Do you feel the need to declare fanhood?

[HeavyB3]

One thing I've noticed after a couple of successful seasons, record wise, is that people seem to feel it is necessary to declare their fanhood. "Win or lose, Cardinals fan for life" and similar phrases have sprung up all over social media. We all have ways of declaring that we are fans of the Cardinals (or whoever), why do we have to state it all the time? Is there a degree of fan insecurity that makes that necessary?

I declare my fanhood all the time, wearing Cardinals shirts, having a picture from my seats at the stadium as my Facebook cover photo, etc. However, I have never felt the need to tell someone that I'm a fan unless someone asks. I figure people who know me have already figured it out.

I guess my question is this: Are the ones who makes the "win or lose" statements the first ones to jump off the bandwagon during rough stretches?

 

[Solar7]

I definitely declare my fandom, mainly because as someone who doesn't live in AZ, the fact that I'd ever consider myself a Cardinals fan is just baffling, unless I was from Arizona. Once people find out, they figure I just picked them to be a contrarian, or just when they started to "get good." I've been a fan since I was 2 years old, and I probably know the makeup of the roster of whoever their team is better than they do.

I think the people that proclaim their fandom, win or lose, are important - mainly to this franchise. The total indifference toward the Cardinals in the valley has been a long standing issue. The people who root, win or lose, are the people who have sat in Sun Devil Stadium through insufferable conditions and play, those who don't hock their tickets to the highest bidder when a big market team comes in town, those who don't leave until the last drop of fight has been squeezed by the team. They're the ones that will give this team a foothold in the NFL for future generations.

 

[D-Dogg]

We had a big kickoff meeting last week for a major project that I'm on, and it had a football "Super Bowl" theme so we all wore football gear.

Our VP (who recently witnessed one of my superstitions and I had to explain why I was so dorked out about a poster that had fell on the ground) posed a question to the group of about 60 people to set up the story: "who is the biggest Cardinals fan in the room?" She was probably expecting a lot of people to say "me!" and the like. However, at least 10 people yelled out my name and she began laughing, said "yep, and [superstition story].

I don't need to declare my fanhood; others now do it for me.

 

[Hollywood]

If you know me at all you know Im a Cardinals fan. No need for me to shout it out loud.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

I declare my fandom with one of the 23 cardinals hats I own.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Its fun to put it on the end of a post, or to trash talk about it to people who root for another team.

When it is the fan of a team calling out another fan of the team, it is probably the dumbest crap you have to deal with in football.

"I'm a better fan than you!" <--- People like this gotta turn 6 years old at some point and learn to play well with others.

.....and it is the 2nd biggest cop out in any sports debate, only topped by directly just insulting someone.

 

[sunsfan88]

If you don't want to continuously declare your fanhood but you want everyone to know your a Cardinals fan, you could just get a visible Cardinals tattoo.

 

[Cardsfanstl]

Everybody who knows me knows I am a Cardinal fan. Since I usually wear some type of Cardinal gear (hat, sweatshirt, tee shirt, etc) each day when not working they know which team I support.

 

[cardpa]

Been a fan for 47 years. I wear my gear. I don't need to declare it. I also give crap to every Eagle or Steeler fan that I can give it to.

 

[az jam]

No.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

No need to declare it. Everyone who knows me already knows. It is great when someone new walks up and starts to talk about "the Cardinals bandwagon" and "all the new fans" and someone else says "I know you're not talking about BIM."

 

[Cardsfanstl]

No need to declare it. Everyone who knows me already knows. It is great when someone new walks up and starts to talk about "the Cardinals bandwagon" and "all the new fans" and someone else says "I know you're not talking about BIM."

 

[Russ Smith]

I live in 49er country and I go to work everyday wearing my card access badge on a Cardinals lanyard. I forget I'm wearing it until people ask me how I happen to be a Cardinal fan.

 

[MrYeahBut]

The same as several of you... everyone who is even remotely acquainted with me knows I'm a Cardinal fan. I wear my gear around town. Mostly Crowboy and Bronco fans around here, but meh, who cares?