Am I less of a fan because.. | The Boneyard

Am I less of a fan because..

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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"
 

Stainmaster

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I attend another university, but I spent the first 18 years of my life in Storrs. Both parents spent time working for the university (one was an alum), and at various points in my childhood we had season tickets to men's BB, women's BB, and football. Being a UCONN fan just made sense, even though I knew for a while that I wanted to experience college elsewhere. (Thanks to SNY carrying the games, my fandom hasn't dampened.)

Bottom line is, simply having attended UCONN as a student is an arbitrary and meaningless when classifying fans. A good number of my HS friends are at UCONN and have ended up being fairweather fans who simply attend games for social reasons. No way they're better fans than some of the non-alums on the board.
 
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I have always viewed the concept of being a fan as a purely internal creation, if that makes any sense. I think there are people, of all fan bases, who will use the teams they root for to empower themselves in certain settings, as if there is somehow a personal gain in rooting for a better team than the guy next to you.

You'll definitely see some of that as it relates to fans of college sports (i.e., how can you be a fan if you didn't go to UConn?), and I guess in a certain respect it's fair. If you're a student at a school, you're inherently associated with that school, and by extension its sports programs. Then again, somebody like me who doesn't go to the school but spends hundreds of dollars per year attending games, drives TV ratings, and spends most of my time trying to convince everybody within earshot that UConn basketball is the greatest invention in human history probably merits a certain claim to the school, too.

But I'd define a fan as somebody who devotes a reasonable portion of their time/resources to something without expecting anything tangible in return. Somebody else's definition may vary, but I think people who say things like, "you didn't go to UConn, so you can't be a fan" might want to step-back and reexamine their own attachment to whatever it is they're rooting for. Are you a fan because you like to talk trash to your co-workers, or because you genuinely enjoy supporting whatever it is you're supporting? If somebody else challenged my fan hood, I wouldn't be too defensive, because it just doesn't bother me much. As much as I wouldn't mind being associated with the school/program, my enjoyment of the product wouldn't really be compromised without it.
 
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The Smart One said:
I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"

Nah, my dad's an alum, I'm not, and my family's from CT. Doesn't make me, or you, less of a fan.

if you're emotionally invested and you ride the roller coaster with the program you're a fan.
 
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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"
Honestly the way I look at it, I grew up in CT and since we have no pro team, I consider UConn our pro team! If you like basketball then you love UConn.
 
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a wheel fannjy no history of team and to do that yo dont need graduate degree from storrs

if yo historian, then yo futurist, derive satis faxtion from benchmark where day were (Yanker conf to ecac from regional punk to big east bopper to world title king of bloodiest of blewbluds to uno in universe of hoop clg to current aac scoring challenged chump}
 

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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"

Some people will say that you are but most reasonable people would disagree.

As if college sports could exist with only the support of the alumni and students.
 
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If you paid taxes to CT, you have as much as a right to be a fan as a student/alum. As whaler11 said, as if college sports could exist with only the support of the alumni and students.

This isn't Alabama football yet, where fans divide themselves between the alumni and non-alumni (15%/85%). But I won't be surprised if a day comes when UConn fans develop such a divide.
 
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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"

Nope I never went there except to party and get laid. But I was a fan way before I was able to do either of those. I am quite sure I am a bigger fan than most alums - and not because I'm an old fat guy!
 
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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"
This might make you more of a fan. BTW, anyone who pays taxes in Connecticut owns a piece of UConn.
 

Fairfield_1st

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Just seeking out the Boneyard shows a deeper connection with the school/team than most. Bonus points for that. I did go to UConn, but I was a fan when I was in middle school. There was never another school for me. Their soccer and hoops in the late 70's sucked me in. I have no idea what I would have done if they didn't accept me as a student. Of the 8 or so guys I tailgate with at football, I'm the only grad. The rest are just residents that root for them.
Bottom line, it doesn't matter how you became a fan. If you can't be an athlete......
 
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Not at all. The only thing I would say, however, is fans of sports teams that have no connection to the school generally care less about anything OTHER than the sports teams. Alum, on the other hand, care about the impact athletics has on the school at large.

Doesn't make the fandom any different, but it makes for different perspectives on economics, conference, etc.
 
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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"
You forgot to take your meds.:rolleyes:
 

Dooley

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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"

NO. I'm alum, my brother is not. We both have sat, side by side, through the last few years of mind numbing football. All weather conditions, haven't missed a game in years. My alum friends who were part of our season ticket package all dropped out over the years.

Point is, you don't have to be alum to be a fan. Some of the biggest UCONN fans I know aren't. We all bleed blue together.
 
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I welcome all UConn fans, LeBron and Durant for example.
 
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I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"

the only reason to feel like less of a fan is if you are actually less of a fan. There are plenty of alumni who have followed the basketball teams who are not as big fans as you are. My core crew of hardcore UConn fans are mostly just CT natives who love the game of basketball (and maybe I've coached them to become more die-hard fans over the last 8 years or so). I know plenty of friends from my time at school who were big fans but now only come out of the woodwork when its a big game or the end of the season.

Do you, only you should judge how much of a fan you are

EDIT: to me one specific area of fan-dom that might be dependent on being an alumni is use of the word "we" when talking about your team. I will constantly use "we this" "we that" when talking about how a game is going or the team is playing over a season, and you get people who call you out and say "we?! are you on the team now?", and my constant immediate defense is that I went to school there, I was a die-hard fan since I was a small child, which affected my choosing to go to school there, and I'm a CT native since birth.

I think if youre a CT native or were just a fan forever, you can use "we" no doubt, but people who are recently on board or fairweather fans, they shouldn't have access to that 'we' use. But I say if a bad loss affects your mental capabilities for even an hour and an upset win in March makes you feel like you're on top of a mountain, this is YOUR team
 
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Marat

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No, as others have said.

I'm not an alum - grew up in CT, became a fan while in school right before the dream season. I decided to attend a smaller private college without a D1 basketball team instead of going locally to UConn. My fandom became even stronger (since Huskymania) as the Huskies are basically my #1 sports team. And we the UConn faithful have been rewarded with the pinnacle of success unparalleled by 98% of other NCAA basketball schools since Huskymania.
 

pnow15

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You paid taxes. Didn't you? UConn is the state university. You are entitled.

I'm not a Uconn Alumn. When others cheer for their alma mater I cheer simply because I lived in Ct. And have been a fan over 25 years. I kind of feel as though I am less of a fan or not deserving as much when their is success because its really not "my school"
 
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