Sports fans usually consider themselves a pretty tough bunch. They aggressively slap hands when they're successful, they boisterously yell at officials when they disagree with calls and they can effectively debate their side on just about any argument, no matter what the actual answer may be.
But if you call someone a "bandwagon fan," you might as well slap their mommas too.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a bandwagon fan is someone who only appears to support a team - or in some cases a player - whenever it happens to be successful. These are the fans who, for example, were seen wearing Peyton Manning jerseys while walking down McKinley Avenue at this time last year and now mysteriously wear Ben Roethlisberger jerseys to their Friday classes.
But being a bandwagon fan certainly does not end at professional sports. It's just as apparent in the college ranks - and this phenomenon is currently happening to thousands of so-called "supporters" of the Ball State football team.
Trust me, I can certainly see how easy it was last season to jump on the bandwagon. You had Nate Davis slinging the ball around at will, his offensive line making gaping holes for MiQuale Lewis as he rushed for 100-plus yards each game, a swarming defensive secondary and a team brought together by the career-ending injury to one of its key play makers and leaders.
1-0, 2-0, 3-0 - the wins kept piling up. The answer to your buddy's question of "Are you going to the game this week?" quickly turned from a quick, "Hell no!" to an ecstatic, "When's tailgating start?"
Your washing machine would moan after seemingly daily use from cleaning your favorite "Chirp, Chirp" T-shirt, and you found yourself always humming those oh-so-familiar words:
"Fight team, fight for Ball State..."
But these days, you don't really care when tailgating begins. Your "Chirp, Chirp" shirt is still at the bottom of a smelly, month-old pile of clothes and the only song you're singing to yourself is the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow."
More than 16,000 of you came to watch Ball State's season opener against the University of North Texas, a 20-10 struggle in which new quarterback Kelly Page didn't show quite the same swagger as his predecessor, the revamped offensive line struggled throughout and the young defensive secondary played 10 yards off the ball and missed several key tackles.
So how do you "diehard" Cardinal supporters move on? Well, to be frank, you stayed home.
Just less than 12,000 fans came out to Scheumann Stadium on Friday night to watch Ball State lose 23-16 to FCS New Hampshire, where the defense and special teams looked better but the offense certainly took an improbable step back.
Just face it. For some of you, the message is crystal clear: The bandwagon is beginning to leave, and it's time to get off.
The Cardinals had a magical season in 2008. Going 12-0 in the regular season and missing out on a Mid-American Conference championship by way of a mixture of terrible officiating and bad ball handling was a lot of fun to watch.
Those seasons don't exactly come a dime a dozen here in Muncie. Trust me, I'm a Munsonian and Cardinals fan born and raised, and have endured some good years in the mid-1990s and the terrible ones, like the 21-game losing streak from 1999-2000.
But I can tell you I was still proud to watch Cardinals' all-time leading rusher Marcus Merriweather rack up the yards on the ground as I happily sat in what was then Ball State Stadium with a Nerf football in one hand and a warm pretzel in the other. I couldn't care less that Ball State was a mediocre 5-6 team every year - because they were my team.
So for you Cardinals bandwagon fans, the days of cheering in front of the ESPN cameras are over for now.
I think you know the expression.
Either poop or get off the pot.
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