Bandwagoners: How many do we have now?

[wpa2629]

  That's what I thought.

if you can't see the difference, I don't know what to tell you

Nobody here (or anywhere for that matter) is claiming that Nats park was "full" before this year -

[wpa2629]

Give it a couple of years,  cbp will be empty,  nats park will be full,  and philly's fans will talk about how terrible dc fans are because rfk used to be empty

They'll say we're fair weather fans and they'll be right. We've always rooted for our teams, but DC fans choose to spend their money on the Nats (or the Caps or the Wiz) when they win.  It's not an indictment at all. I'm totally fine with people choosing to spend their hard earned money on a winner.

Philly fans will tell you they're the greatest and the most loyal and the most passionate, when really, they're just as fair weathered and bandwagon as anyone else.

There's nothing special about Philly fans.

[Vega]

I just hope that the bandwagoners stick around. It'd be great to be the MLB equivalent of the Jazz, Thunder, or Warriors in the NBA. Those teams fill their arenas with die hard fans all the time, no matter the quality of the team or the record.

[wpa2629]

I just hope that the bandwagoners stick around. It'd be great to be the MLB equivalent of the Jazz, Thunder, or Warriors in the NBA. Those teams fill their arenas with die hard fans all the time, no matter the quality of the team or the record.

Thunder games are awesome - as close to a college atmosphere in an NBA arena as you'll see ... They've also had a lot to cheer for though too

[Vega]

Thunder games are awesome - as close to a college atmosphere in an NBA arena as you'll see ... They've also had a lot to cheer for though too

Yeah. They got lucky. They only have had one bad year so far in OKC, and that was their first season, but they were a lot of fun to watch because they were (And still are.) such an exciting young team that got better over the season and very obviously had a very bright future. That is one of the fun things about following a team even when they suck: one gets to see the process of improvement. I had just as much fun watching sucky Nats seasons as I did watching last season because there was that hope for improvement and optimism for the future. Getting through the bad parts makes the good parts that much better because one remembers where the team came from and how it got to where it is. That adds something to the experience that bandwagon fans will never get.

[cmdterps44]

I'm a bandwagoner.

[Gleason2]

I think that fans who come out only when the team is winning give ownership a financial incentive to put a good team on the field, so those folks serve a purpose.

[Kevrock]

Anyone over the age of 16 who wasn't a Nats fan during the RFK years.

lol.

[blue911]

I think Mitlen's a Beerwagon fan

[Coladar]

The age thing is nuts. Anything is nuts. We live in an area with significant transience, and so expecting a lifelong core fanbase is setting oneself up for disappointment. Even worse, significant long term residents don't even identify as a Washingtonian as they moved here later in life.

The redskins prove the area can support and enjoy dedicated crowds. But they also have a different fanbase than the Nats. Baseball fans are more likely to be rich and highly educated, a perfect storm for a typical non Native of the area moving here for federal jobs.

But obviously the Caps and Wizards show the area has fickle fans even amongst us natives... Not a forgiving, tolerating audience. Strasburg and Harper combine to move past the fairweather fan to fascination and hype over rare, historical and best in baseball stuff where folks come out of curiousity regardless of our wins.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'm not a bandwagoner.

I'm a lumberjack.

OK?

[Galah]

I'll confess, I'm a bandwagoner, I've only been a fan since I moved here in 2007

[Kevrock]

Anyone who wasn't actively campaigning to bring a team to DC is a bandwagoner.

[Tyler Durden]

I'll confess, I'm a bandwagoner, I've only been a fan since I moved here in 2007

Now people are joining the bandwagoner bandwagon.

[Baseball is Life]

We live in an area with significant transience,

That conventional wisdom (and true to some degree) but I would love to see some data on what percentage of people have lived in the DC metro area for, say, 20 years or more.

[OldChelsea]

Anyone who wasn't actively campaigning to bring a team to DC is a bandwagoner.

I still have my 'baseball in '87' savings account.

[DC_Nats]

If you never saw a Senators game at DC Stadium, you are a bandwagoner and should promptly jump off.

[Coladar]

That conventional wisdom (and true to some degree) but I would love to see some data on what percentage of people have lived in the DC metro area for, say, 20 years or more.

This doesn't tell exactly what you wanted to know, but close enough not to spend more time searching. Definitely supports my assertion, far more than I thought it would.

Wikipedia:

Of those born in the U.S. and living in Northern Virginia's four largest counties, their place of birth by Census region is 60.5% from the South, 21.0% from the Northeast, 11.5% from the Midwest, and 7.0% from the West. 33.7% were born in Virginia, which is categorized as part of the Southern United States along with neighboring Maryland and Washington, D.C. by the Census Bureau.

[captkirk42]

I'm not a bandwagoner.

I'm a lumberjack.

OK?

Just as long as you don't put on women's clothing and hang around in bars... OH OK even if you do that you are still OK.

[Tokeydog]

I got into an argument Saturday night about this.  I grew up a Baltimore fan, but as soon as the Nats came to town my allegiance switched.  I still "care" about the Orioles, but I crazy about the Nats.

Anyway, the person I was arguing with was accusing me of being a bandwagon traitor because I saw all those tasty draft picks and started rooting for the Nats.  None of which was true since I enjoyed many a game at RFK and witnessed the stadium rocking and thinking my god this is my team.  Sadly, I was too damn drunk to argue with someone sober so I let it pass, though I did think about sticking the butter knife through his eye.

[Count Walewski]

A related argument is whether or not you can ever cheer for a second MLB team.

I grew up a White Sox fan, and they're still my favorite team. But I no longer live in Chicago, and I'll be damned if I deprive myself of the pleasures of live baseball. So I've attended Nats games since I've moved here, and I feel no guilt at all about cheering for them, because 90% of the games they play are absolutely irrelevant to the White Sox. And of the ones that are relevant (interleague games), most of them involve the Nats playing a Sox AL or division rival, and therefore there's actually synergy in wanting the Nats to win.

It was different when I lived in Boston: I refused to cheer for the Red Sox, because I already had an AL team. Different league, different story.

Anyway, in a city as full of transplants as DC, and with a baseball team so relatively recent, I'd think that the Nationals fanbase would be more receptive than most to bandwagon and second-teamers.

[Baseball is Life]

This doesn't tell exactly what you wanted to know, but close enough not to spend more time searching. Definitely supports my assertion, far more than I thought it would.

Wikipedia:

Of those born in the U.S. and living in Northern Virginia's four largest counties, their place of birth by Census region is 60.5% from the South, 21.0% from the Northeast, 11.5% from the Midwest, and 7.0% from the West. 33.7% were born in Virginia, which is categorized as part of the Southern United States along with neighboring Maryland and Washington, D.C. by the Census Bureau.

I'm not asserting that we have a high percentage of natives. I'm asserting that we have a lot of people who've moved here and stayed (for at least 20 years) and therefore I would not call those people transient.

[Baseball is Life]

A related argument is whether or not you can ever cheer for a second MLB team.

You are allowed to cheer for one team per league. But now with increased interleague play, that becomes more complicated.

[Slateman]

Always room for one more

Unless they're Orioles fans

[spidernat]

^  We have quite a few of those who have never gotten over their former lover and still pine for them (especially when they make the playoffs). They'll be back to being only Nats fans when the birds have a dismal season.