Tuesdays With Hildy: What is it with the bandwagon train?

They are not “Hawks fans”, just like they won’t be “Blues fans”. They are not “fans”. Its human nature to want to follow the winner; hell I did it myself when the Rams were good from 1999 til 2001. I followed the team, knew players names and positions, etc. But it didn’t make me a fan, just a bandwagon jumper. Now I couldn’t tell you 3 players on the Rams team.

And that’s what ticks me off about the bandwagoners calling themselves “fans”. You aren’t, you just love a winner. Hell who doesn’t, there’s nothing special about that. “Fans” are with the team through thick and thin, love wins, hate losing but will tolerate a loss if the team gave their all. They know about the game, know key players for rival teams, know why we chant “We Want Tacos” when the Blues have 4 goals, etc.

Some bandwagoners will become true fans, and we should and will welcome them. They fall in love with the game and the team just like we did, so we will tolerate their dumb questions, their cheering at inappropriate moments, their yelling “shoot” whenever the guy on the point gets the puck. For the others, the ones who will jump off the bandwagon after the next 3 game losing streak, we will ‘accidentally’ spill a little beer on as we make our way to our seats at the start of a period.

without the possiblity of bangwagoners why would any team spend money getting better?

summed up, no arena would sellout without them. I do resent the fact that i was there with 8,000 fans in the dreaded ‘05 season, but on the other hand I think that they some of them my be the die hards of tomorrow. I wasn’t always a Blues fan, but one day I turned on the TV and saw them playing Toronto in a particularly chippy game, and I was hooked. No one in my family or (tiny) circle of friends were watching hockey of any kind at the time. I was like 15 or 16 and shortly after I started watching, the bastards cut a whole season in half. It is a good thing I was hooked early.

When I finally saved up some money and went to a live Blues game it was the inaugural season of the Kiel Center. I have never been to the checkerdome, the old barn or “the arena”. Does that make me less of a fan? Or just a poor bastard with terrible timing?

When bandwagoners ask stupid questions I answer them. I tell them stories of the past games I went to. I talk about the players and plays that I have seen over the years. I try to share with them some of my passion for the game. I hope that it is contagious. I hope that when they leave the bandwagon, they become true fans. I sometimes even let them look through my copy of GameTime. If that don’t make a fan out of you, you may be a lost cause.

Last game at Romano’s dude in a Chicago jersey gets told I’m a Blues fan by his Chicago buddy. At first intermission he sidles up next to me and mentions having been to the old barn in STL and cheering for the Blackhawks.

Me: Really? We probably tossed beer on your goofy azz.

Him: But i was just a kid

Me: Like I said, we probably tossed beer on your azz.

He scooted back down the table just shaking his head. A real Chicago fan would have replied they tossed beer on us in Chicago also. Forking Norman New Guys.

The highlight was the closed hand on the puck penalty last game. Dayum near had to diagram that one out for the cherries to grasp that call.

“But why was it a penalty again?” [facepalm]

Hey, there were bandwagon fans of the Blues last year. There were bandwagon fans of the Blues 20 years ago. They’re always going to be around. You just gotta deal with ’em accordingly.

They may be a bandwagon fan now, but with patience, they may become a lifelong fan. I didn’t follow hockey from way back when. My dad is Guatemalan and tried to get me into futbol. I hated it (tho yes, I’ll be cheering on the USA). It wasn’t till a number of years back that I went to my first hockey game and was probably one of those asking stupid questions. Hell, I’m quite likely still asking stupid questions. But hockey was thrilling that I wanted to learn more.

So whose to say some of those annoying bandwagon fans won’t turn out to be the most passionate sports fans ever. We all have to learn somehow and some of us don’t have the benefit of getting it from birth. :)

We’re all new fans at some point. There was a time when it was my first Sharks game and I sat there asking all kinds of questions. (well, not true. I waited a few games in and then tried to ask about the points I was sure on but Mina was distracted by a boy and wouldn’t answer me) What separates new fans from just the bandwagon class is that we want to learn more about the game/sport. We’re not just there because it’s the cool team in town right now. And we’re not just going to go away at the end of the season.

What annoys me most are the people who buy tickets to playoff games with no knowledge of the sport what so ever. This goes for all major sporting events.

It’s a helluva a first game to attend, but you may want to try a reg season game first, before coming to a playoff game and asking why everyone seems to be paying attention to the “Jim Thornbon” guy.

Me, I’m probably what people would consider a perpetual bandwagon fan. Years will go by between being able to see games live. The only times I’ve seen the Blues play without the benefit of television have been at United Center where one of my old employers had a skybox. Whether it’s distance, money or simply being in the middle of some other activity and remembering “Oh, right! Blues game! Crap, I’m doing this other thing here instead and can’t leave” there has always been something in my way of watching the games.

Now that I’ve been able to get re-established financially in terms of not having car or student loans I have more disposable income and more time in the winter to enjoy the games. Every year I have to re-read the rosters just to remember who’s who.

I can say with authority, though, that I did question why the Blues ever thought that adding Wayne Gretzky to their lineup was going to get them closer to the Stanley Cup. Adding him, though, did at least re-invigorate my interest in watching the games to see if he’d last in a Blues jersey for long.