What Makes You A Tech “Fan” And What Makes You A U.T. “Fan”?

Well I guess next to politics, football is the easiest way to get a rise out of people around here. In my last blog I targeted poseur U.T. fans. That is, fans who only pop up when they’re playing Texas Tech just to get a little attention from their friends and neighbors. I have no problem with you if you “bleed burnt orange” but there’s more than a few around these parts that support U.T. just to be contrary. Now, I also have a problem with Tech “t-shirt” fans.

I was in a restaurant around game nine or ten. I had just checked on the game before I went in. It was early in the third and Tech was down. Then a large group, decked head to toe in Tech gear came in. They couldn’t have been more covered in Tech gear if they had Kliff’s face tattooed on their asses. I just thought, “how dare you call yourself a Tech fan”? You left early to “beat the crowds”? You figured that they were going to “lose anyway”? What a load of crap. This group took up six spaces in the stadium that could have went to real fans. Instead, and this is the bottom line, those Tech tickets are priced so that only poseurs like this can afford them.
Hey, I’m a firm believer in that if you buy a ticket, your obligation is fulfilled. You can sit on your hands for all I care. Just don’t try to pass yourself off as a supporter when you’re bailing early in the third quarter. Now, it’s important that I don’t really claim to be a “Tech fan”, I just believe in supporting the home team. The truth be told, it’s better for me and my personal business when Tech has just “kind of okay” years. I guess what I’m trying to get at here is “what is the definition of a fan”? My feeling is that it’s someone who supports their team no matter what, beginning to end. If you just go to “check out’ part of a game or something, I wouldn’t call you a “fan”, I’d just call you an “observer”.
This takes us back to my last article. I have no problem with actual U.T. “fans”. In my last blog some of the more ignorant ones missed the fact that I talked about how great I was treated by U.T. when I lived in Austin. My problem was with the jerks that just show up the week U.T. plays Tech and have no other real interest in the team. So at the end of the day are you a “fan” or an “observer”, a “supporter” or just another “poseur”?