Sports fans - are you loyal to a team, or a losing star player?
 

I am not a sports fan. I don't understand being a sports fan. I only watch one sport, one team, a few times per year. I have a question about fandom. Hopefully fans can help me understand.

Let's say your team has a rookie star player at quarterback. He's a Heisman Trophy winner. He broke records in college. You're all excited about his rookie season. You buy the jersey with his number. Then, he sucks. Think Tim Tebow's first game as starter. The rising star turns out to be ashes, but you've already bought the jersey. You have that emotional investment that fans have. At what point are you ready for your team to get rid of him? If he goes 3-13 three seasons in a row are you ready for a new quarterback?

I can't answer because I don't understand either. I know that when Brett Favre left the Packers, suddenly he was the most hated man by most Packers fans. Didn't he take them to championships though? Maybe that can relate to your question, I dunno. I can understand hating Lebron(no championships).

I just hate when people say "we" when they talk about their favorite teams. "We just need to play harder". Ugh.

i'm a hardcore sports fan my entire life - too much of one in fact, my teams almost always suck and i do get depressed.

it's the team i am a fan of, players come and go, especially these days with free agency. if a player sucks, or gets traded - buh bye don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out.
if one of my favorite players gets traded from my team I still retain some interest in how he's doing but not much.

I think Jerry Seinfeld said whats become a very well known quote in sports fan circles 'You root for the laundry' - it's the jersey and crest/logo, players are mercenaries and don't care where they play. some don't even care if they win.

In that scenario, it sounds like the emotional investment lies more with the team and not the player so I guess you would have to consider other factors such as supporting talent and coaching.
Case in point. I'm a 49ers fan and their QB Alex Smith was a #1 draft pick in 2005 with a lot of expectations but never really lived up to them untile last year. Many people thought he was a bust, but when you consider that he had to play under 6 offensive coordinators in his first 6 years, it's easy to see why he didn't perform to expectations.

There are sports that I like and sports that i dont like. I have teams and players that I like more than others, for different reasons. I'm not "loyal" to any of them, tomorrow I may like one that i didnt like last week.

I watch a sport because I like the sport itself, what team is playing really doesnt matter to me as long as they are professional players.

When I was in college the up and coming quarterback was Kordell Stewart. Back in those days CU was just *about* to win a championship. I remember the miracle in Michigan.

I'm not exactly sure why I'm saying this. I remember when my buddy arm wrestled Kordell and won his rose bowl jersey or something.

He did a season or 2 at Pitt I believe and then just evaporated from the scene.

So I suppose when I see CU Buffs play I have an emotional back to hope they win. I think they need some new coaches though.

I was at this game!

http://www.orangeblood.org/Sports/fo...4/1994.cu.html

I like to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. The jump from college to pro is big. Some guys can make it with ease and others can never make. For some it takes some time. A good example: I am a big Oakland Raider fan. A few years ago they had the #1 pick and took QB JaMarcus Russell. He was a big, strong dude with a cannon for an arm. Everyone thought he would be a great QB. He turned out to be a bust. The first season I was still a fan. He seemed like he was working hard and trying to improve, but then his second season reports start coming out about how he isn't trying very hard in practice and is just acting like he doesn't care. At that point I give up on a guy.

I think most fans just want the players on a team to care and to try hard. Some of the most popular guys on teams are not the biggest stars, but the role playing grinders who may not have a ton of talent, but have a lot of heart.

As for not understand sports fandom. . . I can see how some people can feel that way. There are a lot of people who just aren't into it and don't see the excitement. For me it is best described by a line from the movie Fever Pitch: "It is good for your soul to invest yourself emotionally into something that you have absolutely no control over."

That was when CU was thought to be one of the best. The sooners was the team that just kept beating them. It was there running game.

I posted the michigan game, not texas. They still call it the miracle pass

It was nebraska back then that dominated college football, not the sooners

sounds way too over the top as a description for an average 'fan'

what you described sounds fanatical

Thanks for all of the responses.


Is fan not short for fanantic? Hmm...

Anyway the responses blow away my theory, I think. I had theorized that perhaps something similar to sports fanaticism might explain a different phenomenon. I was intrigued by some people's extreme reluctance to admit that their political party's newest leader sucks, even after several years of complete and utter fail. I had hoped that sports fans might understand it and be able to explain it. But nope, what I'm hearing, and what I saw with Tim Tebow, is that sports fans can admit when a guy they rooted for ends up sucking. So it's not similar, apparently.