagon-jumping, low-self-esteem weenie and scurry from Notre Dame to Miami to Ohio State to USC to Boise State depending on the year, the polls and the amount of water flooding into the ship.

If you can't be true to a school, at least be true to your own weaselly nature.

I'd suggest clicking the link. The article is fairly entertaining for those that never read it.

 

[Jackdragbean]

My father and I went to MSU. My brother went to USM. He may be a bigger fan of MSU than I am. Every game that he's been to in Starkville, he's gone nuts for just being there. I bought him season tickets last year, and you would have thought he won the lottery. We grew up watching games in Jackson with my dad. We say that we were born State fans. If you told my brother that he can't be a State fan because he went to college elsewhere, I think he'd tell you where to go. I don't believe that you can say all people that don't attend the university are bandwagon fans, although they are out there. Idiots that like Ole Miss because of the flag, Alabama for their past winning, LSU for the present winning, and Notre Dame because of the past.....yeah, those guys are idiots and bandwagon fans.

Oh, and Brutius, just thought I'd add my two cents on top of what you said.

 

[qbdog]

I've got to admit, I was waiting on you to write a damn novel about the subject like you always do and I would have just skipped over it shaking my head, wondering what you do all day; but that was a good find. I forgot about that article, thank you.

My co-worker meets NONE of that criteria.

My main point in all this is that I feel this guy should have at least made an attempt to go see Bama play football at some point in the last 10 years if he's such a diehard fan. He makes a good living and he lives 3 hours away, no excuses. ****, he lives Memphis, so he could have gone to Oxford, Nashville, or Starkville at some point too.

OP4, I assume you have a desire to go see the Saints in person. Why have you never made the trip? Just curious.