Sports “superfans” have been a trend here at BSM where senior girls represent one player on the boys’ hockey team and go to their games, wish them good luck, and maybe even give gifts of sorts to reward for good playing. Right now, superfans only exist for the boys’ hockey team, but the boys’ lacrosse team is looking into implementing their own superfans. With the prospect of boys’ lacrosse superfans arising, I think it’s time for these groups to go.

There are a couple of reasons why I’m not the biggest superfan of superfans. First, they’re only open to senior girls – largely invite only. Senior hockey boys typically ask girls that they’re friends with or “popular,” not extending the invite to anyone with interest. Selecting superfans fully by choice is awfully exclusive and not fair to other people who want to support BSM teams.

The organization also feels largely misogynistic because superfans only exist for male sports teams. The fact that the group revolves around girls praising boys with no reciprocation for female athletes really rubs me the wrong way; I’ve heard stories of girls baking cookies for their superfan or making cards in a direct act of fawning over their respective “Superman.” I don’t understand why boys aren’t wanting to support their female athletes the same way, when we constantly have girls’ teams such as basketball, dance team, volleyball, and more making it to state with great successes. But honestly, girls’ sports have shown their dominance at state tournaments, so do they really need superfans? Or are they just an ego boost for boys’ teams?

Honestly, I don’t see any benefit in being a superfan. You’re expected to attend as many games as possible (which takes up a lot of time), blow $25 on a jersey that you’ll likely never wear again, and represent a random dude who probably won’t acknowledge you outside of sports arenas. If you’re spirited, I see the draw, but I think there are so many better ways to show Red Knight pride than contributing to a misogynistic group.

However, I think the idea of superfans stems from a positive idea of promoting school spirit. Fan attendance is typically increased if superfans are associated with a team, and it is one way to get involved in sports culture here at BSM. But I think there are several other better ways to go about increasing school spirit that doesn’t revolve around exclusivity. I think the implementation of a spirit club or opening superfans to all sports teams (not just boys’ teams) would help still increase school spirit but not make supporting BSM exclusive.

As the boys’ lacrosse team has recently proposed having superfans for their team, I think that these superfans have done their time. It’s time for superfans to get the boot.