The Most Passionate Fan in College Football

Can you hear the buzz? It’s the sound of a team’s mascot or logo being forever inked into a college football fan somewhere in America. Tattoos and forenames are just a few examples of extreme fan following, but who takes the card as the most passionate fan in college football?

At this point, there isn’t a doubt that Harvey Updyke takes the cake as the most passionate fan in college football and likely all of sports.

There have been various acts of ridiculousness that have filled the newswires in the past few years representing how extreme fans can take their college football passion, but nothing reaches the heights that Updyke has achieved in his time following the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Other fans have tried hard to take the most passionate fan honor however. For instance in New Orleans, during the wee hours following the most recent national title game, an Alabama fanatic chose to sexually assault an LSU fan that lay passed out in a booth at the Krystal restaurant on Bourbon Street.

At the beginning of this past season, four LSU fans attending the LSU vs. West Virginia contest in Morgantown were assaulted while exiting Milan Pusker Stadium.

At the conclusion of the 2010 football season, UCLA was set to face off with USC in the annual crosstown rivalry. Before the game could kick, a group of fans had either disagreed on parking spots or what kind of marinade to use, ending the argument with the stabbing of two men outside the stadium.

Just before the 2011 season was set to begin, a Texas fan and an Oklahoma fan got into an argument inside an Applebee’s restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. The ensuing argument ended with both men stabbing each other, ending the discussion as fittingly as possible right?

Finally, according to mancouch.com, Nathan Davis has the most college football tattoos ever recorded. Davis is also an avid follower of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

These are just a few examples of the passion that can stem from the fanaticism that surrounds college football, but all are singular events or simply tattoos. They usually always are. Harvey Updyke is a rare catch for the Tide fan-base as his passion outreaches a fight or tattoo.

When a Passionate Fan Becomes a Passionate Fanatic

Considering the root of the word fan is derived from fanatic, it is a fine line that separates the regular game attendee type fan that tailgates on occasion and the over-the-top passionate fanatic.

The casual fan wakes up for game day and dons their team hat and polo. They shuffle the kids to the door and prepare the family hauler for the road trip to their favorite school.

For some it is a return to home, a place they have once lived and built some of the most cherished memories they carry. For others, it is a place they hold dear for other reasons. Perhaps a child attends the school, or a parent did in the past.

For whatever reason, they carry the colors of the team proudly, investing time, effort and money into something that never gives them anything more than a sports venue.

Outside of the casual fan, fanatics are present as well. Depending on your personal definition, the level of crazy can obviously vary in the eye of the beholder.

For some, tattoos are too much. For others, it may be car color choice and decals, or even wearing team gear in public away from games, obviously as a regular part of their daily attire. Maybe you know someone who wouldn’t set a fall wedding date, or if they do they check their team’s schedule to determine “safe” dates.

All those things are well and good, but none make it to the extreme. Even some tattoos can be done tastefully in my opinion. There is a vast majority of regular fans that fit the level of followership described.

As is apparent, there is a fine line between the casual everyday fan and the fanatic, but what else could separate an otherwise seemingly inseparable group of people? After all, not all of the fanatics are so easily spotted.

Where the separator begins has to be personalized paint jobs on vehicles and more importantly, the naming of children. There are more than a host of fans that name their pets after their favorite teams or coaches, but kids? That is when it may be time for a reevaluation of your fanatical status.

The Separators for Harvey Updyke

Harvey Updyke is no doubt a fanatic. On a call to the Paul Finebaum Radio Network, Updyke admits that he has “children 30 years old named Bear Bryant and Crimson Tide. Crimson likes her name, and Bear likes his name.”

Updyke goes on to say that “My baby girl, I wanted to name her Ally Bama. That is true. Call her Ally, or call her Bama. My new wife said you done ruined the other two, you're not ruining this one.”

Obviously Harvey didn’t find an issue with naming his children after his favorite football program, it simply made sense to him. His new wife however did find issue. He just simply has “too much Bama in” him.

Harvey goes on to tell Paul Finebaum in the interview that “I have 40 different Alabama hats” and that “Every time I go out I have an Alabama T-shirt (on).”

Updyke has an obvious draw to the Tide that is borderline unrealistic. He has a deep rooted affiliation that he feels with the program and has obviously built a Bama filled shell around his life. To this point, I have never witnessed another fan as extreme as Harvey Updyke.

Updyke even goes on to say that “They can put me in prison. I am an Alabama fan. I'll apologize for what I've done to the university. I saw Nick Saban sent money. It's not their fault, and I apologize.” Apologize to whom? In the context of the interview, it seems that he is feeling remorse for Alabama, not Auburn whose trees he allegedly poisoned.

Updyke’s draw to Alabama is so strong that he feels remorse for letting down the Crimson Tide, not his daughter but the school, and apparently could care less about going to jail as long as Nick Saban knows it’s not his fault.

When Harvey Updyke called the Paul Finebaum Radio Network the first time as Al from Dadeville, he mentioned that Auburn fans had supposedly rolled Toomer’s corner when Bear Bryant died and that a Cam Newton jersey had been placed on the statue of the former Tide coach following the 2010 Iron Bowl win.

That was Harvey’s tipping point. At that point, he justified to himself that his team and icon had been wronged by the jokes and actions of others. It was time to act in defense of his beloved.

So what can drive a fan to such lengths? What could draw Harvey Updyke so strongly to a sports team that he would neglect his own personal good to do what seemed right to him?

The Science Behind the Obsession

The psychology behind fandom was first written about in 1956 by Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl. The academic paper was “Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance.”

Horton and Wohl discuss in the piece the emotional bond that develops between fans and their focus. It can be sports, movie stars, stage actors even politics. Para-social interaction occurs when the fans feel a bond and attachment for their star or team to the point of creating an emotionally intimate bond without any true reciprocity of feelings from the team or star.

Where para-social interaction can get dangerous is when fanatics become so extreme in their fandom that they feel the need to personally defend a team or players honor, hence the stabbings and tree poisoning having justification to the performer of the crime.

Harvey Updyke is a cookie cut display of para-social interaction. He honestly believed that the “prank” he pulled would be justification for wrongs done to the University of Alabama and more importantly its iconic former coach Bear Bryant. Updyke had to defend Alabama and showing his support by killing the Toomer’s trees was his ticket to stardom.

Why else call a nationally syndicated show and tell the world what had been accomplished if he wasn't looking for glory? Updyke had hit a level of where he was proud of what he had allegedly accomplished and it was time for him to take his stage.

While there are some fanatics who will bring arguments to violence or emblazon their favorite coach across their back, none have reached the passionate heights of Harvey Updyke. Hopefully, no one else ever will.

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