Fan’s get all decked out from head to toe. A few weeks ago, there was a student in San Antonio who got in trouble at school cause he had a picture of Matt Bonner shaved onto his head. I am serious. That’s ridiculous, don’t you think?
Fan’s paint there faces the colors of there favorite team.
Fan’s buy there favorite player or team’s merchandise. I know that can be expensive! I mean you can put a player’s name or a team on just about anything. The two most popular have gotta be jersey’s and shoe’s. I have never owned a jersey but I do remember owning a few pair’s of the David Robinson Nike’s!!! I think I would look really weird wearing a shirt with no sleeves.
Note from Mark: I actually bought a tank top exercise shirt this past weekend; hey, it was only $5!!! Yes, I look weird, but it is super comfy and I can wear it when I walk outside.
Trading card’s are also very popular for fan’s. I have a collection of baseball and basketball cards; a few of them may be worth something. How cool would it be if I had a trading card? It could feature my work history, salary history, college education, and a fun factoid about me!!! Probably be worth a million bucks!
Fan’s make up signs. I remember going to a Houston Astros baseball game several years ago and one of the signs I saw said, “I am With Stupid” and an arrow pointing to the dude next to him. Awesome.
Fan’s decorate there car’s, there work office, there place of business, and there home. All I have is a Tim Duncan 2003 Championship bobble-head at work.
Fan’s wave at a a camera when the camera is on live! Hey, I did this when I worked for the Spurs. I was like, “Hey mom, turn on TNT, I am right behind Sir Charles.” I didn’t actually call my mom, I just waved!!! I did a write an earlier post about some of favorite fan memories when I worked for the Spurs.
Fan’s scream and dance when they see themselves on the scoreboard. I hope I never see myself on the scoreboard; I have no rhythm and would probably do something stupid and end up being a you tube sensation. Actually, that sounds fun for like a minute!!
I think it is awesome that even celebrities are fan’s. The biggest has gotta be Spike Lee. I often wonder when they come to a game, do they get to park where the players park? Do they get preferential treatment? I can just imagine Spike waiting in line for a beer and a hot dog; then later waiting to use a urinal!
Then you have fan’s who get drunk and decide to do something stupid. Like, strip naked and streak around a baseball diamond. This actually happens more than you think in baseball games.
Have you seen a hockey game lately? There are some teams where the fan’s throw stuff on the ice; like octopus!! Yuck!!
What about the fan’s sitting behind the basketball hoop and when the opponent is shooting a free throw, they all try to distract the player to make him miss. I remember reading something about a college student who would strip down to his undies; that was his distraction!!! Wow.
My gosh, how can I forget to mention the fan’s that taunt the opposing team!!! We see them all the time at sporting events. Are they drunk? Probably. But, mostly they are just having fun!!! The San Antonio Spurs have a group of hard core fan’s called the Baseline Bums who to this day still taunt the opposing teams. They are also huge fan’s of the San Antonio Spurs and have been since the days of Hemisphere Arena!
Would you believe there are some fan’s who attend a sporting event and are so damned bored, they fall asleep? And, a smart cameraman spots them and puts them on live television! I don’t understand how that can happen. There is so much happening at a sporting event. A long long time ago, I went to a San Antonio Missions baseball game with my parent’s. Sitting in front of us was what we thought was an ordinary family; mom, dad, and two kids. The dad was watching the game. The mom was sewing or crocheting the entire time. The kids kept putting a towel or a napkin on the mom’s head. I am serious! We ended up calling them the “Alien Family!” Unbelievable! To this day, I still talk about that family with my dad.
Baseball is the only sport where fan’s can come home with a piece of the game. They bring gloves hoping to catch a ball. It could be a foul ball or home run ball. Sometimes these balls can be worth a lot of money if it is a record breaking home run. I remember another Missions baseball game I attended and the batter foul tipped the baseball into the stands. We saw a local Rabbi fighting for that ball; he ended up spilling a fan’s beer all over him. I don’t remember if he got the ball, but it was really funny seeing a Rabbi that energetic for a ball.
There are even fan’s who love there team so much that they wear a brown paper bag over there head’s for the fear that they will be noticed. You normally see this when a team is a losing really bad in baseball and football.
Athlete’s host camps for kids. How cool is that? You get to hang out and shoot hoops with your favorite player?
These days, athlete’s use twitter (I kinda know how it works, but not really and I also don’t care) to reach out to there fan’s. Almost everyday, there is a twitter related story about an athlete and a fan.
Some athlete’s visit fan’s; whether it be at a hospital, a school, the grand opening of a business, or an autograph signing event. I saw Tim Duncan and his wife several years ago at a Best Buy. It wasn’t anything special; he was just one of the many people in the store that day. I was almost gonna run up to him and say, “hey, we work for the same employer” cause that was when I worked for the Spurs. But, I didn’t do anything. I just smiled and hoped people would not bug him. I did attend a grand opening of a Meineke store in San Antonio a long time ago; several Spurs made appearances and signed autographs. I know for a fact Dennis Rodman, Howard Eisley, Vinny Del Negro, and Paul Pressey were there. I got all there autographs except Rodman; it was really fun for my dad and I. There may have been a few more; I will have to check my autograph collection (I don’t think it is in storage; I am pretty sure it is in my sports archives box at my parent’s house).
Note from Mark: My autograph collection is not at my parent’s house as I was over there on Sunday for Father’s Day. I just checked my closet at home and not in there either, unless it is in a box and that box has 3 boxes on top of it. Or it could be in storage in a box and I really don’t have the patience to locate it now. Oh well!
Yes, I have a box of sports archives. I will tell you in a blog post what I have in it when we sell our house and move!!!
Hey, I also have a Beatles archive’s box! Documenting everything in that box may take a few posts and again I will tell you what I have in that box when we sell our house and move. Let me say that I am a huge of the Beatles!!! I have spent a lot of money over a 22 year span on posters, memorabilia, albums, magazines, books, stickers, patches, apparel, and a Beatles convention in New Jersey. See, you can be a fan for anything!
I have attended a lot of sporting events in my life as a fan. The most exciting was a baseball game in San Francisco in September of 2005. Barry Bonds returned from the injured list a few days earlier and hadn’t hit a home-run yet. Every time he came to the plate, you could feel the energy in the stadium; not a single fan was sitting and the flashes from camera’s was a sight to see. You knew something special may happen when Bonds is at bat. He did hit a long ball, but it was foul and you could hear the ooo’s and awe’s from the crowd. Wow!
The strangest game I attended was the 2011 High School football state championship game at Cowboy’s stadium. When the game ended, there were players, coaches, reporters, UIL officials, and Cowboys officials on the field. I was watching the post game festivities and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a golf cart going really fast on the field; nobody was driving it and it plowed into a group of reporters who were interviewing the coach from Dekaney. When I got home that afternoon, it was the main story on yahoo! ESPN has a better shot of what happened. I am glad nobody was seriously hurt. Unbelievable!
It’s fun being a fan, isn’t it? Until your team loses, then it isn’t fun; but there is always a next game!
You also never know what you going to witness.
