Sidewalk Fans

Indndawg

Senior
Nov 16, 2005
7,248
744
113
This time of year brings out the UAT fans all over the state, many of these ppl have never been on any campus. I've noticed locals dressed up in full bama regalia going back to Thur and Friday. Don't quite understand why taxpayers of Ms (or GA or Tn) support out of state universities "just 'cause they wins at football"

MSU seems to have much much less sidewalk fans than of course bama, and Mississippi. I would dare to say 90% of MSU fans I know have a connection w/the university. Either mom/dad/bro/sister went there, they went there, kids going there or they've been employed there.
 

BiscuitEater

Redshirt
Aug 29, 2009
4,178
0
36
Someone told me the other day that 98.5% of MSU fans have something in common with 90% of Alabama fans .. "They never attended school at the University of Alabama."

According to him .. Bama has the largest % of fans that have never attended the school and that only Notre Dame has a bigger 'sidewalk' fanbase.
 

Utah_Chaney

Redshirt
Nov 12, 2015
180
0
0
This is a constant argument that I have with my friends that did actually go to Bama.

I've heard my dad say so many times, "the majority of these bama fans can't even spell Tuscaloosa!"

I had a debate with an Alabama "fan" one time at and tried to get him to name any of the 2nd string guys, and they could barely even name all of the guys on the field. It's frustrating at times to me that they have all the bandwagon fans.

It somewhat got that way with the Saints after they won the Super Bowl in 09. I was in Jackson at the time, and there were so many new Saints fans it was ridiculous. They have kind of phased out since there have been some down years.
 
Sep 18, 2014
287
25
28
I am a proud Mississippi State sidewalk fan. I live in Louisiana and attended Louisiana Tech. There may not me many of us, but we do exist.
 

RocketDawg

All-Conference
Oct 21, 2011
20,497
3,124
113
Someone told me the other day that 98.5% of MSU fans have something in common with 90% of Alabama fans .. "They never attended school at the University of Alabama."

According to him .. Bama has the largest % of fans that have never attended the school and that only Notre Dame has a bigger 'sidewalk' fanbase.

I suppose I must be in the 1.5% ... I am an MSU fan, but I also attended the University of Alabama (sort of ... UAH grad school). Of course, I attended MSU before that for undergrad.
 
Sep 18, 2014
287
25
28
I was raised a Bulldog fan. Born in the delta moved to Louisiana when I was 1. I have one uncle that went to State for a couple of years, but didn't graduate and another one the went to Ole Miss and is now a prosecutor. My dad went to Morehead but was a State fan. I wanted to go there but out of state tuition and an in state scholarship I had prevented it. Been a season ticket holder since Mullen took over.
 
Last edited:
Sep 2, 2012
188
18
18
Agreed. Car tags and stickers are their version of a diploma/degree. And most of these obnoxious sidewalk fans are born and raised in MS and never set foot in Tuscaloosa (nor did any of their family), but act like they are president of the AL alumni association. Main reason I'm a Clemson fan tonight.
 

Lucky Dawg

Sophomore
Oct 8, 2012
157
145
42
"They never attended school at the University of Alabama."

About a decade ago, when I was still in school, I'd be out and about in Jackson, Memphis, or wherever in my MSU gear, and inevitably someone would say "Roll Tide" and make some smart-*** comment about how bad we sucked. So I started responding "My cousin went to Bama. What year did you graduate?" God's honest truth, in 10 years, I've never had one person respond with a year.

My wife thought it was hilarious when we started dating and she started doing it. To this day, we're both 0%. Incidentally, this works about 75% of the time for Ole Miss "fans" as well. We save it for the really obnoxious people. Those are generally the ones who have no connection whatsoever to either university, and couldn't point out the campus on a map.
 

eyeofthesouth

Sophomore
Jan 29, 2015
233
150
0
Pretty sure I've been to more Bama games in T-Town than any Bama fan living outside of Alabama. I've only been to 1.
 

kired

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2008
7,186
2,630
113
Nothing more annoying in sports than an Alabama sidewalk fan living in MS.

I'm ok with sidewalk fans of all other schools. But it's ridiculous that you can walk into a walmart over 4 hours away from Tuscaloosa and they are selling clothes for only 3 teams - MSU, UM, and Bama.
 

dawgatUSM

Redshirt
Apr 6, 2008
3,835
27
48
Same sentiments of my story. I'm not an alum but I've had season tickets since I was 8. Got a full ride to USM and remained a state fan. Looking back I kind of still wish I had gone to State but having no student loan debt has been nice.

But even while at USM I was at every State game and my entire family graduated from State. So I'm not sure I fit the sidewalk fan mold.
 

512taylor

Redshirt
Sep 2, 2012
1,546
0
0
Nothing more annoying in sports than an Alabama sidewalk fan living in MS.

I'm ok with sidewalk fans of all other schools. But it's ridiculous that you can walk into a walmart over 4 hours away from Tuscaloosa and they are selling clothes for only 3 teams - MSU, UM, and Bama.

Try spending any amount of time in Columbus and you quickly notice this Bama phenomenon to a sickening degree.
 

HueFreeze

Redshirt
Aug 22, 2012
611
0
0
I don't understand this argument. Why do Sidewalk fans get under most peoples skins?


i mean i realize i could count that national title just as much as they could if i updated my fb post tonight, but maybe they don't
 

RocketDawg

All-Conference
Oct 21, 2011
20,497
3,124
113
I live in Huntsville, so naturally I know quite a few people who attended and graduated from UAT. Most of them aren't really crazy football fans. I play in a golf group of a dozen or so, so there's me, one GaTech fan, and the rest are Alabama fans ... and none went to school there. They're from all over ... UNA, NYU, Purdue and a couple didn't finish college anywhere. One of them even went to Auburn, but is a big Bama fan ... has a red truck, his license plate is BamaFtbl or something like that. And they all say "we" when referring to the Tide. None of them are really obnoxious, but it's data that there are many "sidewalk" fans here. I know you were talking about within Mississippi, but they're here in force. I read a news article the other day that said there were about 110,000 specialty Alabama plates, and about 65,000 Auburn plates (you don't see many here though). And there must be 1000 MSU plates because that's what it took to get the plate design approved.
 

RocketDawg

All-Conference
Oct 21, 2011
20,497
3,124
113
They don't ... it's just that Alabama has a very high percentage of fans who didn't go there, and probably most have never even been to a game. And those fans are the most obnoxious. It's not like that at MSU, nor Ole Miss to a great degree. Or really any other school except at Notre Dame. And it's all because Alabama has been really good the past several years. People like to cheer for and identify with winners. Generally speaking, the only financial support they give to the team is to buy clothing and other visible things.
 

The Peeper

Heisman
Feb 26, 2008
16,992
12,868
113
My dad was a "sidewalk" MSU fan. Nobody in his family ever went to college. He
became a sidewalk MSU fan just because he had a few people that invited him to games, gave him extra tickets, made him a part of their MSU family. Because of these people, my sidewalk MSU dad raised me a Bulldog and I graduated from MSU. I met my wife at MSU (she also graduated). I have one daughter that has already graduated from MSU and another one there now. Because of my old man, a "sidewalk" fan there are 3 more now that graduated from there and I have no doubt once my daughters have kids theres a damn good chance their kids will be Dogs too. Point of story, take it easy on the sidewalk fans......they dont have to pay tuition and graduate to be good fans
 

horshack.sixpack

All-American
Oct 30, 2012
12,424
9,930
113
My personal experience is that fans that did not graduate are the most vocal and obnoxious among bama and ole miss. Of my personal friends I don't have a single um or bama grad who is a problem.
 

Vice

Redshirt
Oct 8, 2013
182
0
0
What about the 1 friend from HS.....

that actually went to Bama and the rest of us all went to in state schools. Like we ALL grew us in MS and went to the same elementary school and the same high school, but they chose to go to Alabama. And there is this really strange atmosphere when we are all together and talk football like, "yeah well I don't know anything about all that cuz I went to Alabama and we compete for Natty's every year."

Dude.....you didn't go to Stanford. We all could have gone to Alabama too. Good for you. Football is fun for you. We all hate you.
 
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