Tag Archives: The Definitive Fan

The Definitive Fan #8 – The Violence Hater

December 21, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

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.
Some of these fans love the game, while others don’t really seem all that interested, for example:

Fan Type #8 – The Violence Hater

An example of which we’ll go into more detail later in this article

Bio:
The polar opposite of the Fights Fan. In fact, this fan type usually isn’t even a fan at all. They dislike violent sports such as Hockey, labelling it as being cruel and barbaric despite the fact that the athletes taking part have chosen to do so theirselves, and that Hockey players are usually well educated.

Violence Haters generally just don’t go to Hockey games, so have no idea as to how it plays or what the aim of the game actually is – they simply assume that it’s violent, and therefore is one of the most evil and unethical things going.

They will go out of their way to make their opinions known, with their favourite (and usually only) place to protest being the internet. They will find news related websites, usually the more generic ones that don’t belong to any particular TV channel, and find a hockey related article. They will post drivel such as “Hockey is horrible and barbaric and should be banned!”, then becoming a subject of ridicule for anyone else commenting on the article.

Characteristics:
Either gender, but more notably female – usually with no distinguishable characteristics. You won’t actually see them protesting in public because they at least know well enough that they’ll probably be laughed at.

Favourite Team:
None… well, maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins, because penguins are cute and fluffy and everyone loves them. Therefore that team isn’t violent at all, right?

Other:
One real-life example we can actually name for once is a user who responded to a question on Yahoo Answers: the user asking simply wanted to know how the fight strap in hockey jerseys work, and one user who responded decided to label all hockey fans as “low class, bloodthirsty creeps.” Oh, thanks! Real nice of you. So nice that I’m going to put a link right here for everybody to see.

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

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The Definitive Fan #6 – The Tourist

November 19, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

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.
Some of these fans clearly have a true passion for the game, others, well, they are just there for something to do.

Fan Type #6 – The Tourist

Game programs are usually a favourite piece of merchandise for tourist-type fans.

Bio:
So you have a friend who’s going on vacation, and you happen to notice that they’ve picked a city that’s home to an NHL team. Your friend may have never seen a game in their life, nor had any prior interest in the sport, so being a huge hockey fan yourself; you quickly recommend that they go see an NHL game.

Apparently going by your recommendation – although there’s no guarantee of them doing so – your friend will then attend a game, and chances are they will have enjoyed themselves. But again, there’s no guarantee. After they’ve been on vacation for however long, they will come home and you will encounter one of the following scenarios:

A: They’ll have enjoyed the game, seemingly developing a casual interest in hockey in the process. In future, they may still claim that they are a fan of one of the two teams that they saw play, usually the home team, otherwise they won’t show many, if any signs of interest, thus creating Tourist Fan Type A.

B: They’ll have really enjoyed the game, so much that they’ve picked up as much merchandise as possible, gone out of their way to learn about and cherish the history and traditions of the team, and they’ll seemingly be a fan for life (although chances are this could merely be a post-vacation stage). Don’t like the team they’ve chosen? Or are you now finding it annoying how they’re always bringing up some great event in the team’s history that they talk about as if they saw it yesterday? Well, tough, because you’ve just created Tourist Fan Type B.

Characteristics:
Well, come on. They’ve just come home with at least a jersey of their new favourite team. Or some other team memorabilia to remember their holiday by, like a game programme. Tourist Fan Type A however, will most likely seem more generic, and will have no distinguishable characteristics.

Favourite Team:
Depends on where they visit. A common choice for British Tourists for example would be the Tampa Bay Lightning, or maybe the New York Rangers.

Other:
Scenario A above will occur more commonly than B, although there may have been a few rare cases of the latter.

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

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The Definitive Fan #5 – The Fair Weather Fan

November 08, 2009   wildwing64   No comments

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.
Some of these fans clearly have a true passion for the game, others, well, they are just there for something to do.

Fan Type #5 – The Fair Weather Fan

This weather forecast predicts clear skies, and a winning streak for your favourite NHL team.

Bio:
Often confused with the Bandwagoner. As the name suggests, the Fair Weather Fan only comes out to support their team when the weather is fair, as in, when their team is playing well. They’ll attend plenty of home games during a time period in which the team is successful.

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 jersey, talk about the team, and hockey in general, with their friends and fellow fans all while making themselves sound like they know everything about the game… but the very moment something bad happens, like the team ending their awesome winning streak with a supposedly “major” loss, they will suddenly feel slightly disappointed. Generally, sports fans do feel unhappy when their favourite team has just lost a game, especially the passionate fans of said team, but they never go as far as to lose interest altogether.

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 their team. As for the Fair Weather Fans however, while the team continues to struggle during a losing streak, they’ll conveniently lose interest, because all of a sudden they now have supposedly better things to do, like watching America’s Got Talent or something. They won’t bother with hockey again until word of mouth tells them that the team is winning again, and that this fan has just missed the most epic win the team has ever had.

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

Favourite Team:
SUNBELT TEEMZ OLOLOLOLOL. Seriously though, every team has its fair share of Fair Weather Fans.

Other:
As far as players go, they may only remember the names of the star players. Try talking to them about Pittsburgh for example, and the only names they’ll remember will most likely be Sidney Crosby, “Mall King”, and “that guy in goal… Flurry? Something like that”.

I’m Wildwing64, hoping you enjoyed this issue of the Definitive Fan.

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