TAYLOR MILLS Sports Editor
One of the biggest problems facing professional sports today has to be the emergence of bandwagon fans.
Bandwagon fans, for those who don’t know, are people who are fans of certain sports teams due to how good the team is or whoever big-time players are currently playing for them. These are the worst kind of people. They have no kind of personal connection with the team, but as long as they are winning, they’ll cheer loud and proud until the day comes when the team isn’t very good anymore and then it’s on to the next one.
There are a vast number of teams in professional sports who have a gross number of bandwagon fans, but I’m going to focus on the team whose fan base irks me the most. That team, my friends, is the Golden State Warriors.
For people who aren’t into basketball or sports in general, the Golden State Warriors are arguably the best team in basketball right now. The emergence of their “fair-weather” fan base came during the 2015 season when they won the NBA Finals. It seemed like everyone became a Warriors fan over the course of one summer.
People who couldn’t even name three players on the team were suddenly coming out of nowhere flashing their gold and blue apparel. It was appalling. The Warriors made their second Finals appearance in 2016 and proceeded to lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and in the process, lost a big chunk of their fans. Those fans would eventually return though, because a recent free agent contract signing of top-five player Kevin Durant had everyone rooting for the Warriors once again.
Real fans are the people who cheer for a team regardless of if its first in the league or nowhere near playoff contention. They are also people whose personal connection to the team, rather than the team’s winning percentage, is the reason for their cheers.
I am an Atlanta Hawks fan due to the fact that I have lived in the state of Georgia my entire life and have always wanted to see them be successful. The first ever NBA game that I saw live was a Hawks game at 7-years-old, and I’ve loved them ever since. The team currently isn’t doing so well this season, but that isn’t deterring my loyalty to them. No matter what happens, I’m behind them 100 percent.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true meaning of being a fan. For all of you fans who are only chasing winning percentages, you can get all of the money in my bank account if you can name more than eight players on that team.
