Why bandwagon fans suck

I live about half an hour outside of Philadelphia. That alone should be enough reason to be a rabid Cowboys hater. And it is. But why is Dallas the team I despise the most out of every other team in professional sports?

It's pretty simple: bandwagon fans. The people who were dusting off the Troy Aikman jerseys and Starter jackets they had purchased the last time the Cowboys won a playoff game the moment they heard Bill Parcells was their coach. The people who came out of the woodwork to proclaim that the 'Boys were back at the midway point of the '03 season, who wound up scurrying off as soon as the Cowboys finished their meltdown with a loss to the Panthers in the playoffs, and were pretty much nowhere to be found this season. Those people sicken me. Why?

Because they're New Jersey or Pennsylvania residents, with no ties to the Dallas area whatsoever, who jumped on the Dallas bandwagon, either in the 70s for the older people, or in the 90s for people my age. The old "Root, root root for the home team" adage makes no sense to these people. And they wonder why I don't take them seriously. These people will never see a Cowboys game at home, they don't know what the Cowboys' local radio broadcast team sounds like, but they're "die-hard fans"? I'm not buying it.

The worst part about these bandwagoners is that they are nowhere to be found when Dallas is in the shitter. I didn't see too many Keyshawn Johnson or Julius Jones jerseys around here this season, but those old Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin jerseys sure got a lot of mileage last season. Now, look at, in this case, Eagles fans. If anyone plays well on the team, his jerseys will get sold, and will get worn, regardless of how shitty the team is (see: Hoying, Bobby).

This is obviously not an indictment of the Dallas Cowboys fanbase that is actually centered in Texas, or the fans who lived in Texas and then moved on to other cities, and still cheer for their "home" team. This is my opinion on the weasels who live in the Northeast, and whose families have lived in the Northeast for generations, who have decided to hop on the bandwagon. Even though there are eight football teams in the area: the Eagles, Bills, Patriots, Giants, Jets, Steelers, Redskins, and now the Ravens should at least give people in the Northeast enough choices for a team to follow. The people who have a home team to follow, yet choose to cheer for some team that they have no sort of affiliation with whatsoever.

I think that's the best part of being a fan. Sure, it's nice to see the team you root for win, but what good is it when everyone around you is rooting for the real home team, not some team that happened to be good when you decided to start watching the sport? Who can you call up to celebrate the victory with? Who are you going to high-five when your team scores late in the game? Who is going to pat you on the back in sympathy when your team falls short? Rooting for a team should be about all that, sharing the ups and downs. Winning is nice, but there isn't much to it if there's no one else to share the wins with.

This last realization is what has prompted me to switch my rooting interests in baseball. I was a lifelong Braves fan. My parents have pictures of me wearing Braves batting helmets when I was two. I knew the entire Braves roster before we left Georgia when I was four years old. My childhood hero was Dale Murphy, and thanks to TBS, I was able to follow the Braves through the lean years, of the Kent Oberkfells, Dion Jameses, Andres Thomases, Bill Pecodas, Bill Pressleys, Zane Smiths, and Pascual Perezes to the Braves of the 1990s. It was almost a validation of everything I'd ever rooted for when the Braves finally went to the World Series. I went all through grade school being asked why I rooted for the Braves when they weren't any good, and I was damn sure going to enjoy being a Braves fan while they were good. I enjoyed watching the Braves win on a regular basis, but something didn't seem right.

When it came to football, I hadn't developed a rabid following of the Falcons as a child, and I don't remember when I first started actually following the NFL. It was well after my parents had moved us back north, and since I'm pretty much in Philadelphia's back yard, I rooted for the Eagles. They were a playoff team when I first started watching them, back in the Buddy Ryan/Randall Cunningham days, but due to horrible ownership, they didn't get anywhere in the postseason.

When the Eagles finally started putting together some serious playoff runs, I was of course isolated from that as well, being in college in North Carolina. At the same time, I could call my buddies and family back in Jersey, and keep up with what was going on, and celebrate the wins and such with them. I was beginning to realize what was missing, as a fan.

This past football season iced it for me. Sundays were an event, and the three bye weeks the Eagles had this season took forever. Going out was crazy: everyone sang the fight song during games, people would high-five you if you were wearing any kind of Eagles gear. It was something I realized I'd missed by following the Braves in the Phillies' backyard: I had no one to really share the joys of a win, except for faceless people I posted with on message boards. I'm probably going to wind up committing myself into a mental institute later in life because of this, but I'm now switching affiliations, and rooting for the Fightin' Phils from here on out. As much as I enjoyed rooting for a team that won, it wasn't the same as being able to share the experience of a season with other fans of the same team.

This is something that those irritating little bandwagon fans will never understand, and it's the main reason why I don't take them seriously.

About this blog

What you'll probably see:

- Stories from our college days, as well as some of our ventures into drinking in the real world.
- Two guys busting each other's balls on a regular basis.
- Opinionated rants on anything.
- Occasional baseball stat-geek posting.
- More frequent beer geek posting.

What you probably won't see:
- Smilies, LOL, and such.
- Posts that reaffirm your faith in the good of humanity.

So, that's the general format. We'll probably scrap it and go with something totally different within a month. Anyone with questions, please refer them to my secretary.

My foray into blogging

First things first. This is my first attempt at a blog. If it sucks horribly, don't be offended to tell me. I can take criticism. Kurt will also be blogging with me. Be gentle with him, he's got a great heart.

Secondly, I feel like I'm still in North Carolina. It's 11:30 here, it has barely begun snowing, nothing is sticking on the roads, and schools all over the area are already closed. What the fuck is this? I used to make fun of the people in North Carolina when they got all panicky and closed schools when the snow started sticking on the grass. I mean, seriously. It almost took an act of God to get us out of school once we got there, and now people are cancelling just because a blizzard is on its way, and probably won't be into full gear by 3pm anyway? Jesus Christ. What is this world coming to, and why didn't it come to this when I was still in school?

That's all for now. And hey, check it out! My first post in my new blog has absolutely nothing to do with the title of the blog! Fantastic start. Oh well, gotta get ready for work. It sure would be nice if they had already cancelled work for the evening, but I guess I'm not so fortunate. Lucky little bastards. Maybe I'll post again tonight, with something a little more in line with the title of my blog. Or maybe Kurt can get something going.