Baseball Musings: New Royals Rooter

December 03, 2006

New Royals Rooter

While some KC Royals fans are leaving the fold, one is getting on the bandwagon real early.

The more I thought about my friend's luck, the more I wondered what it would be like to be a new fan for a completely different team. I, like most fans, had given myself to one team earlier in life. When I was a kid I learned the players' and managers' names, memorized the schedule and during the summer counted down the hours each day to the first pitch.
But that was a long time ago, and I started wondering what it would be like to do that again, to pledge my allegiance to a new team no matter how the season turned out.

As the 2006 season closed and the Braves missed the playoffs, I decided to pick my new team. I set out some guidelines and began narrowing my options.

The Royals met all his criteria, and Joe Schulman will be blogging about what it's like to be an out of town fan at A Royals Fan in Atlanta.

Posted by David Pinto at 11:32 AM | Fans | TrackBack (0)

Comments

It's a copout. He hasn't dropped the Braves, he's going to be a fan / follower of another team, too.

Posted by: Basura at December 3, 2006 11:48 AM

He picks a new team because the Braves missed the playoffs for the first time in, what, fifteen years? And then claims he doesn't want to be a fair weather fan in picking his new team? Seems to me he's the definition of a fair weather fan.

Posted by: Rand at December 3, 2006 01:37 PM

do you know how much better my life would be if i wasn't a phillies fan? does that stop me from being as die hard as their is? NO. i am tortured and in turn i will subject my children to this same torture. you can't just go switching teams. it's just wrong.

it takes alot to walk around among the yankee hats or go to cbp when the red sox nation are 20k strong in our own stadium. but i can look in the mirror and know that i'm a real fan. not some front runner or bandwagon jumper. (this isn't an attack on whoevers blog that is, but for the record Atlanta is the most fraudulant sports town in America)

Posted by: Tim at December 3, 2006 01:43 PM

"(this isn't an attack on whoevers blog that is, but for the record Atlanta is the most fraudulant sports town in America)"

This is a 2nd-hand anecdote...but I think I've got it right. My roommate told me that back in 2004 when he was looking at colleges, he and his family were in Atlanta during the NLDS and decided to go to Turner Field, just to check it out. So they got there and noticed that the entire area was fairly deserted for a playoff game. So he and his family just walked up to the ticket counter-there may have been a line, but not a big one-and bought 4 tickets to game 5 of the NLDS. Just walked right up and bought them. Game 5 tickets after a thriller of a Game 4. I never thought a fanbase could get so spoiled that their playoff games stopped selling out...but I guess Atlanta's did.

Posted by: the other josh at December 3, 2006 02:43 PM

I live in Atlanta (and a Yankees fan), and I can tell you straight up that, for the most part, Atlanta fans rank pretty far back in the pack when it comes to being 'true' fans. It's funny, when the Braves started winning in the early 90's, everyone you would meet would tell you how they were a diehard fan and how they always went to the games when the Braves sucked. Well, I'll tell you, I went to games when the Braves sucked, and there were not many fans there - you could walk up at game time and score seats 10 rows behind home plate. People liked to pretend that they weren't jumping on the bandwagon, when in fact 95% of the population of Atlanta was. Nowadays the fans are even worse - miss the playoffs for one season and all the fans disappear. I will say, though, that the Thrashers fans in the city are pretty good. They (and I) went to the games every season when they sucked so bad that they should have been an AHL team. It's nice for them and their fans that they are doing so well this season.

Posted by: sabernar at December 3, 2006 03:37 PM

Stupid idea because his loyalty is still to the team he has been rooting for his entire life. And if by some chance it isn't, how can you call yourself a fan to leave a team after one bad season in 15 years?

This guys a loser.

Posted by: sam at December 3, 2006 03:43 PM

"This guys (sic) a loser?" Man, tough crowd. So the guy wants to start following a new team. Good for him. It's not like the Royals don't need new fans. Who's to say HOW fervent his Braves-fandom really is? Not me. Dude loves the game and wants to put his mind to following a new team. Big deal. Some people like to move their minds and allegiances in new directions. I know that I do.

I respect that many fans have teams that they've grown up with and have stuck with through thick and thin (our Phillies fan above). But, many other fans sway back and forth and they aren't necessarily bandwagoners either. Hell, people move to new cities and adopt their teams...well, maybe not the D-Rays, but you get the idea.

I grew up in an area w/o professional baseball and grew up following the Giants and Royals due to their freaking colors and a half-dozen players that, for no real reason, I determined that I "liked": Willie McCovey, George Brett, Chili Davis, Dan Quisenberry, Darrell Evans, and later Will Clark. I still follow both, but have put most of my "fandom" in the Giants' corner since the mid-1980s, maybe even a bit before--1985 was nice though. But, I still wish the Royals well and they need it.

I hope that he enjoys following the Royals, even if he's still following the Braves. I don't know why David's link to some random, newfound Royals fan is a big deal at all.

Posted by: Kent at December 3, 2006 04:03 PM

I agree Kent, tough crowd in here today.

Kudos to Joe Schulman. I wish i had the time to spend on all of MLB, like i did when i was younger and playing Strat-o-matic. boy, i wish i could relive those days.

Posted by: the Gov'Nah at December 4, 2006 10:44 AM

This is Joe Schulman, author of the new Royals fan blog. First off, I will always be a Braves fan. Always. I live and die by them. I'm not switching allegiances, I'm just adding one. Plenty of people do it when the move to new cities(including my friend, the inspiration for the idea).

As for other Braves fans, yeah they can be fickle. I won't deny that. But like all cities, there are plenty of us that will watch the team through good and bad.

If you haven't visited the site, I suggest you stop by. You'll see that it is at heart a place for baseball fans, not just those that enjoy the Royals.

Posted by: Joe Schulman at December 5, 2006 07:42 PM

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