What is a “true” fan? The qualifications are many and can’t be stated in one-word answers. For some, it may be to own one t-shirt that displays the name of your favorite band. To others, it could be buying everything in the gift shop pertaining to your hometown’s team at the football game.  

In reality, it’s not all about what you wear or how much you spend, but the reasons why you did and the passion behind what drew you to it. Memorabilia is the physical way to show your interests, but it’s not even the half of it. 

Take the San Francisco Giants, for example. After they won the World Series, many people began to wear everything that had the team name on it, from shirts to hats to slippers. Some of these people would say that they have it on to express their happiness at the Giants winning their first World Series since 1954. Others, however, have little to no knowledge of the team.  To be near the ballpark of saying that they are in “love” with the Giants, they should be able to answer questions about the team. 

They should be deeper than the general questions that test common knowledge. The perfect fan of the Giants should know information that involves recognizing names of different players and who they are, not just “Barry Bonds played for them a few years ago, right?”

In regards to music fans, listening to their  songs 50 times over shows that you love the artist you’re listening to, but there is also something that can push you into true fan territory. 

Attending concerts is a major part of being a true music fan. Concerts are where you see bands and artists’ ideas come to life and  hear the music in a new light. While concert tickets can get expensive, summer concerts, like the Warped Tour, offer cheap tickets that give the opportunity to see many bands for one price. But, before going out to concerts, knowing who the band or artists are is a major step in understanding the types of music they produce. 

The tracks and concert set-up may not seem cohesive until the story behind the scenes is revealed and it cannot be seen until crossing the line from just being a regular fan to a perfect one. 

For all the true football fans, every Sunday is reserved for one thing: hours of televised football starting at 10 a.m. They make sure to not forget when their favorite team will be televised and if it’s not, the Internet browser is open to see every play. No matter the record, that team is the best and that’s a belief that will never change. They won’t make it to the playoffs this year? So what, there’s always next year and the years to come; they’re bound to win something in a 20 year span. Or, if they never even come close to winning a championship, showing dedication is important. 

Displaying love to a team isn’t hard to show. The jersey that’s worn doesn’t have to be the authentic throwback; no one will know if you got it on sale for $50 — all that counts is that you have it. It’s what sets the perfect fans away from the majority.

The list can continue go on and change over the years. Maybe in 10 years, concert prices will have risen and make it hard for some to attend. If that happens, then edit the list and keep on pushing forward.