What does it mean to be a fan and how do we become one? Is it a casual interest that we only allow to fill our free time or is it an obsession that sticks with us every moment of the day? Is it something that we invest money and time into or do we invest all of ourselves to it? What makes a fan, fanatical?
This has been something that has been rolling around in my head the last few weeks. A friend of mine’s girlfriend was trying to decide what basketball team she should root for. Her boyfriend is a Heat fan because he loves Dwayne Wade but he also casually supports the Jazz. She also was considering the Lakers because her boyfriend’s older brother (my buddy) is a Lakers fan. I was trying to convince her that it was silly to pick a team based on who guys in her life were cheering for.
This made me start to think about my fandom. I think I am a pretty extreme fan though. I’d like to think there was a scale or gradient of fandom that ranges from casual observer to obsessed nutcase. I would most certainly fall closer to the obsessed nutcase end of the spectrum. I’m the type of fan which takes everything personal. I refer to myself as being a part of the team. I talk in "we’s" instead of "they’s." I take every win and loss as if my life depended on it. My moods change depending on the outcome of games. On top of that, I spend an unholy amount of time reading, writing, watching, loving my sports teams. I’m the guy that watches games at almost any cost. I bail on friends, family and responsibilities to watch the games as much as possible. My friends actually check game schedules just to make sure I’m free on certain nights to hang out. Then, just to take it one step further, I get myself invested in fantasy sports. Which is really like has turned my fandom into a gateway drug.
So what makes a fan, a true fan, and how does one choose who to cheer for?
My fanhood is a little complicated. In that, Utah, only has the Jazz and Real Salt Lake to cheer for. I had to branch out to other locations to find certain teams to support.
As long as I can remember I’ve always been a Jazz fan. My dad grew up here and also liked the Jazz and I remember watching games with him. I loved Malone, Stockton, and Horny. Those are who I grew up watching. I remember going over to the neighbor’s house with my family to watch them play in the Finals. I remember being so upset that we didn’t win. I remember Stockton hitting the shot over the Rockets while I was at a hotel. I was so excited I ran out and did a front flip into the pool and landed in a belly flop. I was born in Utah and the Jazz have always been my main NBA fix.
Most of you who follow me on Twitter (@JasonFortheLove) probably know I am a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan when it comes to the NFL. It was a complicated journey that started with being LDS/Mormon and loving Steve Young. I was a Niners fan because Young played there. He retired in the late 90s and I found myself wanting to cheer for another LDS member. Oddly, it ended up with me being a fan of the Eagles because of coach Andy Reid. Being 11-12, switching teams didn’t seem like a big deal. As I grew older it just stuck. I love the Eagles and will be a life-long fan now. My love for the city of Philadelphia grew too. With me loving the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) and being a casual fan of the 76ers and Phillies as well.
Around the exact same time as Jazz Finals and the Eagles, I broke my Collarbone playing touch football during recess at school. That fall found me in bed for a few days watching the World Series. It was here that I feel in love with the New York Yankees. Players like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, O’Neil, and Bernie Williams became my idols. I just loved them. I didn’t know they were hated. Didn’t care. I became a fan of the "Evil" Empire. Just how it was.
The one thing all these teams have in common is that I feel in love with them around the age of 11. For better or worse I am stuck loving these teams for the rest of my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When I adopted these teams, I also adopted their rivals. I hate the Lakers, Cowboys/Giants, and all Boston sports. I also adopted an addiction that I don’t think I’ll ever recover from. I must read about my teams, I must watch my teams, I must support my teams, I must love them and know as much as I can about them.
The point of all this is to determine how one becomes a fan and what is required of being a "true" fan. Not those fans in the ESA who are Clippers fans, and Laker fans, before they were Bulls fans, etc. You know who they are. The same ones who switch teams by championships or favorite players. I thought it would be fun to make a fan creed or set of commandments on the subject.
I’ll get us started with a few and I’d love to hear about your experiences and have you add your own rules to the list.
Rule 1: Once a fan, always a fan. You stick with your team through thick and thin for life. This goes mostly for teenagers/adults. Children can’t be expected to have the same passion but steering your kids in a certain direction is always acceptable. Fandom that spans generations is the best.
Rule 2: Team always above player and coach. You cheer for the logo on the front, not the name on the back. You can love your players, you can support your players even after they leave, but no one player is bigger than the team. I have a friend who was a 76ers fan for Iverson, then became a Lakers fan because of Kobe, and is now claiming to be a Clippers fan because of Blake Griffin. Drives me bonkers.
Rule 3: Don’t become a fan simply because your boyfriend/girlfriend like a team. Relationships don’t always last. Fandom does. It drives me crazy when people become "rabid" fans because their significant other is a fan of a team, only to have them stop being a fan when the relationship is over. Marriage is a whole other issue.
Ok, there is 3 to get us started. Add your own and tell us your stories! Also, GO JAZZ!!!
All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.
0 recs | 16 comments
Love the Post
I cancelled my newspaper subscription in 2005 because I was so depressed after the Jazz lost game after game that I couldn’t even stand knowing stories about it were on my front porch.
MLB: I’m a Cards guy. Instilled by my dad, who grew up near St. Louis.
NBA: Jazz, because I live here and because of Stockton
NHL: Penguins. I was a teenager and decided to get into hockey the same time Super Mario led the league in points even though he missed a two months for cancer treatment. He returned to play the same day of his final radiation treatment. That was hardcore. I’ve followed the Pens, through good and bitter, ever since.
NFL: I just don’t like football much.
Rule 2: I am known for giving former Jazzmen standing O’s during warmups and player introductions. And then I cheer for my team during the game (though goodness knows I’m not going to boo Deron every time he touches the ball). I never boo former Jazzmen anyway. Never. Unless he’s dumb enough to have a Lincoln neck tattoo or something like that. But I cheer my team.
Yucca Man - February 2, 2012
Haha
about the lincoln neck tattoo. Stevenson will always make me laugh because of that stupid tat.
As far as the Penguins go, it’s a total shame that Crosby hasn’t been healthy.
My father also grew up a big Cards fan growing but for whatever reason he never really told me about that until I got older and had already become a Yankees fan.
ForTheLove - February 2, 2012
I like #3 on principle, but...
I did start watching the Jazz because of my man. At first it was just for the sake of being a good girlfriend, because he was working nights a lot out in BFE and would want me to text him the score periodically. But then once I actually WATCHED a game I fell in love, and have been falling hopelessly ever since. Now I’m the rabid fan in the house and he finds it amusing. He thinks it should be no problem to miss a game; I on the other hand schedule ALL family activities around the games.
I understand what you’re saying though, about the fandom disappearing once the relationship ends – that is indeed lame.
I can’t imagine not ever being a Jazz fan. Unless they become very non-Jazz-like, and you all know what I mean.
SurlyMae - February 2, 2012
That's a rough road this year.
Scheduling stuff around the games I mean. My wife was annoyed with me last night because it was after 11 and we hadn’t spent any time together. My exact words “But last time it was a close game and I went to bed we lost.” It didn’t help this time either.
Kfunk - February 2, 2012
Haha!
SurlyMae - February 2, 2012 via Android app
Your situation
is exactly what good can come from such a situation. I just knew lots of girls in highschool/college who would wear different team jerseys they had stolen from their BFs until the relationship ended and then they would wear someone elses. It just drove me crazy.
ForTheLove - February 2, 2012
I am a Jazz fan for life.
I was born here and grew up here. When I was little I loved Mark Eaton and Big T because they were big. In the early 90s I started playing and liked shooters more than big guys. I remember that Jeff Hornacek and Reggie Miller were my 2 favorite players even though neither one of them played for the Jazz. The day theJazz traded for Hornacek might be my happiest memory of my sports fandom. My favorite player on my favorite team was a match made in heaven for me. Those are still the 6 best seasons in Jazz history. Around the same time Reggie started having his battles with New York (I hate all NY and LA teams) making him and the Pacers my 2nd favorite team.
I was on my mission when Stockton and Malone hung it up for good and when I got home it was hard for me to connect with the current Jazz team. For about 2 years there the Jazz were still my favorite team, but I wanted Reggie to win a championship (I am still mad at Ron Artest) as he was about the only star from my youth still playing. I followed those Pacers teams closer than those Jazz teams just hoping Reggie could make that last run at a ring. Reggie came up short and went the way of Hornacek and hung them up, when I felt like he could have played 1 more year. I still have a soft spot for the Pacers and watch a lot of Pacers games every year, but the Jazz have always been my number 1.
As for other sports:
MLB- Braves, because my first year of little league my team was the Braves so I decided the Braves were my favorite team. They were the worst team in baseball that year, but somehow turned it around and made the Series the next year. Bobby Cox was the Sloan of Baseball and it is still weird for me that both are now gone.
NFL- KC, I was a Joe Montana fan (if you don’t think he is the greatest quarterback of all time, I will fight you) and liked the niners until they traded him to KC. I felt like it was BS that you would trade the guy that had won 4 Super-bowls for them. I didn’t understand why they would do it then and the fan in me still wishes teams wouldn’t do things like that to our heros. Today if my favorite player was traded I would still cheer for the Logo on the front (like when the Braves traded David Justice and the Jazz traded Memo) but as a young kid who didn’t think what had happened to Joe was right, I went with the back of the Jersey over the front. I will never do it again, but am glad I did it then.
BobbyD31 - February 2, 2012
The Joe Montana/Steve Young situation
has fascinated me for a long time. Not only because of how great they both were, but because of how long Young waited to become a starter and how much hype there was when the two played against eachother finally. I liked Montana but I was too young to really appreciate him until he was already on the Chiefs.
I really liked David Justice but mostly because of his brief stint on the Yankees. Bobby Cox will always be a legend. The Braves have a pretty exciting team. Heyward looks like he’s going to be a stud.
ForTheLove - February 2, 2012
Can't believe I forgot this rule.
Rule 4: One cannot claim fandom of over half the sports teams in certain league. Meaning, you can’t love everyteam. I have a very goodfriend of this. Pretty much in the NFL he claims fandom of the Broncos, Giants, Colts, Panthers, etc etc etc. We give him grief for it all the time. It’s ridiculious and anyone who participates in such nonsense should be mocked. This doesn’t mean you can’t like watching certain teams or cheer for one if your team didn’t make the playoffs but it does mean you can’t claim to be a ‘fan’ of them all. Monogamy in sports is a good thing!
ForTheLove - February 2, 2012
I like this rule
I like the Blazers and the Spurs quite a bit. But I don’t go writing odes to Tim Duncan at Pounding the Rock.
I follow various other teams with players I like (NJ, Milwaukee—that’s what I can think of now).
But I never claim to be a Blazers fan or a Nets fan.
Yucca Man - February 2, 2012
I think it makes sense to have a couple teams you like in each sport
One from Each conference. I’m having a hard time deciding which Eastern Conference team to like, haven’t decided yet, I think I’m going to pick the Pacers. I thought that last year, but I don’t want to seem bandwagony.
In the NFL it’s The Buccaneers and the Raiders.
In Baseball (I don’t follow Baseball) I’ve picked the Angels (my Brother in law lives in Orange County) and The Twins (A guy I work with played for them back in the day)
Kfunk - February 3, 2012
I only like the jazz but I have other teams I respect, Spurs
IN the NFL i like the broncos AFC and 49ners NFC.
Another rule I generally have is the following: If you don’t know who to like, cheer for the smaller market. I guess you would be against this yankee fan. But because of my Jazz fandom and BYU fandom I side with the team that has more of an uphill battle to win, where the odds are more against them because of location. THe jazz are not in LA where players come for the spotlight and sun. Its harder to get players to come here because of all the Utah stereotypes. It may not be as bad as it is used to but you still won’t get D12 adding us to his wish list because its cold here with fewer people.
Also BYU in my opinion has the largest uphill battle to win. THe fact that they have to get atheletes that are willing to live the honor code is impressive to me.
Evans Almighty - February 5, 2012
Reading your post made me realize that since I kinda hate big corporations,
I tend to root for whoever screws over the league worse. I feel like the leagues are making decisions that are ruining sports, both pro and college, and in Utah, even high school. So if OKC can become a dominant powerhouse while dominating the LAs, New York, and Miami, I’m pretty much fine with that.
JazzHype - February 6, 2012
Unfortunately, this is how many Lakers fans are made.
DWest - February 2, 2012
They've been good for generations,
and therefore hold onto a lot of fans. Yuck.
DWest - February 2, 2012
I became a Jazz fan
When I first heard that the Jazz were coming here in the late 70s. After the stars left we were hungry for a new home team to root for and the Jazz were perfect even though they didn’t win much. I remember back in the early days of the Jazz, we would buy the cheap tickets and than by the second half we would move down as low a we could to finish watching the games. Also one of my find memories was eating a free hot dog at the salt palace the day Frank Laden announced that we were bringing a mailman to salt lake city. Great memories!
jvillejazz - February 6, 2012
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