Fan of the Week – Desperate to be Intimidating

If football fans such as those in Oakland’s “Black Hole” or those strewn out throughout stadiums in the SEC have contributed to one perceived responsibility, it’s that fans of the home team have a duty to be intimidating.  They are the “12th man” to borrow a phrase from the Seattle Seahawks fans who conveniently borrowed it from Texas A&M fans.  They are the reason that the bewildered opposing QB has to call timeout on third down to hear himself think.  They are the advantage in “home field advantage”. 

As a result we see otherwise normal people resorting to all sorts of angles to fulfill the responsibility that has been heaped on their shoulders  – things like squeezing you shirtless (and possibly pantless) body into a barrell with suspenders, spending every cent you have getting a tattoo of the school’s legendary coach across your entire back, or something as simple as dressing like the team owner.###MORE###

While some are able to morph their passion into intimidation with relative ease, others just can’t pull it off.   We present Exhibit A of the latter:

Despite digging deep into their respective closets for all their team paraphenalia – the foam finger, the eye black patches, the jerseys they’ve sacrificed – and despite their cute little stuffed Tiger hats, these two gentlemen still rate a few notches below “intimidating”, checking in somewhere between “cuddly” and “shockingly dorky”. 

But if nothing else, it at least gives us an excuse to post this picture of their presumed inspiration and for that we’re grateful:

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