What Is a Bandwagoner in YOUR Mind?
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by user Romiezzo
The definition of a bandwagoner in a dicitionary is liking a sports team only because they're winning. I've been thinking a lot about this, and even kids who aren't even teenagers are calling kids their age bandwagoners. Seriously, what do YOU guys think a bandwagoner is? I've had a lot of situations where people have been called bandwagoners, where I think they're not.
Let me give some example of some of the situations. There's a kid who lives in Los Angeles. He is a BIG basketball fan, LOVES it and has loved it since he can remember. He is eight years old. His favorite team is the Los Angeles Lakers and his favorite player is none other than Kobe Bryant (like many other kids, the reason why he's his favorite is because he's a great entertainer and he's the only good player on the Lakers). Now, let's just assume that he gets traded. If you ask the kid that if Kobe gets traded, will he still like the Lakers or the team that Kobe plays for, he will say that he'd want to cheer for Kobe's team and L.A., but he'd prefer Kobe's team. All of his friends rag on him because they're from L.A. as well and he thinks that if he's just going for a team just because a good player is moving there, he's a bandwagon. Sooner or later, the playoffs come, and both Kobe's team and the LA Lakers are in the playoffs. Kobe's team gets eliminated, and the L.A. Lakers somehow win the championship against all odds. The kid is happy because the Lakers won it, but all of his kids are saying stuff to him like: "In your face" and "I told you so" when the truth, he was rooting for both teams. Is this an example of bandwagoning?
Here's another example. Baseball. Let's go back to mid July in 2004. A13 year old kid from Massachusetts likes to play baseball. He never really rooted for a team, but just liked to watch and play it. His uncles and dad keep telling him you got to at least root for a team so that baseball can be more "fun" for him. He said, "but who should I root for?" They said, "Red Sox, of course." He said, "I don't know, I like baseball as it is." Now remember, the Sox were way behind the Yankees at this time. All of the sudden, the kid got influenced by his dad and uncles as they watched games together and he became a Red Sox fan. They started winning games and the kid was happier as the season went along, and was even happier when "his team" won the World Series. Is this an example of bandwagoning?
There is a guy who just moved to Europe, and he realizes that soccer is the main sport there, for the most part. Many people there are FC Barcelona and Real Madrid fans. If he decides that he roots for them just because they're a winning team and everybody roots for them, does THAT make him a bandwagoner?
You can also take the example of CPCP with the Cleveland Browns. They're losing, so he wants to root for another team. Let's just say that he doesn't want to stay a Brown fan at the end. Is THIS an example of a bandwagon? (I'm not picking on you, CPCP, I just thought it was interesting to talk about this).
I'm sure there are a lot of examples that you guys can come up with, but those were some that were in my mind for quite some time now. So, what I'm asking you is: What is your definition of a bandwagon, and what do YOU think are the boundaries that you shouldn't cross if you want to stay as a person who is NOT a bandwagoner? There are a lot of people who are considered bandwagons that really aren't according to the sports definition given above. So, what do you guys think?
