photoI have been a Denver Bronco Fan since the days of Floyd Little and Steve Tensi.  I also have been a Vikings fan since the days of Dave Osborn.  I have always wanted to see the Vikings and the Broncos in a Super Bowl.  I also follow the Packers, not because I am a fan but because of the fans.  These are people that pay the team for the honor of shoveling snow out of the arena on Saturdays or even Sundays after a storm.  Someone told me that Packer fans never die, they just change venues.

This from Forbes Magazine and Christina Sittini.

Packers fans scored the highest marks in all categories but TV rankings where it
came in 2nd and in merchandise where they came in 7th, (because those ubiquitous
cheesehead hats are excluded from tallies since they are not NFL licensed
merchandise). Of course some of this can be attributed to the fact that the team
sits in the smallest market with a metro area population of 306,241 with zero
competing sports interests. But then again the team has 4.4 million Facebook fans
and over 701,000 Twitter followers. Clearly its fandom extends beyond Green Bay;
members on Packer Backer live across the country.

Six other teams among the list of the best fans also demonstrated their fans reach
beyond their hometown crowd – the Dallas Cowboys (tied No. 7), Denver Broncos
(ranked No. 2), Indianapolis Colts (No. 6), New England Patriots (No. 4), New
Orleans Saints (No. 3), and Pittsburgh Steelers (tied at No. 7). All have social
media followings that exceed their possible local fan base populations.

The Broncos placement is proof interest can wax and wane with bandwagon fans. Prior
to Peyton Manning’s arrival the team had three consecutive years of below capacity
attendance. The past two seasons it has reported 100.7% and 101% capacity. The
team’s merchandise moved up among the best selling during the same time also. The
elder Manning went from having among the best sold Colts’ jerseys to the best
selling Broncos’ jersey, remaining among the best selling jerseys in the league the
whole time. Curse them all you want. Bandwagon fans can be good for business.

I always thought that migration of yuppies and just plain weirdo’s to the Denver area would be the end of the great Rocky Mountain experience.  When people move to a State because a pop rock icon sings a song about it you’ve got problems and Colorado has them in spades.  The real Bronco fans like every thing else are dying off and being replaced by “selfie” snapping yuppies that go to games more to be seen than to watch football.

Viking fans have all the vigor of a sloth on pharmaceuticals.  Cheering at a Viking game is as likely to get you a sour look from an old duffer and only the really drunk crowd makes noise and it is pretty sad.  The frozen field at the University isn’t going to help.

And then we have the Packers.  If only we could get people to be fans of the church.

According to market researchers Nielsen Scarborough, 84% of adults in Green Bay are
Packers fans, identified as such having watched, attended, and/or listened to the
team’s games this past year. It seems little else goes on there to compete for their
attention, and anything that does revolves around the team.

Like Church. So many of the faithful flock to Lambeau Field on Sunday that a Roman
Catholic priest decided last season to bring mass to them — to a tailgate party.