Poll: College football fandom conversions stories - and a poll...

[uafan4life]

Some posts in another thread reminded me of my wife's conversion story - which is pretty great and I'll share it later - and prompted two thoughts:

1) I'll bet we have a number of good conversion stories amongst the group and could use a thread in which to share them.

2) I wonder which is more difficult, converting someone to support your team who grew up supporting another or converting someone who grew up with little to no interest in football/sports at all?

For #2, hit the poll. For #1, post your story below!

 

[DzynKingRTR]

A fan of another team. If you converted them at all, they weren't fans of that other team. When I first left home for Georgia, most people said I would become a Tech fan or uga fan the first year. They were wrong! I hate both even more now and I have dated both Tech and uga girls.

 

[uafan4life]

A fan of another team. If you converted them at all, they weren't fans of that other team. When I first left home for Georgia, most people said I would become a Tech fan or uga fan the first year. They were wrong! I hate both even more now and I have dated both Tech and uga girls.

I tend to believe that, as well.

However, I do know a large number of people who claim to have been fans of another team - and acted the part, at least - and were eventually converted.

The vast majority of the people I know who claimed to never have been a fan of football/sports are still not a fan.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I tend to believe that, as well.

However, I do know a large number of people who claim to have been fans of another team - and acted the part, at least - and were eventually converted.

The vast majority of the people I know who claimed to never have been a fan of football/sports are still not a fan.

Probably true. I have a friend that only likes pro football. He hates college and only follows somewhat for draft purposes. Most of the time he just asks me about certain players. He also hates all other sports.

 

[B1GTide]

We have friends who are not football fans but now closely follow Alabama and Ohio State football because of our friendships. Because my wife and I love it so much, and it is such a big part of our lives, they have "adopted" Alabama and Ohio State (more so Alabama). But I suspect that if we were to move away, they would likely stop watching.

They follow more because they care about us than because they really care about football or our teams, IMO.

 

[uafan4life]

Since no one else has shared one, I'll go ahead and share my wife's conversion story. To be fair, it's less of a conversion story, per se, and more of a proof-of-conversion story...

My wife will say that she "wasn't much of a fan" of any particular football team growing up. I put it this way: "Before she met me, my wife never sat down in front of a TV with the intention of watching a football game. Then she met me..."

Fast-forward a few years...

Christion Jones was our primary punt returned and he - despite his obvious skill with the ball in his hands in the open field - was known to have a brain-fart or two, at times, while attempting to field punts. This one particular game, which I believe was against Ole Miss or Arkansas, he had already had a full game's share of mental gaffes. As he's going back to return another punt, I hear my wife start muttering under her breath. She's almost chanting a kind of a mantra, "Just fair-catch it. Just fair-catch it. Just fair-catch it."

She then begins alternating her chant with an interspersed, "If it's short, just let it go!"

"Fair-catch it or let it go. Fair-catch it or let it go. Fair-catch it or let it go."

The punter lets fly and it's short. Christion Jones runs up, dives, attempts to catch it on the fly, and muffs the punt.

Now, I can't remember whether or not we recovered the ball. I can't even be certain which team we were playing. But as clear as if it happened five minutes ago, I can still see my wife.

On her feet.

Screaming at the top of her lungs.

Screaming at the TV.

Not screaming at Christion Jones, no. She's screaming at Saban...

And she's not telling Saban to bench Jones.

She's telling him to take the boy's scholarship away...

 

[cuda.1973]

A fan of another team. If you converted them at all, they weren't fans of that other team. When I first left home for Georgia, most people said I would become a Tech fan or uga fan the first year. They were wrong! I hate both even more now and I have dated both Tech and uga girls.

WHAT? They have girls at Tech now? Not in my day! (OK, I didn't go there, but my buddies that did.................yeah, it would not have mattered if they did have girls. The outcome was still the same.)

"Which is?"

It has to do with what engineers use for birth control. Figure it out.................

 

[B1GTide]

WHAT? They have girls at Tech now? Not in my day! (OK, I didn't go there, but my buddies that did.................yeah, it would not have mattered if they did have girls. The outcome was still the same.)

"Which is?"

It has to do with what engineers use for birth control. Figure it out.................

My youngest son's ex-girlfriend is a sophomore at GT. She is absolutely the most beautiful young woman that I have even seen - EVER.

 

[kenbama]

WHAT? They have girls at Tech now? Not in my day! (OK, I didn't go there, but my buddies that did.................yeah, it would not have mattered if they did have girls. The outcome was still the same.)

"Which is?"

It has to do with what engineers use for birth control. Figure it out.................

Back in the day... This was a Tech singsong--- I am a tiddley Tot from Agnes Scott and I go with a boy from Tech, he took me to the Varsity and taught me how to neck, he filled me up with whisky and he filled me up with beer, and now I am the mother of a 10 pound engineer...

 

[Cruloc]

A half brother of mine....was an Alabama fan....his kids both went to Auburn and of course he's still an Auburn fan since his money went there.

 

[Ndovu Ekundu]

I do not recall if I have posted before, but if I have it has been a long time. Thinking of conversion stories, my wife and my own come to mind.

I had always been semi-interested in Alabama, and watched about half of the 1993 Sugar Bowl during my senior year of high school. Still, I never really paid much attention to football unless I was at a game with the band or going with a friend. My wife had grown up in Kenya and Zimbabwe and knew virtually nothing about football.

We saw the light on October 2, 1999, while studying history in graduate school at the University of Florida. My wife and I had not been watching football at all, and we had no interest in Florida. In the lead up to the regular-season matchup between Alabama and Florida, I got annoyed because of all the football-based obnoxiousness I saw around campus. The students and the local press were talking up the game but dismissing the Tide as a serious threat to what they expected to be a championship season. In particular, the student newspaper published an exceedingly annoying story about how great the games with Alabama were in the past. The message was a not-at-all subtle "Alabama is a has been."

On the day of the game, my wife and I visited Jacksonville as a cheap way to have a day out on a meager budget. As we made our way back toward Gainesville, we turned on the radio, figuring we would check out how badly we were losing. To our shock, it was very close and stayed that way. We sped home and turned on the television, just in time to watch the overtime. As many of you no doubt recall, Florida scored a touchdown but missed the extra point. We promptly did exactly the same but got a chance to kick a second time because of a Florida penalty. That time, we made it, winning 40 to 39 and ending Florida's 30-game home winning streak. Watching Alabama decisively defeat Florida in the SEC Championship confirmed what had already happened. We had become Alabama fans.

 

[The Ols]

My youngest son's ex-girlfriend is a sophomore at GT. She is absolutely the most beautiful young woman that I have even seen - EVER.

"Ex" means she flew off the chart on the crazy/hot scale...lol...(Sorry B1G)...

 

[AlBamaWagg]

Seems this came up before, but... I became an Alabama fan after watching The Goal Line Stand game. My wife always lived in Nashville and was a long time Vandy season ticket holder. After my move to Nashville and our subsequent marriage, we went to Vandy's games, which for me was to scout the other teams. She hated UT so much, but couldn't beat them, that she became a rabid BAMA fan because we could. After 20+ years since her conversion, it's hard to remember when she wasn't.