Jazz: What's with the green and gold? You're a billionaire! Surely you can afford an interior designer.
Danny: Jazz, hello? Football helmets, jerseys, cheeseheads? He's a Packers fanatic.
Vlad: Oh, fanatic is such a negative word, but yes.
Jazz: I don't understand, you have billions of dollars! Instead of buying this stuff, why don't you just buy the team?
Vlad: Because the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay and they won't sell them to me! note
Since the dawn of the late 19th century, pro sports have taken their place in the entertainment industry, serving as a respite from the daily humdrum of life. As sports have evolved from a pastime to a full-on business, rooting for teams has become a full-on commercial enterprise with tickets, gear, etc, becoming part of the fandom experience.
While most fans are sane enough to put sports fandom in its own place, there are those that are more, shall we say, "Obsessed". The ones that spend inordinate amounts of money on gear and tickets, who have an encyclopedic knowledge of player stats, the ones who refer to their teams as "We" as in "We won" and "We stink."
This trope covers two variations: The first involves the fandom consuming them to the point that they do crazy things in the name of their fandom, the second (Primarily for evil characters) their fandom offers them a diversion from their scheming.
This trope covers both real-life and fictional teams, pro and college that the characters find themselves rooting for.
Subtrope of Hidden Depths. Overlaps with Football Hooligans when there is violence involved. In some instances, particularly involving baseball and nerds, Game of Nerds comes into play.
Examples:
Anime & Manga
- Ms. Kuroi in Lucky Star is a big fan of Chiba Lotte Marines
. It's to a point that in one strip, she treats a game where Marines lost to not exist.
Comic Strips
- In the Disney Ducks Comic Universe, mages and witches are utterly obsessed with association football, to the point at every World Cup not only every single team has someone using magic to help them, with the spells canceling each other at the first match, but there's an archmage on duty in case a team isn't supported through magic to insure a fair competition.
- Especially notable when Magica ran afoul of the archmage Mondor, who decided to force her to coach Scrooge and family and have them face an all stars team, with her magic on the line. Seeing that Magica is good enough as a coach that her team gets the upper hand when Mondor's players fail to cooperate, Mondor cheats by using magic to have his team cooperate... And for this he is stripped of his magic, while Magica, who had lost her powers right before Mondor was exposed, has them restored by the collective will of all magic users for her results and fair play in face of such overwhelming opposition.
- Madam & Eve: Mother Anderson turns into one◊ during the 2002 World Cup.
- Tank Mc Namara is a former pro football player now doing televised sports commentary. His neighbor is Sweatsox, a man with an obsession for sports. Sweatsox's bio states: "If it wears a number and breathes hard, Sweatsox will watch it."
Fan Works
- In The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan and The Archmage's Last Bow, protagonist Nova Shine is a massive fan of Arsenal FC (based on the actual London club). Nova's fandom of Arsenal is a major point of character enough that in The Archmage's Last Bow, when Nova has learned that he's dying from magical oversaturation, he doesn't show up to watch games at the local pub anymore, which everyone takes to mean O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
- Run At The Cup has Cassandra Kiramman become one. At first glance, Cassandra being interested in hockey seems perfectly reasonable when her daughter Caitlyn is a star hockey player. But Cassandra had never taken much interest in her daughter's career, focusing on her own career in politics, creating some strain in their relationship. She retires shortly after Caitlyn moves to the Zaun Sumprats and not only takes a closer interest in Caitlyn's career (repairing their relationship in the process) but also hockey itself, partly out of boredom. She even listens to hockey podcasts (something her husband tells Caitlyn with amusement after Cassandra displays a surprising understanding of the Sumprats' upcoming opponents). Some of this sudden interest in her daughter's career may be guilt-related after she finds out how Caitlyn's former agent Amara (whom Cassandra had pushed on Caitlyn) had mistreated her.
Films — Live-Action
- Big Fan: The movie stars Patton Oswalt as Paul Aufiero, who's an obsessive fan of the New York Giants. He listens to every game he can, regularly calls the radio station to make his adoration of them known, and refuses to press charges against Quantrell for assaulting him so he stays on the team.
- In Celtic Pride, Bostonians Mike O'Hara and Jimmy Flaherty are die-hard fans of the Boston Celtics, who are in the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. With both the Celtics and Jazz ending up needing a game 7 to determine who wins the championship, Mike and Jimmy pose as Jazz fans and meet superstar Jazz player Lewis Scott at a party. Mike and Jimmy both drink with Lewis, hoping to get him too hungover to compete in the next game. But they end up accidentally kidnapping him. Deciding they're going to prison anyway, both Mike and Jimmy decide to hold onto Lewis until the game ends.
- In Diner, Eddie is obsessed with the Baltimore Coltsnote to the point of quizzing his fiancee Elyse on them to determine if they'll get married. She fails the quiz by a mere two points and he calls it off but he changes his mind. The wedding decor is the team's colors (blue and white) and the song that plays during the ceremony is the Colts' marching song.
- The Fan lives on this as the plot focuses on a struggling knife salesman named Gil Renard whose obsessive fandom of the San Francisco Giants, particularly star player Bobby Rayburn, forces him to go on a crime spree that involves killing Rayburn's teammate over his jersey number, kidnapping Rayburn's son, and even threatening to kill Rayburn himself.
- There's Something About Mary: All throughout the story, there's mention of Mary's ex-boyfriend Brett. Near the end of the film, he's revealed to be then-Green Bay Packers all-star quarterback Brett Favre, who makes another attempt to get her back. She ultimately chooses Ted because he won over her heart, and more importantly can't go back to Brett because she's always been a San Fransisco 49ers fan.
Literature
- In Fever Pitch and its English film adaptation, Nick Hornby is a diehard fan of Arsenal FC, and the book is about his experiences as a fan. When the film was adapted for American audiences, the fandom was changed to the Boston Red Sox.
- Harry Potter: Ron Weasley is a diehard supporter of the hapless Chudley Cannons Quidditch team, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Cannons players and stats. When he, Harry, and Hermione plan the break-in to Gringotts, he names his disguise Dragomir Despard after the infamous Cannons player, Dragomir Gorgovitch.
Live-Action TV
- According to Jim takes place in Chicago, Illinois. Jim himself is a die-hard Chicago Bears fan. One episode finds him conflicted with his own newborn son, who grows attached to a plastic Green Bay Packers toy football. Jim ends up having a dream where his future adult son tells him that forcing his own interests may end up hurting his relationship with his son in the long run. Instead of trying to convince him to become a Bears fan, he should enjoy the common interest in American Football instead.
- Blue Mountain State: Given this is a show about a college football powerhouse in a middle-of-nowhere college town, there are plenty of examples of diehard BMS fans. Particular instances include:
- In one episode, one of the parents of a girl Alex sleeps with goes so far as to steal Alex's condom in a desperate attempt to have a grandson by the BMS QB.
- The entirety of the second season finale involved a riot started by BMS football fans after they completed a perfect season.
- Bones: Agent Seeley Booth is a massive fan of the Philadelphia Flyers and, to a lesser extent, the Philadelphia Phillies, to the point where he has a framed photo in his office, and in an Imagine Spot during a hockey related murder case, he's wearing a Flyers jersey. Booth also managed to lug a set of stadium seats from the old Veterans Stadium up to his apartment during a blizzard, with great difficulty. This is a reference to actor David Boreanaz's fandom of the Flyers and Philly sports in general.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: All five members of the Paddy's Gang are die-hard fans of the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies. Several episodes have them going to games, trying to meet players from the teams, and generally obsessing over them.
- Kenan & Kel: The entire city of Chicago turns out to be this in "Foul Bull." Ron Harper, a shooting and point guard for the Chicago Bulls, appears As Himself and ends up getting injured when he slips on some orange soda that Kel spilled. After he blames them for the incident, Kenan and Kel start receiving outright death threats (someone tosses a basketball through the Rockmores' window with the message "Kenan and Kel, get out of town" taped to it) and can't go anywhere without being accosted. Thankfully, the boys manage to reach Harper in his hospital room and apologize, and he's moved enough to make a public speech praising them and admitting his own fault in the accident, thus calling off the mob.
- The League: Although the main cast are all Chicago Bears fans, they are probably more diehard fans of their fantasy football teams, going so far as to have incredibly awkward interactions with the NFL players who guest star. The only exception is Taco, who is both too stoned to really care and also is in a business partnership with Marshawn Lynch, not realizing that he is an NFL player.
- New Girl: When Coach returns to living at the loft, Jess decides to bond with him over watching Detroit Pistons games. This creates tension with Nick, who is a fan of their arch rivals the Chicago Bulls.
- Ted Lasso has Baz, Jeremy and Paul, three regulars at the Crown & Anchor who are rarely seen apart and are largely defined by being diehard fans of AFC Richmond, the fictional English Premier League football club that the series mainly focuses on. They always come to the pub to watch the latest match, and their opinions on Ted's coaching of the team vary depending on how well the team is doing.
- That '70s Show: Red Forman is a massive Green Bay Packers fan, a trait his son Eric doesn't inherit. In the episode "Street Fighting Man", Red takes Eric and his friends to the Packers-Bears game and attempts to get Eric involved by giving him money to buy a jersey. When Eric comes back with a Walter Payton Bears jersey, he almost disowns him but comes to his defense when a Packers fan picks a fight with him.
- Saturday Night Live: The "Bill Swerski's Super Fans" skits are about the titular talk show, in which all of the hosts are die-hard fans of Chicago's sports teams, but particularly the Bears. The biggest joke of the sketch is how said hosts are completely unable to accept the fact that the Bears have had some serious losing streaks, going so far as say the Bears are still in the run for the Super Bowl after being eliminated from the playoffs or that Coach Mike Ditka had some noble reason to throw the game.
- Still Standing, which is set in Chicago, uses this trope a few times. Some examples include:
- In one episode, a Discriminate and Switch joke occurs when Bill learns that Brian's boss "roots for the other team." Judy insists that they can be tolerant of his sexuality, but Bill corrects her: he's not gay, he's a White Sox fan (Bill and Judy are diehard Cubs fans). An outraged Judy cries "What kind of person would choose to live like that?!"
- In "Still Champions," Tina is invited to a birthday party at the home of Willie Gault, a former Chicago Bears wide receiver. Bill and Judy force her to go just so they can meet Gault, and when Bill inadvertently leaves wearing Gault's Super Bowl ring, he claims to be a retired player to get perks from Chicago businesses. Unfortunately, he and Judy meet their match in a jeweler who's an even bigger Obsessed Fan—he's memorized every single person who ever played for the Bears (including their third-string backups) and sees through the lie.
Radio
- Digger, a caller on The Coodabeen Champions, is an obsessive Collingwood fan, best exemplified in the 1990 Grand Final show, where he was in hospital, and hijacked an ambulance in order to get to the game. He also claimed that his wife died of a broken heart at the 1970 Grand Final (where Carlton famoulsly beat Collingwood thanks to a Miracle Rally).
Web Original
- Neopets: One of the Altador Cup side games is "Make Some Noise", where you play as a screaming super-fan of whichever team you're playing for. The goal of the game is to mash buttons to scream louder than everyone else in the stadium to win points for your team overall. The character in question is even known as the "Techo Fanatic", and is renowned for being a fanatic about whatever team he's supporting. He's fanatical about the cup as a whole and has turned his mansion into an Altador Cup museum.
Western Animation
- Alma's Way: Alma's favorite baseball team is the Sweat Sox, and her cousin Eddie's favorite team is the City Seagulls. This drives a rift between them in "Alma vs. Eddie", where Alma keeps pranking Eddie with what is essentially pro-Sweat Sox propaganda.
- American Dad!: The Smith Family, and most of Langley Falls are massive fans of the expansion arena football team, the Langley Falls Bazooka Sharks, to an almost unhealthy level.
- In one episode, Steve is shunned by both the family and Langley Falls for (justifiably) telling star quarterback Johnny Concussion he needs to retire to avoid dying young from repeated head trauma. He's forced to flee to an island in exile where he learns why people are so obsessed with the Sharks.
- The Smith family drives a "Killdozer" to protest the Bazooka Sharks not listening to their suggestions, with the intent to bulldoze the team's headquarters in South Dakota. The drive takes months and they nearly give up, but Hayley encourages them to continue. They arrive, only to find out that the Sharks did take their suggestions and won a championship, forcing them to use the killdozer on Tuttle's house instead.
- Danny Phantom: Vlad Masters is a massive Green Bay Packers fan, to the point where he will interrupt whatever evil scheming he is currently doing if a game is on. One of his biggest pet peeves is the fact that, in spite of all his wealth, he can't buy the team.
- Family Guy: Peter and his friends are die-hard New England Patriots football fans. They even go so far as to ask God personally to stop the Patriots from losing, and have had Rob Gronkowski as a next-door neighbor. Lois is shown many times to have many a sexual fantasy about the Patriots players, particularly Tom Brady and Julian Edelman.
- Futurama: Fry's mom is obsessed with sports, often at the expense of paying attention to her family. She listens to a Mets game on the radio while giving birth, getting more excited about the result of the game than seeing her newborn son, feeds her family gravy out of a helmet, and remembers the day her son disappeared because of the Rose Bowl that occurred around the same time.
- Human Resources: One of the human characters — and Pete, Rochelle, and Dante's client — is Doug. Doug is the self-described biggest Phoenix Suns fan in Hartford, Connecticut, to the point that he gets his van custom wrapped against Pete's advice, and through sheer luck, gets a gig as Charles Barkley's driver.
- Monsters at Work: Sulley and Mike are big Monstropolis Creepees fans, with Mike being the one having the most memorabilia (actually "monsterobilia"). Of course, when they bring a sleepy human baby along to avoid missing a baseball game, they're seated next to a Body Paint-wearing fan who's loudly cheering for the opposing Boostown Red Shocks (as in Boston Red Sox) team.
- The Loud House: Lynn Loud Jr. being a Passionate Sports Girl and all. Several episodes (such as "On Thin Ice") show that she is very superstitious and does numerous eccentric and odd rituals so that her favorite sports teams/players can win a game.
- The Simpsons: The Simpsons and the rest of Springfield are diehard fans of the city's minor league team, the Springfield Isotopes AA baseball team. The Isotopes even had been the focus of a couple episodes, most notably one involving Homer going on a hunger strike to prevent them from relocating to Albuquerque, and serving as a marriage counselor for a star player.
