The concept of "T-shirt Fan"

Basically, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a t-shirt/bandwagon fan until it turns obnoxious and they start spouting off about "their team." That should annoy any self-respecting sports fan. If they just want to wear a t-shirt and root for the team, that's great! But please, no more than that.

 

A good friend of mine is a big time UT T-shirt fan.

In the 14 years I have known him, he has hardly mentioned UT, didn't go there and to the best of my knowledge, has never been an avid follower of any of their sports.

After the Horns win, I saw him all decked out in burnt orange gear, going on and on about how he and all Longhorn fans have been waiting for this moment their whole lives.

I was like, WTF? He has become so irritating about the whole thing, I am avoiding him like the plague.

 

That's a bandwagoner.

 

That's all the women in my office.

 

What I hate is the people who put up the UT winning newspaper headlines on their office door and stuff. How come you can only do this with sports? Why can't put up a DEVO poster on my door?

 

People just wanna belong.

And if anyone hates fairweather fans, you should probably leave Houston.

 

Correctly defined:

A "T-Shirt" fan is simply a person who went to a lesser school around the area, like A.C.C. or S.W.T. but due to their proximity, and the fact that they don't really have a football program, become a U.T. Fan.

 

A fan is a fan, there is no difference, just people propping themselves up about being MORE of a fan.

It is ridiculous.

DD

 

This is the definition to my understanding. I've never heard it applied to pro sports. A t-shirt fan is someone who has no connection to a school other than a t-shirt. A t-shirt fan may be a bandwagon fan but not necessarily. Calling someone a t-shirt fan is a way for fans of inferior programs to damage control. Example, "you can't talk trash cause you are not a student or alum". It's hypocritical cause their small number of "t-shirt fans" are not "t-shirt fans" because it isn't cool to root for inferior programs who choke in undeserving bowl games.

 

Everyone, you are all going to get different definitions of what a tshirt fan is.

Most say that a true tshirt fan is the one who is walking down the street or u see in the office or u go to the doctor and sit next to a guy. Lets say that each of these guys is wearing a longhorn shirt and u ask them about the game last week or want to converse about it. They say, oh, I didn't know they won or I didn't watch the game yada yada. So, they are just a fan and b/c they won and don't even care enough to watch the games but go buy a tshirt in support. The thing is, they look like the rest of you who might be alums or true fans.

My best friend since elem school went to tx st. He found his soul mate and married her and she was from tex st. As far as I know, he has no relatives who went to tu, maybe some friends, but I don't think he keeps in touch w/ them. Basically he has no affiliation w/ that school in austin, except that he lives in austin. His wife has a sister who currently attends tu. Her dad attended tu. So she has family who are longhorns, which is fine. The fact that she wears their shirts and does the hook 'em to piss me off, an aggie, and it really gets my blood to boil. I know why she does it...to piss me off, but it's not b/c of the whole hook 'em or shirt thing, it's b/c she didn't go to that school. Her sister and father are secure in where they went to school. They don't purposely go around trying to be an a-hole to every aggie out there. Now the wife does. She says she doesn't like aggies. I mean, it's not like her family has her brainwashed, obviously, just by looking at the way the father and sister act tells me that. It's not like we compete against tx st in anything. I know we played them in football but when was the last time we played them in anything b/f that? It was b/f my time.

So, how can a bobcat dislike aggies. B/c she probably feels she is a longhorn. Living vicarously through the school whenever they are doing something positive. In my opinion, a tshirt fan is the biggest most obnoxious fan that obviously did not attend, work for or give a rats ass about the team until they start to do well. I consider her a tshirt sip. B/c it will be her that brings crap up about the championship, not her sister who is just as loud and obnoxious. The thing is, I wish the sister would bring it up. I would love to hear more perspective of how things are w/ a real longhorn than w/ her sister.

Some might say that b/c she has relatives, she wouldn't be considered a tshirt fan. But I would disagree. The argument seems to be what the diff btwn a bandwagon fan and tshirt fan is. Back in high school I would talk to people about how awesome the rockets were and people would dog me. They would be lakers fans. Either b/c they like their players or b/c they win all the time. That would be the only allegiance they have. I'm sure the lakers picked up a bunch of bandwagon fans during their championship run. Now the spurs are gaining some as well. Especially here in texas b/c they are a texas team. But u know, true rockets or mavs fans, people who are from the town or are affiliated w/ that team and cheer for one team, certainly don't want to be trash talked by their neighbor who is a spurs fans b/c they are the flavor of the week team.

I don't want to spend much time on this topic, luckily I type pretty fast. I mean, I can understand of being a fan and wanting a particular team to win. In my other post, I already mentioned that everyone loves a winner. It helps u feel good and belong and feel like u accomplished something. It is something that I haven't felt too much of. My aggies have been struggling, my rockets have been struggling, my texans, ughh. Astros made it to the series but got swept and that was painful to see. Sports are not for the weak at heart. So many people are weak at heart and will decide to join in when the going is good, not when the going is bad. If u can look in the mirror and say u were a fan of a team, college or pro, for years b/f their success, then u r a fan. Longhorns, true longhorn fans and longhorn tshirt sips, the going hasn't always been so good. I'm sure the tshirt variety isn't aware of that b/c they only look at what's right in front of them. The longhorns have had their struggles b/f and will again, every team and program goes through it. Unfortunately A&M is right now, as well as the texans and rockets. I predict that the astros will too coming up soon due to their old players w/ not much young talent waiting in the wings.

In parting, I can say that this is cyclical. The longhorns are on top of the world right now. Basketball, baseball and football are all doing well, but we all know that football rules this state. I believe that all the h.s. bandwagon kids will now want to go to tu just b/c of the football team winning. They might be incapable of making it into the school or the school might not even have their major but b/c a postive aura is around the school, all b/c of winning a big football game, they want to go to it. If you are just a fan and don't work for them or didn't get your degree from that school, you are still just a fan. Keep in mind that there are alumi, current student or employees of other schools who have every reason to want to see your team lose. If you don't want to be put in your place, I suggest you be humble and not rub it in. Which brings up the reason y most of you true longhorns might wonder y so many opposing schools call y'all arrogant. It's been this way for a while but most of the bad ones are your tshirt and bandwagon fans who give u a bad name.

 

So some of you guys are actually claiming you "chose" to go to Texas State/SWT over UT? BWHAHAHAHA!

 

Absolutely I did. Twice.

 

I chose UH over UT because of money and I don't regret my decision one bit. It's a lot more fun to be a fan of the scrappy underdog than the 800 lb. gorilla, even though you get kicked in the sack a lot more often by your underperforming team

 

The one bad thing about being a UT t-shirt fan is that you miss out on their mandatory freshman "chucking bottles at opposing fans 101" class. It's their version of Fish Camp, I think

 

I went to every home game (and at least one road game) a year between 1997 and 2003. The only time I saw fans get out of hand at other fans in large groups was the 1998 A&M game.

Each college has their group of horrible fans. I'm not going to judge Stanford fans by the taunts and vulgarities thrown our way after their upset in 2000.

 

In 1994 when the Rox won their first championship I was living in Boston and put up a bunch of Rox headlines in my cubicle and was told to take it down.

 

yes, some of us don't have the finances to go to a school like UT. and some of us don't want to be at school of around 60,000 students. i didn't want to go to a school that huge in my hometown. i wanted to get out of austin without going too far and not be on a HUGE campus. that's why i chose texas state. now maybe if you actually stepped on the texas state campus and spent some time there you would realize why some people make that decision.

 

In pro-sports that would be people who have no connection with the city just rooting for them because they're hot or because they're on TV a lot. The Yankees and Cowboys come to mind but so do the Lakers' fans during their run and also how pretty much everyone was a Bulls fans in the 90's.

 

My family never followed college sports when I was growing up and I never went to college so I have no affiliation. I am a Texan and I want any Texas team to do well, especially on the national scene. So did I want Texas to win the Rose Bowl, absolutely. Would I have lost any sleep if they lost? Nope. I sure as hell didn't and wouldn't want any t-shirts, caps, etc. especially if they say National Champion and a date.

I hate anything that has a date on it because in a year you look like a douche bag wearing last years crap. I wouldn't have even bought an Astros World Series Champion crap if they had won. I'd much rather have spent the money on a jersey or nice shirt so that I could wear it anytime.