Growing up, I have always been a fan of the Kansas Jayhawks and this year, I realized no other team has ever  crossed my mind. I was at a restaurant with my family and when our waiter approached us, wondering what our favorite college football team was, I immediately responded with Kansas, much to his surprise. If you don’t know, the University of Kansas’ football team has struggled in the last couple years, with its record being 1-11 last season. It hasn’t been the prettiest road, but I still claim them as my team of choice. This is when I realized Kansas was my ride or die team and they always will be. I’m not going to only show my love for Kansas during basketball season, but through football season. By not bandwagoning, it makes the love and passion for the game stronger, which relates to all aspects of life. You can’t bandwagon anything.

One thing you can’t bandwagon is relationships. If you want to have a healthy and loving relationship with anyone, you can’t just be around for the good times. The bad times, and how you handle them, truly help shape the relationship. If you just run away from the bad times, you won’t grow as a person or in a relationship of any kind. If you don’t see people in their bad times, you won’t see their true colors. However, the bad times aren’t the only part about growing in a relationship; the good times are also essential. You can’t bandwagon any aspect of it.

Another part of life you can’t bandwagon is activities. In any activity that is competitive, hard work is involved. Hard work is valuable and can make or break the team or individual. No matter win or lose, you have to keep working hard. If you only want to be a part of the team when it is doing well, are you really  a part of the team? If you stick with your activity through all of the ups and downs you’ll develop a deeper passion for that activity than before.

Most importantly, you can’t bandwagon yourself. You need to take care of yourself at all times, not just when things are going well. It almost seems rude to reward yourself on good days and not on bad days. Bad days are the days you need to treat yourself well most! Life is going to throw a lot of things at you and you need to be your own best friend no matter your mood or the kind of day you’re having.

In life, you can’t bandwagon anything. Not a sports team, relationship, activity or yourself.  If you bandwagon and are only around for the good times in life,  you will never understand the passion that comes with sticking to something: good or bad. This mentality has made me the Jayhawks fan and  the person I am today.

Lauren Nelson

Opinion Writer