For those who didn't go to the school for which you cheer

If I let others set the criteria for me as to what I like or do this would be relevant.
But I don't and it's not.

T-shirt fans can certainly help and benefit a program. Passion has no boundaries. Fair weather fans are meh and bandwagon fans are the worst. As long as a t-shirt fan is committed during the rough times then they are just as good. Heck there are some students that could care less about the team so that doesn't make them more of a fan .

From my experience, they’re usually the trashier of the fans you’ll encounter in person. Most actual students at all schools have been pretty cool. And they love to say “we”.

This is what little brother syndrome looks like, folks..

Grew up in a family that loved Bama (Bear coke bottles unopened beside the chip container tin with his face on it with the 1981 schedule on said chip tin). The rare time Bama games were on tv it was like they were having church in the livingroom. At about 5 years old I realized they couldn’t find Tuscaloosa on a map. None of them went to a college. The 1989 Iron Bowl was like I just knocked out Clubber in Rocky III. Out of pure spite became THE Auburn fan in my family, since getting older I have recruited cousins and siblings.

Got accepted to AU and also got accepted into a private college with the extreme outside shot to play a sport there. Went to the small private school. My AU fandom has never ceased and never will. War Eagle.

So those of us who never attended a university (there are more that didn't then that those that did) shouldn't root for anybody?

I grew up on Oklahoma and left when I was 19 to go into the Navy. Ended up in Mobile, al where I met my future wife (an alabama fan at the time) and she took a job at the Auburn Veterinary School, so we moved to Auburn. We both fell in love with Auburn and not just the football team. We lived there for 4 years before moving back to Mobile. No I don't have a degree from Auburn, but my love for all things AU can match just about anybody's.

Edit: And for the record I never talk trash about another school. Even though I dislike some of AU's rivals, I think it is distasteful to talk bad about them.

OP never said that you can't be fan if you didn't attend. He only questions where the passion comes from. It's a fair question and actually far more interesting than the some old alumni story.

Like the guy earlier who's family has been UGa for more than a century. That's great stuff

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so we moved to Auburn. We both fell in love with Auburn and not just the football team. We lived there for 4 years before moving back to Mobile

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Prime example ^^, this is more interesting than just matriculating from the university

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...how is it that you can get so torqued up about a team? I don't think I'd have near the interest in SEC football if I hadn't actually attended the school and received a degree from there.

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I have been a Auburn fan my entire life. I have probably had season tickets longer than you have been alive

...how is it that you can get so torqued up about a team?

agreed

even tho my parents went there, if I did not I would pull for the team of which I went to.

So had I gone to UNC or UVA (well I didn't get in) but HAD I, don't care how crappy they were I would pull for them.


Then again I'd probably be a bigger basketball fan.