There is nothing worse in sports than a fake fan. It seems that all people want is to support an exciting team, that wins a lot and is popular. Unfortunately, bandwagoning is very prevalent among people in high school, and it’s ridiculous. As an Atlanta sports fan and a life-long fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, it angers me to see people taking the easy way out in seeing “their team” succeed, instead of supporting a team during its ups and downs to make victory even sweeter.
Some of the more common bandwagon teams in American sports include the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Boston Celtics in the NBA, the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Cheifs, and the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees in the MLB. All of these teams have something in common: winning or coming close to winning a championship in recent history. I get it, being a fan of a dynasty or a good team is very exciting and is something every sports fan ultimately yearns for, but there is no true accomplished feeling of winning if you decide to be a “fan” of the team during their highest moments.
Over the years, I have noticed three different types of bandwagons that are very common throughout sports. The first one is the bandwagon which swears they have a connection to the team. For example, if they were Chiefs fans they would say their, “uncle’s twice removed cousin went on vacation in Missouri for a couple of days,” so it’s automatically okay for them to be a fan. The next kind is the fan who will NEVER admit to being a bandwagon and will continue to lie about their fandom no matter what. These types of fans are most common, especially in high school, as being a bandwagon usually has a negative reputation. The last type is the ones that I somewhat respect, and those fans are the ones who openly admit to being a bandwagon and don’t t try to hide the fact that they don’t have a true team to cheer for.
Even though bandwagoning is something that I despise, there is no better feeling than catching one red-handed during a casual sports conversation. I grew up watching every Georgia football game, and I can always tell if someone is a fake fan when I ask them about niche players in Georgia history like Keith Marshall or Isaiah Mckennzie, or I’ll refer to the horrors of Georgia’s National Championship loss in 2018, or the 2016 Tennesse Hail Mary that made me cry when I was 10. Being a true fan is all about how the team impacts you emotionally and going through the ups and downs, and if these “fans” have no emotional connection to the team, they aren’t fans in my book.
The most fun part about sports is experiencing not only the good, but the bad too of your favorite team, and feeling the satisfaction of winning a big game or even eventually a championship. Everyone has a valid connection to any team, whether it is the state or city they live in, alumni status, or their family history, and there is no reason to cheer for a team just because they’re good or trendy. If you are reading this and you’re a bandwagon of any team, please stop.
