Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
The one relentless joke about Pittsburgh Penguins fans? They're all on the bandwagon. Nobody cared about hockey in Pittsburgh through years of futility, yet when that futility brought them Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, boom. Gone was the chance that the team would move to Kansas City, and there were the fans, selling out the arena as if they had never left.
We all know that Pittsburgh is a pretty solid hockey town regardless. The bandwagon thing is one of those jokes that might have a little bit of truth to it, but it's never really all that serious. When your team finishes in last place for four straight years, fans are going to stop showing up. It happens. We understand.
Still, guys, that doesn't mean you should be calling attention to it.
This tweet from the Penguins' official Twitter account went out earlier on Monday. It has since been deleted, which is just silly because this is the Internet and nothing is ever really deleted.
Hey guys! When did you hop on the bandwagon?!
The responses live on despite the deleted initial Tweet. They are a gold mine.
@pghpenguins the caps. I hate them now and im a born and raised in washington dc. They are the only home team i don't root for. #gopens
— Jacob Fury (@thescorpionerd) February 13, 2012
@pghpenguins Became a Pens fan for one reason. Sidney Crosby.
— Nebyu Taddese (@PrezNebz) February 13, 2012
@pghpenguins I used to watch the Leafs a few years ago, but stopped. After Sid scored @ the Olympics, I became a #Pens fan
— Josie (@CrosbysStache) February 13, 2012
@pghpenguins I used to be Leafs but when I realized how much better #Pens are and my best friend at the time loved them so I switched!
— Katee Cooper (@katee_cooper) February 13, 2012
@pghpenguins: I was a Bruins fan but when it was Crosby's draft year I said I would jump to who ever drafted him #Pens
— Clinton Butts (@CarDoctor1980) February 13, 2012
@pghpenguins unfortunately it was my local "team" toronto but once I seen what crosby and the boys could do I was mesmerized! RT?
— Carder (@carder85) February 13, 2012
And perhaps the most ironic of the bunch...
Hahahahah Did @pghpenguins REALLY just ask everyone how/if they converted to being a Pens fan? #1reasonCapsfansarebetter
— Mike Stancik (@MikeMooch2) February 13, 2012
11 comments
Comments
I wanted to see it dang
by Bmoney556 on Feb 14, 2012 12:50 AM EST via iPhone app reply actions
o yeah go flyers
by Bmoney556 on Feb 14, 2012 12:50 AM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Hahahahahahahahahah
How do Islander fans spell hope?
T-A-V-A-R-E-S
by BobbyNystromOwnsYou on Feb 14, 2012 7:28 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Hey Pens Fans
So who’s sticking around if Crosby has to retire?
No Sleep 'til....We Find Some Secondary Scoring
by Anarcurt on Feb 14, 2012 10:02 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I might be the only one, but I’m loyal. I can say I have this tag because I started pulling for the pens the year before they drafted Sid. Man, was I lucky. Haha jokes aside, I think drafting Sid brought in a lot of fans but they have become loyal in the process.
by CARBONITE on Feb 14, 2012 2:25 PM EST up reply actions
Same thing was said about Mario, I’m sure. And Briere. We saw how loyal the Pens fans are. No need to pretend this time will be different.
Broad Street Hockey's Reigning Trivia Champion
by Pardini36 on Feb 14, 2012 4:53 PM EST up reply actions
LOL
Its pretty funny that there are Pens fans like this who do not even realize how embarassing they really are.
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Feb 14, 2012 10:30 AM EST reply actions
Yeah, this is a little embarrassing, but the guy who tweeted that last thing needs a reality check. A good portion of the Caps fans “rockin the red” in DC are bandwagoners.
"Get in the fast lane grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll!" - Mike Lange
by CammieBuckeye33 on Feb 14, 2012 5:04 PM EST reply actions
Bandwagon fan = jump off when things get bad, back on when the winning starts again. No sense of loyalty. Yeah, that’s really something to be proud of.
by Kanayd on Feb 14, 2012 7:55 PM EST reply actions
this is some serious journalism
So, let me see if I’m drawing the correct conclusions from this:
1. Casual sports fans, who only follow star players and really successful teams, do in fact exist.
2. Pittsburgh drafted a number of star players and went to the Finals twice in recent seasons, and as such they’ve attracted casual fan attention.
3. Because of this, the Penguins have done something horribly wrong in the eyes of the sports community, of which all their other fans are somehow also guilty by association. (Note: this only applies to Penguins fans. The thousands of Bruins fans who bought new jerseys last June, or the Giants fans who just bought new Eli Manning jerseys, are of course not bandwagon fans.)
Thankfully we have Flyers fans to provide us with this kind of logic and analysis.
(by the way, Pens fan since the 1988-89 season)
P is for Latrobe.
by holiday park on Feb 17, 2012 3:53 PM EST reply actions
What I think you’re missing Holiday is that the tweet that started this wasn’t from a Flyer’s Fan, but from the Penguins organization itself.
Every fanbase has it’s share of rubes, but when a media professional, hired by a company (in this case, the Penguins) who operate based on fan loyalty (through purchase of tickets, moichendise, etc), does something so irrevocably stupid like, say, publicly asking a question using the term the organization is often derided for, it’s humorous.
When the aforementioned rubes actually respond to the moronic tweet gleefully, it begins outright hilarious.
by VorAbaddon on Feb 18, 2012 11:46 AM EST up reply actions
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