Supporters with weaker loyalties dubbed ‘fair-weather fans’

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By Sarah Hildreth

Fair-weather fans have come out of the woodwork now that the Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals leave the bluegrass state for Saturday’s game in New Orleans.

The long history between the teams and coaches brings about emotional opinions for fans.

“I follow UK because I go to school here,” Jenna Miller, a hospitality management senior, said, “and there is nothing better than being in Lexington when the Cats are playing.

“But if we tragically lose, I would follow Louisville only because they are from Kentucky.”

A fair-weather fan, according to urbandictionary.com, is described as a fan of a sports team who only shows support when the team is doing well.

Some die-hard UK or Louisville fans have coined these people without the strongest of loyalties to UK as fair-weather fans.

Kyle Kelly, a community and leadership development sophomore, said he loves UK basketball more than anything.

Kelly has similar thoughts to that of Miller, “but if Louisville won, I would rather see them win the national championship because my hate for Ohio State and Kansas is greater than my hate for Louisville,” he said.

Meredith Gross, a merchandising, apparel and textiles sophomore, is originally from Louisville and still is a Cards fan.

“People who say they are going to cheer for whichever Kentucky team advances are not die-hard fans,” Gross said. “If Kentucky wins, I’m not going to cheer for them in the championship game. I am a Cards fan and I have never cheered for UK in the regular season or tournament time, so why would I change now?”

On the other hand, Renae Nally is a nursing student from Louisville but is a UK fan. Nally is confident in the Cats and said, “fortunately I am not a U of L fan.”

“If by some tragic, unforeseen miracle the Cards manage to beat us, we would never want to see them win the national title,” Nally said.

Lizzie Nuckols, also a nursing student, echoed those feelings: “A ‘fair-weather fan’ isn’t really considered a fan to me.”