The anatomy of the fair-weather fan.
As a resident in New Jersey, I am in the final torture stage of having a professional sports team in close vicinity compete for a championship. Over the past two weeks, I have seen so many Giants shirts, sweatshirts and jerseys that I could go without seeing the color blue for a year. What is interesting about this is the phenomenon known as the “fair weather fan”. I have lived in the same town in New Jersey for all of my existence. I see an occasional Giants shirt or jersey here or there, but thats about it. Now, since they have made it to the big game, everyone is a Giants fan. I see Grandmas in Burress jerseys and young children fresh out of the womb with Manning jerseys. No one is wearing a Jeremy Shockey jersey though. Why? Because half of these people do not even know he is on the team because they only started watching in the latter stages of the playoffs - when Shockey was shelved on IR for the season. The fair weather fan goes way back. They go about their daily lives not caring at all about sports, but once their “team” makes it to the final stage before a championship, they act like they have cared all along. When their team is doing poorly, you wouldn’t know they were a fan. They don’t talk about the team nor do they support the team in any way, unless they are winning. I cannot stand this type of fan. What gets me through the days is knowing that after Tom Brady raises the Lombardi for the fourth time, we won’t hear from any of the Giants fans again…that is until they make it back to the Super Bowl 
[ratings]