re: Which is WORSE? Bandwagon fans or Sidewalk fans

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I'm not seeing a reason to buy that this is a reason to even bother discussing them as sidewalk fans simply because I'm not seeing evidence this is inherent to the breed, so to speak. It's a classic fallacy of composition.

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Sure, you got me there. I don't have hard data to back any of this up, and I wouldn't expect to find any. It is not like my worst-case sidewalk fan is a important marketing demographic or something.

So yes, I am basing it on my personal experience of dealing with many types of worst case sidewalk fans, which in retrospect were mostly Bama, Michigan and Texas fans.

But it is not like I am describing some fan you can't imagine to exist. I am sure every major fanbase has at least one worst-case sidewalk fan like I describe. The bottom-heavy economic ladder basically demands that to be the case.

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My problem with your argument, to turn it to the teabagger, is that you either have no vested interest or have vested interest regardless. The teabagger hurts his brand, but he hurts yours as well, as does the (assuming one buys your argument) sidewalk fan you describe. Either you care about that in every case or you're best served, argumentatively-speaking, letting it slide in every case because I can't see how you can argue any moral validation in self-harm.

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I COMPLETELY disagree.

The Teabagger has it worse than any sidewalk fan. Any alum that shames their program has it worse than a sidewalk fan.

Why?

Because when you try to engage with your university or your fellow alums in ways that have NOTHING to do with sport your infamy will carry over. You become known as the ballguy at alum events, in the office, at job interviews, and around fellow alums in general.

It is way worse to be a shameful outlier as an alum. That enforcement mechanism being in place is why I put alums on a tier above sidewalkers on average.

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Your argument is mostly emotional, which doesn't establish solid evidence that even the most obnoxious sidewalk fan harms the brand in any way that isn't measured in Internet validation. I may mock Alabama for Updyke. I may needle TAMU fans for Manziel's exploits and the PR disaster that is old-timey male cheerleader photos. But the brand hasn't been demonstrably hurt in either case unless you can provide more evidence.

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Well yeah, I can't quote a study that says "sidewalker antics hurt Bama's brand value by $20 million!" or something like that.

But brand harm doesn't have to total in the millions to be real. If a sidewalker's antics damages the brand in the mind of one child, one good student that took their talents elsewhere because of it, then that is too much damage to me. Even less than that is too much damage to me.

Why?

Because as a sidewalker is it NOT YOUR BRAND TO DAMAGE!

It is like me going into a store and saying "I really like peanuts, I am a huge peanut fan, so I am just going to take a few peanuts." Sure a few nuts won't make the store go bankrupt or hit the bottom line, but it is the principle of it that matters- those are not my goddamn nuts! Not one, not a few, not any. Not until I pay, which in my analogy is becoming a real stakeholder in the university.

For a sidewalk fan, it is not their goddamn brand to do with what they want. It is the brand of the university and its stakeholders aka the alums.

So if you are a sidewalk fan, you DO NOT get the benefit of the doubt from me because myself and other alums lack an enforcement mechanism to make sure you don't damage OUR brand.

So when comparing categories, because they have the passion of an alum but no enforcement mechanism to police that passion, on average a sidewalk fan is the worst kind of fan by definition.