Fair Weather Fans: Getting worse?

[Talon Lardner]

I hope you don't mind me venting on this, but it is a topic that has me thinking as of late.

As I browse these forums more and more often, it seems that the vast majority of people here seem to brag about their favorite teams and how good they are, and how much they dislike other teams based almost only on the fact that they don't win as many games as other teams. Heck, even being a "Homer", a good fan of one's home team, is becoming an insult.

Maybe it's just me, and I'm reading too much into things, but are fair-weather fans becoming the majority of sports fans as of late?

[fiasco!]

I don't know what "fair weather fan" means. I like the Detroit Lions. Always have, always will.

[Talon Lardner]

I don't know what "fair weather fan" means. I like the Detroit Lions. Always have, always will.

Same here, and yeah, us Lions fan don't even get sunlight a good chunk of the season!

But what I mean, though, is I wonder how many of these Giants, Patriots, Post-2006 Tigers, and BoSox fans would do if their teams started becoming more mid-range in a few years, you know?

[slightly shotgunned]

I don't know what "fair weather fan" means. I like the Detroit Lions. Always have, always will.

Same here, and yeah, us Lions fan don't even get sunlight a good chunk of the season!

But what I mean, though, is I wonder how many of these Giants, Patriots, Post-2006 Tigers, and BoSox fans would do if their teams started becoming more mid-range in a few years, you know?

the same thing fair weather fans always do. jump ship.

sure they may ride a little while longer to make sure the team doesn't start to pick it up again, but in the end, they'll jump in favor of the new winning team. that's the way fair weather fans work.

i'm a lions fan who lives in downtown cincinnati, three years ago i was amazed by the support of the bengals. since they had been so bad for so long i figured that most of the "fans" had been around since the beginning. turns out, the majority of fans in cincy are fair weather and disappear when the team starts doing poorly. shoulda seen the number of browns jerseys last year. or patriots jerseys. its insane around here.

yes, it is only one example, but its what i see here.

[averyj]

I don't know what "fair weather fan" means. I like the Detroit Lions. Always have, always will.

Same here, and yeah, us Lions fan don't even get sunlight a good chunk of the season!

But what I mean, though, is I wonder how many of these Giants, Patriots, Post-2006 Tigers, and BoSox fans would do if their teams started becoming more mid-range in a few years, you know?

They'd find another team. haha

[TFoA]

But what I mean, though, is I wonder how many of these Giants, Patriots, Post-2006 Tigers, and BoSox fans would do if their teams started becoming more mid-range in a few years, you know?

They'd find another team. haha

Exactly. That's why they call it "jumping ship."

I know a huge example of this would be the Celtics (or any Boston-area team). When they came to Atlanta last year, there were probably 3 Celtics fans in attendance. They come here for the playoff games, it's probably 30% Celtics fans (even though every single one of those green goons got sent home wondering how their high and mighty team lost to the Hawks. ).

That said, fairweather fans get on my nerves. I can understand if you're a transplant fan, but if you just now became the biggest Pats fan in the universe...you aren't fooling anybody. I guess that's why most people love to see those teams with a big bandwagon lose: It makes the bandwagon fans look silly by association.

[Seadragon76]

I like the Detroit Lions. Always have, always will.

LOL! I feel so damn sorry for you... Oh so sorry.... NOT!

[ferrousoxide66]

This thread has me thinking of The Onion, for some reason.

Fairweather fans are really annoying, says new poll.

And here I thought there was a burgeoning groudswell of new love for fairweatherism.

[Talon Lardner]

This thread has me thinking of The Onion, for some reason.

Fairweather fans are really annoying, says new poll.

And here I thought there was a burgeoning groudswell of new love for fairweatherism.

Take a peek at some of the other threads around here, and you can't exactly say it doesn't exist anymore. I was just curious if the trend was on the rise, is all.

[infrared41]

It's always been this way. At least it has for the past 40 years or so. People like winners. True fans hate band wagon jumpers. Twas ever thus. How else do you explain the Indians having 6000 fans in 1993 then selling out 455 games in a row from 1994 until...well until they didn't make the playoffs. And now we're back to the original 6000 and the new 8000 that figured they may as well hang around a while since the seats are easy to get.

[hormone]

I am not what you call a fairweather fan. If my team sucks, I voice my opinion (Pirate fan here). I do, however, reserve the right to tell Flyer fans that the Pens dashed their hopes of a chance at the cup.

[Brass]

I'd have to say that the worst thing is when people are fans of 4-6 teams. Even some people here have avatars/signatures with more than 2 or 3 teams. Make up your mind and root for one team.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Growing up, I liked two teams: The Yankees and the NY Giants. In high school, I began to like the Sabres. Then, I moved away from home, went to college, and continued to like the Yankees, but switched to missing my hometown and then liking the Bills. Then I gave up baseball altogether, and liked just the Bills and Sabres. Then Cornell hockey got hot, and because I lived in Ithaca, I liked Cornell hockey. Then they lost in the Frozen Four, and I continued not caring.

I moved away to Kentucky and got interested in the Cincinnati Reds and U of L sports. Then I moved to Seattle and became interested in the Mariners. However, I went to way more games last year, when they were good. This year, just one.

I've continued to like the Bills, and though I neglected to mention it earlier, I'll continue to like Syracuse sports. And I do have to admit that my interest in the Sabres waned after they sucked this year.

So, am I a fairweather fan? Or do I just have other things going on?

[Brass]

Growing up, I liked two teams: The Yankees and the NY Giants. In high school, I began to like the Sabres. Then, I moved away from home, went to college, and continued to like the Yankees, but switched to missing my hometown and then liking the Bills. Then I gave up baseball altogether, and liked just the Bills and Sabres. Then Cornell hockey got hot, and because I lived in Ithaca, I liked Cornell hockey. Then they lost in the Frozen Four, and I continued not caring.

I moved away to Kentucky and got interested in the Cincinnati Reds and U of L sports. Then I moved to Seattle and became interested in the Mariners. However, I went to way more games last year, when they were good. This year, just one.

I've continued to like the Bills, and though I neglected to mention it earlier, I'll continue to like Syracuse sports. And I do have to admit that my interest in the Sabres waned after they sucked this year.

So, am I a fairweather fan? Or do I just have other things going on?

Well, in a few cases like you mentioned, it seems as if you stopped caring about teams because they had off years. That sounds like a fair-weather fan to me.

[fiasco!]

Some people become fans of teams based on their new locale. I moved to the upstate of South Carolina over 7 years ago, but it took me a few years to become a Clemson fan. I am a fan of all of their teams, as well as Michigan State, who I grew up rooting for. I will also root for the Carolina Panthers and Hurricanes, and the Atlanta Braves and Thrashers, unless they are playing teams from my hometown. I will never give up my Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Red Wings, and Spartans fandom. That's just something I was born with and will die with.

[infrared41]

How about this? Like who you want and anyone that doesn't like it.

[Roger Clemente]

I have my reasons for liking the (Mighty) Ducks, Blue Jays and Steelers. I have never wavered from any of them. I am very fortunate to see all three teams win a championship in my lifetime (and two of them within the past 3 years). I'm perfectly fine if they wind up never winning another championship in my lifetime, though I will not deny that would suck.

On the topic of fairweather fans, the weirdest example I can think of is a majority (thankfully not all) of the Montreal Canadiens fans I know who, if they win 3 games in a row, are already talking about "Number 25" and if they lose 3 games in a row, even in October, are already writing off the season. Yet they still will not put down an opportunity to talk smack, which is really sad because most of the Habs fans I know weren't even around when they won most of their cups and only root for the team because A) their parents did or because they ARE the most decorated team in hockey and for this reason alone, are too lazy to want to root for another team. It's like betting on the horse after he's already won the Triple Crown.

The worst case of bandwagon fans however is the New England Patriots. The amount of bandwagon Patriots fans in this town has to have risen at least 500% in the past 8 years, and the female fans are much more annoying because most of them are only rooting for them because they think Tom Brady is dreamy AND, in spite of that, almost all of them are more than willing to talk smack at the drop of the hat. Super Bowl XLII was glorious, especially when I heard one bandwagon Pats fan telling someone who was talking about it that if they heard anyone saying one more word about the Super Bowl, they were going to beat the :censored: out of whoever said it (and looked like they seriously meant it).

Oddly enough, the Red Sox don't have this problem in my town because...almost all the Red Sox fans I know, even those who are clearly bandwagon Patriots fans, were actually legitimate Red Sox fans since before 2004. And the amount of Red Sox fans here in Cape Breton has always clearly outnumbered the Blue Jays fans and even the Expos fans when they were still around. (Although I am entertained by one friend of mine who was a die-hard Red Sox fan from the time he was a little boy up until 2002, when he was in his 30's, when, frustrated by all the heartache and futility, he jumped ship to the Blue Jays for for good. The night after the Red Sox finally won it, I ran into him and he just non-chalantly said "It figures, eh?" and acted like nothing important happened. I give him major kudos for that. Him and another friend of mine who used to live in Toronto, is easily the most knowledgable and Leafs fan I knew, who, after discovering that they signed Bryan McCabe to a five-year no movement contract, jumped ship--for the Coyotes--and, even if they win the cup, vows never to return to the fanbase until McCabe is gone.)

I am not against HOMERism. I am however very much against BLIND Homerism, where the team, no matter how badly they suck, can do no wrong in the eyes of the fans, or the fans refuse to accept the fact that they suck or that other teams can possibly be better than them, even if they've just won the championship. It's sad, really.

[chuckymack]

How about this? Like who you want and anyone that doesn't like it.

Fine with me, as long as your favorite team isn't the Cowboys or Patriots.

[Gary]

I don't know what "fair weather fan" means. I like the Detroit Lions. Always have, always will.

Same here, and yeah, us Lions fan don't even get sunlight a good chunk of the season!

But what I mean, though, is I wonder how many of these Giants, Patriots, Post-2006 Tigers, and BoSox fans would do if their teams started becoming more mid-range in a few years, you know?

I think there are possibly a couple people here on the boards that will say they have been with the Tigers through thick and thin. Especially after that debacle i'd like to call the season that never happened . Seriously though I am not a fair weather fan. I have stuck with my teams through the worst of times and the best of times. I still root for the Lions for crying out loud

[OnWis97]

I admit to some fairweather. I am always a good fan of the Twins and the University of Wisconsin (basketball, football and hockey). No bandwagon there.

With the Vikings, I usually lose some interest when they are not in the playoff hunt, but I am definately more attentive when they are contending. Some bandwagon there.

With the Wild and T-Wolves, I flat out pay no attention when they stink. NBA and NHL are tough for me to watch then. Particularly the last few years of the T-wolves. When they are at least in the playoff hunt, then I'm interested. Here, I ride full bandwagons and jump off of empty ones.

Of course, to the original pose, I don't really brag about my teams around here, regardless.