Question regarding Duke fanhood

[Eric15]

If you never attended Duke, have no family members who attended Duke, or you have never lived in reasonable geographic proximity to Duke, and yet you consider Duke your favorite college basketball team… can it be reasonably inferred that in terms of sports fandom, you're probably an insufferable bandwagon fan?

 

[dollarbill44]

That's not really the definition of a bandwagon fan. If the person you just described loves and supports Duke basketball regardless of how many wins or losses they have, then they are still a loyal fan in my book. A bandwagoner's level of support ebbs and flows with the successes and failures of their "team".

As someone who works in NYC, I see multitudes of bandwagon Yankees fans - people who can't name anyone on the team other than A-Rod or Jeter, but come October (only if the Yankees are in the playoffs) they break out their Yankee t-shirts and want to talk all about how the team is going to win the World Series. Last October, they didn't make a sound.

 

[jekelish]

Eh, I see what you're saying but it's a tough one. If you are living somewhere without a major D1 program or where college hoops aren't very big, it's easy to become a Duke fan because they are on TV constantly so, growing up, that's the team you see the most.

That's how I become a Bulls fan as a kid. I lived in VT and didn't like the Celtics, but we got WGN so I saw the Bulls a to just as Jordan was entering his best years so I loved them.

Same sort of thing re: Duke for a lot of people I assume.

 

[bevosu]

I agree about the fair weather Yankee bandwagon fans...and the Cowboys have had a similar following in years past.

I do think that there is a very small minority who no matter their connection or geographical proximity just appreciates a team that has success and plays the game well.

 

[jec1521]

Ehh whatever. People are fans of teams for different reasons. I did not go to Syracuse, and have almost no connection to the school or area at all. Yet I have been as diehard as can be for the past 15 years that I have been watching.

I also have no connection with St. Louis or Los Angeles, and am a big Rams fan. I was 10 years old and looking for a team when the Greatest Show on Turf started. Considering the success (or lack thereof) that the Rams have had since then, and the fact that I somehow still follow them, the last thing I would consider myself to be is a bandwagon fan.

 

[jekelish]

Ehh whatever. People are fans of teams for different reasons. I did not go to Syracuse, and have almost no connection to the school or area at all. Yet I have been as diehard as can be for the past 15 years that I have been watching.

I also have no connection with St. Louis or Los Angeles, and am a big Rams fan. I was 10 years old and looking for a team when the Greatest Show on Turf started. Considering the success (or lack thereof) that the Rams have had since then, and the fact that I somehow still follow them, the last thing I would consider myself to be is a bandwagon fan.

That second paragraph is kind of like me with the Eagles. No connection to them other than McNabb was my favorite player so when he went there, they became my favorite team because before that I didn't have a favorite team. I still root for the Eagles like crazy and have been a fan for the last 15 years or so at this point.

As you said, you become a fan for various reasons.

 

[ImperialOrange]

As far as college sports fans go, I always question those who have a different favorite team depending on the sport. "Oh you're Duke basketball fan and a florida state football fan? Please, tell me more."

 

[texascpa]

I have never lived in Denver, never had family live in Denver, have only been to Denver one time my entire 44 year life, but I'm a huge Denver fan and have been since I first saw them play Dallas in Super Bowl XII. Now, granted I was only 7 years old the first time I saw them play and distinctly recall the only reason for wanting them to win was because I thought their uniforms were cooler, but I never deviated from my fandom. Never.

 

[edowd26]

If you never attended Duke, have no family members who attended Duke, or you have never lived in reasonable geographic proximity to Duke, and yet you consider Duke your favorite college basketball team… can it be reasonably inferred that in terms of sports fandom, you're probably an insufferable bandwagon fan?

Before I understood life and common decency I was a duke fan. When I was a kid 6 or 7 I was bobby hurley and my brother was laettner in the driveway. We had no idea we were emulating two of the largest dbags on earth. We only later realized this and confessed our sins to an ordained priest. He said god may or may not forgive.

 

[edowd26]

As far as college sports fans go, I always question those who have a different favorite team depending on the sport. "Oh you're Duke basketball fan and a florida state football fan? Please, tell me more."

Haaaa willy wonka.

 

[Eric15]

Before I understood life and common decency I was a duke fan. When I was a kid 6 or 7 I was bobby hurley and my brother was laettner in the driveway.

Did you kill a few beers to make it more authentic?

 

[Toga]

Three reasons:

1. Vitale & Packer
2. Because Coach K builds men according to the old commercial.
3. A bevy of effete students unable to to establish relationships with the opposite s e x who appear in numbers larger than they actually are, in the small gymnasium in which they play.

 

[edowd26]

Did you kill a few beers to make it more authentic?

Judging by my jumper it would have looked like it.

 

[Townie72]

"Yankee Fans" is the perfect answer.

There a lot of people who believe by rooting for a winning teams and buying a hat of T-Shirt of a winning team that this makes them winners too.

I grew up in NJ among legitimate Yankee fans. For many, it was passed down from their fathers.

But everyone gets the joke about the explosion and the ear found underneath the Yankee hat in the debris.

 

[Crusty]

I always liked USC football because they always beat those Big 1o bozos in the Rose Bowl. They were also fun to watch. After SU, I still root for them because one of my daughters would up going there.

 

[BuffOrange]

If you never attended Duke, have no family members who attended Duke, or you have never lived in reasonable geographic proximity to Duke, and yet you consider Duke your favorite college basketball team… can it be reasonably inferred that in terms of sports fandom, you're probably an insufferable bandwagon fan?

That's not really the definition of a bandwagon fan. If the person you just described loves and supports Duke basketball regardless of how many wins or losses they have, then they are still a loyal fan in my book. A bandwagoner's level of support ebbs and flows with the successes and failures of their "team".

I think we need a new term for these fans that describes a level of respect somewhere between "Bandwagon" and "Diehard Bills or Browns fan".
In the NFL there are lots of these fans for every team that was good in the 70's - Steelers, Cowboys, Dolphins, Raiders. I guess it's fine if you've stuck by them since then. Still seems a little lame to me to adopt them because they're good. Meh.

 

[sheaj]

That second paragraph is kind of like me with the Eagles. No connection to them other than McNabb was my favorite player so when he went there, they became my favorite team because before that I didn't have a favorite team. I still root for the Eagles like crazy and have been a fan for the last 15 years or so at this point.

As you said, you become a fan for various reasons.

So we share a few random ones...

Syracuse
Eagles
Bulls...

Lets see what else we got...

Blackhawks
Cubs
FC Dallas (only cause i lived in the area for a while and found myself at several games... not an avid fan by any means)
Queens Park Rangers (english premier league)
North Texas (i hold a degree from there)

The only ones I really can't "explain" are the Eagles and QPR. I actually became an Eagles fan pre-McNabb. Can't remember much as I was 10 or so. Brian Dawkins became my all-time favorite in his rookie season.

 

[Cadillac]

High school coaches' kids love Duke.

 

[Townie72]

So we share a few random ones...

Syracuse
Eagles
Bulls...

Lets see what else we got...

Blackhawks
Cubs
FC Dallas (only cause i lived in the area for a while and found myself at several games... not an avid fan by any means)
Queens Park Rangers (english premier league)
North Texas (i hold a degree from there)

The only ones I really can't "explain" are the Eagles and QPR. I actually became an Eagles fan pre-McNabb. Can't remember much as I was 10 or so. Brian Dawkins became my all-time favorite in his rookie season.

Queens Park Rangers? Wow, that's a non-obvious choice of an EPL team. I thought all Americans liked Man U or Arsenal.

I've been to games at Queens Park including vs Man City in Feb, 2013. . Actually one of the better neighborhoods to catch a game in with lot of restaurants and bars close by.

A tiny stadium by EPL standards.

 

[sheaj]

Queens Park Rangers? Wow, that's a non-obvious choice of an EPL team. I thought all Americans liked Man U or Arsenal.

I've been to games at Queens Park including vs Man City in Feb, 2013. . Actually one of the better neighborhoods to catch a game in with lot of restaurants and bars close by.

A tiny stadium by EPL standards.

yeah... I was expecting someone to call me out for saying EPL... but they'll be back. They are actually building a new stadium (40k) in Old Oak, if you're familiar. Part of a big regeneration project for the area. I'll have to make it back for a game at Loftus Road (hopefully in the EPL again) before then.

 

[jekelish]

So we share a few random ones...

Syracuse
Eagles
Bulls...

Lets see what else we got...

Blackhawks
Cubs
FC Dallas (only cause i lived in the area for a while and found myself at several games... not an avid fan by any means)
Queens Park Rangers (english premier league)
North Texas (i hold a degree from there)

The only ones I really can't "explain" are the Eagles and QPR. I actually became an Eagles fan pre-McNabb. Can't remember much as I was 10 or so. Brian Dawkins became my all-time favorite in his rookie season.

If I had a favorite MLS team, it would probably be FC Dallas since I live 45 minutes from Frisco.

For MLB, it's the Nats, though. Grew up loving the Expos and kept loving them when they moved to DC.

 

[reedny]

If you never attended Duke, have no family members who attended Duke, or you have never lived in reasonable geographic proximity to Duke, and yet you consider Duke your favorite college basketball team… can it be reasonably inferred that in terms of sports fandom, you're probably an insufferable bandwagon fan?

There's a team in South Bend to whose fans I'd put the same question.

 

[sabach]

There's a team in South Bend to whose fans I'd ask the same question.

Two words, Irish and Catholic.

 

[Cusefan95]

There's a team in South Bend to whose fans I'd ask the same question.

When my father was growing up in Binghamton, one of the boys in the neighborhood ended up playing football at Notre Dame. Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood ended up die-hard Notre Dame fans, and the player was viewed in that area as the embodiment of the American Dream. When you're growing up in a poor, blue collar Catholic community and somebody "makes it", it's a pretty big deal. I still root for Notre Dame football when they're not playing Syracuse (and admire the business acumen and forward thinking there that often is missing at Syracuse), but it's not nearly the passion for me it was for him. Several years ago I got tickets to a Notre Dame game and took him...it was spectacular to see; it was like watching a 65 year old man turn into a five year old kid in a candy store in front of my eyes.

My wife used to root for Duke in basketball; she grew up in Reading and went to Penn State, so Duke gave her someone to follow in the NCAA tourney. That was "her team" because the youth basketball league she played in as a kid assigned the girls to teams named after universities, and she ended up on Duke. Her fandom of Duke pretty much ended when I took her to a Syracuse game at the Carrier Dome early in our relationship...she is currently in bed sleeping with a 'Beat Duke" t-shirt on.

 

[kirbivore]

My Syracuse fandom is from me being a local. NY Yankees and NY Rangers got passed down from my Dad. My California teams are the Lakers and Raiders. I've stuck with them since the mid-1980's. If you like a non local team be prepared to explain why. I came of sports fan age in the showtime era and Magic was my favorite player. I stuck with them in the Cedric Ceballos years as well. I think the Raiders was a combination of the players of that era along with the cool NFL films footage from the 70's. I was wearing Raiders gear before N.W.A. wore them on album covers.