Sports Couples We'd Totally Hang Out With

Sports fans are usually defined by the crowd rather than by the individual. As in one screaming face in a sea of screaming faces or one tiny—but crucial—cog in "the wave."

For the perspective of someone outside the stadium or arena, sports fans are just a clutch of pixels among a mass of them that the camera occasionally pans over during breaks in the game action.

When an individual, or a few individuals, does become the focus, the resulting spectacle can provoke anything from mild amusement to "WTF?!" This isn't the cardinal rule of getting singled out as a fan by the media and/or by going viral, but if you and your buddies didn't misspell "Go Panthers," the odds are you did something akin to waving around a sign that says something terrible and offensive on ESPN's College GameDay.

Or set a couch on fire in Morgantown, West Virginia.

For sports fan couples who stumble into their 15 minutes of fame, the outlook is even more grim, with an ugh-to-awesome ratio not unlike "top" YouTube comments. The potential for inappropriate and/or lewd behavior is simply too powerful.

So when a "couple" does become a viral hit or a SportsCenter mention and the reasons for it don't make you loathe mankind, it's definitely refreshing. So much so that some of the couples seem cool enough to earn your social graces.

These are sports couples we'd totally hang out with.

The Saddest Thunder Fans

There are few things worse than those terrible people who rush out of sporting events, regardless of the outcome, to beat the traffic. Win or lose, staying till the end is what separates the diehard fan from the casual bandwagoners who get their tickets through corporate channels. 

Fans who stick around to sulk after a big loss are generally the most devoted of all, because it’s a lot easier to storm out in disgust when a game ends. This appropriately sad couple of Oklahoma City Thunder fans stuck around after the Memphis Grizzlies tied up their 2014 playoff series in Game 2. 

That's the kind of dedication to sports I'm always looking for in prospective new friends. 

A Man and His Beloved Beer Caught on Kiss Cam

A few years ago, a man with a deep love of beer was caught on the Kiss Cam with a woman who didn't seem nearly as amused with his love of beer as the rest of us. Although there isn’t much in this video to suggest these two are actually a couple, couples with this dynamic are always hilarious to hang out with in short bursts. 

He’s always doing ridiculous/embarrassing things, and she’s always rolling her eyes and inching away. It’s an amusing way to spend an evening and an excellent way to make you feel better about your own relationship.

Kiss Cam Beer Dump Couple

The Kiss Cam is a staple at most American sporting events—something to entertain fans during television timeouts and intermissions. With most couples choosing between kissing or not kissing, sometimes things get a little dull. Which is why the actions of a couple at a recent Los Angeles Dodgers game were a total game-changer. 

In September 2014, the couple—he a Dodgers fan, she a San Francisco Giants fan—eschewed tradition in the most delightful way possible. Instead of exchanging an awkward kiss as tens of thousands of strangers leered, they poured their full beers on each other’s head. That’s commitment to a bit, because you know beer at Dodger Stadium is probably $40 a cup. 

It was obviously something they had planned, maybe for the game or maybe for years. The longer they had it planned, the more I want to hang out with them. 

Expos Fans on a Mission

According to an Ottawa Sun article, Montreal natives Gabriel Morrissette and Adry Laurin spent the 2014 MLB season living out of their minivan, traveling more than 6,000 miles and visiting 30 baseball stadiums around the United States. 

For the couple, both 24, it wasn’t just about adventure. Morrissette and Laurin are lifelong Montreal Expos fans who used the trip as an opportunity to drum up support on social media in hopes of someday bringing the team back to Montreal. 

Although they’re hopeful some version of the Expos will eventually return, they’re also both realistic.

"The Expos might not return tomorrow or in 10 years, but we have hope," Laurin said. "If we can add our two cents, we'll be happy."

There Are Some Things You Don't Share...like Ice Cream

In March 2013, the Orlando Magic traveled to Indiana to take on the Pacers, only to be totally upstaged by an impressively bearded young man in the stands. The only thing more impressive than his beard, which is positively Andrew Luck-esque, is the massive ice cream cone that he flat out refuses to share with his lady friend. 

Delighted by the couple’s hilarious public squabbling, analysts Isaiah Thomas and Chris Webber don’t hold back their laughter as they first narrate, then illustrate, the scene as it plays out. Eventually, he gives in and lets his girl get a little spoonful of that sweet mint chocolate chip action, but not before making her work for it. 

The couple, later identified as Georgia Arnett and Jake Moran, became an instant viral sensation and even appeared on Good Morning America days later to explain what went down.

Q: "So, Jake, what were you thinking at that precise moment?"

A: "I just didn’t want her to have my ice cream."

And who can blame him? 

Sebastian the Ibis Walks Miami Alum Down the Aisle

Still grieving the loss of her father two years earlier, University of Miami graduate Jennifer Urs Sullivan struggled in the months leading up to her wedding to Patrick Sullivan in July 2014. She was looking for someone to walk her down the aisle but without replacing her dad. 

The wedding of Urs and Sullivan’s Miami was a tasteful and elegant affair—no small feat considering the presence of Hurricanes mascot Sebastian the Ibis. Having Sebastian walk her down the aisle was the perfect way to make everyone smile during a very emotional moment for the family.

Urs said that it was a good fit because a mutual love for football was part of the foundation of her relationship with her father, that per the New York Daily News.

"As far as I can remember, we were a football family," she said. "Even the day before he died. If you look at our texts, it's all about sports.

LSU Clumsy Makeout Couple

I’m going to concede right up front that I may be in the minority with wanting to hang out with the famously clumsy LSU fans who plummeted hilariously down the bleachers in September during a far-too-intense-to-be-appropriate makeout session.

That being said, I stand by it. I guess I’m just a sucker for a couple of idiots in love going out in public and doing idiotic things together. This is the kind of nonsense I love witnessing at live sporting events, as opposed to drunk shirtless bros throwing punches. 

College-Loving Groom Walks Down the Aisle with Mascot

Just in case you thought only the ladies care about who walks them down the aisle on their wedding day.

In April 2011, Johannes Schneider and his very accommodating fiancee, Michelle Waters, were married in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and he was escorted down the aisle by Winthrop University’s big furry Eagle mascot. 

It was a scene that I can’t even begin to do justice, so I yield to Andrew Dys of the Rock Hill Herald: 

"

The crowd was a bit clueless at first as the minister and father of the groom, a normally serious fellow named the Rev. Wolfgang Schneider, from Germany, told them they were going to witness something "unusual."

"Not only will the bride be given away," Wolfgang Schneider told the audience of friends and family, "but since my son is such a big fan of Winthrop, we have someone to give him away, too."

All gawked, then clapped and cheered, and a little girl about age 3 blurted out: "It's a big chicken!"

[...]

“My son sure loved college,” said his smiling mother, Helen Schneider. 

"

You know she wasn't lying. 

A Very Orioles Prom Night

Unless you’re a bad guy or mean girl in a John Hughes movie, prom is one of the most overrated, overpriced “milestones” in a teenager’s life. Getting all dressed up and staying out late makes them feel like adults, even though there’s nothing grown up about that ridiculously self-indulgent sideshow. 

But teenagers are supposed to be ridiculously self-indulgent, which is why it’s so noteworthy on the rare occasion they aren’t.

In April 2014, an adorable young couple from Baltimore skipped the whole dog and pony show in favor of watching the Baltimore Orioles take on the Kansas City Royals at home. 

They still made it a festive evening by dressing up. He wore a black button-up with a bright orange tie, and she paired her long black dress with an Orioles ball cap. All for the love of the game! Too cute. And just imagine how much more that game will mean to them if the O's actually make a serious World Series run in the postseason. 

Vikings Fans Sort out Their Issues

YouTube

Variations of these fans' jerseys have probably existed for over a decade now—Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” was released back in 2003. These Vikings fans are just the latest to amuse their friends and everyone sitting in their general vicinity by sporting one. 

Anyone who would spend that much money to look that ridiculous is probably someone worth hanging out with. 

A Whale of a Wedding

In March 2013, two of the most amazing hockey fans ever were married on the ice at Gardner Veterans Arenas in Massachusetts. Friends and family looked on as Katie Murphy and Sean Dwyer said their “I dos” in a ceremony officiated by a man in the zebra stripes—a choice that would only be fitting in a hockey rink. 

As if that alone wasn’t amazing enough, the wedding itself wasn’t just hockey themed—it was Hartford Whalers themed. The Whale has been defunct for decades now, but Dwyer is one of those epic fans for whom The Whale will never truly die. 

With Murphy willing to play along—in fact, the theme was her idea—Dwyer, who dressed in a dazzling green tuxedo on the big day, went all-out. According to the New York Daily News, the bride had a Whalers logo on her dress and “the bridesmaids wore Whaler blue while the groomsmen wore Whaler jerseys.”

“In addition to representing Whaler colors, foam fingers took place of flowers, a referee officiated the wedding, a Whalers mascot threw T-shirts into the crowd and a beer man was handing out beverages during the ceremony. ... And to top it all off, the bride and groom came out to the Brass Bonanza, the Whalers goal song.”

The Ultimate Baseball Bucket List Trip

In August 2014, MLB.com reported on a pair of dedicated Giants fans who were just weeks away from checking one heckuva “to do” off their respective bucket lists. San Francisco natives Bert and Le Anne Steinberg traveled to every Giants away game of the season—all 81 of them. 

Such an undertaking would be impressive at any age, but it's all the more so given Bert is 93 years old! Seriously, that guy is the youngest 93-year-old that ever was. He has no problem keeping up with his wife Le Anne, who is just 56. 

Now, if you’re thinking that sounds expensive, you’re right. The epic road trip is expected to cost them between $25,000 and $40,000. The couple says it’s tiring but totally worth it.

Bert says “no way,” when asked if he’d do it again, but he might go back to Pittsburgh just once for one of those Primanti Brothers sandwiches. 

Vancouver Riot's Kissing Couple

Rich Lam/Getty Images

In June 2011, the usually amiable streets of Vancouver erupted in riots after the Canucks fell to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. It was a very ugly scene, especially for Canada, with the iconic “kissing couple” photo being one notable exception. 

After watching the game at a friend’s house, Alexandra Thomas and boyfriend Scott Jones, who’s from Australia, headed out to the streets to see what was happening. In the chaos of the moment, Thomas was knocked down and Jones leaned over to comfort her with a kiss before getting up and fleeing the area. 

Neither realized the moment had been photographed.

"By the time they woke up 'slightly hung over' the next morning, the image had been seen by thousands of people, and Jones had already been tagged by a friend on Facebook," per Mike Hager of The Vancouver Sun.

There haven’t been any updates on the couple in a while, but if they’re still together, I would most definitely want to hang out with them. 

She's My Sister, Bro

In February 2014, Minnesota Gopher hockey fan Adam Martin found himself without a Valentine, so he decided to take his sister to a game with him on Valentine’s Day instead. Maybe it was a case of good planning paying off, or maybe he’s just been burned by the Kiss Cam before, but either way Martin was ready when its prying eye focused on him. 

Perfectly timed and fantastically subtle, Martin casually pulled out a sign from his coat pocket that plainly stated the hot blonde sitting next to him was, in fact, “My Sister —>.”

You know, as opposed to a girl he invited out on Valentine’s Day but was too embarrassed and/or self-conscious to kiss under all that pressure. 

The whole thing was perfect—and funny enough to get a mention by Jimmy Fallon during one of his first Tonight Show monologues.