Missouri Tigers miss out on FanSided Fandom 250 poll
Another poll, and more perceived disrespect for the Missouri Tigers, as FanSided released its Fandom 250 poll, of the 250 top fanbases in the world on Tuesday.
I’m not mad about the recent poll, by any stretch of the imagination. The Missouri Tigers will continue to improve both on the football field and on the basketball court, and perhaps next year, Ol’ Mizzou will break into the list of 250.
Missouri fans should be counted among the best in collegiate sports, but with recent inconsistencies both on the field and on the court, it’s been tough for fans to gain much respect. The football team looks to be rounding a corner, and basketball seems to be on the upswing, as well.
As an outsider looking in, I can say that on many occasions in my travels, I’ve seen Missouri fans. Personally, there’s no reason why Tigers fans didn’t crack the list.
Missouri Tigers Football
I was most recently in my inlaws’ living room, wearing a Mizzou hoodie, when one of their friends asked me if I went to Mizzou. I responded that I had not, and he asked me, “So, what’s with the Mizzou sweatshirt?”
I’ll spare the proper quotations of conversation, and just provide my response. It’s an atypical story, but I’ve had friends who were students there, and I guess it was around-about the mid-2000s, when I first heard the school mentioned on ESPN, as it was vying for a bowl game.
At the time, I was more a casual follower of collegiate football – I loved college basketball and the NFL was more my passion, so there wasn’t really a college football team that I centered any loyalty toward.
So, at the time, I watched this so-called “Mizzou” team from afar (living on the east coast), and was intrigued by the spirit that the fans showed, but more importantly (at the time), I was impressed by this team that was little-known, to me.
I think most people are (temporary) fans of the proverbial underdog, like the Boise States of the world, and I sort of found my “Boise State.” A few years later, I heard the Tigers were invited to join the SEC, and being from the south, my interest was, again, sparked.
I enjoyed watching SEC football. I don’t like Ohio State, so it was fun rooting against them in the national championship, when they lost to LSU. But the Bayou Bengals are a mainstream SEC program. Missouri was coming into this conference with a little steam behind it, and I was excited to be able to watch more intently.
Before Mizzou played a down of football in its new conference, I was slightly invested in the team, and had decided, going in, that this would be the SEC team that I will root for, and apart from my alma mater, have had no other rooting interest in other teams, unless it’s an opponent playing kansas or Alabama.
So basically, that’s my story in a nutshell. Which brings me back to this poll, where Mizzou fans were pretty much left in the dark. You’ll see, the much hated jayhawks made the poll, but it certainly wasn’t for their three football fans.
Did you ever notice, after you or a friend bought a car, you see every model of that car on the road? Before I dedicated my fanhood to Missouri, I never noticed Missouri fans. But two years ago, while I was visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C., I saw a Missouri fan.
On various mornings, while driving to work, I see a mid-2000s Honda Pilot with a Tigers logo head sticker on the back window.
One of my co-workers is a fan of wrestling program, and has told me that coach Brian Smith is his mentor, and he keeps in regular contact with him.
Those are merely a few examples of the far reaches that Mizzou has, not only in the country, but certainly around the world. I’ve heard a number of M-I-Z shouts in the last 10 years, so I know Tigers fans are out there, and not just in the midwest.
Next: Tigers name offensive line coach
Next year, we could see Missouri fans crop up on this list, and that would be great! However, I don’t need a ranking to know that I can count myself among one of the best, most knowledgeable fanbases in collegiate athletics.