Sports fandom

What makes someone a fan of a particular team?

This is something I've been wondering about recently, as a friend of mine (from Utah) is a "Jazz-first Lakers fan" and one of my cousins (also in Utah) is a hardcore Lakers fan.

In my opinion, here are the circumstances in which you can become a fan of any sports team:

1. You attended the school (if it's an NCAA team), or your parents attended the school.

2. You live in the state the team is in.

3. If you live in a state that doesn't have a professional team (ie. Utah and the MLB or NFL), you can adopt any team you want.

That's it. Now, I'm not saying you can't like other teams. When the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, I liked the team. Doesn't mean I watched all of their games or bought a Patriots hat. Same with the Suns. I like the team (moreso before they got Shaq), but I don't call myself a Suns fan.

I despise bandwagon fans. People who are suddenly diehard Red Sox fans (starting around October 2004) make me roll my eyes. Yankees fans who live in Seattle are posers.

Part of being a fan is sticking with your team even when things are bad. If you're just around for the good times, it's like you married someone and only live with them after they win the lottery.

In this way, I admire Cubs fans. An old roommate of mine is a diehard Cubs fan. He was born a good eight decades after they won their last World Series. Can't accuse him of jumping on the bandwagon.

Assuming the Jazz win an NBA championship sometime in the next ten years, I guarantee the year following said championship will result in the number of Jazz fans doubling.

BYU fans who attended home football games during the horror years of 2002-2004 are true fans. Those who showed up last season, after the 11-2 2006 season, not so much. Same will be true for many who come to games this upcoming fall.

I saw a lot more Utah Ute flags on cars in 2004 than I do today.

If you can think of other rules for becoming a fan of a team, let me know what you think.