Auburn fans have no class. Alabama fans have no class. LSU fans have no class. Florida fans have no class. Miami fans have no class. FSU fans have no class. OU fans have no class. Texas fans have no class. Nebraska fans have no class. What do these statements all have in common? #1 They're all true. #2 They're all false. Simply put, with any and every school, you're going find fans with no class. And, at every school, you're going to find fans with tons of class. It's a fact of life. The make a blanket statement, "All Auburn fans are classless" is, essentially, biased and bigoted. You might as well make disparaging remarks about different races, or genders. True, it might not be at the same level of extreme... but think. Most people are fans for one of 4 reasons: #1 Went to school there #2 Grew up a fan #3 Became impressed during a single moment #4 Are bandwagon fans. Easily put, #2 (which, I will admit, I am one) and #4 are the problem fans. #1 is the kind of fan who has pride in HIS/HER school, because it really is their school. They have a right to be so. #2 is the kind that have it engrained in their minds that the other school is wrong, therefore they must be evil, conspiring against us, etc. They also make-up the majority of the fan base of traditional powers. #3 is the kind of fan who wasn't a fan until he saw something he liked, BUT did not leave if that team started to struggle. Like a person becoming a Bama fan in '92 because of the way they handled all the Miami is better than Bama crap... then not leaving during 4-7 1997 or 3-8 2000 seasons. #4 is the kind of fan who will buy the stuff, scream how great his team is... then curse the players and coaches for a single loss. Or simply jump on the next school (die-hard FSU fans I'm sure have seen their fair share of these people). To claim that you've seen a larger number of 'classless' fans at one school than another, remember that even the smaller schools have fan bases upwards of 20-30 thousand... and the Alabamas, Auburns, Notre Dames, FSUs, Nebraskas have them possibly in the million range. Your cross section, no matter how certain you are is an accurate cross section, doesn't contain a sliver of enough fans to make an accurate assumption. Classless, is cheering when the team, or player, is down. Classless is hoping a bad fate (other than losing to your team) befalls the opposition. I have heard fans cheer injuries. That's classless. I have seen fans want Bama to get the death penalty. Honestly? It's classless. I have seen Bama fans want Tennessee and Auburn feel the same penalty. Unless those schools cheated, and you have proof, then you're just being... classless. I'm a Bama fan. When I play a team, I want that team to be at full strength, none of these kids to get hurt (remember, most are kids... most are not even old enough to drink.) If Bama's going to win, I want them to win because the team played their best, not because their starting QB had a heart attack. I have friends who are Auburn fans, Texas fans, Oklahoma fans, Georgia fans, Ole Miss fans, MSU fans (my dad's an alum), etc. We get over a loss. Sure, there's some good natured ribbing, but guess what? When it's done, it's done. That's it. No hoping Bama gets the death penalty. No hoping Auburn gets placed under investigation. No mocking OU fans because of a game buyout (which, if you even remotely look at the facts, has nothing to do with being scared.) It's football, it's not life. If it were life, it'd be descrimination, and bigotry. It's just a rivalry, it's just football. Once the game's over, get over it, and move on with life.
Good Post . . watch out with the fan breakdowns though . . sometimes people can take that VERY personally . . but I agree 100%
I do take a little bit of exception to what you say, though I understand what you mean. I also am a #2 type. I didn't go to LSU, but I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, both my grandfathers went there, and so did 2 of my brothers. I consider myself evey bit a Tiger fan as anyone who attended school there. LSU is my "hometown" team, just as an NFL fan would consider the local team "his" team. Does that make me more prone to be a "bad" fan? I don't really see how. It has more to do with the type of person you are to begin with, not how you came to follow a particular team. A classless person is just that, no matter how much education you cram down his throat.
P.S., the reason "classless" fans get so much publicity is because they scream the loudest and strive to bring attention to themselves.
this is a tricky subject . . I have always said, if you want to be an Auburn fan, I don't care why, just come and cheer loud and act like an Auburn man/woman. However, nothing grates me more to listen to someone put down Auburn ("allbarn sucks," "bunch of rednecks") and then come to find out that the Alabama/LSU/UGA/UF/Ole Miss/MSU/Ark/UT/Vandy . ok . not Vandy fan that is in my face didn't even attend the school that they are cheering for. and yes, Auburn has them too . no question . . I don't, by any means think someone who cheers for a school but didn't go there is a bad fan. I want to repeat that . . .I don't, by any means think someone who cheers for a school but didn't go there is a bad fan BUT when a non-alumni/student fan is a bad fan . .this is how I stereotype them (keeping in mind stereotypes bad and usually wrong) This is an actual conversation I had with an LSU fan after the Arkansas game. This guy has season tickets, and wears LSU stuff to work all the time. He didn't go to LSU or any other school. Guy: Man, what a great weekend, I couldn't be happier . .in the same weekend Texas lost, Auburn lost, Florida lost AND Tennesse lost . .I'm in such a good mood. Me: So you're telling me you aren't even excited that LSU won . Guy: Yeah, that's cool too . . ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????? he cares more about watching other teams that he hates lose then his own team . . .THAT is a bad fan.
I look at it this way. College football is more like high school than NFL. High school football is generally of interest to those who attended said school. However, it is also a great source of local pride, particularly in smaller towns where there is only one school. For most in Louisiana, that translates to LSU. Sure there are other schools in the state, but LSU is the only prominent one, and therefore is a source of pride for most of the residents of the state. I live now in a small town with only one high school. I have only lived here for four years, and being 34, I obviously didn't go to this school. I do support the team, because I love football, and because my kids (8,7,5) will likely go there some day. Plus, it is a way I can bond with the natives and feel like a part of the community. Maybe it is different for other people, and to each his own. Perhaps it is different in Alabama, because you have 2 major schools there. I have no idea how non-college grads in Fla. decide which team to follow, but I'm sure they have a method to it as well. Maybe I took it all the wrong way, and if I did, I apologize. But I have been told before (not on this board), that I wsn't a "real" fan because I didn't attend LSU. I guess I should have done that, but instead I wasted my years serving this country in Navy, traveling the world, spreading the gospel of Mike the Tiger, and playing softball against ex-LSU placekickers.
Don't think I'm calling a single person here 'not a true fan.' I, myself, never attended Alabama (went to Mississippi State, then came back home to finish up at a small school called Montevallo to be closer to home). My grandfather didn't attend alabama either, but his brother and he would sneak into games in the earliest days of legion field, and became fans before the days of Coach Bryant. He engrained that into his children, being Bama fans, which included my mother. My father just liked good football, and became a Bama fan too, and so my brothers and I all became Bama fans (my youngest brother is currently a freshman there, a business major). My father was a Miss State grad. My mother attended UAB. At the same time, I know how my mother started me (she's a lot better now)... how horrible Auburn was, she was even certain there was a smell on the campus when she went. I worked for a local cable tv crew and filmed SEC baseball, football, basketball, and gymastics events. I never remembered any smell. The most prominent thing in my mind about Auburn was one particularly hot gymnast whose name escapes me. LOL. Maybe I'm a tad old fashioned, but I miss the days when Jay Barker and Stan White would have a huddled group of Auburn and Alabama players on the sidelines after the game, all praying. I long for days like that. When the players, at least the ones I was watching, had the correct priorities.
honestly I think most teams still do that . . .its just that the internet has given us (the fans) somewhere to easily spew venom at each other.
Skyray makes a bunch of damn good points. Far too many complainers add 2 + 2 and get 22. The exaggerations that are out there make the legitimate problems get lost in the fog. I must respectfully disagree on one thing. Everybody plays by the same rules. You break 'em big, then you get probation. Break 'em big again and you get the death penalty. That's the rules. I would personally hate to see it happen in the SEC and I don't think that it is inevitable. But I'm not classless for believing in fair play. Got that? If you guys are clean then you won't get the death penalty. If not, then adios amigo! Get your act together fresh and we'll welcome you back in a couple of years. It wouldn't be the SEC without you.
