Fans a reflection of a Team?

**RamsFanSam** · #1 (**permalink**) -12-11-2006

I won't deny it. Each week, I go to our upcoming opponent's web sites to see what the fans are saying. I know a lot of you guys do the same.

One thing I have noticed is the posters being a reflection of the team.

For instance, our website is classy, the majority of the posters are literate, knowledgeable, and there is a distinct lack of bandwagon fans. Disagreements between Clan members seem to stay relatively calm. We seem to be intolerant of 'hood rat' smack...the "we've got rings" or "You suck" talk, but welcome a well-versed, cerebral discussion with our rival's fans. We expect a high degree of civility from our posters, and are willing to provide guidance to newcomers to insure they become reputable members of our family, regardless of background.

To me, this sounds like a description of the St. Louis Rams.

Go ahead, visit some other team's sites. Every site has both good and bad members, but each one has a different feel. Take the Raider's sites, for instance, you will find a lot of big talk, but only a handful of fans who have the 'touch of class'. Same with the whiners websites. Now, look at some of the 'classy' teams sites. They have a different attitude about things, and better fans.

This brings me to the squawks websites. Maybe it's just me, but in the past few years, it seems like the quality of the average poster has decreased. For every LargeAnt, they've gained 2 mikey clones. For every Rawkhrdr, they've gained 2 brhokla wannabees.

A team's record doesn't seem to make a difference on the quality, nor does the location of the fan base. (I'll get on this in a moment.) It seems tied to the persona projected by the players. I haven't been to any Bengals sites, so I can't verify this theory, but if I am right, then their fans would probably have a rap sheet a mile long.

The location of a fan base seems to be a puzzle to me. I know the old PD site had a large number of posters from the St. Louis area. Most other fan sites have a majority of members from the teams area of influence, but not us. 90% or more of our members are 500 miles or more from St. Louis. In fact, I believe I live closer to the EJD than 99% of the rest of our members, and it's a 4 hour drive from my house. If I'm not mistaken we have more members from California than we do from Missouri. I'm open to theories on why our fan base is so widespread.

*UtterBlitz* · #2 (**permalink**) -12-11-2006

It is the horns.... lots of fans fell for the horns, not the city that they played for.

*ramsplaya16* · #3 (**permalink**) -13-11-2006

Honestly, when I was young, the rams were the team to beat, I followed them for a while, and then now I'm a die hard, I go to every game in Florida. I am the only rams fan in my family despite my dads a jets fan, and the rest of my family is patriots and dolphin fans.