What is necessary to claim to be a fan of a particular program?

[ericd7633]

Are you at least Catholic? lol.

No. The main reason I was drawn to them was because I could watch 95% of their games. I didn't have DirecTV until 2002 or age 16(lived in the middle of nowhere and cable wasn't an option). They were on NBC, ABC or CBS every week, no other team in the mid to late 90's had that type of broadcast schedule. If you were on a lot I was drawn to them. Main reason why I like the Yankees, Minnesota basketball and the Eagles.

 

[Olyduck]

It's totally relevant. Everything has parameters and I don't set them. I'm on one level . Some one who donates and builds a building on campus is on another level. It is what it is and you don't change it if you don't care.

all levels still have to breathe, eat, sleep, shit and die. I don't think a person who gives a ton of money to a school but couldn't name more than 3 players is a bigger fan a person who cant afford to go to games but knows all the starters and only gets cable for half the year so they can watch their favorite team.

 

[Olyduck]

I don't know about y'all but I like the Yankees, Lakers, Patriots, Bama football, and Duke basketball.

you forgot the Penguins. some sports fan you are

 

[Chewbaccer]

I was born a UGA fan, I'll die a UGA fan. My Saturday plans during the Fall revolve around what time UGA plays, and while I'm not exactly close to Athens, I can be there quicker than I could get to Atlanta with traffic factored in.

No, I didn't attend the school, though I do have numerous friends that attended or are still attending. No, I've never been to a game. Hell, the only college football game I've ever been to was Manziel's last game with A&M when he lead the big comeback against Duke at the Georgia Dome. But, I'm just as emotionally invested with the Dawgs as I am the Braves, and both are probably a root cause for my drinking problem.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I was born a UGA fan, I'll die a UGA fan. My Saturday plans during the Fall revolve around what time UGA plays, and while I'm not exactly close to Athens, I can be there quicker than I could get to Atlanta with traffic factored in.

No, I didn't attend the school, though I do have numerous friends that attended or are still attending. No, I've never been to a game. Hell, the only college football game I've ever been to was Manziel's last game with A&M when he lead the big comeback against Duke at the Georgia Dome. But, I'm just as emotionally invested with the Dawgs as I am the Braves, and both are probably a root cause for my drinking problem.

And if that's not good enough for you, you can kiss my white ass.

 

[RobToxin]

SEC! SEC! SEC!

 

[tducey]

For me, I like Alabama because they're a winning school. If I lived in the States though I'd probably cheer for the team closest to where I lived.

 

[nddulac]

They could consider themselves fans of whoever they want, but in that particular case I just think that's weak as shit. "My dad, uncle, etc. went to school there." Weak.

Hey - before I was of college age, that was my connection to Notre Dame . . .

 

[nddulac]

The "I went to South Cleveland Community College but fuck Michigan in the ass" type of guys always make me chuckle.

The ones that kill me are th ones who will bag on a school's academics, despite never even smelling the inside of a college classroom, let alone showing any level of understanding as to what actually affects the quality of academics at a college or university.

 

[UNA Lion]

From another thread:



Okay. I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone. Just trying to get a sense of the Hoop, if you will. Also, it should be noted that I fully recognize the economic reality that NO FBS program could survive without the economic contributions (through attending games, buying shirts and caps, direct donations, etc.) offered by people who are not alumni.

So - what is the bare minimum threshold one needs in order to fairly clam fanship of a team?

None of your choices fit, though several applied to me:

If you're born in the state of Alabama, from birth one of two college football teams is selected for which you will be a fan for life.

The unfortunate infants become Auburn fans.

 

[nddulac]

you forgot the Penguins. some sports fan you are

I rooted for the Penguins to win the Cup (because of Ian Cole and Bryant Rust - a pair of Notre Dame alumni.) But I certainly don't consider myself a 'guins fan.

 

[4down20]

None of your choices fit, though several applied to me:

If you're born in the state of Alabama, from birth one of two college football teams is selected for which you will be a fan for life.

The unfortunate infants become Auburn fans.

Even if I wasn't born into an Alabama family I would have had to choose between Alabama and Auburn as a kid.

Thank god my family wasn't Auburn fans.

 

[Rolltide94]

Thank god my family wasn't Auburn fans.

View attachment 131450

No Shit...I married into one of those...then unmarried out of it. One child chose poorly, but my other kids have all wisely chosen other schools to attend.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

I would say there's an emotional tie, for whatever reason. I've been a Clemson fan since I was about 7 or 8 years old. My grandaddy took me to a football game and I was hooked. It became a passion. Although I never attended, I had many relatives that did, not that either of those things had any affect on my fandom.
My Granddaddy never attended Clemson either. His connection was through a good friend that he served with in WWII. His friend went to school there when they got out of the service and Grandaddy would travel up there to see him.

It didn't hurt that I grew up in the Danny Ford era either. It was an incredible time to be a Clemson Tiger and Dabo has brought that mentality back. Funny how winning does that for a team/school. While I absolutely love what Dabo is doing, I'm old school and loved/prefer the tobacco spittin, ass chewing, face mask grabbing, cussing, hat throwing, and plain old "piss and vinegar" style that Ford had.

Anyway, I don't care why you're a fan, as long as there is dedication. And I think it's fairly easy to tell when you meet someone, whether or not they are "real." If you don't give a shit if your team wins or loses then I would question your fandom, other than that, rock out with your cock out!

Well, that concludes my wild and rambling thoughts on fandom. See ya'll in the playoffs, beeches!!

 

[Texas Jefe]

Good lord. Now there are rules to being a fan? Too funny. I was brought up a Michigan fan from the time I was born. I've watched their games every week for as long as I can remember. I get a kick out of MSU fans calling a Michigan fan a "walverine" if you didn't go to school there. Here are the average scores for the 6000+ incoming freshman in 2015:
Average HS GPA -- 3.85
Average ACT score -- 31-34 (95-99 percentile)
Average SAT score -- 2100-2300 (95-99 percentile)

They had 52,000 students apply to go to UM in 2015 and had applicants from all 50 states and 114 different countries -- only 20% of the applicants were accepted.

So unless you graduated near the top of your high school class and get either a top 5% score on your ACT or SAT, you aren't getting in. Even then, you STILL may not get in. So that means you can't be a fan?

Two of my brothers graduated from Western Michigan -- one is a die hard Notre Dame fan, one is a die hard Michigan fan for football, but is a die hard Duke fan in basketball.

this is similar to Texas. A whole bunch of people apply, but only some can get in. But they're still fans, depending on where they did in fact go...I mean if they end up at a rival, they are not going to be fans.

I grew up in a Texas Longhorn family, and I played high school football. My dream of course was to play there...but I was not big enough for my position to play major college football. I could have gone to a smaller school, but I wanted to go to UT more than I wanted to play small college ball. So I took advantage of being accepted and became just a student.

 

[Deep Creek]

until 2002 or age 16

I feel real old.

 

[Texas Jefe]

seems as the general consensus is: Follow whoever you want, but to be a real fan you have to be there through thick and thin, the bad with the good.

Sounds right to me.

 

[WizardHawk]

Look, there is something different about it when it is the school you attended. There is school pride, but that doesn't mean that anyone with an interest isn't allowed to be labeled as 'real fans' of anything they want. The only requirement is to be a 'fan' which means fanatic. If you are passionate about following a particular team at any level then you are indeed a fan.

College football and basketball specifically are different than their pro counterparts and some embrace those differences and enjoy the college versions more. And some even like them both and follow them both (gasp!) without having attended a school or at least the one they follow.

Stop being elitist jackasses and leave people to enjoy whatever they want to spend their free time doing.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

walverine logic is not Wolverine logic, but it thinks it is, DEPT...



do you also love it when everyone calls you a liar?
only perspective here is YOU didn't/couldn't attend scUM - but you think buying a scUM t-shirt at WalMart gives you the right to call anybody ELSE who didn't attend scUM a loser.

I've never called anybody a loser. And I'm not lying at all. My buddy was accepted with a sub 2.0 GPA. He did go on to graduate from MSU. Went on to law school and now has a private practice specializing in drunk driving cases.

The point I was making is -- one school is easily attainable, the other is extremely difficult to get into. Personally, even though I'm a die hard UM fan, if I have a weekend to hang out, I'd choose MSU over UM -- they have a never ending supply of smoking hot co-eds.

 

[ralphiewvu]

The problem is anyone can say they were through it all in thick and thin.
That doesn't mean they didn't just jump on the wagon the moment said team won an NC or became relevant. Christ how many new buck nut fans did we get last winter?? N bama fans this past winter, a few new ones joined. What happened to the more then few Oregon fans that once inhabited this board?

Anyone can say they were through it all thick and thin, but that doesn't mean shit if they are here and that team is doing well.