Loyalty Questioned

I have been a fan since day 1. I wear a Seahawk hat or other article of clothing almost every day.
I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania and never had my loyalty to the Hawks questioned.
Today I was out and was asked if I just jumped on the bandwagon. I explained that I was a lifelong fan but, then I got a little ticked off that my loyalty was questioned. Has anyone else experienced this since the big win?

I'm a bandwagon fan, a 12 by marriage to a Seattle native. If asked if I jumped on the bandwagon, I say, "What if I did? Does it make your own life any less pathetic, you freaking worm?"

I don't have many friends.

StorytellerMatt":2qggeh9h said:

I'm a bandwagon fan, a 12 by marriage to a Seattle native. If asked if I jumped on the bandwagon, I say, "What if I did? Does it make your own life any less pathetic, you freaking worm?"

I don't have many friends.

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Lmao, hilarious!

nepahawk":dz2jibpl said:

I have been a fan since day 1. I wear a Seahawk hat or other article of clothing almost every day.
I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania and never had my loyalty to the Hawks questioned.
Today I was out and was asked if I just jumped on the bandwagon. I explained that I was a lifelong fan but, then I got a little ticked off that my loyalty was questioned. Has anyone else experienced this since the big win?

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Just say "do you project like this often?" And watch the puzzled look on their face.

StorytellerMatt":2an6mdmp said:

I'm a bandwagon fan, a 12 by marriage to a Seattle native. If asked if I jumped on the bandwagon, I say, "What if I did? Does it make your own life any less pathetic, you freaking worm?"

I don't have many friends.

Click to expand...

First post that made me laugh out loud for real this year. Awesome.

It hasnt happened to me since the Super Bowl, but during the playoffs it happened twice while I was in the Seattle area. In both cases I actually replied with Steve Largents 1976 stat line and asked them what they thought of the trade for Theotis Brown, and explained how I was giddy about it for no reason whatsoever, being a kid at the time.

StorytellerMatt":3u4sah42 said:

I'm a bandwagon fan, a 12 by marriage to a Seattle native. If asked if I jumped on the bandwagon, I say, "What if I did? Does it make your own life any less pathetic, you freaking worm?"

I don't have many friends.

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You just gained one though :th2thumbs:

StorytellerMatt":10iagjs8 said:

I'm a bandwagon fan, a 12 by marriage to a Seattle native. If asked if I jumped on the bandwagon, I say, "What if I did? Does it make your own life any less pathetic, you freaking worm?"

I don't have many friends.

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Well, ya got at least 700 thousand of 'em. :th2thumbs:

nepahawk":2wm4glje said:

I have been a fan since day 1. I wear a Seahawk hat or other article of clothing almost every day.
I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania and never had my loyalty to the Hawks questioned.
Today I was out and was asked if I just jumped on the bandwagon. I explained that I was a lifelong fan but, then I got a little ticked off that my loyalty was questioned. Has anyone else experienced this since the big win?

Click to expand...

It's why I prefer *visors. You don't get this stuff when wearing a visor.

* yes, I'm staying with the Visor thing until someone can point me to one. Have shirts coming and a banner, but I feel less than fanly without a visor.

I get questioned here in the Bay Area whenever I wear something new. Like one of the shirts I bought this year. I usually just reply with "So as a fan I'm not allowed to buy anything new?"

I was at the VA medical center, and they always have a bunch of old geezer-type veteran volunteers at the front desk. I came in toward the end of the season wearing a Seahawks hoodie like I always do, and one of the geezers made a comment about "wearing the local colors to blend in." When asked what he meant, he said something to the effect of "it makes life convenient when the local team is winning." He was flat-out accusing me of being a bandwagon-for-convenience fan.

Fortunately, I am equipped for just such situation. I took off my hoodie and showed him my blue raptor tattoos on both shoulders. The guy then said, "Oh, so you're an Eagles fan."

"EAGLES?!? You gotta be freaking kidding me!" Color-blind idiot.

Fortunately, I am equipped for that situation as well. I took off my T-shirt and showed off my disgusting fatbody with its absolutely beautiful Seahawk logos tattooed on my back. I rotated a bit, got a few "ooh"s and "ah"s from others, and then I asked the guy, "Is there any doubt NOW?" He said


no.

Who cares. Ive been asked that all the time all season because I wear a RW jersey. Everyone always assumes thata team that wasnt winning before and now is that everyone associated with them is bandwagon now. I could give a shit less. RW3 saved the hawks

My step daughter always says I turned mr dbmack into a Seahawks fan but I didn't. He already rooted for them as a 2nd team long before I met him almost 18 years ago. He doesn't care what she thinks and just laughs at her. He wears more Seahawks gear than he does 49ers. I think it bugs her that he does that.

Living in Tennessee I sometimes deal with the same ish. That's when I break out this pic from 25 years ago.

Live in Mississippi, Germany and Texas from 2003-2012. Just move back into the Puyallup Area. I have been repping the hawks the whole time everywhere I went, rarely ever did I see anyone in Hawks gear but instantly therewas a head nod or go Seahawks, or something. even back in Feburary when I first moved up here there was not many with Hawks gear and I felt an instant bond with anyone who had on gear. Now there are so many people with Hawks gear on I fell like if I wear my stuff I'm a bandwagon fan. I know I am a fan I don't need to display it to fit in with all the masse's that all of a sudden have Hawks stuff on, where where they in January-October?

Does that seem wierd to anyone else?

To the OP - Don't let it bother you at all. Who cares what some random person thinks?

I am a part of the "38 Club", but ecstatic about any and all Seahawk fans. From that crowd of 700k on Wednesday,
and from the 97% of televisions tuned in to the game last Sunday, new diehards are born. More people wearing Seahawks
stuff just makes me look more normal.

My children have been indoctrinated into this fandom since the day they were born (19 and 16 years ago) and I don't hold it against them that they
don't know the history of the team back to '76, just like they don't hold it against me for not becoming a fan until I was 9 (in '76)!

"Bandwagon" is such a lame term - pretty much, it's supposed to be an insult - primarily used by fans who somehow feel a team's accomplishment should somehow be limited only for those with "time served". The first time I was called a band-wagoner was by a member of this board when I first joined a while back.... I guess they assumed because I'm not a 10 year .net member, I just became a Seahawks fan recently - that couldn't be further from the truth.

But honestly, I really contest the definition of "bandwagon". So what if some of us fans don't devote our time (to quite the same extent) when the team isn't doing quite as well? If I devote 5-6 hours of my time per week during a winning season, and only 3-4 hours of my time per week during a non-winning season, am I therefore a bad fan? Being a sports fan is a hobby intended for enjoyment. It's something we can attach ourselves to separate from our everyday personal accomplishments and success. It's an escape. Often, the most passionate sports fans are the ones with nothing else they prioritize their time around during football season. Good on them if they can do that. Hopefully, it's not because they may use the success of a sports franchise to fill whatever other void may be present in their lives at that moment.

Calling someone a "Bandwagon" fan at it's core, is simply a term of either ignorance or jealousy. There isn't some "club" that qualifies a fan in sports. We'd all like to think we're a part of something. For the 12th man, that's certainly more true than most fan-bases. But this club should be inclusive. To me, anyone who uses the "bandwagon" term attempting to label someone else probably pigeonholes themselves quite a bit more than they intend...

The negative connotation of the word "bandwagon" comes not from a person's recently becoming a fan, but from the implication that the person did so for the convenience of following a winning team, and the likelihood of that person jumping onto another bandwagon to follow another winning team after the current team experiences some hard times. Unfortunately, it's difficult to tell if the implication is intended when the word is being used, or if it is just being used as a synonym for new fan.

New fans are great!

The pathetic ones are those that think their fandom is so much better than the new fans. Really, who gives a shit? Why has the term "bandwagon fan" even come in to existence?

I think the only problem with some fans are those that jump off as soon as a team starts doing bad, and isn't that really for the best anyway?

I've usually always been the most vocal about being a huge Seahawks to my friends and family, but this year was a bit different. I was able to sit back some and let everyone else show off their Seahawk pride as they became bigger and bigger fans throughout the season. It was awesome.

It's not when you get on the bandwagon, it's when you get off that defines a bandwagon fan.