Ignatius J. Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 I admit it. I'm a Laker Fan. Sort of. When I first moved to LA, I decided I'd be a clippers fan, you know just for the fun of it, but you know, it really sucks cheering for a team whose players may or may not be trying to win any given game. So I became a laker's fan. When the wizards play the lakers i root for the wizards, i mean, who could root against my turtles? But I liked the lakers. I liked Watching Kobe bryant pull of spectacular move after spectacular move. I liked watching shaq come out of nowhere with an explosive move that seems to defy the inertial constraints of his domineering frame. I liked watching the lakers play, and I liked watching them win. But now all of that seems over, what with the departure of, what?, the whole team? Who am I rooting for anyway? It reminds me of primetime21 who came around and posted. And we all laughed at him. He wasn't cheering for something real, he was missing the point of sports. He was missing that cheer for a team which had been passed down to you from your father from his father. Primetime became a skins fan not because of any of the reasons we normally associate with fandom. He was a Deion fan, so he started rooting for the redskins. As I watch the lakers dissolve I wonder if he was right. I liked Kobe. Wouldn't it make more sense to follow the people and not the jersey? What's real? Isn't it the players who make the sport what it is? By focusing in on a single player, is the sense of the human element of sport heightened? People get down on the michael jordan bull's fans (reagan republicans?) for not being real bulls fans. But michael jordan was amazing, and deserving of every fan he recieved. Are those who stayed with the bulls any better fans than those who took up their wizards jerseys out of respect for the man who made that team? I fear that I am just rationalizing the fact that in all likelihood I will not be a laker's fan next year despite the fact that it goes against all my priniciples. Regardless, I know I am alone when I say that I will cheer a little less strongly for the redkskins this year now that they are without spurrier. I liked him a lot too, despite his present unpopularity, and with two facelifts within a year it just gets me to thinking, who or what am I cheering for anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalSkins Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 First, Kobe isn't going anywhere. Second, you are not a Laker fan if you are willing to give up on them. You may enjoy watching their games for a period of time, which is fine, but calling yourself a Lakers fan is an insult to the real fans that support the team no matter what. Just be happy being an NBA fan and don't feel a need to associate with a particular team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afparent Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 what if everyone on this board was a fair weather skins fan....there wouldn't have been this board the last ten years!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignatius J. Posted June 20, 2004 Author Share Posted June 20, 2004 not true at all. We would have had the Deion Fans, the arrington fans, the champ bailey fans, the smoot fans and the spurrier fans. I don't particularly like smash mouth football. Wouldn't it make sense if I were a fan of another team this year, even though we will in all likelihood be a better team next year than we have been in a while? (I'm not going to cheer for another team because the skins thing is in my blood, and the lakers thing isn't, but it just gets me thinking) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redsk58417 Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Originally posted by Ignatius J. I admit it. I'm a Laker Fan. Sort of. When I first moved to LA, I decided I'd be a clippers fan, you know just for the fun of it, but you know, it really sucks cheering for a team whose players may or may not be trying to win any given game. So I became a laker's fan. When the wizards play the lakers i root for the wizards, i mean, who could root against my turtles? But I liked the lakers. I liked Watching Kobe bryant pull of spectacular move after spectacular move. I liked watching shaq come out of nowhere with an explosive move that seems to defy the inertial constraints of his domineering frame. I liked watching the lakers play, and I liked watching them win. But now all of that seems over, what with the departure of, what?, the whole team? Who am I rooting for anyway? It reminds me of primetime21 who came around and posted. And we all laughed at him. He wasn't cheering for something real, he was missing the point of sports. He was missing that cheer for a team which had been passed down to you from your father from his father. Primetime became a skins fan not because of any of the reasons we normally associate with fandom. He was a Deion fan, so he started rooting for the redskins. As I watch the lakers dissolve I wonder if he was right. I liked Kobe. Wouldn't it make more sense to follow the people and not the jersey? What's real? Isn't it the players who make the sport what it is? By focusing in on a single player, is the sense of the human element of sport heightened? People get down on the michael jordan bull's fans (reagan republicans?) for not being real bulls fans. But michael jordan was amazing, and deserving of every fan he recieved. Are those who stayed with the bulls any better fans than those who took up their wizards jerseys out of respect for the man who made that team? I fear that I am just rationalizing the fact that in all likelihood I will not be a laker's fan next year despite the fact that it goes against all my priniciples. Regardless, I know I am alone when I say that I will cheer a little less strongly for the redkskins this year now that they are without spurrier. I liked him a lot too, despite his present unpopularity, and with two facelifts within a year it just gets me to thinking, who or what am I cheering for anyway? Part of being a "TRUE" fan is going through rough times. It makes you appreciate good times all the more. So if you are a Lakers fan, be that. I am a Pistons fan. But I love the Skins. Every since '82. My signature says "Redskins all the way!" That means I'm a Redskins fan "NO MATTER" who plays for them, who coaches them, or who owns them. REGARDLESS. I loath the Lakers. Even though Magic Johnson is from Michigan, my disdain for LA goes back to the '80's. When Magic slammed I. Thomas to the floor in the playoffs it was decided. When Karl Malone elbowed Thomas giving him 40 stitches my disdain for him was deep rooted. I had a strong dislike for Phil Jackson all the way back to his Bulls days. Which brings me to my point, there are three types of fans. #1 A true blue, no matter what type of fan, #2 A follow players or coaches type, or #3 A whomever the best team is type.....aka "Band wagon" or fair weather type. Every one is in a category, one way or another!:2cents: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignatius J. Posted June 20, 2004 Author Share Posted June 20, 2004 Redsk, What if you stuck by the player no matter what? I mean, those jordan fans were sporting his wizards jersey even when he was terrible, and even though it seems the other way in retrospect, jordan had down times too. What about the spurrier fans who stuck with him and the skins even though they were terrible? The question is not whether loyalty is worth something, the question is, to whom do you have that loyalty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manichispanic Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 id like to point out there is a difference between being a fairweather fan and jumping on a bandwagon (i.e Deon, Champ, Spurrier) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignatius J. Posted June 20, 2004 Author Share Posted June 20, 2004 care to elaborate manic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Williams Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 is this on the wrong board?...ehh it's the tailgate....I've seen worse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manichispanic Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 the difference im trying to point out between the two is that if a fan jumps on the bandwagon of a certain player, and that play leaves, he'll still have his loyalty to the team. Fairweather fan doesnt have loyalty to a particluar team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 I don't believe that a true fan of a team should follow a player. My favorite Redskin of all-time was Charles Mann. It sucked when he left the Redskins, but I still followed him when he went to San Francisco before he retired. I followed him, but I remained a Redskins fan, not a 49ers fan. Just following a player, you lose out on what it's all about to be a fan of a team. The rivalries, the championship experiances, the losing experiances. One player doesn't make a team, no matter what the sport is. Jordon wouldn't have done what he did without Rodman and Pippin, Shaq couldn't do what he does without Kobe and vice versa. In football, it's all about 11 men on both sides. If they don't function like a team, one man isn't going to do anything for them. Do you actually believe that the most talented team in the NFL is the Patriots? No, last season the were well coached and they played as a unit, no matter who was in there. These are the things people miss when they jump ship for one player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redsk58417 Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Originally posted by Ignatius J. Redsk, What if you stuck by the player no matter what? I mean, those jordan fans were sporting his wizards jersey even when he was terrible, and even though it seems the other way in retrospect, jordan had down times too. What about the spurrier fans who stuck with him and the skins even though they were terrible? The question is not whether loyalty is worth something, the question is, to whom do you have that loyalty? Sticking by a player was "#2" on my list of "Fan types." Some people are individual fans, but cheering for "Team Sports" can be challenging with that in mind. Now I happen to like Tiger Woods. Its no big deal if he switches from "Titlelist" equipment to Nike. He is playing an individual sport. So my "Loyalty" so to speak, is to Tiger. But in "Team Sports" its a bit different, especially in the free agency of NFL football. Its hard to be "Loyal" to players because of player movement, or constant movement. But the one thing that is constant is the "TEAM." Understand what I mean? Now my question to you is "Do you really like the Lakers? Or if Kobe is gone will you jump ship?" My example of "Loyalty" to my Skins is, i'd be a Skins fan even if they brought back Norv as head coach, Alvin Harper at #1 WR, and Reggie Brooks at #1 RB. Its "Redskins all the way" regardless the personell for me.:doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallsux Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Originally posted by Ignatius J. I admit it. I'm a Laker Fan. Sort of. When I first moved to LA, I decided I'd be a clippers fan, you know just for the fun of it, but you know, it really sucks cheering for a team whose players may or may not be trying to win any given game. So I became a laker's fan. When the wizards play the lakers i root for the wizards, i mean, who could root against my turtles? But I liked the lakers. I liked Watching Kobe bryant pull of spectacular move after spectacular move. I liked watching shaq come out of nowhere with an explosive move that seems to defy the inertial constraints of his domineering frame. I liked watching the lakers play, and I liked watching them win. But now all of that seems over, what with the departure of, what?, the whole team? Who am I rooting for anyway? It reminds me of primetime21 who came around and posted. And we all laughed at him. He wasn't cheering for something real, he was missing the point of sports. He was missing that cheer for a team which had been passed down to you from your father from his father. Primetime became a skins fan not because of any of the reasons we normally associate with fandom. He was a Deion fan, so he started rooting for the redskins. As I watch the lakers dissolve I wonder if he was right. I liked Kobe. Wouldn't it make more sense to follow the people and not the jersey? What's real? Isn't it the players who make the sport what it is? By focusing in on a single player, is the sense of the human element of sport heightened? People get down on the michael jordan bull's fans (reagan republicans?) for not being real bulls fans. But michael jordan was amazing, and deserving of every fan he recieved. Are those who stayed with the bulls any better fans than those who took up their wizards jerseys out of respect for the man who made that team? I fear that I am just rationalizing the fact that in all likelihood I will not be a laker's fan next year despite the fact that it goes against all my priniciples. Regardless, I know I am alone when I say that I will cheer a little less strongly for the redkskins this year now that they are without spurrier. I liked him a lot too, despite his present unpopularity, and with two facelifts within a year it just gets me to thinking, who or what am I cheering for anyway? First off, I hate the Lakers (or Fakers as I like to don them). I also like Kobe for his play & hate Shaq for overratedness. 3 for 10 from the freethrow line & people still think he is dominant. Anyway, I can't totally understand why you would root for the Redskins a little less because Spurrier is gone, especially with Gibbs back at work. I simply don't understand why you would rather have the court jester running the "Nation" instead of the King! I just don't get that! I mean, do you not know who Gibbs is? Then again, ya know what? I person who bails on their team because they players they like are gone isn't a fan at all. That's a groupie. The Redskins have been around for a lot longer than most of it's fans. I have ALWAYS been & ALWAYS will be a Redskins fan. I didn't become a Jets fan when Art Monk was traded. I didn't become a Tampa Bay fan when Brad Johnson was traded. Why? Because I'm a fan of the team, not the man. So, I will say that you are alone if you cheer less for the Redskins because the Idiot left & the real Coach is back. So, you can now stop calling yourself a fan & don yourself a groupie, because that's wht groupies do. They follow people, not teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallsux Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Originally posted by Ignatius J. Redsk, What if you stuck by the player no matter what? I mean, those jordan fans were sporting his wizards jersey even when he was terrible, and even though it seems the other way in retrospect, jordan had down times too. What about the spurrier fans who stuck with him and the skins even though they were terrible? The question is not whether loyalty is worth something, the question is, to whom do you have that loyalty? It's ok to call yourself a fan of an individual that plays a team sport, but then you can't call yourself a fan of that team realistically. REAL fans of teams are fans regardless of who is playing. I like Jordan, but hate the Bulls, so I would root against the Bulls even tho I like Jordan. I like Kobe, but I hate the Lakers. I like TO, but I hate the Eagles. I love the Redskiins, but there are players that I could without. I never like David Terrell because he sucked. I didn't like Matt Stevens either. I'm getting to the point where I'm not too fond of Chris Samuels or Rod Gardner, but am willing to give them a year under a REAL coach to see how they do before I completely write them off. My loyalty is to the Burgundy & Gold, not to the players who wear them every sunday. Because one day, they too will be gone. Either to retirement or trade. Eitherway, they will one day no longer play & I will still be here, rooting for the Redskins, because that is where my loyalties lie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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