Yep, the decade where most of my attention shifted from the Tigers to the Lions and Red Wings, I began to resort to simply reading the sports page in one of our county's newspapers to keep up with the teams.

Tigers' franchise spun their wheels and fired Harwell, which infuriated me, and made me dislike Schembechler, they made it all too easy to cease watching many games on tv or attend many at Tiger Stadium. If it weren't for the final '99 season, I might not have made it to a ballgame for the entire decade.

So what you're saying is that you don't follow a team if they're bad?

:-$

[color=#006400 said:

Mitch[/color]]So what you're saying is that you don't follow a team if they're bad?

:-$

Click to expand...

No, not exactly, just a lot less, and maybe I should have added that I had begun working the graveyard shift in late '90, and did so for the remainder of the decade, along with often working 6 "days" a week, including weekends and 10-12 hour shifts, so it completely turned my lifestyle around 180 degrees. I had Sunday nights off, so football was the only sport that I could watch during the day.

I began to dread the Thanksgiving holiday, it was the beginning of our "busy" season for the USPS, and one had to have a lot of seniority to get that night off. Turkey has a naturally occurring chemical compound (can't remember its name) that makes for drowsiness. I had to be awake and alert @ work b/c of the nature of my job, which was physically demanding. My relatives and family, of course, could not "understand" why I always wanted to beg off attending Thanksgiving dinners late in the afternoons at the home of whoever held them each year.

When I was younger and they wanted me on Midnight or afternoon, I would beg them to work on days. I couldn't stand missing games. I made sure my work schedule centered around my game schedule. Lol.

Whatever year Bobby Higginson was done getting paid by the Detroit Tigers.

[color=#006400 said:

Mitch[/color]]So what you're saying is that you don't follow a team if they're bad?

:-$

Click to expand...

I kinda get what Turok was saying.

For me, and call it bandwagoning if you want, but I was a diehard Lions fan all my life, even though they have generally been bad.

But when Matt Millen took over and a decade of stupidity ensued, I not just stopped going to games, but I stopped watching them.

Similar thing with the Tigers, for a while the organization was a wreck, so while I still paid some attention, I was not very concerned about them.

Neither team has to be winners for me to be a fan, but the organization as a whole has to try, or frustration sets in and I just don;t care about them as much.

MI_Thumb said:

[quote="Mitch":crrraau7]So what you're saying is that you don't follow a team if they're bad?

:-$

Click to expand...

I kinda get what Turok was saying.

For me, and call it bandwagoning if you want, but I was a diehard Lions fan all my life, even though they have generally been bad.

But when Matt Millen took over and a decade of stupidity ensued, I not just stopped going to games, but I stopped watching them.

Similar thing with the Tigers, for a while the organization was a wreck, so while I still paid some attention, I was not very concerned about them.

Neither team has to be winners for me to be a fan, but the organization as a whole has to try, or frustration sets in and I just don;t care about them as much.[/quote:crrraau7]



I think you are only a bandwagon fan if you become a fan of a different team during hard times. I am a die hard Detroit/Michigan fan but my passions certainly increase and decrease proportionately with the team's performance. But, I will never become a fan of another team......ever!

bdtay71 said:

MI_Thumb said:

I kinda get what Turok was saying.

For me, and call it bandwagoning if you want, but I was a diehard Lions fan all my life, even though they have generally been bad.

But when Matt Millen took over and a decade of stupidity ensued, I not just stopped going to games, but I stopped watching them.

Similar thing with the Tigers, for a while the organization was a wreck, so while I still paid some attention, I was not very concerned about them.

Neither team has to be winners for me to be a fan, but the organization as a whole has to try, or frustration sets in and I just don;t care about them as much.

Click to expand...

I think you are only a bandwagon fan if you become a fan of a different team during hard times. I am a die hard Detroit/Michigan fan but my passions certainly increase and decrease proportionately with the team's performance. But, I will never become a fan of another team......ever!

Click to expand...

My understand of a Bandwagon Fan was someone who never cared until the team was relevant.

Kind of like how Cleveland had crummy attendance until they were doing well, then they started selling most games out.

Or all the people who became Red Wings fans after they went to the finals in 95, or when they won in 97. People who had no idea what Icing or offsides meant, were suddenly die hard Wings fans, but only bandwagon fans IMO.

Probably when he won the masters.

Beez said:

Probably when he won the masters.

Click to expand...

Yep.

And right after when Fuzzy Zoeller asked if Tiger wanted fried chicken and watermelon at the banquet, that was the last time anyone ever heard of Fuzzy Zoeller.

Turok said:

[color=#006400 said:

Mitch[/color]]So what you're saying is that you don't follow a team if they're bad?

:-$

Click to expand...

No, not exactly, just a lot less, and maybe I should have added that I had begun working the graveyard shift in late '90, and did so for the remainder of the decade, along with often working 6 "days" a week, including weekends and 10-12 hour shifts, so it completely turned my lifestyle around 180 degrees. I had Sunday nights off, so football was the only sport that I could watch during the day.

I began to dread the Thanksgiving holiday, it was the beginning of our "busy" season for the USPS, and one had to have a lot of seniority to get that night off. Turkey has a naturally occurring chemical compound (can't remember its name) that makes for drowsiness. I had to be awake and alert @ work b/c of the nature of my job, which was physically demanding. My relatives and family, of course, could not "understand" why I always wanted to beg off attending Thanksgiving dinners late in the afternoons at the home of whoever held them each year.

Click to expand...

Nap time after eating turkey = amino acid called tryptophan.

and we give thanks to be out of the wretched p.o. and getting monthly a pension check.

as for the topic at hand, it was certainly a frustrating time, Tigers losing alot more than they won, same can be said for all the Lion's lean years, and also the Redwings years back. I never stopped believing they would all eventually turn the franchises around.

MI_Thumb said:

Beez said:

Probably when he won the masters.

Click to expand...

Yep.

And right after when Fuzzy Zoeller asked if Tiger wanted fried chicken and watermelon at the banquet, that was the last time anyone ever heard of Fuzzy Zoeller.

Click to expand...

I actually delivered some of his new vodka to the senior open here in Toledo a couple weeks ago for him. Didnt get to meet him but he was around our company's patio signing the bottles I guess. He sent a bunch of them back here.

MI_Thumb said:

bdtay71 said:

I think you are only a bandwagon fan if you become a fan of a different team during hard times. I am a die hard Detroit/Michigan fan but my passions certainly increase and decrease proportionately with the team's performance. But, I will never become a fan of another team......ever!

Click to expand...

My understand of a Bandwagon Fan was someone who never cared until the team was relevant.

Kind of like how Cleveland had crummy attendance until they were doing well, then they started selling most games out.

Or all the people who became Red Wings fans after they went to the finals in 95, or when they won in 97. People who had no idea what Icing or offsides meant, were suddenly die hard Wings fans, but only bandwagon fans IMO.

Click to expand...

I imagine that fans of other NHL teams have felt the same way about the Red Wings, as I once did about the great Canadiens, Islanders, and Oilers teams of the 70s and 80s. I was pretty much in awe and jealousy of those teams, wishing that the Red Wings would once again rise to the "elite" level that they were at, but still rooted for the "Dead Things" when they played those teams...heh!!

When a team is horrid for 14 years, you can't blame fans for abandoning it.

MI_Thumb said:

bdtay71 said:

I think you are only a bandwagon fan if you become a fan of a different team during hard times. I am a die hard Detroit/Michigan fan but my passions certainly increase and decrease proportionately with the team's performance. But, I will never become a fan of another team......ever!

Click to expand...

My understand of a Bandwagon Fan was someone who never cared until the team was relevant.

Kind of like how Cleveland had crummy attendance until they were doing well, then they started selling most games out.

Or all the people who became Red Wings fans after they went to the finals in 95, or when they won in 97. People who had no idea what Icing or offsides meant, were suddenly die hard Wings fans, but only bandwagon fans IMO.

Click to expand...

I would label that as bandwagon also, but I think we're comparing apples to oranges. If the Tigers were 15 games out of 1st right now I wouldn't be watching them every night on MLBTV. I would read the news and check the message boards every day to see if anybody new has been added or called up, but I wouldn't bang my head against the wall every night expecting a different result. Having said that, if we were in a known rebuilding season and had a bunch of young prospect types on the team, then I may pay more attention despite the losing season. Being a Lions fan for the past 12 years has been pretty much what I just described. Start out the season excited to see what the new crop of players brings to the team but by week 10 it's over and I want to go bury my head in the sand. It doesn't make me any less of a fan. I just don't want to invest my time watching a garbage product which is detrimental to my mental health. Plus, college football is way better...but I digress.