The Maryland/Duke Drinking Game

[Sports Guy]

I guess we are all bandwagon Orioles fans then right?

It matters because you are talking trash now, in a Maryland forum, as a Duke fan. You could easily stay out of here, but choose to do the opposite, so you make it our business.

1) Until last year, was there another local baseball team? The part that you chose to quote from me and your response to that makes no sense.

2) I did not start this, i am defending myself. If you do not like it, butt out...Really, i prefer to discuss this with other people anyway.

I have talked about Duke on here in the past but that was before the NCAA Bball forum was started.

[mweb]

Does it really matter why someone decides to become a fan of a certain team?

My only problem with "fandom" comes when somebody jumps ship and becomes a fan of another team. I think that is unnacceptable and the jumper has no right to claim being a true fan of their new team.

SG clearly didn't jump off of any other bandwagon to become a Duke fan; they just happened to be the best program at the time. Apparently as an 8 year old he either had no ability to recognize evil or was quite comfortable cheering for it, but I certainly don't consider him any less of a fan of the team because he has no direct ties.

I do think its BS (and I constantly call him out on it) when he starts getting into arguments about Duke's academics. He has no reason to talk about Duke as a better university than any other (and it certainly isn't any better than Maryland - at least in my discipline).

But I bet if Duke hit some hard times in lets say 1992 and didn't recover, SG would not have kept Duke as their team, or at the very least wouldn't be as big of a fan and wouldn't be talking about Duke much on here.

So Mackus, you don't have a problem with kids in MD picking the Yanks as their team? Would you be ok with your possible future son rooting for the Yanks because they're the better team?

[mweb]

Because you guys make it sound like i jumped on Duke 5-10 years ago, when the rivalry really got started and that is not true.

To compare the history of these schools to the history of the O's and Yanks is a joke BTW.

Also, if i was a true bandwagon fan, i would have jumped off the year K had the surgery and they were awful and then jumped back on when they were good again.

I don't make it sound like that at all. Picking the Yanks now is very similiar to picking Duke then, obviously you don't want to admit that and that's fine. And tradition has little to nothing to do with why a kid jumps on a bandwagon. It's all about right now in that circumstance, and in that case it is similiar.

And come on now, 1 year of bad play, wow, way to hang in there, must have been rough huh? The real test would have been if they started struggling not that long after you started liking them, and continued to struggle.

I would guess you would stick with Duke now if they fell on hard times, though, so I guess you've graduated from bandwagon status, but it doesn't change the initial jump onto it, or that I and others don't view you as a fan of Duke in the same way we view Duke fans who grew up and/or went there.

BTW, why did you leave the 49ers for the Ravens?

[BaltimoreTerp]

1) Until last year, was there another local baseball team? The part that you chose to quote from me and your response to that makes no sense.

You called us bandwagon fans for supporting our state school. If you can't see where it makes sense then I can't help you.

[Sports Guy]

But I bet if Duke hit some hard times in lets say 1992 and didn't recover, SG would not have kept Duke as their team, or at the very least wouldn't be as big of a fan and wouldn't be talking about Duke much on here.

This may be the dumbest thing you have ever said on here and btw, you are completely wrong.

First of all, do not act as if you know me and my loyalty to anything. I could very well say f you to the Orioles and be justifed but i haven't.

Secondly, between the year with K having surgery, losing early in the Tourney to Cal and Eastern Mich, Duke did go through issues in the mid 90's.

Nothing like probation or anything like that but still, they did not play at an elite level for a few years

[Sports Guy]

You called us bandwagon fans for supporting our state school. If you can't see where it makes sense then I can't help you.

YOu have other options than the Terps, that was my point of that post.

[mweb]

So, you(and others) root for the better team, the team with the most exposure and the team that you had "heard of"..These are some of the ideas that have been portrayed to me....Hmmmmmm, seems like a bandwagon idea there to me, just a bandwagon of your state team.

Don't fall of the bandwagon while you're reaching.:002_sbiggrin:

Yeah, MD was a real bandwagon team in the late 80's. Picking MD as your team is just like picking any other major local team. UMD was the major school of MD, picking Towson or Morgan St would be like choosing the Bowie Baysox as your favorite team.:002_sbiggrin:

[MurphDogg]

The reason I have a problem with rooting for the best team, just because they are the best is because, to me it cheapens being a fan. It would be great to have rooted for a team that won all the time but being a fan is a group activity in my mind and being around other people who share both the triumphs and disappointments with you is the best part of being a fan. I feel sorry for SG that he made such a terrible choice that has isolated him from the social structure. I have no problem with SG in this forum because he raises the level of discourse.

My only problem with "fandom" comes when somebody jumps ship and becomes a fan of another team. I think that is unnacceptable and the jumper has no right to claim being a true fan of their new team.

In my mind a certain level of sports bigamy is acceptable in college sports, you should be able to root for the home team as well as the team of the college that you attended. You must, however differentiate between the two and cheer one before the other. In my case I attended Virginia Tech and will root for them even in basketball where they are not a traditional power team. I attended the VT/MD game last year and rooted hard for the Hokies at Comcast Center even though I spent all of my formative years cheering for the Terps.

[Sports Guy]

BTW, why did you leave the 49ers for the Ravens?

Didn't leave them...Still a fan of them but to be honest, the new ownership has really turned me off.

[mweb]

This may be the dumbest thing you have ever said on here and btw, you are completely wrong.

First of all, do not act as if you know me and my loyalty to anything. I could very well say f you to the Orioles and be justifed but i haven't.

Secondly, between the year with K having surgery, losing early in the Tourney to Cal and Eastern Mich, Duke did go through issues in the mid 90's.

Nothing like probation or anything like that but still, they did not play at an elite level for a few years

Maybe I'm wrong, I obviously can't tell. But please don't act like Duke has gone through tough times and you've stuck with them.

[mweb]

Didn't leave them...Still a fan of them but to be honest, the new ownership has really turned me off.

But why are the Ravens your main team now?

[Sports Guy]

Maybe I'm wrong, I obviously can't tell. But please don't act like Duke has gone through tough times and you've stuck with them.

For Duke, they were tough times.

[mweb]

YOu have other options than the Terps, that was my point of that post.

The only other college options would be basically like minor league pro teams. Unless you want to go down to DC and root for what was the bandwagon team of the time. Would you disagree with that?

[mweb]

For Duke, they were tough times.

Ok, but they weren't tough times for a fan to endure.

[BaltBird 24]

If SG were a real fan, he'd have chosen Belmont Abbey College, Chowan College, or North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University over Duke.