Overenthusiastic Sports Fan

[Gilhelmi]

Oh, boy, do I know this one. I live on the other end of town from the stadium. There are days it ain't safe to leave the apartment.

Then there are fun days when a bunch of nerds, most of whom do not like sports, are watching the Huskers because it is a particularly big game. This might be me as well.

"He who lives by the sword Huskers, shall die by the sword Huskers"

[fireheart]

here's a bit on that from wikipedia

Apparently their "informal" name is the Bunnies. (then again, the Bulldogs (rugby, NOT AFL) were known colloquially as the Berries )

[Ted_The_IT_Guy]

I live in Denver. While the not quite official state religion is worshipping at the shrine of Elway, and I'm part of that, we do see a lot of other teams due to Denver's status as a hub for transplants from other parts of the country. It's nothing like Green Bay, for example.

I've met and high fived The Barrel Man, Denver's most famous fan...he'd dress up for games in a barrel, hung from suspenders, and boots. That's it. Didn't matter how cold it got. Sadly, he has passed on.

Our other teams just don't have the same following as the Broncos...Nuggets have never been much, the Rockies are an utter embarassment to the state and humanity in general, and the Avs (while making at least the conference finals 6 out of their first 7 years, with two Stanley Cups) have struggled recently, and they've only been here for 20 years anyways. That's the other thing - Denver has only had the 4 major sports since October of 1995, and before April of 1993 it was just the Broncos and Nuggets.

Our local college teams aren't really good, either. CSU had a nice year until their coach ripped their hearts out by going to Florida. The Zoomies are decent for a service academy, and CU...well, CU is down. That's a kind way of putting it.

[wolfie]

I hate to say this but 80% of my state bleeds our NFL football team colors (see my location for those colors).

In the city I grew up in, there's a private school for girls that uses the same colours (nope, they don't eat pepperoni with an Uzi). For various reasons, they now allow boys in the elementary school - cutoff between elementary and secondary is one grade below the cutoff in the public school system (French immersion program is co-ed, and regular program became co-ed when a nearby private school for boys shut down).

And don't come running to me when I'm out on the front porch getting a smoke to tell me local NFL team won their wild card game . . . I don't watch football, I don't like football (I have tried to get into it before and just cannot do it) so why the Hell are you bothering me with that garbage I don't get it??

Next time he does it, ask him innocently "So that goal in the third period means they made it into the World Series?".

[otakuneko]

"So that goal in the third period means they made it into the World Series?"

And that's a Hat Trick!

[notalwaysright]

Next time he does it, ask him innocently "So that goal in the third period means they made it into the World Series?".

I did something similar last year when the team was doing well and people felt the need to gush about it to me, a random girl at the fabric store. I'd say, "oh, is it football season?" in a serious yet confused tone and they'd usually stop talking. I've long ago come to terms with the fact that I can't bring myself to care about competitions of any sort. The closest I come is watching the Olympics, which I inexplicably love.

[Argabarga]

Q. What happens if the QB misses an open receiver on the slant?

A. Six more weeks of winter.

[Seshat]

BTW: The Other Major Sport Day that my family avoids is Cup Day.

Aussies didn't need to hear anything else to know why.

For everyone else:
The Melbourne Cup horse race is nicknamed 'the Day Australia Stops'. Just about e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e in the whole bloody country stops work for the duration of the race, and most workplaces have a workplace sweepstakes, even if gambling is otherwise considered Teh Evul.
Oh, the sweepstakes might be something like a token amount per entry, and in some cases the winnings are donated to the winner's preferred charity. But my point is that it's one of the two or three Big Sporting Events in the nation.

Hm. Actually, it's probably the only one that's undisputed. Candidates for the rest include the major games for cricket and footy (and then you have to ask if it's rugby league, rugby union or aussie rules), and Australian Open tennis. The tennis and the AFL (Aussie Rules) are in Melbourne, cricket is often at the 'Gabba in Brisbane. I don't know about the rest.

[KatherineB]

I worked at a football stadium in Melbourne for six years and was constantly asked "what team do you support?" My standard answer was "The same one you do" as that prevented anyone being aggressive towards me. That was all well and good if they were in club colours, but if not, they would grin before looking themselves up and down and staring at me in confusion before wandering away. They always thought I had actually named the team when I hadn't. Fun times.

[dawnfire]

The Melbourne cup not only stops the nation but Melbournians get a public holiday. A lot of people take the Monday and (if they can get away with it Friday) make it a long weekend.

[Crankybadger]

I remember when Seattle won the Superbowl last year, they had a parade (whoopie.) and everybody and their brother decide to go, no big deal to me, but a huge number of them decided to take the commuter train. I go to the station where I catch the train which is the 1st one after the train leaves Seattle and it is packed! Not no more sitting room packed, but Tokyo subway packed. Miss the 1st train, second train comes an hour later and it's packed just as bad, but since I'm already an hour late getting home and don't feel like waiting in the cold another hour cram on board with the hordes of blue and green wearing idjits. Get off at my stop and as I'm walking to the parking lot, the guy beside me says to his girlfriend "Did you see those guys standing in the hall, I can't understand why they looked so angry" I turned to him and said "Probably because we take this train to and from work and you folks who decided to take the day off and go to a parade gucked up our commute and made us an hour or more late getting home" He looked at me in open mouthed astonishment and stammered "But.........SEAHAWKS!"

[Smapti]

Update!

So, as some of you may have heard, the Local Sports Team did, in fact, make it to the Big Annual Event.

And as you may have heard, they lost. And they lost spectacularly, in a single incredible moment of the kind that the phrase "epic fail" was coined to describe.

The Overenthusiastic Sports Fan showed up at the store yesterday to do his shopping, dressed in all team colors as usual.

Only this time, he was completely quiet during his entire visit.

Sometimes, karma actually pays off.

[thehuckster]

Sometimes, karma actually pays off.

So, you're saying that the reason they lost the big game was because some doofus fan needed some karma after annoying a bunch of clerks at a retail store? I think Pete Carroll would like to hear this so he can formulate some sort of excuse for that play.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

As a fan of the team that would've made it to the Annual Big Game were it not for an epic late-game pants-shitting, I approved of the ending.

I am not the one who first mentioned this, but watching the last 4 NFC teams in the playoffs losing each round was like watching a Final Destination movie.

[Ben_Who]

And as you may have heard, they lost. And they lost spectacularly, in a single incredible moment of the kind that the phrase "epic fail" was coined to describe.

As a fairweather fan of your Local Sports Team's opponent in this year's Big Annual Event, may I quietly say a "woo-hoo" over here into a paper bag where no one can see me?

I'm fortunate to live in a community where sport is considered entertainment and not a religion. When I was in college, I would hear dispatches from parts of the country where sport was considered the only road out of destitution and about as likely as a lottery ticket, and it seemed to me that those must be very sad communities indeed, especially if a team from a place where the sun doesn't rise and set on the stadium comes along and ruins their day. ("To the Cowboys, it was the most humiliating defeat of the year; to the Patriots, it was Tuesday.")

So I don't really have any firsthand knowledge of the sports fan who gets miserably depressed when his team doesn't meet the challenge. And despite a recent xkcd.com strip, I still find it hard to imagine putting that much gravitas into sport.