12/21/24
July 22, 2005
Cursed by the Casual Fan?: The Washington Nationals lead in the National League East is gone as they are currently tied with the Atlanta Braves. So why did the Nationals suffer a July swoon? Well, it's the people who come to the game but aren't as big of fans as the ones who post on Internet message boards complaining about the casual fans, of course. The solution? Cutting off the head of a rubber chicken apparently.
I have a reason for their July Swoon, two really, Jose Guillen and remember..THEY ARE THE EXPOS!!!
posted by jtrainhoopster at 04:09 PM on July 22, 2005
I'd presume the real Expo fans would still follow the team even though they went to DC and that's easy with things like satellite and cable Extra Innings packages now. So no, not all fans of the Nats are newbies. Me, I'm happy to see them doing well in the NL East and glad they rebounded a bit from the basement/near basement they enjoyed for years in the standings.
posted by jerseygirl at 04:34 PM on July 22, 2005
depending on your definition of "real expos fans" i understand that around here some consider the expos franchise dead and buried and want nothing to do with the nationals. the next closest team is then the red sox.
posted by gspm at 04:38 PM on July 22, 2005
yea what devotion these fans have had for the last three months, I am killing myself over their 10 losses in there last 15 games.....WHO GIVES A FUCK!!!!
posted by gregy606 at 05:48 PM on July 22, 2005
on the other hand, if expos fans want to still follow a national league team I guess maybe the Mets. But since the season started i saw a few things in the local media about old fans following the Nationals and a thing or two about fans choosing to follow the next closest team. actually, i mean ....WHO GIVES A FUCK!!!!
posted by gspm at 07:52 PM on July 22, 2005
Please-newbie fans or Expo fans-stop crying. As A long standing Twins fan, I have seen many more bad times then good-There have always been bandwangon fans and there will always will be. "Real" watch to enjoy the game "death do us part" while your average "jumper" only stays around long enough to see what the excitement is about!
posted by daddisamm at 07:58 PM on July 22, 2005
SportsFilter: WHO GIVES A FUCK!!!!
posted by NoMich at 09:02 PM on July 22, 2005
There are always some fans who are more fanly than others. If you ignore the bandwagoners, they pretty much evaporate of their own accord as soon as the excitement they thought they were gonna find goes away. And seriously, truefans have more to think about than other people who may or may not be fans. Instead of bitching about other fans, write a letter to one of your underappreciated players (and every team has them--in the bullpen, on the bench--guys who don't get enough love). He'll be happy to know someone cares.
posted by AstroAnnie at 11:31 PM on July 22, 2005
Can I just pose a question? What is so wrong with being a casual fan? Not everyone wants to dedicate a large percentage of their time and money following a team to every match, watching reserve games on a wet Wednesday night and naming their children after the Championship winning starting 11 of 1970. Some people go to sports for entertainment, for an evening out, to try something new. I get the feeling that some sports fans would like people to take an entrance exam and swear eternal devotion to the team before they're allowed to buy a ticket.
posted by Pete at 06:35 AM on July 23, 2005
Pete: I would guess most people here would agree with you. One doesn't have to be rabid to be a fan. However this article is a weird one, and I'll assume you read it. It isn't so much about the causal fan as much as it is this little clique of folks who somehow feel they are the only true fans. They don't like the people who talk on their cellphones who generally don't even care there is a game going. We can all agree how annoying that can be. To put it another way, it is like going to a concert of your favorite band and having a seat next to someone who is talking the entire time, even shouting above the music. It sucks. The silly part is that these self-proclaimed "true fans" (of a team that is less than a year old!) are trying to blame the teams' losing streak on these schmoes. It is silly and it is yet another way of dividing people. There is already enough talk around town about people who buy the red caps as opposed to the blue caps, and vice versa, and what this supposedly means (red states v. blues state. pfhttt!) If you are a fan, cheer loudly. Don't try and blame other people for something they have no control over. No matter how much superstition play in the game.
posted by scully at 05:36 PM on July 23, 2005
Pete: The only defense I can give for the long time (3 month) X-Spos fan is contained in this line: "The crowd was quieter than usual, and when he started cheering loudly, a woman in the row in front of him told him to shush." Shush? At a baseball game? Maybe if he was a drunken lout who yelled every pitch, but I didn't get that impression from the article. It's the idiots who are reaching over walls to grab the ball that I wish never attended a game. I can't testify they are "casual" fans though. As for Expos fans following the DC team -- it is a personal choice, but I, for one, wish the team would lose every game left in the season. MLB screwed Montreal and there is no way I can condone that by supporting DC.
posted by ?! at 09:28 PM on July 23, 2005
All I have to say to nationals fans is quit bitching....they don't even have a fan that isn't a newbie, so why the crying???