Everyone knows that I am a huge fan of two teams. I love the Georgia Southern Eagles and The Atlanta Braves. My summers are spent pulling for the home team in Atlanta and when fall rolls around I'm pulling for the good old Southern boys in Blue! I would consider myself an average fan in the fact that I wear Georgia Southern or Braves hats and shirts, I have some memorabilia from each team, I attend games and follow both teams rather closely when they are in season. But I got to thinking about something today as I was hitting the re-fresh button on my computer for the 50th time over at mlbtraderumors.com. You see the baseball trade deadline is August 31st and I am trying to predict what the Braves will do in the trade market. In fact, I have wasted a good bit of time trying to follow something that I have absolutely no control over. The Braves front office couldn't care less who I want to see the Braves acquire via trade. Have I become one of those obsessed fans?
The same thing can happen to fans that follow their football teams with a passion. In Pro football, fans obsess over the draft. They try and predict where their team will pick and who they will pick and how that particular player will impact the team. They follow trade scenarios and can even tell you how much "cap" room their team has to bid on free agents.
In college football it is all about the recruiting. A rabid fan can tell you the stats of a high school Junior quarterback that his school has had an eye on since the kid was an 8th grader. He can also tell you how one recruit would be great for his school but terrible for his rival's school. He knows the personal bios of the entire coaching staff and has not paid his mortgage this month because he spent the money on season tickets. This guys gets nothing done for his employer on National Signing Day.
High school football fans have even started to become wild maniacs. Message boards full of fighting words are now the norm. The last time I checked, high school kids were still just kids. Are we really talking smack over kids playing a high school football game?
MLB Baseball started the "Fantasy" movement with a bunch of folks who liked baseball stats and wanted to play General Manager. Look how much that took off. You can now play Fantasy in almost every sport.
Fans are great for the game. Without fans, there would be no game but I do feel like it can be taken overboard. The guy who poisoned those trees over at Auburn because he was an Alabama fan is in my opinion an idiot! Who does stuff like that?? If Furman beats Georgia Southern this year, I'm sure that I will be a little upset, but I'm not going to hurt anyone over it. Give me a day or so and I have already forgotten about it and am looking forward to the next game on Saturday.
So what kind of fan are you? Are you just a fan who follows his team and pulls for them on gameday, or are you one of those rabid fans who obsess over all parts of your team's program?
I'll be looking for your answer as soon as I get back from checking on the Braves and their trade prospects!!
4 comments:
I'm a huge hockey fan and I spend a fair amount of time reading Penguins news, watching prospects, etc..but I'm not a rabid fan.
A loss sucks, but ah well. I'm not going fisticuffs over anything sports related.
Fans who takes things personally..those people scare me.
Calling umpire Jerry Meals at home over his call in the Braves/Pirates 19 inning game? Too far, folks. Get therapy!
The guy received death threats!? Those callers should be in jail or a mental facility.
The trade deadline date should read JULY 31st, not August. For some reason Blogger will not let me go in and change it.
Thanks for joining up Samatha and following my blog. Make yourself at home.
Seems to me a "fan" is a good thing, but when the enthusiasm adds on to become a "fanatic" then there is a problem. At the high school level it seems to be about playing time.
By the way, have I ever told you our trip to Atlanta's stadium to watch a game was a great experience. We were in Columbus to see one son graduate from Basic training and the whole family took a trip and it was a fantastic night.
Steve
I pull for the team that's wearing the coolest uniforms on gameday! ;)
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