Walmart Fighting Irish - teams with most non-alumni fans
While this is obviously not scientific - this is sports after all - the results are kind of interesting.
Michigan doesn't make the top ten for percentage of alumnus as fans (on facebook), we're at 11% (State 19%, OSU 13%) while the leader in the clubhouse is Notre Dame with 4%
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Also interesting... is that Northwestern? They have sports fans? weird...
On the other end of the spectrum:
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http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/6/2/8622799/college-fans-…
There is indeed some truth to this. I grew up in a heavily Catholic area in the East . . . lots of Irish, Polish, and Italians. They were all Notre Dame fans by default, even long after they felt any kind of discrimination.
The running joke was this one:
Proud Mother: "My son just got into Harvard!"
Next Door Neighbor: "What's wrong, he couldn't get into Notre Dame?"
You should be able to cheer for whoever you want to. It doesn't diminish your fandom if you did not attend a particular institution.
However - it does, or should, diminish your ability to make certain points with credibilty. Taking about UM's academic superioity to Sparty (and in big time college football there is no difference) when you went to Ferris is a stretch. Additionally, alumni of a school probably have more grounds for input unless you write a fat check to the athletic dept/school.
I was curious as to what people would say about this topic. A while back I remember a heated debate regarding the term "Michigan Man." Most people on this board thought you could only be a so-called Michigan Man if you in fact went to Michigan. As a lifelong fan (but not an alumni) I was a bit off-put by this assertion but it makes sense. I would never claim to be a Michigan Man.
As for fandom though, I agree that anybody is eligible. The whole "Walmart Wolverine" bullshit is borne from Sparty's inferiority complex. I consider myself a diehard fan. I visit this site multiple times a day. I have Charles Woodson jersey that doesn't it me anymore (got it when I was 7). My braces were always had Blue and Yellow rubberbands (in retrospect, an awful color scheme for teeth). I am and always will be a fan. Go blue.
I never played or worked for the Tigers so I guess I'm just an asshole for going to their games. Isn't this pretty much the same thing?An alum may have more love for the entire entity of the University of Michigan, but for the football team, or hockey team, women's volleyball? I think a non-alum could love and root for a team just as much
as a Canadian, I consider myself more of a Tim Hortons Wolverine.
It's not that Northwestern has fans, it's that they have smart students who avoid Facebook.
Wouldn't 9% of zero still be zero?
No, it's 10 people. One guy that went there and the other nine that work for him who he told "root for NW or you are fired."
Eleven people.
a non-alumni fan but:
"I shop smart, I shop S Mart!"
I've had season tickets for 29 years. I did not go to UM and I don't shop at Walmart.
My little sister's friend (who was in her 30s at the time) once said the following when I mentioned that I was a Michigan fan:
"But, .... you didn't even GOOO there!".
What do you say to something that stupid (besides the fact that I've loved Michigan since I was 4 years old)?
I never played in a band with Rush. I never was a member of the Detroit Lions. I wasn't part of the cast of the West Wing. Should I stop being a fan of those things also?
Walmart fan is a derogatory phrase that was invented by fans of things just about nobody likes except the people that are stuck with them (oh and complete dimwits like my sister's friend who apparently doesn't like to share).
They said Walmart, never mentioned anything about Kroger.
I was born at U-M. My family moved when I was three months old to Nashville with General Motors. I guess by Spartan metrics I can not root for Michigan because I chose an in-state TN college over $160k+ in out-of-state Michigan tuition despite wearing Elvis Grbac jerseys when I was 3 years old.
But I understand why MSU fans do it. No one in America cares about them. I can honestly say I've never met a Spartan fan outside the state of Michigan. My high school had 350 students. There were roughly 30 Michiganders and all of us were Michigan fans. I went to a college with over 25,000 students and got plenty of "GO BLUES" but still never met a Spartan fan.
It's tough for them being so irrelevant on the national scene. Hell, it's tough for them being irrelevant on a regional scene behind Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame among others.
I think BC should be higher on that list in reality. I've lived around Boston for my entire life and have only known 2 non-alum BC fans. It's the combination of a lack of interest in college sports in the area and the fact that people really find BC to be arrogant and annoying.
Maybe if they were successful it would be different but they're not. They caught lightning in a bottle with Doug Flutie in the 80's and haven't done anything since. They fired their most successful recent football coach for daring to interview with the NFL and fired their most successful basketball coach of all time for no apparant reason. They are just the worst.
EDIT: I should also mention that if you do care about college sports in this area you were likely a Big East hoops fan and hold a grudge against BC for single-handidly starting its demise to go play schools below the Mason Dixon line. Did I mention I don't like BC?
I'm shocked Ohio State isn't in the top 10. Seems every yokel in that Godforsaken state is a fan. I know it's a big school but they can't ALL have attended.
Please leave the Walmart label to the Sparties. I didn't attend Michigan but was raised as a UM fan just the same. Let MSU keep failing at national relevance by trying to energize their base with negativity and inferiority.
I truly believe the difference between us and State is that we root for our team more than against our rivals. Even amidst their success coach Sour Puss still feels the need to address every little thing UM does that he feels is an insult.
I can't wait for them to find their place again.