re: Why do sidewalk fans tend tend to be more rabid and fanatical than alums?

It all depends on perspective. Continuing my example:

Sidewalk fans didn't go through the same journey of choosing Auburn to get their degree, leaving their parents to get dropped off at the dorm and make all new friends. Go to class and staying up late nights for finals to get a degree with the same school's name as what is up on the scoreboard. The football team has origins of being kids plucked out of the student body to compete for school pride and give fall students something to look forward to on the weekend. Sure, that's changing as the money comes in, and I"m not naive enough to say that things are so pure now and that football players are average students, but the fact is that you can still find yourself sitting at a desk next to these monsters that hit people on the field. You might be their lab partner or see them walking around the student union with a backpack on.

The paths I take out of Jordan Hare looking desperately for a bathroom are paths students take every day to get between classes and where they live. The quads I look to pitch a tent might be the same spot they did something with their fraternity and chilled on during a normal spring day.

I don't have that connection to Auburn, and I have made peace with that. That isn't the path I chose, and while under the age of 18 I could have been considered at least a big an Auburn fan as any other kid my age, I chose against it. I have that particular connection to Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech doesn't face the same potential for sidewalk fans, so what I'm about to say is just a prediction for a hypothetical: If Georgia Tech had some Hesiman favorite, national title favorites, and suddenly became an overnight sensation to the Atlanta area, you bet your arse I would a little offput if a huge bandwagon/sidewalk fanbase descended on campus and started being a noticeably "ra ra ra" over the top part of our fanbase.

Now, me being here on this forum with Auburn by my name is evident that of course I still feel deeply connected to Auburn and passionate about seeing them do well. I'll be frank, I follow the "in-the-weeds" details of Auburn football more attentively than I even do my own school. But I know that there is a certain part of Auburn fanhood I will never know and appreciate the way I would if I had been a student there.

Doesn't mean you have to be an asskisser or apologize for being the fan you are... but to deny that there is an element missing when you didn't attend school there is just wrong. Me taking that stance involves me falling on my own sword to make that point.

I get that, but I'm not suggesting people just universally hate on sidewalk fans. I think comments here are usually made when picturing someone who is obnoxious, in your face, over the top, or otherwise attention-seeking.

I think a guy who shows up, acts respectably and cheers on his team isn't the one that riles up this class of judgment.

Unfortunately, the countries comparison is apples and oranges. Firstly, people would be thrilled by that because all we get is nothing but negative feedback about the US from other developed countries, so it's a breath of fresh air. Sports rivalries obviously also have "taking sides" involved, but it seems the country example most people perceive other countries as being "live and let live" towards everyone but the US. Or at least that the US in particular is judged more harshly and at a different standard.

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What could anyone possibly get out of looking down on a decent sidewalk fan other than pointless ego-boosting?

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You got the order wrong random. I don't think alums want to go out of their way to look down on sidewalks, they just hate dealing with sidewalk shite which looks like they are talking down to sidewalkers.

The problem is the exact kind of sidewalk fan mentioned in this thread- the one with very little positive going on in their lives so they tie their ego to a regionally successful team. When (quite frankly stupid) people put their eggs in this basket two problems happen:

1. Without the ACTUAL tie to the university, they are more likely to do dumb things that harm the university brand. With an alumni they can be cut out of the network, and therefore reprimanded if they get famous for misdeeds. When loose cannon sidewalkers like crazy Bama lady do something COMPLETELY unacceptable for a college educated crowd then that gets associated with all the perfectly normal and intelligent alums. As an alum you are counting on that name and network for more important things like a career, which makes you think twice.

2. Because these people's fragile egos are tied to that team they are VERY likely to talk shite to ALUMNI of rival teams despite having very little skin in the game. You can't tell me you haven't met some sidewalk Tenn fan that talked down to you as a freaking Vandy alumni. Maybe you can act above it all and treat it like Jane Goodall, but when a sidewalk fan calls me a faggy because a team they barely have an association with beats mine I want to hit them with my fricking car.

NO ONE has a problem with respectable "sidewalk" fans. NO ONE. They blend in, they contribute, and they make the sport as big as it is. If you are some person who has lived that program your entire life, has family connections, or sends a kid there you aren't the problem and NO ONE is looking down on you.

In fact I feel you don't get that label unless you DO irrationally base your ego on the regional team. To me a good sidewalk fan is just a fan, or a superfan, or some other positive thing. It is the Bama ladies, or the high school dropout Tenn fan that gives YOU shite, that deserves all the scorn. And rightfully so.

That is the kind of people OP is describing.

My MSU(alma mater)/UF("sidewalk) gear around the house/office/car are similar and #s and I root for both teams very passionately

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Serraneaux

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I knew ewe were too

People pay taxes state taxes so they can pull for whatever college sports team they want to. I went to a small college. I still like USC.

Doesn't even apply.

Struck a nerve. I bet that huge script A on your Chevy is SWEET bro!

I'm pretty sure we've actually had this particular discussion before. At least I think it was with you...it was with a reasonable debater, so that means there's a roughly 1/3 chance here on the Rant that it was you (for the rest of you, if you're reading this, rest assured you are definitely one of the other two reasonable ones, just so you don't worry.) I don't disagree that alumni/ae have more personally invested in a school, and thus have a certain vested interest in the reputation of the program and the fanbase. But I read the OP as being categorical -- he seems to being saying that this is an innate characteristic of sidewalk fans, and the tone implies disapprobation toward the category itself. I interpreted it as such since I've certainly known students and alumni/ae who hold precisely the view you're discarding -- sidewalk fans are somehow "lesser" regardless of their behavior. That sort of attitude even more prevalent at places like Vanderbilt, where the "prestige" tends to over-inflate egos (granted, the attitude tends more toward looking down on graduates of other SEC schools than sports fans, but it's stil relatively analogous as far as the sense of entitlement goes.)

Since the OP has now declared (or implied) that he wasn't being categorical, I suppose this debate has reached a natural conclusion. In my defense, he didn't really add any mitigating conditional factor in his original post.