PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

Welcome to the Definitive Fan – The online guide from PowerPlayGoal.com to the types of fans who you’re likely to meet (or not meet) at a game.
Some of these fans have a true passion for the game, and will proudly support their chosen team through and through. Other folks, on the other hand…

Fan Type #13 – The Bandwagoner

Look at this lovely wagon, conveniantly available to hop on when that other one is breaking.

Bio:
Often confused with the Fair Weather Fan. As the name suggests, the Bandwagoner has a tendency to hop on a particular team’s bandwagon, as in, conveniently become part of said team’s fan base when they happen to be winning.

They’ll continue to go and watch games for as long as their team is constantly doing well: they’ll then buy merchandise, such as a pennant, talk about the team, and hockey in general, with their friends and (temporary) fellow fans all while making themselves sound like they know everything about this team… but the very moment something bad happens, like the team suddenly losing its playoff spot in the standings, they will suddenly be overcome with a feeling of disappointment. Generally, sports fans do feel unhappy when their favourites have just lost a game (or their playoff spot), especially the passionate fans of said team, but they never go as far as to follow another one instead.

Usually, no matter what the team is going through or how bad they are doing, the more passionate hockey fans will still continue to attend and watch games to support them. As for the Bandwagoners however, while the team continues to struggle during a losing streak, they’ll conveniently change their allegiance to a different team instead, one that just happens to be winning (especially common if there are multiple teams within an area), usually being part of a crowd in doing so. But then suddenly, this team has a bad spell near the end of the season while their previous favourites have made a big, final push to clinch a playoff spot: guess what this fan does next.

Characteristics:
No distinguishable characteristics, they seem to blend in.

Favourite Team:
Guess.

Other:
This fan type tends to be more noticeable during the postseason. Sometimes you’ll find that even the most loyal fans of a team that have missed the playoffs still need their hockey fix, and will root for a particular team that they want to win: fans like this could be classed as Bandwagoner Type B.

I’m Wildwing64, and this is the Definitive Fan.

Welcome to the definitive fan. The PowerPlayGoal.com guide to the types of fans your likely to encounter at a Hockey game, whether you like it, or not.
Some of these fans have a true passion for the sport, others are just there because they like have nothing better to do.

Fan Type #12 – Uninterested Children

Often, they really shouldn’t be there

Bio:
Forced to go along to a game because their parents cannot be bothered to hire a babysitter, or because they feel that their child needs to be immersed in everything they do – else its not right, Uninterested Children distract other fans around them because they would much rather be outside with friends, or playing Lego.
They have little understanding of the game, and will often just shout what they know from other sports; for example at a recent game, one child a few rows back spent much of the game shouting that players should be “sent off” and that they should get a “yellow card”. For those of you not in the know, they are both popular terms for Soccer Fans.
They then, still bored and confused resort to kick the seat in front to them for a period of time – a quick glare back normally stops this, for a few minutes and the kicking will then resume.
They then spend time wandering around and in particular seem to go out of their way to make sure that they invade as much of your personal space as possible.
By the time that the 2nd period has ended they are climbing on the seats around shouting to their mum that they are bored, and spilling a jumbo sized Pepsi down your back.

Characteristics:
Over dressed in fan gear, as the parents keep buying it for them.

Favourite Team:
Whatever team their parents support.

Other:
Most of this type of fan will gradually disapear as they become a disillusioned teenager.

Favourite Phrases:
Send them off ref!
I wanna see a fight.
When’s the period end?
He’s not allowed to catch the puck. Handball!

I’m KevKev, and this is the Definitive Fan.

Welcome to The Definitive Fan – The online guide from PowerPlayGoal.com to the types of fans who you’re likely to meet (or not meet) at a hockey game.
Most of these fans enjoy everything about the game, while a small few only seem to be interested in a particular person on the ice…

Fan Type #10 – The Player Fan

We all have our favourite player(s), but this fan type takes it to a slightly different extreme

Bio:
Not necessarily a ‘bad’ fan by any means, unlike most of the fan types we have previously covered. As the name suggests, the Player Fan generally seems to be more interested in a particular player than anything else when it comes to their chosen team – whether they have been actively following the player since his junior league days or said player caught the fan’s attention at their first hockey game are among various reasons why the fan develops their liking of said player.

This fan type is, again unlike many we have covered before, usually quite knowledgeable about the game of Hockey, and generally even more so about their favourite player’s career and position, so they will provide good conversation should you happen to come across them.

It’s not as easy to identify a Player Fan in real life as it is on the internet: you will know instantly whether a member of a team’s forum is of this fan type if they have the player’s photo in their avatar and/or signature, or they will have a username which will usually be something like, for example, “Selanne8” or “ModanoFan”. As previously mentioned, they will still provide good conversation even when online, but whether the fan is generally biased towards their favourite player or is capable of being critical will depend on their personality.

Sometimes, the Player Fan will take part in the sport themselves, usually taking up the same position and modelling their play style after the player they idolise – some of these kinds of players are likely in the NHL today.

Characteristics:
No distinguishable characteristics – they seem to blend in. However, they may be seen around or at games in a custom jersey with their favourite player’s name and number on. As for internet forums, the dead giveaways have already been mentioned above.

Favourite Team:
Generally depends on which team their favourite player is on. Player Fans have had this writer asking himself the question of what they do once the player retires for whatever reason, or where their loyalty lies when he is traded to another team. Chances are they may still like the team he previously played for, while still following the player on his new team.

Other:
Due in part to the NHL overhyping certain players, an extremely annoying variant of the Player Fan also exists, which we will cover another time. In keeping with the current times, we shall refer to this other fan type as the dreaded Crosby Fanboy.

I’m Wildwing64, and this is the Definitive Fan.