VanDelaySports.com > MAC Football > Letter to the Toledo Blade

Saluting True Fans

Something irked me at work the other day.

We, as Toledo fans, all know that one person, whether they’d be a friend, family member or coworker, who just doesn’t understand why we root for the Rockets.

They wear their maize and blue or scarlet and gray on Saturday afternoons believing that they are true fans, the sort that worships a school without even stepping foot on its campus.

They call all the local sport talk shows professing their faith in their team thinking that that alone makes them a true fan.

They wear their school colors in supermarkets from head to toe hoping that the guy six aisles down in the frozen food section actually saw what a loyal fan should dress like.

They show up to sporting events wearing these same colors. Never mind that the school they “represent” is not playing tonight; it’s just a local high school game, but it is important to showcase how true a fan this person really has become.

They show up to the local waterholes dissecting each play with other wannabes despite their lack of playing experience in the sport. They firmly believe that had the coach ran a running play on a 3rd and five that the team would have scored on the possession. They also argue over why the coach didn’t replace a first team All-American with a backup sophomore because he just wasn’t getting the job done.

They belittle fans of other schools in the same state. They believe that it’s not about where you graduated from rather it’s who has won the most championships. They laugh behind your backs because your team went 9-3 last year and had to play in a less prestigious bowl while theirs won ten and competed on primetime television. And when you actually try to defend your team, they give you no reprieve.

They are, after all, “true fans.”

And we do salute them…for their ignorance.