Bandwagon Fans Abound In Cleveland, Indianapolis
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jerad Shaw-
All aboard.
And you better hurry. The Cleveland Cavaliers bandwagon is filling up quick.
The city of Cleveland will welcome LeBron James with open arms when the 2014-2015 season begins. These, of course, are the same fans that burned his jersey, and cursed his name in 2010 when he chose to take his talents to South Beach.
I find no fault in the anger of a fan base whose best player leaves on his own terms. I do, however, find fault in those fans not supporting the team while he was gone.
But please, let’s stop blaming the newly acquired Cavs fan base. You don’t have to look far to find the hot bed of fair weather fandom. Matter of fact, you’re in it.
The state of Indiana, and more direct, the city of Indianapolis, could be used as the definition of bandwagon jumpers. Pacers fans have shown this to be true. It took them to have their best first half of a season in franchise history for people to even notice they were playing. In 2011, the Pacers logged the worst attendance in the entire NBA.
While the infiltration is already in motion for new Cavs fans, bandwagon jumping has been perfected right here in the Hoosier State.
Indiana takes so much pride in its basketball, yet the Pacers have been in the bottom five of NBA attendance in three of the last four years. I guess our hoops pride stops at the collegiate level.
The Pacers are just the tip of the iceberg when you talk about fair weather fandom in this state. Right down the road in Lucas Oil Stadium, you’ll find around 80,000 of the biggest Colts fans there are. Well, the biggest fans since around 2004.
Until the success of Peyton Manning, many of today’s Colts fans had little to no idea they played professional football in Indianapolis.
In a town that has proven to only follow front-running teams, the fact the Colts were awful for the majority of a decade didn’t help matters. The handful of people that had to sit through the Jeff George era will never forget the futility those teams offered us.
But lucky for the Colts fans today, they didn’t have to sit through those years. They hopped on the wagon around 2004, just in time to ride into the sunset of a Super Bowl championship in 2006. Who needs the heartache of constant struggles? Apparently in Nap Town, fandom is a weekly contract.
But LeBron followers are a different breed of fans. They have no loyalty to any team. Their loyalties are of the individual variety. Long gone are the fans who admired the body of work throughout the season of their favorite team. That’s too hard to handle. It’s much easier just to grab onto the tail of the best player in the game, and call yourself a Lebron fan.
So much so, a Pacers “fan” on social media admitted he would cheer on LeBron, except when he played the Pacers. Don’t think for a second that fan won’t have a LeBron jersey to throw on once they knock the Pacers out of the playoffs next year.
But Colts fans were a step ahead. How’s that half Colts, half Broncos jersey treating you?[[In-content Ad]]
All aboard.
And you better hurry. The Cleveland Cavaliers bandwagon is filling up quick.
The city of Cleveland will welcome LeBron James with open arms when the 2014-2015 season begins. These, of course, are the same fans that burned his jersey, and cursed his name in 2010 when he chose to take his talents to South Beach.
I find no fault in the anger of a fan base whose best player leaves on his own terms. I do, however, find fault in those fans not supporting the team while he was gone.
But please, let’s stop blaming the newly acquired Cavs fan base. You don’t have to look far to find the hot bed of fair weather fandom. Matter of fact, you’re in it.
The state of Indiana, and more direct, the city of Indianapolis, could be used as the definition of bandwagon jumpers. Pacers fans have shown this to be true. It took them to have their best first half of a season in franchise history for people to even notice they were playing. In 2011, the Pacers logged the worst attendance in the entire NBA.
While the infiltration is already in motion for new Cavs fans, bandwagon jumping has been perfected right here in the Hoosier State.
Indiana takes so much pride in its basketball, yet the Pacers have been in the bottom five of NBA attendance in three of the last four years. I guess our hoops pride stops at the collegiate level.
The Pacers are just the tip of the iceberg when you talk about fair weather fandom in this state. Right down the road in Lucas Oil Stadium, you’ll find around 80,000 of the biggest Colts fans there are. Well, the biggest fans since around 2004.
Until the success of Peyton Manning, many of today’s Colts fans had little to no idea they played professional football in Indianapolis.
In a town that has proven to only follow front-running teams, the fact the Colts were awful for the majority of a decade didn’t help matters. The handful of people that had to sit through the Jeff George era will never forget the futility those teams offered us.
But lucky for the Colts fans today, they didn’t have to sit through those years. They hopped on the wagon around 2004, just in time to ride into the sunset of a Super Bowl championship in 2006. Who needs the heartache of constant struggles? Apparently in Nap Town, fandom is a weekly contract.
But LeBron followers are a different breed of fans. They have no loyalty to any team. Their loyalties are of the individual variety. Long gone are the fans who admired the body of work throughout the season of their favorite team. That’s too hard to handle. It’s much easier just to grab onto the tail of the best player in the game, and call yourself a Lebron fan.
So much so, a Pacers “fan” on social media admitted he would cheer on LeBron, except when he played the Pacers. Don’t think for a second that fan won’t have a LeBron jersey to throw on once they knock the Pacers out of the playoffs next year.
But Colts fans were a step ahead. How’s that half Colts, half Broncos jersey treating you?[[In-content Ad]]
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