What’s the deal with bandwagon fans these days

In an episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza embarks on a “sociological experiment” in which he… In an episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza embarks on a “sociological experiment” in which he wears a wedding ring to see if it will attract women, even though he is not married or engaged.

Sociological experiment. Interesting.

Perhaps out of sheer boredom or morbid curiosity, I decided to make like George and perform my own experiment. I wanted to see what it was like to be something I detested, something I hated even more than people who don’t drink the milk in their bowls after they eat their cereal: a bandwagon fan.

You may know them as fair-weather fans — or as I like to call them, Syracuse basketball fans — but nearly any organization that has won back-to-back games in its history has garnered at least one bandwagon fan.

As a loyal Buffalo Bills fan, I can tell you that we don’t really have to worry about these fans because its been a long time since the Bills’ bandwagon was worth jumping on.

I opened up the sports section the following Monday morning looking for a team. How could I have missed it? The Steelers.

So I now had my team, the 6-1 run-the-ball-down-your-throat Steelers that also had a rookie quarterback whose name I had to learn how to spell. I now present you with the ever-so detailed journal of my six days as a Steelers fan.

It’s Tuesday, Nov. 2 — day one of my experiment. I surprise my roommates, not by cleaning the kitchen or emptying the dishwasher like I should, but by revealing to them that I had “seen the light” and was now going to root for the Steelers. They welcome me to the team, give me the necessary welcoming remarks and even prompt me to cut out some Steelers pictures to place on my door like they have.

I follow the suggestions, but once my roommates retire to their separate quarters, I take my Bills foam head, put it on and pace the apartment while they sleep. I am now an official bandwagon Steelers fan, although my allegiance remains to the Bills.

Day two begins, and any college student can realize how important this next step is. I (gasp) reserve a part of my precious AIM profile for a Steelers blurb. Sprawled across the top of my profile reads ‘6-1’ in black and gold font, prompting many a friend to ask me when I had jumped the fence. Little did they know, I didn’t actually jump the fence — I just walked through the open door with the full intention of walking back through it.

On the third day, more cutouts go on the door, and I even highlight the Steelers’ record in the articles. Also, when people start asking me about my thoughts on Pittsburgh’s upcoming game with the unbeaten Eagles, I somehow manage to tell everybody who asks that I want the Steelers to win, even though I believe Philadelphia will pull it out.

I tell them this while wearing my favorite Bills shirt around for the day with all of my football thoughts on the Bills-Jets game that coming Sunday.

Days four and five, I take my show on the road as I head home to New York for the Pitt-Syracuse game. I still can’t believe Pitt lost that game. A toss on fourth-and-one?

Finally, game day arrives. Although the final score doesn’t properly display Pittsburgh’s complete dominance in the Keystone rivalry, the Steelers pummel the Eagles, 27-3, on Sunday. I watch the game from the Sports Rock Cafe in the Strip (so that I can watch the Bills upset the Jets at the same time) as dozens of fans in the place go insane. In one last act of bandwagon-ness, I copy my favorite sign of the season — ‘T.O. has B.O.,’ which was in reference to the Eagles’ Terrell Owens — onto my away message.

Somewhere in the following days, I resign from my fair-weather duties, and have since reflected on my week as one of those fans I so despise. Perhaps it was best put by one of my friends, a die-hard Steelers fan, who said that most Steelers fans wouldn’t want me to be jumping on the wagon.

How right he was.

I wasn’t there when the team lost the 2001 AFC title game to the Patriots or when Neil O’Donnell decided to literally throw Super bowl XXX to the Cowboys. So why should I be allowed to reap the benefits of the team’s recent success? I haven’t yet earned my wings to be able to fly.

I have to agree with my friend because if the Bills ever manage to make the playoffs again — come on J.P. Losman — I wouldn’t want others joining in the fun unless they sat through four straight painful Super Bowl losses like I did.

Plus, I can’t even describe to you how hard it was to actually root for the Steelers, because I knew they weren’t my team. It was as unnatural as Jerome Bettis running for 149 yards.

So as we head toward the second half of the NFL season with the Steelers atop the AFC North, ask yourself this question:

Do I deserve to root for the Steelers?

Geoff Dutelle is the assistant sports editor for The Pitt News, and he hopes that those who have been Steelers fans throughout, including last season, are enjoying the ride thus far. He can only hope that Buffalo goes 7-1 in any stretch in his lifetime. Jump on his bandwagon at gmd8@pitt.edu.