My name is Amanda Abbott, and I am a San Francisco Giants bandwagon fan. Well, maybe not a full-fledged bandwagoner, but I am at least from the San Francisco Bay Area. Evidently, I am having a hard time associating myself with the frowned-upon bandwagon-fan label. However, I know I am riding one very crowded wagon.

Bandwagon fans are prominent within every sport, every playoff series and every good event people want to be included in. And with every bandwagon fan, there is a self-acclaimed true fan who will s*** on us and tell us, ‘To be a bandwagon fan is worse than being a Dodgers fan.’ Come on, ‘true fans,’ don’t put us on that level. Instead, love us.

Most people typically secure a spot on a team’s bandwagon whenever their sports team is doing well. My spot on the San Francisco Giant’s wagon, however, was the result of Tim Lincecum.

After his Major League Baseball debut in the 2007 season, Lincecum was quickly deemed ‘The Freak’ due to the contrast between his small stature and his large stride. Later in October 2009, Lincecum was charged with marijuana possession, which not only expanded his fan base, but also simultaneously inspired an array of ‘Let Tim Smoke’ themed merchandise. Between being explicitly labeled as abnormal and a stoner, Lincecum was shaping up to be my best friend. Then this year’s season offered the final selling point.

In midsummer, I was watching a game with my grandma — an authentic fan — when my dad walked into the living room, glanced at the television and said, ‘Hey, Lincecum looks like Marie.’

At that moment, my Lincecum loyalty was born, and my love for the San Francisco Giants was perpetuated. Marie is my 21-year-old female cousin who happens to have a striking resemblance to the ‘The Freak.’ Maybe Marie grew to look like Lincecum or maybe Lincecum grew to look like Marie, or maybe it was just Marie’s new haircut. But whatever it was, I now felt like it was my own cousin who was leading the Giants to one of their best seasons since 2002.

I immediately began calling Marie ‘Timmy,’ and I made plans to see Lincecum pitch at the next home game.

Furthering my cheesy reasons to be a Giants fan, this season the San Francisco Giants’ marketing team tapped into ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ also known as Pablo Sandoval and panda-monium hit. Amanda rhymes with panda. Need I say more?

Whether you’re a follower-fan due to a team’s success or because you’ve been sucked into a team’s marketing hype, you’ll probably be called a bandwagoner. If you haven’t been following a team since spring training or don’t have a relative who used to sneak into the Polo Grounds to watch the New York Giants play ball, you basically suck.

However, here’s an idea for all the true fans out there. Instead of bullying or outperforming us in obscure trivia, a smarter, more economic move would be to offer us some unnecessary paraphernalia. After all, the No. 1 defining characteristic of bandwagon fans is that we’re all suckers.

Just a side note, I could really use a ‘My Tim Lincecum look-alike cousin is smarter than your honor student’ bumper sticker.

Amanda Abbott is a junior geography and IST major. She is the assistant opinion editor at The Daily Orange, where her column appears occasionally. She can be reached at aeabbott@syr.edu.

 

Published on October 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm