Fans of college teams annoy me period. It's not a level playing field, and college is for getting educated, not beating up on poorer schools in sports. Fans of the big-time athletic programs may as well be rooting for the Yankees.
I'm not bothing to read this ridiculous thread. Who cares? Do you have to only cheer for the team in your city or the school you went to to NOT be a t-shirt fan? I've been a Yankees fan since I recall watching baseball with my great grandmother as a kid in Pennsylvania (we got the NY games). I'm also a Steelers fan for the same reason. When I moved to Houston, I also adopted the teams there. I live in Austin and became a Longhorns fan a few months after I moved here, although I went to UH. Am I any less of a fan for it? Nope. I just like the teams I like. I'm curious how many folks here are from Houston (or let alone Texas) and root for the Rockets. I'm obviously from neither, but my first basketball exposure was in the 5th grade watching the Rockets and Celtics in the finals during class! T-shirt fan? If you say so...... Oh wait, I get it now! The OP is pissed about the Aggies getting ass-raped last night by the Horns. It all makes sense! LOL! Hey....who knows, the Aggs might turn the tables next week in College Station.
Whatever, Dude. You obviously did not read closely. Notice I never said I have any problem with people rooting/cheering for a school they didn't go to. I can totally see how people can come to cheer for a college without going there, and I think it's kind of ridiculous that some people aren't able to see that. I am guilty of this myself and not ashamed.. My annoyance comes when those same people start talking trash saying things like "we kicked your ass." I have no interest in bull**** about what school people attended, BUT if you're going to act like you went to the school and talk trash to me then all bets are off...I will merely point out that you did not attend the school for one reason or another. Hell, I've been a fan of Duke Basketball since I was nine years old, however I don't go rubbing it in my friends who attended University of Maryland when Duke beats them. It just seems in bad taste, and frankly kind of pathetic. Here they are, spent thousands and thousands of dollars to go to UMD, follow the traditions, attend multiple if not all the games, suffer the course load, and finally graduate, and here my punk ass, who's hardly ever set foot on the Duke campus is going to rub it in? No. Pathetic. Again that's fine. Just tell him if he doesn't want to be an asshat, then don't act all high and mighty to UT fans if the Aggies happen to beat them. If he has no problem being an asshat then tell him to trash talk away.
I think the NCAA and school spirit are two different things, as do a lot of other people and that's why the majority of people will not go with what you're saying. It's like rooting for a sports team. That's all.... it's not about school spirit or school tradition, etc. It's about the sport, the team. It's the SAME WAY with pro sports. Everyone has a different perception of that obviously, but the majority of people view it that way and there isn't anything wrong with it. What I want to know from you is why someone who attended a certain school has a leverage to talk **** over someone who didn't.
I already gave reasons why I feel uncomfortable piling it on to someone if I did not attend the school and they did. In short, to me it's a "dick move." Your ragging on someone who has a lot more invested in the game/team than you do. I mean, would you say a person who is an obvious front-runner has leverage to talk **** over someone who is a true fan through good times and bad? Everyone here seems to be skewing "t-shirt fan" to mean guy who has three generations of family connection to a school including his children and rooted for the team since before he could speak but just happened to not attend the school. While it's debatable whether that person could still be considered a "t-shirt fan," I think most people think of the unabashed "front runner" when talking about t-shirt fans...at least that's what I think of.
How do you know that? How do you know that a t-shirt fan isn't a season ticket holder or has invested a lot of their money into that school's sports team? You don't. You're just assuming. And if I understand correctly from your second statement, I think you're confusing a bandwagon fan from a "t-shirt" fan. I think you're confused.
Again you're defining a very small group. How many T-Shirt fans do you think are season ticket holders? Sorry, you're just never going to convince me a T-Shirt fan has as much invested in a school's athletics as an alumnus. Sure you can make up interesting scenarios to dispute this, but they are not the norm. And for the record I would never question someone's fandom unless I knew them pretty well, so there wouldn't be much "assuming" necessary. And again, only after they started talking ****. Well the first sentence on Urban Dictionary states "Anyone who claims they are a "fan" of a particular sports team, even though they had no prior support for/interest in the team until that team started winning." So maybe we're both confused.
Hmm... so if I invest more money in a team, I'm able to talk ****. That really makes no sense. That logic is idiotic, but OK. Well, if that definition is correct, that's the same thing as a bandwagon fan. So I guess you're referring to bandwagon fans.... which is COMPLETELY different from a fan who hasn't attended the school yet is a die-hard fan (someone who is loyal and supports the team regardless of how good or bad they are doing). So in essence, you're confused with this thread... because that's not what we're discussing here.. we're discussing fans who didn't attend the school but are die-hard fans of that team... not bandwagon fans.
Ahhh the ole you can't talk junk if you didn't attend the school. By this logic I guess you should keep your mouth shut if you're not on the team of whatever sport you're debating about.
How can anyone root for a professional sport using your basis? Its just a bunch of businessmen who entertain. Yea they might pretend to rep your city, but every pro team is a business, and therefore comes down to one goal at the end of the day. So unless you stay away from pro sports completely, you're being a hypocrite. No one should root for the rockets unless they played for them in your dumb mentality.
