Talk:Fan loyalty/Archive 1

Massive Cleanup
I've started a major cleanup and rewrite to this long-neglected and opinion-filled article. Notice that I've removed all of the team bashing and unsourced opinions that this article contained. Don't start inserting material unless you have credible sources. Thanks. Yankees76 22:51, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

"Many fans continuted to be spotted around Perth, Western Australia sporting Force clothing oblivious to the fact that the team have actually performed badly."

- As far as I know, this is actually a sign of faithful support, as bandwagonners would stop publicly supporting a team when it performs badly for a long period, as the Force have done. Gorast 03:46, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

This is one of the more ridiculous Wikipages I've seen in a while... looks like the authors' chance to take unsubstantiated shots at teams/ cities they don't like under the guise of informing. I hate the Calgary Flames, but pray tell-- how are they bandwagon fans? Says who? How do you measure this?

It seems to me that if this page is to present any relevant information, there would have to be evidence presented regarding the 'fair-weather-ness' of fans. A team that maintained a high level of support despite poor results-- the Utah Jazz come to mind... Vancouver Canucks... Kansas City Chiefs... Baltimore Orioles... would be at the low end of bandwagon fans.

Teams seeing their support waning when the team is unsuccesful could be said to have a high level of bandwagon fans. Off the top of my head, I would think the Milwaukee Brewers... Montreal Expos... Edmonton Oilers... can't think of a basketball example... would all qualify here.

Disclaimer 1: the teams I have named above are just guesses as to what such a comparison would show. I am not trying to attack any specific team.

Disclaimer 2: I recognize that teams like Manchester United FC, the NY Yankees and the Toronto Maple Leafs are included not because their fans are lukewarm, but because of the 'herd-mentality' of fans outside the home city who tag along because of the team's (perceived) successes. I agree this happens, but I would argue that the tag "bandwagon fan" in sports doesn't really pertain to this behaviour. It is far more likely to attach to an Edmonton Oiler fan who ignored the team for the past 15 years and suddenly now this spring pretends to bleed blue... and far less likely to attach to, say, a fan from the midwestern states who developed an affinity for the New York Yankees during their glory days. --Richard

So Liverpool are picking up fairweather fans becasue they play Peter Crouch now? 213.79.38.74 11:48, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Washington Redskins
I am not really sure how to add citations, but here are a couple I found about the bumper stickers and/or "bandwagon" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/history/timeline/wagon/1210.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/redskins/history/timeline/wagon/0114.htm Bunnygod888 (talk) 15:27, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * This is more applicable to the Washington Redskins page (it's a tounge in cheek opinion column that is only partially related to this topic).--Yankees76 (talk) 13:38, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Fairweather fan merge
I wouldn't object to moving fan loyalty and fairweather fan into one article, but I think it ought to be called something else since they are polar opposites. Maybe fan following or merged into sports fan or something along those lines that is more general. --Pinkkeith (talk) 22:50, 28 January 2008 (UTC)