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Porkins: Pisses Excellence

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Red Sox nation is nothing but a bandwagon.

Baseball24/7 said 07/25, 05:57 PM
I remember the days when the Yankees were the team who true baseball fans loved to hate. The Yankees were no-doubtedly exceptional, but their fan base contained many fans who couldn't give you five Yankee players, much less when the seventh inning stretch was. Despite all this the fans of the evil empire should make way for the shakiest fanbase and strongest bandwagon ever for what is known as Red Sox nation.
This bandwagon gained more estranged sports fans in 2004 during that amazing comeback against the Yankees giving Red Sox nation momentum in toppling the Yankees fan base.
I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan through and through, and it is truely hard to admit that I occasionally found myself rooting for those poor disgruntled Red Sox during the series. When all was said and done following their sweep of the Cardinals, I smiled for the Sox, but put my empathy to bed once the confetti had settled.
Since this time, this "Loyal fan base" has slowly grown in size, filling the opposing teams stadiums full of shaky fans who can only utter the words "YOUK" like baffling retards. Where was Red Sox Nation when Aaron Boone ripped your hearts out, or when Buckner had double vision?

Porkins: Pisses Excellence said 07/25, 06:05 PM
As a long-time Sox fan, I can assure you that you are wrong.

I moved to New England back in the 80s when the Sox were not particularly good. Despite the drought in championships, despite year after year of seasons that hovered around .500, there was an unbelievable level of support for the team stretching from Connecticut to Maine.

New England has a large number of retirees who travel to Florida for the winter. When they went south, so did their passion for the Sox.

That was one key to Red Sox Nation- a huge fan base in Florida.

But that wasn't the only area of displaced fans.

Ask any Orioles fan, and they'll tell how the Red Sox have had a loyal following in Baltimore for decades.

Are there SOME bandwagon jumpers? Hell yes.

But this team has some of the most loyal fans around- surly and obnoxious, but loyal.

They withstood more than 8 decades without a title, and deserve these years of success.

Look at some of the most ENDURING images in baseball history:

-Carlton Fisk in the '75 WS versus the Reds
- Buckner's error in '86
- Bucky Bleepin' Dent's HR

Those and other moments are so revered because SO MANY SOX FANS lived and died by them.

Baseball24/7 said 07/25, 06:38 PM
You do hold some key points. I was recently in Boston and the following is strong, I believe those are the true fans. But Southern Cali, Seattle, Denver? Come on! But I'm going to say that these are the bandwagon jumpers you speak of. These are the people I wish to expose, they ruin the good name of baseball.
The true Sox fans are very loyal, I'll assume that's what you are. There's been so much to go through! I like your points, and I'm glad you can recognize those bandwagon jumpers

Porkins: Pisses Excellence said 07/25, 08:34 PM
And I'm glad you can recognize that there are some loyal fans.

You've got to remember too that there are many areas of the country without a team of their own, or with a team only recently. Denver, for example, is a relatively new hom of baseball- people who lived there prior to the Rockies coming along rooted for all kinds of teams. Some, I'm sure, ended up pulling for the Sox.

The thing is that every time a team wins a championship, the number of fans grows. Kids see a team filled with stars, they watch them win, and they start to love them and the team.

For a lot of fans, that's how rooting for sports starts.

The Sox have won twice in recent years, eanring themselves new fans all over the country- new, but not NECESSARILY bandwagon.

Plus, you've got all of the people who rooted AGAINST teams that the Sox beat. For example, people who ate the Cards. Suddenly, they find themselves rooting for the Sox to beat the Redbirds, and the rooting sticks.

Does that make THEM bandwagon?

There are many different ways to become a fan of a team. So the fact that you're seeing more Sox fans lately isn't so surprising.

Baseball24/7 said 07/25, 08:54 PM
Denver is new to baseball, but that doesn't make the majority of their fans, Red Sox Fans. I've been to many Rox games, and they don't have as solid a bunch of fans, but during the world series there was an auspicous amount of Red Sox fans, in Colorado, surely all of New England did not migrate to Colorado? It was the bandwagoners! More recently this past weekend the fox saturday game of the day was the angels vs. the sox, and there were to many stinky sox in the crowd, it was the bandwagoners!
The definition of bandwagon is a fan who follows a team based upon them winning. That is a ridiculous way to become a fan of any team. I was raised a Denver Broncos fan, I'm a jazz fan because of my utah routes, and I'm a Cardinals fan because It was one of the first litle league teams I played on. That is how you become a true fan, not finding the next team to win the next major championship. As a fan you stick to your team through the thick and the thin, (respect to the true sox fans), but the rest of red sox nation is the true majority, putting a taint on the so called faithful of red sox nation.

Porkins: Pisses Excellence said 07/25, 09:03 PM
My point was that in areas that didn't have baseball, or only got it recently, people who lived there had to root for other teams. I'm certain there were Red Sox fans living in the area. People move around, etc.

Anyway, another big factor is that players today don't stay with one team. Often people will end up rooting for teams because players they like went there.

I was born in Cincinnati and my school system was right next to Griffey's. He was a local legend there, and I ended up rooting for the Mariners. I don't think that makes me bandwagon.

As I said, I do agree there are more fans now, but when a team wins, it spreads its legacy and fanbase. That's always true.

I, and many many others, suffered for long time with lousy and average teams. This success is temporary, as it always is, but it's well-deserved too.

Look, unless bandwagon means rooting for a .500 that only makes the playoffs every few years, then this ain't it.

There's no doubt that "Red Sox Nation" can be really annoying. I don't deny that.

But it has been around for decades- it predates their recent success by so many years that it can't possibly be "nothing but a bandwagon."

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Daunte... you are an ignorant fool

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Red Sox nation is nothing but a bandwagon.

Porkins: Pisses Excellence beat Baseball24/7 19 to 14

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