Should I Care About Bandwagon Fans?

[Gary Nylund]

Oh, for Pete's sake: why would any living, breathing adult care who else calls themselves a life-long Leafs fan?

Is there a prize for being the bestest, loyalest, longest-living of the True Elite?

It's a spectator sport where they sell admission tickets, hot dogs and team paraphernalia! It's not like you won a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics in the Leafs-watching event!

Should you care who calls themselves a life-long Leafs fan?

Sure. Go ahead.

I'll never understand why people care so much about what other people do. Does it really affect you if someone is a "bandwagon fan"? Like, do you suddenly no longer enjoy watching hockey because the guy next to you just started following your team now?

Jesus, people put more devotion into their favorite teams than they do their marriages/relationships. "I'm going to divorce my wife of 10 years because it's not working out, but no way in hell will I ever switch hockey teams!"

If your own self image relies on you seeing yourself as a superior fan to those bandwagon fans then I'd say the problem lies more with you then them.

Agree with all the above.

OP - for someone so sensitive about who is or isn't a true Leaf fan you have a really odd username.

 

[REGGIE DUNLOP77]

. Only true fans watched the Leafs when Kessel/Phaneuf were stinking the joint and Horacek was ensuring nothing was done about it.

Thats not true at all,i was going to say i did not watch that part of the season ,but thinkin back i did but vowed not to watch again till they got rid of dion and i did not i was so pissed when bobcat came out with praise for dion,it was a sad Oct.i was so very happy in febuary when he got traded and i could again watch the leafs.I am still not happy with jvr and ******** but not to the heavy dislike i have for dion.

I have been a leafs fan since early 70s and seen a lot of crap teams,

 

[Dying Alive]

I will never understand why people care about bandwagon fans. The Pens fan base as a whole gets deemed bandwagoners all the time and even the 'new' fans have mostly been around for more than a decade, so I'm not sure that the label bandwagoner even has real meaning anymore. I've been a Pens fan since the mid-80s and people assume I'm a bandwagoner just because I'm a Pens fan. Who cares? Does it lessen my enjoyment of watching my team or celebrating when they win? Nope.

I've been a Pirates fan for 30+ years. I sat through 20 losing seasons IN A ROW and all of a sudden there were tons of die hards when they started making the playoffs. Who cares? Unless there's some special Real Fan Award I'm unaware of for being a sucker and sticking by a ****** team for two decades when I could have been spending my time in much more constructive ways I'm not sure how it affects me one way or the other. If more people want to cheer for my team, yay. Having a bandwagon just means your team is relevant.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Nope. Who gives a damn what other think?? Especially on the internet.

 

[DMR]

File this under "the little things in life".

That said, the bandwagon fans are the smart ones. They're not wasting thier time, money, or emotions on a crappy product put out by a poorly run company. There's nothing noble or admirable about blindly supporting incompetence because of laundry.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

Wait, why was your account only created in Dec. 2015? Are you sure you aren't a bandwagon fan claiming to be a life long Leafs fan?

 

[PhilMeyer]

From my own perspective, you can still be a "fan" of a team while not following them closely.

For instance, I became a penguins fan at around age 9, when I chose Mario Lemieux as my favorite player; because all of my friends were Gretzky fans and I wanted to choose someone different. This was also around 1990, right before they started winning cups. So I started as sort of a "band-wagon" fan 25 years ago. My Lemieux rookie card was my most prized possession.

I followed them casually until high school, when I started watching a bunch of their games in the Jagr/Straka/Kovalev era and cheering them on every playoffs.
I'd yell "Mooooose!" at my TV along with everyone.

Then when I was in college they started giving away their best players for scraps, and stopped any intention of icing a competitive product. Did I continue watching them? No, not really. I had better things to do, and probably would have been too busy anyway. I'd check the standings every so often. Read about their team news. Check out who their leading scorers were (Dick Tärnström???). But if you'd asked me who my favorite team was, I'd definitely still say the Pens.

I started following them closely again when they actually had something for me to be excited about after the lockout. I got NHL center ice and started watching every single game. Having a generational player (or two) sure helped, but really I just needed something to cheer for. Getting a Mathews level of player certainly would have done it.

I'm not sure I'd claim to be a "lifelong fan", but I've never had any other favorite team, and have liked them since I was a kid. Maybe some of your Leafs fans are the same way.

Following a struggling team is hard. Props for you for sticking to them through thick and thin, but in the end following hockey is something people do for entertainment. When watching your team lose isn't making you happy, most folks start choosing other forms of entertainment. *shrug*

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

More importantly; don't use 'we' to describe a sports team you aren't employed by.

 

[Dogewow]

Don't really care about bandwagon fans. I'm a Sabres fan, and I'd be lying to you if I told you I didn't at least partially hop on the Predators bandwagon. That team was fun to watch and it was exciting seeing the fanbase and city showcase themselves.

What I don't like are people who hop on the bandwagon and antagonize other fans/fanbases. But at that point, it isn't a problem of bandwagoning, it's that some people are just ****** bags.

 

[8816 others]

There is a generation of hockey fans in Toronto who never got to see or were too young to remember when the Leafs were regular contenders. Ten years of misery had many of them flock to other teams. If they can be lured away from those teams, I am all for it. Maple Leafs Square was littered with young fans wearing Caps jerseys during the playoff run. I would like to see that turn to a solid blue and white.

 

[SCampo98]

What criteria do you use to distinguish bandwagon fan from non-bandwagon fan? If you see someone in Leafs gear, and you do not know them, do you just assume they are bandwagon?

No, I can only speak about the people that are around me and the people I see at games. Just as an example, and I'm not sure you'd get this in many other places, I sat a couple rows back in January from someone wearing a Josh Donaldson LEAFS jersey. I guess they're trying to show support for both teams but to me it looked like they were a baseball fan who was getting into the Leafs because of their moderate early success. Nothing inherently wrong with it I guess, just bothers me a bit.

 

[SCampo98]

meh, the term bandwagon isn't used properly these days. a prototypical bandwagon fan changes their team on a regular basis. someone that cheers for their hometown team when they're good and doesn't when they're bad isn't what i consider a bandwagon fan.

I completely agree. My issue is with people from here (Toronto/GTA) who claimed to have been Red Wings or Blackhawks fans since birth and then suddenly renounce them for the Leafs after they see their doing well. I'm not sure how many people actually do this, I'm simply talking from personal experiences.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

I started watching in the lockout year.

My bolts were ass that season.

 

[Menzinger]

Nobody is born a fan of the team. This years bandwagon fan could stay with the team for the rest of their lives

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

meh, the term bandwagon isn't used properly these days. a prototypical bandwagon fan changes their team on a regular basis. someone that cheers for their hometown team when they're good and doesn't when they're bad isn't what i consider a bandwagon fan.

i like when my friends give a **** about hockey, it gives us an opportunity to do more things together and that's not something im going to complain about.

Yeah, I think people mistake "bandwagon fan" for "fair weather fan".

Bandwagon, to me, implies they just start cheering for a team that's currently having success. Kind of like suddenly becoming the biggest Golden State Warriors fan in the past couple of years when prior to that they didn't even know they had a team.

Fair weather fan is someone who sticks to one team, but who seems to show more interest when the team is winning and becomes casual/barely interested when it is losing.

 

[Braunbaer]

"fans"

 

[usahockey22flyers]

Don't we want hockey to grow? We should encourage any and all fans to watch and support the sport!

 

[cowboy82nd]

Not sure a Rangers fan would understand where a Leafs fan is coming from. Or did you become a fan in 1994/5?

What about a Panther's fan? I say the more the merrier.

 

[DRL]

Some people have better things to do then invest in a losing, crappy product. What enjoyment have the "hardcore" leaf fans had over the last decade?

It's like the blue Jays, the fans came back when the product was good, but if the product is terrible how can you possibly be upset at people making better use of their time.

Me personally, I loved the Avalanche so much from the day Roy joined up until this past year. I bought all kinds of merchandise, can recall hundreds of memories from the past 20 years. But over the past 2 years especial this year after Roy left, Why would I waste my valuable time watching a horrific product? This life is too short to waste it on something that wont provide enjoyment. I'd rather watch a game with two skilled teams like the penguins and caps or an upcoming team like the leafs.

 

[Not So Mighty]

LOL. How about, if you must brag, only brag about things you personally achieved? Who brags about witnessing things?

Good grief.

This whole thing is just too precious. Maybe you can started issuing tickets, citations for what you consider less than acceptable fandom?

You're criticizing basic sports fandom. If you can't brag and be proud of what your team has done during your support, then why have a favorite team at all? Bizarre really. Seems like you are personally offended by the word brag. Substitute whatever word you want for how your favorite team's success makes you feel. Sorry I offended you somehow. Regardless, people DO brag about things their favorite team has accomplished. That is normal in sports. My only point is that I think it's unfair to parade championships that came before your support.

 

[Lomez]

I don't find bandwagon fans annoying. I find people who see bandwagons as inferior because they lack the cred that "real fans" do annoying. Who freakin' cares.

I've supported the Pens since the eighties and, without a doubt, my interest ebbed and waned with the product on the ice. Although, on occasion, I did it, I thought people who went to games and supported crap hockey and management were idiots. Good for them.

 

[Whiston532]

As a 10 year Oiler fan (I came in during the cup run admittedly but was super invested almost immediately) it does kinda bug me to see people who up until the day we made the playoffs where basically saying "lol. **** those losers" immediately go "go team go. I love the Oilers". But ultimately there's a few things I keep in mind.

1. Not everyone gives a damn. Sports aren't super serious to everyone. Plenty of people drop in and out. That's their business.

2. "Hardcore" fans can be just as, if not more annoying. Someone going "oh they're good now ? Neat" is a lot less annoying than some of the nonsense I've heard from more "passionate" fans. So whatever

 

[Bedards Dad]

This is a joke thread right?

How is this even a thing? Why do you even care? I have been following the Leafs since I was 10 (1993) and I couldn't care less if you have been watching for 5 months or 50 years. I am baffled that anyone would.

Very childish thread in my eyes.

 

[Bedards Dad]

Maple Leafs Square was littered with young fans wearing Caps jerseys during the playoff run. I would like to see that turn to a solid blue and white.

That's a MAJOR exaggeration. I was there for 2 and watched the rest. I saw a handful if caps jerseys at best.

 

[StarvinArvyn33]

It shouldn't matter, successful teams in every sport attract that.