On Monday Charles Hanigriff and new Voice of the Tigers Chris Blair were sitting in for Matt Moscona on Upon Further Review. Hanigriff had a take on hard core vs casual fans. I don't remember the exact words but it't probably on a podcast on ESPN1o4.com First there are your hard core fans, people who listen and call talk radio shows and post on message boards. Those who understand the game and can break down the offense, defense, ST, coaching player by player and understand that despite Miles past accomplishments the coaching has deteriorated over the past few years. Hard core fans would include most of us on TigerFan. Then there are the casual fans. They go to the games, tailgate and party and win or lose go home and don't think about it anymore. They don't call sports talk shows or post on message boards. Most of them wouldn't know the difference between a cover 2 and a safety blitz. Those casual "fans" are in the majority. They love Miles because he is quirky and warm and fuzzy. Those are the people who were holding signs supporting Miles at the aTm game. As long as LSU regularly goes 9-3 or 8-4 they are happy. But let it slide until 5-7, 4-8 and 3-9 seasons are a reality and their butts won't be in Tiger Stadium. It will no longer be cool to be seen there.
I call those lunatics. The few times I've listened in to talk shows I've found many callers to be VERY uninformed and downright idiots. Most would probably just call us old fuggars with too much time. And those who worry too much either way need to be reminded it's a got dam game played by a bunch of kids.
Yep, Olive Loaf Guy could probably stand on the Causeway and throw a football into the Lake too. Hey, we haven't seen Etling yet, so maybe there's some hope. Maybe we'll get the Russo kid and Franks will change his mind if Eason goes to Florida.
Bob Brodhead used to say there are 40,000 people who never leave Tiger Stadium. They have , are , and will always, be there. That was a few years ago. I would think that two national championships, a larger stadium and the SEC arms race has probably increased that core crowd to about 70k. With that said blind allegiance has its limits. Things, with or without, the Hat have to get better in the next 24 games or the silent monster of apathy will appear- and it doesn't easily go away.
I would group the fans much differently and would use the criteria of support and passion as defined below.... Support 1. Season Ticket Holder? 2. Attends Games? 3. Watches every game on TV if not attending? 4. Contributes money to LSU athletics above required for tickets? Passion 1. Plans life and weekends around the games? 2. Is miserable for at least a day after a loss? 3. Consumes as much media about the Tigers as possible? 4. Participates in discussions (like this) about the Tigers? Obviously, the support portions are lot easier to measure than the passion portion. And I wonder how many fans are dropping off the bandwagon after the last couple of seasons.
And yet it's relevant enough to you for you to post over 22,000 times on a message board about LSU football.
