Confessions of a Bandwagon Fan
June 1, 2003
by Chelan David

I am proud to admit I am one of the most despised of all breeds: the bandwagon fan. Actually, I prefer the term 'sports capitalist.' Give me a team that wins and I will invest my devotion in them until the next hot offering comes around.

Long before day trading caught on, I was moving my allegiance between teams like they were inflated internet stocks. Growing up outside Kansas City I jumped on the biggest bandwagons of the era: the Boston Celtics and Dallas Cowboys. An early convert to the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately mentality, I was much happier to root for Larry Bird and Tony Dorsett than the two doormats from my backyard, the pathetic Kansas City Kings and the hapless Chiefs. Fortunately, I was able to adopt a couple of local teams as well, the Royals – who were playoff regulars in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s – and the Kansas Jayhawk basketball team.

Of course, I deserted the Royals years ago – and I didn’t even wait for George Brett’s retirement in ‘93. Early this season I happily jumped back on the bandwagon hitched to the Royals’ 9-0 start. But the Royals will probably fade, so I’m not about to give up my seat on the Seattle Mariner bandwagon – especially with my newly adopted city’s team in first place in the wild AL West.

My fickleness does have some boundaries. I will never shift my allegiance to the despised Lakers or Steelers. Of course, anything can happen. The Yankees were at the top of my list of condemned teams until I jumped on and off their bandwagon in the mid-90s. I lived in New York from 1994-96, and couldn’t resist the siren’s song of an evolving dynasty in pinstripes.

And you know what? I had a blast. That’s the best thing about bandwagonning: every season you’re a winner. My chronic club-hopping has allowed me to unabashedly root for Isaiah Thomas’ Bad Boy Pistons one year and their rival, the Chicago Bulls, the next year. I cheer for the Broncos if they’re hot and the Raiders if they’re not. Sacrilegiously, I stopped bleeding Royal blue and cheered for the Bronx Bombers.

If I had grown up in an earlier generation perhaps I would feel a stronger connection to my local teams. But in the free agent era why should I be loyal to players and coaches who have about as much connection with their franchises as J-Lo does with her old block?

I am a little more faithful in rooting for college teams. True, NCAA football and basketball are nearly as money-driven as pro sports, but it’s a lot easier to be loyal when the majority of the players stick around for four years and the teams don’t pick up and move every time another city offers to finance a new stadium. I have followed my beloved Jayhawks in hoops for nearly my entire existence – although it hasn’t hurt that they are the third winningest team in college basketball history and have been to six Final Fours since 1986.

As for the Jayhawk football team – I claim no association. Other than the idyllic scenery, the only time it’s worth $10 to see a game in Lawrence’s half-empty Memorial Stadium is when Nebraska or Oklahoma are in town. I am certainly not the only turncoat. I remember one game in the mid-’80s when the Oklahoma juggernaut was pounding the Jayhawks by about 50 points late in the final quarter and the KU cheerleaders were gathered around Brian Bosworth – hounding the hunky linebacker for autographs.

I’ll start supporting Kansas football when they start winning. Call me a fair-weather fan if you like, but I call myself a smart consumer. I’m not going to buy tickets to a theater production if nobody in the cast can act. I’m not going to continue visiting a restaurant if the food sucks. If fans continue to blindly flock to games regardless of performance, the powers that be will see no reason to improve the product. Look at the Chicago Cubs.

There’s an adage that says if you associate with winners you will become a winner yourself. Check back in a couple years and I’ll tell you if it’s true.

(Chelan David is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)