Sports are a widespread national phenomenon. People of all different ways of life will consume some sort of sport in their life. Whether sports fascinate you and pull you in instantly, or you just like to watch something live and unpredictable, people form relationships with specific teams, becoming fans. There are several different types of fans, some more desirable than others. Here’s a few tips from a fellow fan on how not to be annoying!
1.) Recognize your team has faults
There is no such thing as a perfect team. What truly makes a championship team is the ability to overcome their deficiencies and still manage to put pucks in the net and get the W.
2.) Understand your team isn’t always the best and is just lucky sometimes
When discussing sports with a fan of an opposing team there’s going to be smack talk. While fans tend to… ahem… exaggerate the shortcomings of other teams, a lot of criticism from fans is often very legitimate and no one likes talking to a person who isn’t willing to admit when there is something wrong. A team that never makes mistakes, whether managerial mistakes or just bad plays on the ice, literally does not exist.
3.) DON’T HOLD UP GIANT SIGNS AT GAMES
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. This goes for any sort of live events. Holding up giant signs is infuriating for the people around you. Long signs at lap level are still visible for the TV camera and you can still get the attention you so strangely desire. Realistically that’s just common courtesy, but it still goes quite a way in being considered not a jerk to the other fans around you.
4.) How much you spend on team merch doesn’t equate to how much of a fan you are.
Now I’m not saying don’t go buying a ton of merch. I own two Devils jerseys, a scarf, a tumbler, and a few other small trinkets, and I’m nowhere near satisfied. My personal list of jerseys I want is a mile long, but I don’t let that affect how much I love my team. I want several other team’s jerseys too. Hockey jerseys are comfortable and fulfill a pleasant aesthetic, but I don’t let that affect how I feel about my team or how I let others perceive me as a fan. When someone asks why you’re a fan of your team, your answer better be something more than “I’ve spent $300 on merch.”
5.) Admit when you don’t know the details
To be a good fan you don’t have to have a full understanding of a team’s history or know every player to ever hold a roster spot and their lifetime stats. To be a real fan the only thing you really need is a minor understanding of how a team strives to be the best. Yes, that is an extremely vague definition. It’s because people shouldn’t be judging other people’s “level of fan” in the first place, but I digress. Even if you don’t know everything to ever happen to a team, should you come across someone who is a walking sports encyclopedia, admit what you don’t know. People like pretend know-it-alls even less than actual know-it-alls.
