The Beauty of “Stumbling” for Sports Fans

March 4, 2010

Playing around with a new feature that I cam across on the Internet (StumbleUpon.com) I found this video. It explains itself and why we have included it on this site pretty quickly.

Keep an eye out for this button StumbleUpon.com if you see something here that you like…so you can share it.

Stumbled upon a great piece of sports fandom? Send it to Dr. Venkman!

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Miami Hoops Fan Adds to Conch History as Coach K Takes Away His Shell

February 18, 2010

If you hadn’t seen, or heard, from last night, a fan of the Miami Hurricanes had his conch shell confiscated because it was distracting to Duke free throw shooters during the Blue Devils’ 81-74 come-from-behind win. We haven’t been able to track down a photo or a video of our mollusk supporter just yet, but we are putting out the call: E-mail me about Conch Shell Fan or make a comment here.

This prompted ThatFan to collect the best moments in conch shell history…enjoy:

Kid listening to conch at the start of Reading Rainbow:

Spongebob and his Magic Concho:

Piggy rocks out…then dies:

Conch shell fan, Dr. Venkman wants to talk to you!

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Olympic Fans Earn ThatFan Medals

February 17, 2010

The Games of the XXI Winter Olympiad have given us here at ThatFan the chance to check out how the rest of the world supports their athletes (we’ll get another global fan lesson in a few months in South Africa at the World Cup).

Even though a lot of the events are like old episodes of Saved by the Bell (you remember them being cool, but once you start watching, you sometimes want to change the channel), the fans make them worth watching.

The current ThatFan Medal Count for the Olympic Fans by sport:

Speed Skating – NBC dedicated a video to this venue: Gold – Netherlands (They had a real Prince in their midst), Silver – Czech Republic (Exploded when Sablikova won the Women’s 3k), Bronze – Canada (Obviously disappointed when they didn’t have the desired results)

Freestyle skiing: Gold – Canada (A true Olympic eruption when they won their first home gold ever), Silver – Japanese (an unlikely boisterous fan base), Bronze – Australia (A well-placed flag right behind the finish is good fan-ing)

Ski Jumping/Biathlon: Gold – Switzerland/Sweden (Tie because they were on-time and loud…gotta be the watches and clocks and blond hair), Bronze – Norway (Viking costumes…enough said).

Snowboarding cross: Gold – France (They brought a person in a dog suit…that is a commitment), Silver – United States (What’s up brahhhh?), Bronze – Canada (Overall, they have been great hosts)

Coming up later this week: Figure Skating, Hockey, Curling, Short Track Speed Skating

Some of the best examples of the kooks from the first few days that take in luge, hockey, and moguls all in one day while following their countrymen and women are here (All photos are from the Associated Press):

Have some shots of your favorite Olympic fans? Send them to Dr. Venkman now!

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Sorry to Be Tardy to the Party – That Fan Welcomes a New Writer

February 15, 2010

Editor’s note:  That Fan would like to welcome a new writer to the team, Ben Meyers.  This addition was a step towards providing you more continuous updates from the amazing world of sports fandom.  Ben was a fan of the site, which made us a fan of Ben’s, and hopefully each of you will become his fan as well!

You are looking LIVE at the newest member of this motley collection of jersey worshipers.

My name is Ben Meyers, even though I’ll go by Dr. Peter Venkman for everyone here, and I am the newest writer here at ThatFan.com. I have been a sportswriter for four years (three as a full-timer), but right now I am working on a masters in education in upstate New York.

Other than the typical puppies and long walks on the beach, I enjoy 80s and 90s movies, the Daily Show/Colbert Report hour, ice cream, European accents, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues, and happy hour cocktails.

I will keep this first meeting brief, but I need to give you a little bit of my own painful fan past.

Three feet to the right of an upright and a skate in the crease has jaded me to football (I’m a Bills fan) and hockey (Sabres fan too), and for some reason I became a Notre Dame fan because my mom watched Regis and that little loud guy got me hooked on the golden domers.

However, being at so many games as a professional that just needed final stats and quotes, the Xs and Os have lost their luster compared to the face paint, signs, and chants from fans.

I am a fan of fans.

(e-mail me at ben@thatfan.com)

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ESPN SportsNation Site of the Day – ESPN2 Video

December 20, 2009

First I want to say sorry for the lack of posts this week.  I do unfortunately have a life outside of this website, which I’m sure upsets so many of you.  Anyways, as I posted a couple days ago, That Fan was rewarded the ESPN SportsNation Site of the Day.  In case you missed the ESPN2 broadcast you can see the video below.  Gotta love Colin Cowherd…

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Welcome ESPN SportsNation Viewers!

December 16, 2009

So I looked down at my iPhone today and saw a huge burst of emails that came in to That Fan.  It just so happens that someone in Twitterland must have said to follow @ThatFan on Twitter, because the follow requests were rolling in like crazy.  To my surprise it was ESPN SportsNation’s account telling everyone to follow us.

I then looked further in the inbox and saw an email from one of the producers of the show telling us that we were awarded the sports site of the day…unreal!  I’m a huge Colin Cowherd fan (I’m sure I just lost a couple visitors for that, hopefully I gained a few more loyal one’s as well) so this was tremendous news.

Be sure to watch ESPN2 at 4pm today to see us!

For those of you who haven’t checked out the site before, take a look around – I’m confident you’ll like what you see.  That Fan is geared SOLELY towards the sports fan.  There are a million places you can talk sports or get sports news, but who is giving FANS the credit they deserve?  That Fan is a site about fans, for fans, by fans.

We cover everything from funny signs fans hold up (be sure to check out all the sign pictures from College GameDay), fan attendance, interviews of amazing fans, and everything in between.  The site is still very young, so feel free to check back often as we grow and expand.

You can also follow us on Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/ThatFan

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Support Your Team, Crush Your Rival

December 3, 2009

If you are reading this site, chances are there is a sports team out there that you live and die for (if there isn’t please click that tiny X in the top right corner of your screen).  My MLB team is the Reds, my NBA team is the Lakers, my NFL team is the Bengals.  My college football/basketball team of choice is __________ (not so fast).  Obviously being a fan of these teams there are other rival teams that I absolutely despise.  I hate the Cubs, I can’t stand the Steelers…you get the point.

If your as big of a sports fan as I am you tend to support your team in all sorts of crazy ways, and bash your rival by any means necessary.  There are multiple ways to express this, but That Fan is bringing you a way to support your team (or bash your rival) to thousands of readers across the country.

In the top right of this page you will see a box named ‘Random Fandom’.  This box is front and center on the site, and one of the first things any visitor will see.  This offers a perfect opportunity for you to give your team some publicity and show some pride.  It can also give you the opportunity to make fun of your rival (or rivals).

How do you do it?  Easy, pay $1 over Paypal (yes, ONLY $1), put together a quick and easy design, and your message goes up for 24 hours for all to see.  At the time of this post you’ll see a Kentucky fan purchased the initial space to send a message about the UNC game this Saturday.  Adam paid $1 a day to have his message up until Saturday after the game.  By the way, don’t know how to make a design?  We will make it for you!

Want to support your team or bash your rival?  Send an email to info@thatfan.com and let us know today!  Space is first come, first serve, so get on the schedule ASAP!  Are you That Fan?  Prove it!

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That Fan Website Update

November 22, 2009

Fellow fans, you may or may not have noticed but I moved the site from being hosted at Wordpress, to being hosted at Godaddy (so you will no longer see Wordpress on any of the URLs, rather it will be ThatFan.com).  I have redirected each of the pages from the old site to this site (including any search engine results) so you won’t notice any difference.

One downfall is that I lost my hit counts from the old site which were right around 50,000 hits…not bad for a months worth of blogging (feel free to help me make up for lost time by visiting often and sharing with your friends so I can get my count back up!).

A new feature that you may see are Social links at the bottom of each post that will allow you to share a post via email, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc.  Please use these and use them often so I can keep growing the site!

There are many unique plans I have for this site that I think all of you will love, but they will take time so be patient with me.  One of the best ways readers can help the site become better is to contribute to the content.  There are several ways you can contribute:

1) Post comments and interact with each other

2) Send pictures for me to post (funny signs, funny shirts, crazy fans, sexy female sports fans, etc.)

3) A trend I’d like to see going is having people send me pictures of them at sporting events, at U.S./world landmarks, with athletes, etc., holding a sign that says “I am That Fan”.  So this week when you are making your sign for you football or basketball games, write that on the back and send me a picture of you holding it at the game!

4) Send me fan-related links to share with everyone

5) Open to writing articles?  I’m willing to allow guest posts so if you have a clever idea about an article for the site, let me know and I’ll more than likely post it.  Want to write a post but don’t know what to write about?  Ask me for an idea, I’ve got hundreds of post ideas.

6) Let me know what you want more of and less of on the site.  The last thing I want this site to be is 100% about college football and College GameDay, but that is what is driving the traffic right now so I must help those in need!

My goal is to make this a site that everyone visits frequently, but I am only as good as my readers expectations, so thank you for reading!  As a special thanks to everyone, I give you a picture of the lovely Jenn Brown (quite a bit of my traffic comes from people Googling her, so I have to give her thanks as well!):

JB1

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Are You That Fan?

September 1, 2009

Have you ever been to a sporting event and seen a fan so decked out from head to toe in his team’s colors, and just thought: “Wow, that guy/girl is awesome!”?  Better yet, were you that fan?  If so, this website is exactly for you.

You see, I am that fan.  I bleed my team’s colors.  I am a stat nerd.  I know what it is like to sulk the whole week following a big football loss during the weekend’s big game.  If I am starting to describe you, then you know you are in the right spot.

This site will be about sport fans, but we aren’t going to do recaps of games or discuss the big plays (at least, not yet).  We are going to get into a different side of sports and sports fanatics like you and me.  I will introduce you to all the other self-proclaimed world’s biggest fans out there, and I’ll let them prove it to you.

The other side of this site will be for the fans who are more than just casual fans, and like to know more than just casual knowledge of sports.  Have you ever wondered if waving your arms behind the basket while an opposing basketball player shoots his free throws really impacts his shot?  Maybe you’ve taken it a step further like the infamous Speedo guy at Duke:

Ever wonder if making the loudest noise you can imagine on your opponents third down really makes it difficult to hear in the huddle, leading to botched plays?  Wonder who has the hottest cheerleaders?  The best tailgate parties?  If these are the types of things that interest you, please sit back and enjoy the ride, because my goal is to make this such a place where we can all come to brag about how big of a fan we are, and also learn the little nuances that will make us even better fans.

Drop me an email with any comments or ideas anytime, I’d love to hear from my fellow fanatics!

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