As far as I am concerned, every single person on this planet can be placed into one of the following categories of baseball fans. I think these categories can overflow from sport to sport, but, for now, lets just apply them to Americas Favorite Past Time.
I am not joking when I say this. Every single person can be placed into one of the following 7 categories of fan. I use specific fans to describe each of the categories, but said categories are not specific to each team.
1. The “Non-Fan.”
This kind of “fan” is usually a female an/or a person who never played any team sport as a kid (except for maybe soccer). These are the people who come to Superbowl Parties because they like the commercials. They have no idea what an ERA is, and they will genuinely enjoy watching the Home Run Derby.
2. the Quasi-Fan
These are fans that sort of know a little bit about everything going on in the world of Major League Baseball, but would much rather watch a NASCAR race or the PGA Tour.
3. The non-New York resident New York Yankee Fan.
Read: Fairweather fan. Although to be fair, since their World Series championship in 2004, the Boston Red Sox have sort of become the new New York Yankees. These are fans that hold no allegiance to any team or city or player, they simply root for the sure thing. They don’t care about a team’s performance throughout the year, they simply pick a team that has a pretty good chance to make it to the post-season and root for them once there. These people are “fans” in the loosest sense of the term.
4. The Toronto Blue Jay’s Fan
I only picked the Blue Jays to categorize this type of fan because of personal history. These people are a special kind of Non-Fan, in that they don’t give a shit about the sport until an entering a conversation with an avid sports fan. Once engaged in this conversation, this type of fan will begin to simply pull against and oppose everything the avid fan cheers for. If you are an avid sports fan is pulling for the Anaheim Angels in the 2002 World Series, then this type of person will immediately beings to pull for the San Francisco Giants, and will probably profess in the process that Barry Bonds isn’t on steroids. These fans are usually under the age of 8, or at least act like an 8 year old at the age of 25.
5. The 2005 Chicago White Sox Fan.
These are fans that hold some sort of mild allegiance to a team, but only when said team is on a hot streak. These are the people that mocked you for talking sports with your friends, but once the home team makes a run at World Series greatness, they are hosting World Series parties. And once said team has fallen off their hot streak, or in the case of the 2005 White Sox, actually won the whole thing, these are the fans that return to their life of dismissing professional sports. Until the team makes another run, which is when the process begins all over again. These fans will go to see their home teams home games, and cheer valiantly, but would not be able to tell you the who the set up man or closer in their pitching staff is.
6. The Dream Team Fan
These are fans that hold a strong allegiance with a team (usually their home team), but are much more concerned with individual performance. If the home team is in a slump, or quite obviously not going to make the post-season, they begin to pull for the teams that have their favorite players. These people can spit out more stats and baseball history than you know what to do with. These are people that generally think that Barry Bonds in an asshole, and, not coincidently, hate the type of fan categorized by numbers 1-5.
7. The Avid Atlanta Braves Fan.
This is the fan that will stick by their team no matter what. These were the select few that actually paid to see the Florida Marlins during their last home stand in the 2007. Nothing will turn these fans against their home team, even if moving to another major baseball market. They pull for and love their team, regardless if they are in first or last place. Consequently, these types of fans usually have back-up teams that they pull for when their actual favorite team is not performing well. These backup teams however are always in a different division (often different league) as their actual favorite team, and if the two were to play, this fan would hope that their actual favorite team would fucking destroy their backup team.
This is no lie. Every single person fits in perfectly into one of the above 7 categories. I don’t thing there is one person I have ever met that I have watched a baseball game with or engaged in a 30 minute conversation about baseball with that I could not peg into one of the above eight categories. Think about it the next time you talk to someone about baseball. I guarantee that they will fit perfectly into one of the above 7.
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8. A combination of both numbers 6 and 7. This "fan" is both loyal to his/her team, and pays attention to overall stastitics and individual performances. One that breathes and speaks baseball, knowing it's much more than a sport. It's a game full of numbers, history, and to be campy.. magic.
You told me you were just about rooting for the team, but I don't buy that cop-out answer Zac Hobbs.
From when Rickey Henderson signed with the Oakland Athletics in 1979 til he left Boston to go finish his career with the Dodgers in 2002, simply, he OUT-STOLE the entire Boston Red Sox organization 1,395 - 1,382!
Infamous jerk and asshole Bob Gibson put up a spectacular ERA of 1.12 with over 300 innings pitched in 1968. A season so dominant by one player in "the year of the pitcher".. Major League Baseball lowered the mound and shrunk the strike-zone simply to give the hitters more of an advantage. One player completely changing the course of the game.
You have to at least sit back and marvel at these feats, saying wow!
Don't get me wrong, I love the team, but I also love what makes up the team: players, coaches, manager, scouts, and any other part of baseball relations.
Put it this way, if Ichiro were batting .398 in the last two weeks of the season, you would pull for him to hit over .400. If Alfonso Soriano was 3 homeruns away from a first ever 50-50 year with four games left, you would pull for him. If Albert Pujols was five RBI's behind somebody to take over the batting Triple Crown with two games left, you would root him. Just like you would if any underdog player were challenging Joe D's 56 game hitting streak. Just like you did when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak.
Maybe I should re-word myself. Babe Ruth hit more home runs than any other TEAM in the American League in 1920 and 1927. In order for someone like A-Rod to do that today in the clumsy AL, he'd have to hit 191 homeruns to pass the best home run hitting team this year he doesn't play on (Chicago White Sox). Are you really trying to tell me you wouldn't love to see that happen? That's hard to do even in a videogame!
Number 8 also consists of the "fan" that goes beyond the team, beyond the numbers, knowing history and story-lines. Baseball is game that reflects the current American culture, whether it's with cheating, gambling, womanizing, depression, drinking, booming city-markets, post-war glee, it has steam-rolled itself into this country as a symbolic "sport" (ahem.. coughartformcough) garnering the term the American pastime. Something no other mainstream sport this country has to offer, whether the NFL or NASCAR generated more television viewers, they simply cannot compete with the history, and the way this game has changed the foundation of this country. From Abner Doubleday to Ty Cobb to Wrigley Field to Fenway Park to the infamous "Black Sox" to Babe Ruth to Yankee Stadium to the depression to Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams to Shibe Park to the Polo Grounds to Jackie Robinson and racism to the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moving out west to Sandy Koufax and the "bonus babies" to Willie Mays to expansion to Hank Aaron to the seventies with greenies and cocaine to Brett Butler and pine-tar to cookie-cutter stadiums to Jose Canseco to the wild-card to interleague play to John Rocker to Barry Bonds to steriods to the now non-existant Curse of the Bambino to the still existing Curse of the Billy Goat and so much more, number 8 has this pastime echoed in his/her breath, etched into his/her skin, up, down, around.. it's everywhere.
Number 8 doesn't just root for the team however, he/she doesn't just root for the player either. This "fan" roots for baseball.
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