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re: Which is WORSE? Bandwagon fans or Sidewalk fans

Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:46 am to
Posted by WestCoastAg
Member since Oct 2012
145110 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:46 am to
I will never understand why people care about this crap so much
Posted by KSGamecock
The Woodlands, TX
Member since May 2012
22982 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:46 am to
quote:

all NFL brands are sidewalk brands.


Except for Green Bay.
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:48 am to
Do you really believe the shite you spew?
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:49 am to
quote:

I will never understand why people care about this crap so much


cardboardbox guy has it down to a science.
Posted by Wallacewade04
Valhalla
Member since Dec 2011
2780 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:50 am to
quote:

Can we get some experts on the matter? Bama fans, what say you?


actually Alabama and Auburn have been getting a lot of in between team jumpers that can't stick to one of us

you want to cheer for Auburn because you think Cammy Cam is the tits? Fine. He's a great player and they have had great success. But then you can't show up at parties in 2012 wearing Crimson gear and then go back to a "die hard Auburn fan" after kick-six

that shite used to get you a rubber hose beat down in this state I'm just saying
Posted by cardboardboxer
Member since Apr 2012
34330 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:51 am to
quote:

What about the little nerdy guy who's never watched a football game in his life.....is he a better fan than Joe down the road who's been pulling for his school his entire life but enlisted in the military?



Obviously not.

Now if Joe down the road goes to the local bar after his enlisted time, sees someone at the bar wearing a rival's gear and then decids to call out that person because of a lack of success the rival has had in some area then AT THAT EXACT MOMENT Joe is a worse fan than the nerdy guy.

Because unlike Joe, the nerdy guy isn't damaging the brand. He isn't helping the brand, but he isn't hurting it like Joe is.

That is why overall sidewalks are worse- the bad apples are simply the worst sports fans period.

Sidewalks feel entitled to a brand, tied to a team. But they are not, at least not beyond what they have built up in their heads.

As an alum who career might depend on the brand (since the school brand and the team brand is one and the same), I say frick Joe's fandom if he can't behave.
Posted by dawg4lyfe
Member since May 2012
11662 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:52 am to
Bandwagon by far. I never attended UGA. But have always been a bulldog fan.
Posted by cardboardboxer
Member since Apr 2012
34330 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:52 am to
quote:

Except for Green Bay.



Good point.
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:53 am to
quote:

Now if Joe down the road goes to the local bar after his enlisted time, sees someone at the bar wearing a rival's gear and then decids to call out that person because of a lack of success the rival has had in some area then AT THAT EXACT MOMENT Joe is a worse fan than the nerdy guy


I do understand this part. That would make sense..

I'm not saying all your points are dumb but I'm saying a lot of them are.

I just don't think there is some moral high ground when it comes to being a fan. THAT'S ALL.
Posted by KSGamecock
The Woodlands, TX
Member since May 2012
22982 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:53 am to


Cardboard is winning this one IMO.
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:54 am to
quote:

As an alum who career might depend on the brand (since the school brand and the team brand is one and the same), I say frick Joe's fandom if he can't behave.


but you're the one putting that on joe...joe didn't do that. You're saying that joe down the road is a shitty fan because of what he could do. That's an awful argument.
Posted by chattabama
12essee
Member since Jun 2012
19315 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 10:57 am to
quote:

It isn't until after the drunk bitch punches someone, or the tree is poisoned, that we all go back and say "and that person never even attended the university!" By then its too late, damage done, no take backs.


Unfortunately for Bama it isn't just the sidewalkers. The teabagger is a Bama alum
Posted by cave canem
pullarius dominus
Member since Oct 2012
12186 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:00 am to
What we have learned so far:
Cardboard boxer does not like sidewalkers
That dude is a closet gump sidewalker

Wonder how this ends and the over/under on ruined horticulture.
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:01 am to
I'm just a fan.

I'm not a bandwagon and I'm not a sidewalker.

just a fan. spin it however you will.
This post was edited on 4/24/14 at 11:05 am
Posted by cardboardboxer
Member since Apr 2012
34330 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:05 am to
quote:

I just don't think there is some moral high ground when it comes to being a fan.


Depends on what you mean by that.

I mean, as an alum BY DEFINITION you are more tied to the brand. Your career, your resume, is dependant on the University's brand.

As a sidewalk, unless you are sending kids there, it is a team to you. Same as the Saints or any pro team. It doesn't define anything serious in your life, just how you chose to spend your time on a certain hobby.

That is a HUGE difference.

I wouldn't call it a moral high ground, I would call it having a better claim to represent the brand of a program.

quote:

but you're the one putting that on joe...joe didn't do that. You're saying that joe down the road is a shitty fan because of what he could do. That's an awful argument.



I am saying OVERALL when you compare sidewalks vs bandwagons, the sidewalks are worse because their bad apples are simply the worst fans in sport.

Now if Joe doesn't go lash out at people he is still a sidewalk fan and THAT ISN'T A BAD THING. Just being a sidewalk fan isn't a negative just like just being a bandwagon isn't a negative.

But the second a Joe feels they "own" that brand enough to make it theirs, own it enough to use the brand to build up their own shity self esteem by tearing other fans down, ON THAT DAY Joe becomes the kind of fan that make all sidewalks look bad.

The reason ON AVERAGE a sidewalk fan is worse is because of the crazy outliers.
Posted by Feral
Member since Mar 2012
12400 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:07 am to
quote:

Sidewalk fans choose a team to support that they have no knowledge of yet act like an expert. Even though bandwagoners pick a team that is currently winning they will eventually learn more about the team and may eventually become a legit fan. A sidewalker is the douche friend that just roots for the team your team is playing just to get under your skin.


True, but the bandwagoners who try to act like super fans and are condescending to those who actually went to school at said university are worse. I graduated from my school so the "sidewalk" label doesn't apply to me, but at least most sidewalk fans have rooted for their team through thick and thin.

If I'm a Bama alum, I really don't want to hear shite about who's a "real fan" from some guy who adopted the team in 2008.

And bandwagoners learn more about that team? LOL Wut? Go ahead and ask a bandwagon Alabama fan who Don Hutson, Pat Trammell, Frank Thomas, Wallace Wade, or even Gene Stallings are and they won't have a clue. Don Hutson, isn't he Saban's strength coach?

Plus, a good deal of sidewalk fans (Bama notwithstanding) usually attend other, non-SEC in-state colleges.
This post was edited on 4/24/14 at 11:12 am
Posted by randomways
North Carolina
Member since Aug 2013
12988 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:08 am to
quote:

think this is where the respect thing comes in.

For a bandwagon fan, your fandom gets no respect. Period. And most bandwagoners don't ask for respect, they just want to enjoy the ride. If they go around rubbing it in everyone's face that their team won no one will take them seriously.

Many sidewalkers DO want respect. They want to be seen as "real" fans, or at least just as real as alums.

There is the disconnect.

As an alum, I am wary of sidewalk fans because on gameday there is no little name badge that says "this person has earned the right to represent this university."

It isn't until after the drunk bitch punches someone, or the tree is poisoned, that we all go back and say "and that person never even attended the university!" By then its too late, damage done, no take backs.

So I feel sidewalk fans should have more respect, even than an average alum, for the brand they have attached themselves to and take great care not to misrepresent that brand.

That is how I am with the Saints because all NFL brands are sidewalk brands. I never talk trash to rival NFL fans because I have no right to, as I don't work for Benson or the organization.

Problem is many sidewalkers have less respect than the average alum for the brand they follow, and that is why overall they are the worst group of fans


There's an enormous fallacy, though, in tarring them with that brush when you could just as easily tar alumni/students with the same brush. Are you one of the frat guys at Death Valley tossing piss balloons? If not, you certainly don't want to be treated like them. The same applies to sidewalk fans.

I can't entirely disagree with you with regards to the 'respect' issue, though I think you couch it wrong. It should be that they should feel the pressure to uphold the image more than alumni, not because they're sidewalk fans but because alumni have more vested interest in and thus, theoretically, more instinctive protectiveness of their school.

Even so, you're talking about practical applications of a topic that is essentially theoretical. I'm not going to grab a sidewalk fan by the shirt and demand that s/he prove respect. I'm just going to assume s/he has respect until proven otherwise. That doesn't mean I don't value the reputation of Vanderbilt (for my own selfish purposes, at that) but I also don't look down on people who didn't attend but still cheer for the Commodores (both of them, one in Nashville, one in Canberra, Australia, the last time ESPN did a poll.) They don't have my vested interest, but they're perfectly capable of loving the team and following it just as well as, if not better than, I do. Hell, my mom attended Vandy and she couldn't name the current coach. My little sister didn't and she knows everything about the team. It's just as silly to look down on someone for not attending your school as it is to look down on someone attending a school with a worse football team than yours. Either way, it seems unnecessarily condescending, imho.
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:10 am to
You make good points but I think it's blown out of proportion.

Posted by NorthGAVol
Member since Sep 2011
8939 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:10 am to
Easily bandwagon fans.



Fwiw, I'm a sidewalk fan. I was born in Chattanooga but moved to GA when I was 6. I would've loved to have gone to UT for school but I couldn't fathom asking my father to pay $25k per year for out of state tuition when I was eligible for the HOPE scholarship here in Georgia.

I attend multiple UT football and basketball games every season. I consider Knoxville my second home now I've loved the VOLS and the University of Tennessee since I could talk.
I bleed orange, always have and always will.

COME AT ME BRO
Posted by thatdude1985
Oxford, AL
Member since Oct 2011
27038 posts
Posted on 4/24/14 at 11:13 am to
quote:

There's an enormous fallacy, though, in tarring them with that brush when you could just as easily tar alumni/students with the same brush. Are you one of the frat guys at Death Valley tossing piss balloons? If not, you certainly don't want to be treated like them. The same applies to sidewalk fans.

I can't entirely disagree with you with regards to the 'respect' issue, though I think you couch it wrong. It should be that they should feel the pressure to uphold the image more than alumni, not because they're sidewalk fans but because alumni have more vested interest in and thus, theoretically, more instinctive protectiveness of their school.

Even so, you're talking about practical applications of a topic that is essentially theoretical. I'm not going to grab a sidewalk fan by the shirt and demand that s/he prove respect. I'm just going to assume s/he has respect until proven otherwise. That doesn't mean I don't value the reputation of Vanderbilt (for my own selfish purposes, at that) but I also don't look down on people who didn't attend but still cheer for the Commodores (both of them, one in Nashville, one in Canberra, Australia, the last time ESPN did a poll.) They don't have my vested interest, but they're perfectly capable of loving the team and following it just as well as, if not better than, I do. Hell, my mom attended Vandy and she couldn't name the current coach. My little sister didn't and she knows everything about the team. It's just as silly to look down on someone for not attending your school as it is to look down on someone attending a school with a worse football team than yours. Either way, it seems unnecessarily condescending, imho.



Great stuff randomways.
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