It’s that time of year again. The opportunity for a championship game to be turned from what was once a time true sport fans were able to take pride in their victorious teams, to a chance for bandwagon fans to claim their “loyalty” to teams that they know nothing about.
I’m sorry, but if you don’t know the team’s starting line up but rushed to the nearest sporting goods store and purchased every New York Giants or New England Patriots t-shirt available, you’re pretty pathetic. Nothing infuriates a fan that has stuck with their team through thick and thin more than bandwagon “fan”, who all of the sudden thinks that they are omniscient about every aspect of “their” team.
I recall being livid every time I logged on to Facebook during the thirty days of the 2010 World Cup. People who constantly made comments such as, “Man, soccer isn’t a sport” (It’s only the universal sport of the world, but whatever.) in high school, began posting statuses claiming their “devotion” to the U.S. soccer team. Being a true Mexico fan, nothing can compare to what I felt in the 79th minute of the Mexico- France match when Cuauhtémoc Blanco scored the winning goal. That might have been the only match Mexico won the entire tournament, but you can believe that I’d give my left kidney for 2014 World Cup tickets to support my team again. Heck, I’d even settle for an exhibition match.
Here’s my next issue: Just because you were born, live, or was raised in a town with a sports team having a rarely successful season, doesn’t make it okay for you to talk trash about the team for 10 years and then become their number one fan over night. It saddens me to point this out, but Lil’ Wayne, You can’t go from rapping about how much of a die-hard New Orleans Saints fan you are when they finally made it to the Super Bowl to supporting the Green Bay Packers by releasing a song titled, “Green and Yellow” the following year. Not to mention, stating that you were never a Saints fan when interviewed. Being a celebrity doesn’t give you a ticket to jump on the bandwagon bus.
As much as people broadcasting their undying love to teams that they’ve watched for a whole five minutes irritate the living daylights out of me, there’s no words to truly explain how much people who worship a single athlete aggravates me. Oh, you’ve read a whole article about the team’s most valuable player and now you think you know his entire career history? Get real! The way people praised Alex Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, and Neftali Feliz last baseball season; I would of thought they were related to them. Where were you when Hamilton was drafted by Tampa Bay in ‘99? You were everywhere but giving a care in the world about him. Just because you went to a Rangers game and saw Ian Kinsler throw a baseball does it make it okay to call yourself his biggest fan.
If you’re going to root for a sports team, at least do a little research about them and start supporting them at the beginning of the season. Don’t be that annoying person that hops on the bandwagon right before the championship game. There’s nothing worse than being asked who was voted the 2006-07 NBA MVP while you’re wearing a Dirk Nowitzki jersey and have no clue what to respond.
