Are NHL fans MORE misguided & overly convinced (bandwagon homers style) than most sport fans or is it equal?

Question

Are NHL fans MORE misguided & overly convinced (bandwagon homers style) than most sport fans or is it equal?

Answer 1

I probably need to get out more before answering this but since I don't get to decide when you ask the questions, here goes. This would apply more to Leaf and 'Hawk teams as well as a few others.



You can't lump three categories together and apply them to same group of fans. In the case of us Leaf fans you could definately say we're misguided homers that are overly convinced. Back up a couple years and you could say the same for some of the die-hard Blackhawk fans. Now that their team has a legitimate shot, the misguided part seems to diminish while the bandwagoneers come out of the woodwork. To me, the bandwagon fans don't make an apperance until the team looks like it might win something, something us Leaf fans don't need to be overly concerned about. Of course many of the bandwagon fans come out because of misguided information when they are overly convinced the team might do something and disappear when it becomes obvious the team is going nowhere. The problem is seperating the quiet fans who voice their opinion only when thew team is winning, giving them something to actually talk about, from the bandwagon fan

I'm sure this is true for every sport. An example of this would be the Chicago Cubs. You had to know the Cub's fans still existed when they were more apt to lose 100 games than win 90. MVP-1000 would give them all the attention and completely ignore the White Sox when the Sox were a much better team. To a lesser extent the same applied to the Dodgers and Angels in California. I can't come up with a similarity in football or basketball, but I'm sure there are some.

I guess that makes the short answer - NO.

Answer 2

Let me get this straight. Are you asking if Toronto Maple Leaf Fans are more misguided than Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, New York Nicks, or (fill in the blank) fans?

Bandwagon homers are blind when it comes to their favourite teams. Why else would Fenway have been sold out all those years during the drought? How is it that Wrigley Field seats are the most difficult to get even on a Thursday afternoon day game?

NHL Fans aren't any different than any others. Even as Spring training opens hope springs in the hearts of baseball fans everywhere that this is the year.

That is the wonder of Sports we can all dream and the reality of life takes a back seat for two or three hours while the game is on.



Good Question.

Peace and Love,

Tom

Answer 3

Borrowing verse from a writer far better than I, I normally prefer my deep philosophical discussion after a coffee and a donut. Instead, I'm doing this hopped up on a boatload of OTC meds (because luckily I don't have to pass an IOC drug test, so Sudafed...come to papa)...to combat "flu/cold like symptoms":



The bandwagon phenomena cuts across all boundaries. When the Jays had their new ballpark (hard to believe but at one point Skydome was state of the art) and were winning, you couldn't get Jays tickets to save your life. Now...not so much. And Skydome is old.



It's not even a sports phenomena. Eventually everything old becomes new again (it's all cyclical).



However, this constant waxing nostaglic about the good ole days gets a bit tiresome. The game is pretty good right now; in fact, it's very good. It can always get better, but it's pretty good.



I could bore you senselessly with some mathematical theorem written by some guy who probably still lives in mom's basement (or has dead bodies in said basement)...it'll simply explain the obvious.



People tend to shift toward that which is popular. If they didn't...well, it wouldn't be popular, eh? Take an interest...there's a bandwagon element in it. For purposes of discussion, I'll forego any pop culture comparisons and stick to sports:



-How many Rays fans were there in 2007 v. 2008?

-How many Arizona Cardinals fans were there in 2007 v. 2008?

-The bouncy-ball sport...I happened to have to be in Cleveland last year for work and all people could talk about is the powder-throwing guy.



You "could" make the case that because most American kids didn't grow up playing hockey that there is a unique novelty to hockey (and since you're a Tampa fan, I'm sure that the number of Tampa Bay-area kids who skated on frozen ponds is probably on the smallish side, even more so).



But I could be wrong.

Answer 4

I would have to say no. While there is a significant amount of bandwagon fans in hockey, I don't think it's any more than in most other sports, and it's definitely less than some.



I'm a Leafs fan, so I've definitely come across my share of bandwagon fans. I've been told not to cheer for the Leafs 'cause the "suck". But that just makes me question the loyalty of the person saying this. I don't think there are a lot of people who jump from bandwagon to bandwagon, but they do get off their own, and get back on when it's convenient.



I think hockey, with its salary cap makes it easier to be a fan of a team, even if they are bad, with the hope that they'll improve. But if you look at a sport like baseball, I think there are more bandwagon fans, just because there are certain teams that will always win, and others that will always lose: "Sure it's nice to cheer for the Cubs, but since they don't seem to EVER win, I'll adopt another team to cheer for. If the Cubs do eventually win, I will could then profess our unwavering loyalty to them"

Answer 5

I'd go the other way and say hockey is the least, a REAL hockey fan respects the other players in the league and there accomplishments, at least I try too. Unless it's the Rangers, but that is most of there fans fault I'm a Victim of my surroundings. Even that being said, if Henrik stands on his head or Gomez has a great game I'd be the 1st to say it.



Worse bandwagon fans: Bad mitten, that shuttlecock will getcha every time.

Answer 6

I dunno, I mean, I think each sports has its share. I mean look at the Yankees/Bosox in the MLB, everyone thinks there bandwagon fans, but thats not the case. And in football it's the Patriots or whatever team is in the Super Bowl, usually accused. In the NHL it's Detroit, Pittsburgh, San Jose, and this year, Bostons being accused. In basketball, its the Lakers.



I guess it just comes with success. And each sport has its successful teams. I think it just comes down to the ignorancy of the fans.



However, I think that with hockey it's the Wings because there so consistent and with baseball it's the Yankees because of there payroll. Those are the big two.



But mostly, it all comes down to the ignoracy of the fans.



But hey, I've never been accused of being a bandwagon Lions fan!

Answer 7

Not really. I suppose it could seem so because hockey is such an involved sport. By that I mean that a casual fan can figure out the basics of baseball or football in one quarter/inning, while hockey tends to take a few games for a fan to truly get a feel for the game. A result of this is that hockey fans as a whole tend to be more invested than fans of another sport (and yes, I realize that every sport has its diehards who eat, breath, and sleep their game; I'm talking more about the average fan).



If you take this involvement of the average fan and add in a normal amount of homerism, the two forms of zealotry could combine to make the hockey homer seem more sure of his misguided ways than his/her counterparts in other sports.



Just a theory, of course.

Answer 8

Hockey used to be great. Gary Bettman has ruined all that was sacred about being a homer. Expansion has diminished the rivalries that were when you had to get out of your own Division to play for the Conference crown.

Adams, Patrick, Norris, Smythe

You played the same teams year after year in the first two rounds of the playoffs to get to the Conference (Wales and Campbell) finals. Boston hated Montreal. Rangers hated the Flyers. Blues hated the Blackhawks. Calgary hated Winnipeg. (Sorry about that one.)

Now the playoff system is based on 3 divisions - the top 8 out of 15 teams - not the top 4 out of 5 or 6 - I hate the Blackhawks!!!!!!!!!!! Or at least I did in the 80's when we played them every year in the playoffs. Now they're just another team that comes to town during the season.

Gary Bettman and his expansion has ruined the NHL.

Go back to the Wales and Campbell Conferences - 1990 style (rivalry style)

Adams - Patrick Norris - Smythe

11 teams 10 teams

The fights in the stands were more entertaining than the fights on the ice.

I'm a girl and I love hockey fights.

Answer 9

I think MLB takes the cake for bandwagon-homers. Just look at the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. It's gotten so bad that in recent years whenever these two teams play a series against each other, both ESPN and Fox almost refuse to acknowledge there are 28 other teams in the league...all for the benefit of the hordes of bandwagoners.



...and I know you're familiar with sudden abundance of Rays' fans in Tampa this year.

Answer 10

Well NO Because they only be loyal to one team their whole lives or not watch the Game at all, now for me I'm no Band-wagoner Its always been the Habs for me, or the Pens and Hawks only because I was working in Chicago and Pittsburgh but since i have been in Arizona for the last Couple of weeks I see the Coyotes as sad of a joke as the rest of Arizona, People here think Hockey is Uncool, so Its where Hockey is Popular and Common in Canada like Winnipeg and Montreal where the Coyotes should move back there and places like Atlanta and Phoenix don't care about Hockey, My Point not all cities are created Equal in the Hockey World.

Answer 11

Only Red Wings, Pens and Sharks! I agree with LITY. LOL



Tom- All those years during the drought when Fenway was selling out? Not the case sir. They have been selling out every game since the drought ended however.



Let me dig up a couple of quotes-



"You see what's happening now, and you kind of figure it's always been that way. We're very fortunate," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "I can remember coming here in April [as a player], when it's cold or going to Wrigley. It's not always been packed like this, so we're fortunate. We play in a place where everything you do, there's interest. Rather than complain, I guess this would be the flip side of it. Every game seems important. Day game after a night game, you need to show up and play, because there's a lot of people that are going to come in here and care about how you play. That's a good thing."



Dick Bresciani's official title for the Red Sox is vice president of publications and archives. Unofficially, he is the resident historian of the club. In other words, Bresciani can remember so many seasons when selling out a given game -- let alone an entire season -- was hardly something you could expect.



"I remember that 1978 was our first two million year," said Bresciani, referring to the attendance for an entire home season. "We had the '75 World Series, which really energized everybody, and we had big attendance in '76, but we had a bad beginning to the year and fell apart early. In '77, there were big expectations, so things got better. And then the two million started."



Even when Boston fell in love with the slugging teams of the mid to late '70s -- filled with stars like Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn and Carlton Fisk -- there was a limit to the fan support.



"You would have a lot of times in April and in early May, with our New England weather, and then, of course, you'd have September, where if you were kind of not right up at the top, you'd get lousy weather and people will hold off and say, 'Well, I don't need to buy those tickets way ahead of time, because let's wait and see. There will be seats available,'" said Bresciani. "The weather could always get bad April, early May and September. We were always faced with that because there wasn't the feeling of, 'God, we've got to buy our tickets early or we're not going to get tickets.'"



The weather patterns of New England have not changed in the least. It still gets cold early and late in the season. But the culture of the Red Sox has changed.



Not only has the team won the World Series twice in the past four years, but the new ownership -- which came on in 2002 -- continues to make the fan experience at Fenway a better one.









Just saying that the Red Sox are a pisspoor example.



Peace and Love and may the Lord guide your way.

Answer 12

LITY come on...not all of us Wings fans are mindless homers lol



I think that hockey definitely has more bandwagoners and homers than other sports

Answer 13

I still think the champ in that category is football. Those band wagoners are terrible. How else would that explain for all those years and still today the many Cowboy fans that are really only fans when they are good? I think hockey has it's share for sure. All sports do. But football would be the winner here .

Answer 14

No look at nfl fans i am an nf fan but i dont go as crazy as the really huge nfl fans once i was at the party and we were watching football and my friend threw him remote at the tv because the opposite team scored a touchdown come on

Answer 15

Hi



There are some sports out there that I can think of that are probably worse. NASCAR fans, Soccer fans, and local High School sports fans.



Good Bye

Answer 16

I don't think so. I would go so far to say that hockey fans are unlike the fans from the other majors in that some of us choose to emulate the classiest of the players that best exemplify what hockey, maturity and class is about.

Answer 17

Only Red Wings, Sharks, and Penguins fans ;)





Susan S

The division names were killed by John Ziegler between 1990 and 1992 (I was on the committee) and the changes were announced at the 1993 All-Star Game.....BEFORE Gary Bettman was commissioner.

Answer 18

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Answer 19

Fist off. HOCKEY and bandwagon do not blend. Unless you are a girl and you want the attention from the guys and or players.

Second. GREAT question. But if i pegged this right you should give me best answer! ;-)