Fan bases of different teams

Recent activity regarding and posts I've seen around the blogosphere have me thinking about the differences of fans for different programs. It sure is easy to look at it all as there being some generalities you can make of different fan bases.

Now, the views that I've had of different fan bases are of course skewed by my being a Cornhusker fan. I've been amazed by the antics of the fans of other schools, Colorado being a big example. I've never seen anything like this year's Colorado Nebraska game where a whole student section was cleared out because of the antics. The abusiveness that goes on is really pretty amazing.

I can't say that Nebraska fans are perfect. I've seen some real idiots posting on different boards and forums that claim allegiance to the Huskers. And we have people who can be pretty disgusting at games. Though I appreciate the comment left here earlier by a Trojan fan, and the comments made on the Michigan Zone board about Nebraska fans at the Alamo Bowl. People from around here are pretty decent. They almost have to be... there's nothing about scenery or weather climate that makes me want to stay in this area. So it comes down to the people. But yeah, we do a lot of back-patting of ourselves on the area of fan behavior. I think for the most part it's warranted -- there aren't too many places where you'll see the fans who sit where the opposing team exits the field stand up and cheer the other guys as they leave for putting up a good fight, even at times when that team kicks our butts. Some people speculate that maybe we can be too nice, maybe we need to get a little more passionate, but I have to say i like being able to associate myself with this group of fans.

There are a lot of fan groups that I really appreciate. Okay, I'll admit to getting tired of how gaga people get over Notre Dame, but what I've seen of their fans, I have a lot of respect. I didn't get to go out when Nebraska played in South Bend, but everyone I talked to who did came back speaking very highly of the fans they met out there. There was a mutual respect, and the Notre Dame fans that came here the next year seemed to be pretty classy.

I was down in Oklahoma City for work right before the start of this football season. I drove down, and got a lot of comments when people saw the Nebraska plates on my truck. It's a shame to have lost some of that rivalry, but back when we played every year, while we loved to hate the Sooners, overall there was still a healthy respect for each others' programs among the fans.

This year, the reports i get back about Michigan fans that were there for the Alamo bowl were pretty much the same as what some of the Michigan fans reported about Nebraska fans. Very classy, very respectful, and there seemed to be a good relationship.

There seems to be a recurring theme going here. I think respect is the big word. And I think that the trend that I see seems to go with a lot of the schools with established program, the traditional powers. It's interesting that as I read the different blogs for different teams, that most of the people that comment from outside schools that seem the most respectful are the ones that come from those same traditional powers. The Michigans, Ohio States, Texas A&M's, Oklahomas, etc. Even USC, for the most part. And of course everyone has their exceptions. There are Nebraska fans who are total arrogant morons. The same is true of some fans from any school. And there are perfectly reasonable people for a lot of these schools.

Now of course, some of this all goes out the window when it comes to some of the more heated rivalries. But that's another matter.

Now, this next part is totally opinion, and i don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but it seems that a lot of the fan bases who seem to be the... least classy?... those seem to be from schools who have had only more recent success. Teams that have been in the national spotlight for only the last 20 years, generally less. And so far my feeling as I read through forums and blogs and comments and all is that that seems to be supported so far in what i read. Again, this is purely my own observation and there's nothing set in stone and this is not meant to say every fan for any of these schools is this way, but in general, it seems that the attitude seems to be more disrespectful, that the approach they take to debate tends to be more emotional and less reasoned.

Now maybe my view is colored by a lot of experience lately with what appear to be 3 or 4 guys who are just out of college or maybe even younger from a certain recent national championship team who dont' seem to follow reason very well. I know i had a theory about the way Colorado fans behaved over the last several years, that when you spend enough years being the whipping boy of the bigger schools, you develop a different perspective. You spent a long time not having much to cheer for on your own team, so the thing that unites you becomes hatred of the other team. Again, that's not meant to paint a broad brush across every fan of the team, but i do wonder if that doesn't have a way of affecting how the fans respond once their team moves into prominence, as I've continued to feel like Colorado fans are united more by their hatred of Nebraska than they are devotion for their own team.

So, is it that these up and coming schools fans are really worse than the fans of the established teams? Are fans of the 'new-money' college football powers inferior to the fans of the traditional powers?

It's easy to draw that conclusion. Though part of it is maybe the fault of the (so-called) classier fans. I think it comes back to that thing that I mentioned, respect. To some degree, there are a number of traditional powers that have been powers for ages. Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Penn State, Notre Dame, USC, Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M... please, any fans of any traditional powers that I didn't mention, i don't mean to intentionally leave anyone out. But what I'm getting at is, i think there's a sort of mutual admiration society among these fans, simply because these programs over their long histories, have earned respect. For so long, us Nebraska fans hated Oklahoma, but we ended up respecting them at the same time (interestingly Barry Switzer is probably one of the most popular people among Nebraskans now, we love it when he's here for a game or to speak at some group)... Even when Oklahoma had a few down years, there was still respect and among most fans, an appreciation for when they returned to prominence. I think among a lot of the traditional powers there's a sense of relief that Penn State is back where they should be. It's like the universe has been restored to its natural order.

So this respect and admiration seems to be pretty well shared among schools. Sure, Michigan fans hated us in '97, Penn State fans hated us in '94, we hated Penn State in '82, etc... but on the whole, the respect for each other has remained.

But, when you're a Colorado team that floundered forever, and you see Nebraska showing respect to Oklahoma but not seemign to give the same respect to Colorado even after they proved themselves for many years, that has a way of building some resentment. LSU has had a great run with some very impressive teams, but they haven't received the same amount of respect that USC has, and that eats at them.

If the roles were reversed, if Nebraska were the new kids on the block that weren't getting as much recognition as we think we should get, maybe we'd have as much resentment towards the established programs as we see at some of the other schools.

I think it comes down to a security issue. We all want our team to be recognized for how good it is. It's great to have a great team to cheer for, it's great to bask in their accomplishments, but eventually we want everyone else to recognize how good they are. And so, when the team gets snubbed in the polls or doesn't get recognized by the major media, it's real easy to take that personally.

I think the fans of the traditional powers do see things a little differently. Their teams have been good for ages. Some can trace their dominance back a century or more. When people think of Michigan or Oklahoma, there tends to be a respect even if the team is having a down year, because of the number of years they've been recognized. And sure, those fans get a little pissed when their team is slighted, but they've got the security that they know their team is still respected that maybe some of the cup and coming teams don't have. Those established teams have earned a collective 'benefit of the doubt' that the newer powers haven't had bestowed on them yet.

Once you are insecure about your team and their standing in the eyes of the public, then it's easier to take the recognition of another team's accomplishments as a slight to your own team. Maybe it's because when you've been good enough for long enough, you learn through experience that people forget very quickly just how good your team of 2 or 3 years ago really was. No one cares today Michigan was undefeated for 50 some games at the start of the 20th century. Few people can remember how absolutely dominant Oklahoma was in the 50's. No one cares that the 1971 Cornhuskers were considered to be one of the best teams ever. Everyone's forgotten Alabama's last national championship. We could all care less about Florida State's or Miami's dominant teams, and even the Ohio State national championship of just a few years ago has been forgotten. Teams that have been successful for years have gotten used to the fact that people forget, and they don't care about much more than the current year.

If LSU remains this successful for a number of years, their fans will soon get accustomed to the fact that people forget very quickly how great your teams were a few years ago. Once they've gotten used to that, they won't take the recognition of another team's accomplishments as a slight to their own. If Michigan had gone undefeated through 1998 and 1999 and everyone was playing up threepeat, most Nebraska fans would have been fine with that, and wouldn't have felt threatened by the fact that people had forgotten their own accomplishments of 1997 and their own championship. Because they'd recognize it's not a slight to Nebraska, it's not a conspiracy. They're just used to the fact that people forget. Just like people will very quickly forget USC's run now that it's over. And just like they've forgotten how good the LSU team was of 2003. It's not a slight, it's just how people are.