The Fan(s)

If you tuned into last weeks episode of Sports Talk 920, you may or may not have noticed at the end of the show when I brought up the hot streak that the Brewers were on during interleague play, Rudy seemed to be a little disturbed by this. He said that since the Brewers turned it around during the 2007 season that there were a lot of "fair weather" fans out there that came out of the woodwork, and didn't give them the time of day when they were consistantly a 6th place team.

While I will have to agree that the Brewers have gained fans since the 07 season (what team doesn't when they start winning?), I can't fully agree that all of them are "fair weather" fans. There are a lot of different kind of fans out there, some of which I will give examples as follows:

FAIR WEATHER FAN: This type of fan only roots for a team when they are winning, they will root for their particular team like crazy when times are good, but the first sign of trouble they are no where to be found.

WAGON JUMPER: While very close to a "fair weather" fan while the times are good, when the times are bad for one team they don't just go hide....oh no they pack up the wagons and go root for another team that is having better times ahead of them.

THE NEW FAN: Shockingly this fan can come about in many different ways, one of which is when a hometown team is winning in a sport they don't usually root for starts doing well, this fan starts to watch the games and starts getting hooked and becomes a fan of the team and the sport. Another way the new fan comes about is a fan going to their first game after not caring much about the sport before going. After they get into it they have become hooked.

DIE HARD FAN: Not much to say here, except that this fan eats, sleeps, and shits their teams colors.....no matter what.

KNOWLEDGEABLE FAN: A knowledeable fan roots for his or her team, but also the game itself. Their knowledge goes beyond the team that they root for and to the entire league the sport they are rooting for. Usually not one to be messed with during sports trivia.

PESSIMISTIC FAN: While to some it may seem on the surface that this type of fan is a "fair weather" fan it actually goes alot deeper than that. This type of fan usually always follows or watches their team no matter what, however signs of rough outtings during an event will cause this fan to turn the channel or leave the game. During bad seasons they have a very hard time seeing anything good with their team, most likely they will want their team to hit the reset, or in most peoples mind panic, button.

OPTIMISTIC FAN:This fan is the vitual opposite of the "pessimistic fan" They always see the good in the team, they will think their team has a shot at the win until the final gun. They keep their attention on the team pretty much no matter what.

While there are many other types of fans out there I just wanted to hit a few. Maybe you fall under one of these categories or maybe you don't. My only point is, before we call these new Brewers fans "fair weather" fans, know that a lot of these fans might not be going anywhere.