Sports Fans

I have always been a huge Green Bay Packers fan. I grew up watching the Packers play on TV every Sunday with my grandfather. I never got to actually attend a game at Lambeau “The Frozen Tundra” Stadium, until I went last season with my wife and her dad and step-mother but still, watching those games with him will always be a great memory now that my grandfather has passed away. I do not really watch any other sports besides football, so I will talk about football fans.

I have broken down the fans list to basically three types of fans; The Extreme Fan, the Casual Fan and the Bandwagon Fan.
The Extreme Fan is the fan that lives and breathes for his or her team. They will go as far as rescheduling family vacations so they do not miss a game. The Extreme fan is also known to paint their family car the team’s colors! At the game the Extreme fan will paint his or her body of the team colors; it does not matter if the game is during extreme heat or extreme cold, they are out there rooting for their team, in the case of Packers fans, and they might not even have shirts on during the coldest game in December. They are the people on TV that will wear these elaborate costumes that support their team or they are the people that will not wear shirts or jackets in the coldest, snowiest game of the year. They also can be pretty superstitious when watching a game.

They have to wear the same socks when their team won the last game, or they have to be seated in the exact same spot, wearing the exact same uniform in the hopes that they will win the big game. They might even have to be with the same people every game and they cannot accept anyone else into their group as that might upset the balance and cause their team to lose. Even television ads have shown how extreme some fans can be, Bud light beer commercials show how extreme some fans can be and they end their commercials with, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work”. I have personally seen a guy driving around town with a green and gold paint job, the Packer’s team colors with a giant white G plastered all over the truck, which is a prime example of a hardcore fan!

The casual fan is the person that may or may not watch the game, if something else more interesting is happening he or she will go do that or if they are watching TV, they might even change the channel to watch something
else. If they are in fact watching the game they might even change the channel if their team is losing or about to lose the game. The casual fan does not follow the team but knows enough to hold a conversation about the team. They appreciate the game and the players and usually will not argue about who the best player is or who deserves the most money that year. They probably have not been to see the game in person, but they might have hung out while tailgating during the game if they are with friends, but probably would not go to a tailgate by themselves. They would more than likely watch their teams during the playoffs or if they make it past the playoffs into the Superbowl than any other game in the season.

The casual fan is more likely not to argue about how good or bad his or her team and they would probably wait for the other person to finish talking and then throw in their two cents so they do not seem like the abrasive type, much like the Hardcore fan, who could act very abrasive when talking about their team. They are easier to get along with and probably appreciate the game and the players. The Casual fan will probably ask how such and such a team is doing this year or when the playoffs start, just to start a conversation, although they probably really do not know.

The Bandwagon fan is probably the worst fan of all as they will always boast that their team won, even though they rooted for a different team in the beginning of the season, and perhaps changed teams again as their original team started to lose. They will more than likely wait until the end of the Superbowl to confess their undying love, for who ever won! You can usually tell the bandwagon fan by looking in their closet. They will more than likely have several different sports team memorabilia, from jerseys to hats. The bandwagon fan might not even like the sport at all, but if the team signs a big name player or the team makes into the playoffs, they become the hardcore fan. Ask the Bandwagon fan the starting lineup for his or her team, and they could probably name a couple of players, and those would more likely than not be more of the famous players on the team.

The fact that the Bandwagon fan jumps around between teams so much probably has more to do with the “always having to be a winner” attitude. Maybe their team has not been good at all in previous years and they feel like they have to root for someone that will actually win a Superbowl so they want to feel part of the winning team. Look at some of more stylish celebrities, they wear a team hat or jersey when they are out in public and fans of that celebrity will start wearing those team memorabilia, when they probably do not even know anyone on the team. My oldest daughter is a bandwagon fan. She lived in Minnesota for a couple years after High School and loved the running back for the Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson. The Vikings and the Packers have always had a pretty good rivalry, but she would have her Adrian Peterson jersey on all the time. Well fast forward to this last season and she texts me that she excited that the Packers are in the SuperBowl. I was surprised to say the least so I had to give her a good tongue lashing about her liking the Vikings for so long and how the Packers did not need her fan support, since she was still a Vikings fan, just in jest of course, but I told her that she was just a bandwagon fan, which did not go over too well with her!

I am sure we all know someone that fits into the above categories, my wife changes between the casual fan and the hardcore fan. When we lived in Hawaii, the Pro Bowl players practiced at military bases, my wife took my 2nd eldest daughter down to watch the Packer Pro bowlers practice, she even got Packers Linebacker Clay Matthews, her crush!, to sign her Clay Matthews jersey, which she will not wear or wash it because of the signature. However this last season she only watched a couple of games, I do not know why, but she just did not want to watch the Packers play. My youngest daughter is the complete opposite of my wife, she watched every game with me, granted she played on my Ipad the whole time, but she was still down there and celebrated the wins and was upset when they lost. I hope she does not ask to paint her room green and gold, but I think I might let that one slide just because it is the Packers colors anyways!