Thoughts on UCF as national champ?

[dawg80]

I guess by Dawg80's definition all fans of a school's team who are not alumni are band wagon fans. If they stick to their favorite team through losing seasons they are not just band wagon fans. I realize that Alabama has had few losing seasons in the last 20 years or even 40 years so you can't really measure the band wagon-ness of their non alumni fans. Some people call them Wal Mart fans. I think sometimes we could be perceived to be a little snobbish when it comes to our fan base by referring to the possible non alumni fans as such. If they will fill our stadium and cheer for our team I will take all I can get - band wagon or Wal Mart. Lord knows our own alumni won't show up in hordes. FAU's problem is that they have 60k students (I just read an article that upped my earlier guess) and can't fill a 40k seat stadium. If all our students came to our games that would only fill about 1/3 to a little less than 1/2 of our stadium.

Yes.

That guy was trying to make the case that while his parents might be correctly labeled as bandwagon fans, he shouldn't be because he's been a Bama fan his whole life. That's why I used the DACA comparison (which of course started its own firestorm on that board I'm a bad boy!)

What makes a fan, any fan, become "loyal" to some team of some school? It usually starts with that team being a winner and somebody wanting to associate with a winner. That is "jump on the bandwagon" which is where the term originates. I have been, although not so much anymore, a HUGE bandwagon fan of Notre Dame. I still root for 'em...especially when they beat LSU in bowl games...but I don't have a real passion for 'em any longer. Not like I did when I was a kid. I never denied being a bandwagoner for ND.

Was it Holtz, or Dykes, who said: when you see a fan wearing Tech garb, they went to Tech. When you see a fan wearing LSU stuff, they went to Walmart.

[Bulldog Tom]

UCF had good attendance....at least this year. Helps to be unbeaten, of course. But I think UCF's attendance has been good, even before this year. Will have to check that though.

Average home attendance for the last three seasons, prior to this season, according to the NCAA website.

UCF 34,560
USM 26,517
Marshall 26,181
UTEP 24,863
UTSA 24,541
Tech 20,488
ODU 20,118
Rice 19,775
UNT 17,593
WKU 17,324
MTSU 17,287
FIU 14,712
Charlotte 14,027
FAU 13,937

[Bulldog Tom]

Yes.

That guy was trying to make the case that while his parents might be correctly labeled as bandwagon fans, he shouldn't be because he's been a Bama fan his whole life. That's why I used the DACA comparison (which of course started its own firestorm on that board I'm a bad boy!)

What makes a fan, any fan, become "loyal" to some team of some school? It usually starts with that team being a winner and somebody wanting to associate with a winner. That is "jump on the bandwagon" which is where the term originates. I have been, although not so much anymore, a HUGE bandwagon fan of Notre Dame. I still root for 'em...especially when they beat LSU in bowl games...but I don't have a real passion for 'em any longer. Not like I did when I was a kid. I never denied being a bandwagoner for ND.

Was it Holtz, or Dykes, who said: when you see a fan wearing Tech garb, they went to Tech. When you see a fan wearing LSU stuff, they went to Walmart.

Now that's just funny, I don't care who you are!

[dawg1984]

Speaking of fans....ya gotta love it! On a blog I'm on, a Bama fan was arguing he's NOT a bandwagon fan because he was raised a Bama fan, by his parents, who have always been Bama fans since the days of Bear Bryant. So I asked, great! what degrees did you and/or your parents earn at Bama. Oh, he said, we're not alums. He attended some small college in Tennessee and his parents never went to college. But! they have always been Bama fans. Why, I asked. Because we live in northern Alabama, they're the local team, and of course they are "BAMA!" Well, aren't their other schools in northern Alabama who have football? Took him two days to reply, so he obviously did a little research. Those schools are no where near the caliber of "BAMA!" Exactly, I replied. Your parents became Bama fans because they were big time winners under Bear Bryant, the classic definition of "bandwagon" fans. Now, you lean on your parents' bandwagon status as justification for your own. This is the "DACA" of fandom!

True the parents got on the bandwagon under Bryant but they apparently remained fans through the poor years so, to me, they're true fans. Now, had they jumped on some other team's bandwagon when Bama was down and got back on the Bama bandwagon under Saban they would be true bandwagon fans. There are a lot of Saints fans that were Cowboys fans until the Brees/Payton era. Had the Saints and Cowboys seasons been switch this year I'm sure there would be a lot of houses in N. LA with shiny new Cowboys flags.

There are tons of bandwagon fans in Dallas/Ft Worth. College sports is worse than professional sports when it comes to bandwagon fans. They justify it as the product of being very knowledgeable on sports. It's aggravating when you learn someone that frequently wears OU, Texas, Bama, ND, or Ohio State gear and talks about "their" team is actually a UNT alum. Sometimes I almost feel sorry for UNT.

[dawg1984]

Tech dearly needs Wal Mart fans. I dare say there are far more Wal Mart fans than there are students/alumni of any university in north Louisiana. And nearly all of them have been brainwashed to believe LSwho is the only school that matters in Louisiana.

[Houston Techsan]

Another point about alums of one school being fans (band wagon or Wal Mart) of another school is that they really didn't want to go to the school they graduated from. Sometimes the reason for not going to their favorite team's school is monetary, sometimes academic, sometimes parental pressure. For instance there are probably a lot of Tech graduates from Ruston who would rather have gone to another school (LSU?) but it was cheaper to live at home. Same for some Natchitoches residents with Northwestern. I had a lot of friends that went to Northwestern because it was close and they could live at home. It was considered a rarity that anyone went to Tech - actually only three from my class. If they were going away from home they usually went to LSU. At least in my youth the main cost of attending college was room and board - about 80%. I know that has changed drastically now but it still is a pretty large sum.

[HogDawg]

I think we're snobbish because if we're still around after all Tech has put us through we must be pretty damn loyal!

THAT is the truth. Very well stated BD.

[HogDawg]

There are tons of bandwagon fans in Dallas/Ft Worth. College sports is worse than professional sports when it comes to bandwagon fans. They justify it as the product of being very knowledgeable on sports. It's aggravating when you learn someone that frequently wears OU, Texas, Bama, ND, or Ohio State gear and talks about "their" team is actually a UNT alum. Sometimes I almost feel sorry for UNT.

A couple of days after the Frisco Bowl, someone here on BB&B told a story about meeting a "LA Tech bandwagon fan" before the game in Frisco. That's right. Apparently they met a "fan" (and his wife) that lived in DFW and decided to attend the Frisco Bowl to watch and cheer for LA Tech. They even wore LA Tech clothing, despite having never been to LA Tech's campus, and having only watched Tech football on TV.

It happens.

[HogDawg]

Tech dearly needs Wal Mart fans. I dare say there are far more Wal Mart fans than there are students/alumni of any university in north Louisiana. And nearly all of them have been brainwashed to believe LSwho is the only school that matters in Louisiana.

Until LA Tech can start consistently winning 10+ games a year, they are right.

[Tech52]

South Arkansas is prime for some Walmart fans after the #flagship was run into the ground the past few season. Very few care about Arkansas State down there, unless they went there.

Its also much closer than either of those universities.

[Champ967]

Average home attendance for the last three seasons, prior to this season, according to the NCAA website.

UCF 34,560

With an enrollment of 65K??? In a metro of 2.2MM???

[Tech52]

With an enrollment of 65K??? In a metro of 2.2MM???

There seems to be a lack of interest in football at these Florida schools that arent Florida and Florida State.

[Houston Techsan]

There seems to be a lack of interest in football at these Florida schools that arent Florida and Florida State.

My point exactly.

[jharris]

Yes, but UCF has to compete with entertainment options consistent with a 2.2M population, as well as the mecca of the world's amusement parks. What does Tech have to compete with in Ruston?

[Champ967]

Yes, but UCF has to compete with entertainment options consistent with a 2.2M population, as well as the mecca of the world's amusement parks. What does Tech have to compete with in Ruston?

#1 - poverty
#2 - rural poverty
#3 - desperate rural poverty
#4 -
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#411 - deers
#412 - squirrels
#413 - dux
#414 - lsu
#415 - gsu, nsu, nlu, etc