Would you still be a fan if...
You knew Michigan was never going to win a title in your lifetime? I have a few friends here in the DC area who are Cubs fans, and I am admittedly a fair-weather Pistons fan, and much more of a Red Wings fan than a hockey fan. I don't know that I've ever watched a hockey game the Wings weren't playing in. I stop watching once their championship hopes are dashed.
Every year there is a hope that your team will win, and if not this year, you hope they build for the future. But if you knew, right now that Michigan (God forbid) or any team that you root for would not win a title before you died...would it affect your fanhood? Would you care a little less?
If your kids play on a team that has no shot at a championship, does that mean you'd say, "What's the point?" Really?
Yes.
Source: Am a Lions fan
This is the correct answer.
This right here.
Anyone who is a lifelong Lions fan can certainly handle this emotionally. Trust me, for I am also a Lions fan and I still find myself at Ford Field in the fall on occasion.
I'm not a huge basketball fan so for Pistons I wouldn't watch much more if there was no chance they could ever win a title. But for football (both Lions and Michigan) I'll watch every game regardless of records or championship dreams.
That it would not affect their fandom, is lying.
If you knew your team would never win, there's zero purpose to watching.
Waking up Saturday morning knowing that my team was already out of it, I'm going to do more productive things.
You have no business speaking for me or anybody else you don't know. I've been a fan since before I really much cared whether they won or lost. While I now very much enjoy seeing Michigan win, it has zero to do with my fandom.
With your comment and the initial thread.
Unknown vs the known. Fandom or not, there's always a chance to win the championship going into the season, whether or not the team is projected to be 1st or 300th.
This question takes all of that out of the equation.
You said you wouldn't watch a game knowing your team was already out of it. Sadly, that comes up most every year at some point. I don't stop watching.
Of course the hypothetical was literally impossible. But elements of reality fit it fairly well. While I am always hoping Michigan wins a championship, (while that's still possible), it's never the reason I watch or root for them.
You're quite welcome to feel differently, but wrong to think everyone is like you.
They know they will never win a championship but every home game, winning record or not, they pack the stands and have the times of their lives. Many many ECU fans tailgate and scream for their team every bit as much as we do for ours. They know the likelyhood of winning any kind of championship is less than winning the lottery twice while being struck by lightning. They still show up and are as passionate as anyone else
ECU.
But they are in the minority. The majority of teams outside of the P5 that are out of the major conferences have piss poor attendance when the season is out of reach. Go to ANY MAC stadium (CMU fan, I've been to some of them), and you can pretty much walk wherever you want and sit.
How is this even a relevant question for us?
Jim Harbaugh is our coach.
Yes, Michigan helped to create and shape my family so it's much more important than Ws and Ls
If I knew Michigan would never win because I was a time traveller who attempted to revise history/deliver a national title and instead ended the world, then no I would no longer root for Michigan.
Other than that, I'm in
that says it all i beleive..
1. Uncertain futures and hope are a part of sports.
2. I'm stuck with it now. I'd be rooting for them to finish a close second. It's all I'd have.
Michigan is my school, and just like I remain a Detroiter (even though I last lived there in 1966), who roots for all of Detroit's teams (the Lions have made it hard), I would always want Michigan to win and take pride in the quality of the effort regardless of the result. Although winning is more gratifying, it is also gratifying to watch a team play that is continuing to compete until the clock reads 00:00.
answer = yes, always and forever.
All of the above applies to Michigan, minus the certainty of winning a championship.
I mean Michigan State knows they will never win a championship and they still have fans.
You win.
Not really though.
My connections to UMich and Ann Arbor are too numerous for me not to be a fan.
when I was 9 and old enough to make a conscious choice of my own. So after this year my answer will always be unequivocally - Hell yeah I'm a fan til death!!!
It's not the accumulation of titles that matters. It's being a part of the collective fandom with all its ups & downs.
Also a Lions fan but half-heartedly since I couldn't double up what with the Cubs masochism.
you already dont know if they will ever win in your lifetime, isnt that what makes it exciting?
I'm happier if they win, of course, but I'll never forsake them if they struggle. Can't, it's in my blood.
But it's getting outright annoying hearing the OSU and MSU fans (OSU in particular because all their recent national titles are validated poll titles) use the "one half national title in 70 years" rhetoric against us with impunity. One of these days a blueblood program such as us can't just settle for consistency and stability and we have to breakthrough. And what better way to honor the 20th anniversary The Champions then to give them company on that lonely pedestal in the era of colored TV
think of all the other schools you could have been a fan of. schools with no chance of hell of ever winning anything. all i know is the first game i ever remember watching was the 1965 rosebowl, michigan vs oregon state. i have been hooked every since.
Many of us have gone through RR and BH and yet still fans should answer your question.
Only on MGoBlog.
Or until I get tired of football and leave the college football fandom.
I would still be a fan IF(a very big IF and never happening) Mork Dorito, Urbz, or Satan were to be the next coach...God forbib.
Some things will never be bigger than MICHIGAN!!!
GO BLUE FOREVER!!!!!