Word: fandom
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Just as he has his finger on the musical pulse of fandom, Martin also grasps what his artists want to sing. That doesn't happen by chance. Before he starts writing for Spears, he talks with her, sees her shows and finds out what's in her CD player. "I want the input because that makes the chemistry of the song," he says. Meanwhile, he records ideas on a Dictaphone he carries with him. His self-imposed quality-control regime means that only one idea in 300 gets to demo-recording stage. "You have to be a mass murderer...
...Browns fan, the Ravens' success comes as no surprise; rather, it is oddly fitting. Supporting the Browns is clearly about more than wins and losses - it is about enduring the greatest pain and disappointments and perversions possible in sports fandom. Which, truth be told, is part of why I hold fellow Browns backers in such high regard. Those of us who have offered our souls up to perpetual but lovable losers - the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and others - have done so clinging to the belief that years of adversity and abuse will pay off double or triple...
...chance to take the easiest possible road to fandom: I grew up in San Francisco during the '80s and early '90s, in the age of Walsh, Montana, Rice and Young, and the five championships they brought to their adoring yet capricious faithful. Around age seven I decided that rooting for the Niners was really a waste of time - they would win with or without me. On the other hand, the Browns (my dad's team since his youth in Akron, Ohio) would benefit greatly from my psychic energy. It was a weighty decision to make at so young...
...three years, the Cleveland Browns lay dormant. For a short time I rooted for the ex-Browns who now played for the Ravens, but as their number dwindled, my interest faded. I took a breather from football fandom, although when it was time to write my main application essay for medical school, I looked to the Browns for inspiration. Even while absent, the Brownies were there for me, helping me, through their own battered past, find words to express where I had been and what I wanted...
Within the paranoid world of Survivor fandom, it is almost plausible that any revelation about the cow's brain--that crucial fact!--could lead some talented detective to the solution and bring down the house of cards. ("Raw cow's brain? Yes...it all fits! The winner is Colby!") Last year rabid fans scoured video stills and images swiped from CBS computers to glean clues, some accurate, some not, about which Survivor would next get booted. But Burnett played the would-be spoilers like a baby grand, impishly editing footage and planting red-herring files at the official website...