In the world of geekdom, there is a pecking order among rabid fans.
Amid the pop culture clutter of everything from magical wands to soccer balls to video games to iconic movies — it seems Akron matters and so does Ohio when it comes to the sale of merchandise and generating buzz on social media.
FanSided, a website dedicated to following and encouraging such rabid fan bases, has released its first ranking of the top 250 personalities, sports teams, entertainers and brands with the most dedicated fan bases.
Akron’s own LeBron James ranked No. 9 on the Fandom 250 — just edging out some kid named Harry Potter. The Cavaliers as a team finished 55th.
“Does any city love its sports hero more than Cleveland loves LeBron James right now?” FanSided said in anointing LeBron to the Top 10. “Every fan base has its own accompanying mythology, a collection of archetypal templates for processing and lauding their chosen heroes. For the bulk of his career, LeBron James has been a mega-myth, an amalgamation of so many competing narratives it was hard to keep track of.
“He was the chosen one, then the wayward son, then the prodigal one. He was Magic and Michael, an alpha and a beta. He was on a path to being the GOAT but kept getting waylaid by an inability to win the big one in a Cavaliers uniform.”
LeBron’s beloved Ohio State Buckeyes just edged out the NBA superstar to claim the No. 8 spot — not bad considering that other college football team from an unmentionable state just north finished 48th.
Picking the Buckeyes, FanSided said, was easy because its fans are among the most loyal in all of sports.
“Ohio State fans may travel better than any other fan base in the country,” the website concluded. “No matter where the Buckeyes are playing, there’s a good chance you’ll see a large contingent of Ohio State fans clad in their signature scarlet and gray cheering them on.
“The best sports fan bases find a way to watch their teams no matter what, and that’s exactly what the Ohio State faithful have done over the years.”
The Buckeyes’ ranking is not too shabby considering the team — which will soon appear in the national college football playoffs — was nudged into its spot by AMC’s wildly popular show The Walking Dead, which finished seventh.
As for the rest of Northeast Ohio’s sports franchises, the winless Cleveland Browns ranked 173rd for their die-hard fan base.
The Browns just edged out fierce competitor and novelist Jane Austen, who finished 172th.
And the Cleveland Indians continue their streak of being the perennial underdog, ranking even lower than the Browns at No. 198.
“The Tribe faithful turned out in droves to support their beloved small-market Indians this year, but they also remained faithful when, from 1960 through 1994, the team finished above .500 only five times,” FanSided said. “When the Tribe finally got good again in 1995, the fans showed they’d been patiently waiting for the last 30-plus years and sold out 455 straight games, which at the time was an MLB record.
“One of baseball’s oldest and most storied fan bases, Cleveland Indians fans, like their talented young team, aren’t going anywhere.”
Much to the chagrin of Northeast Ohio sports fans, the Chicago Cubs finished first — again.
“In an era when fans are quick to ditch their team and bandwagons the world over are packed to the brim, Cubs fans stayed true to the team their parents and grandparents introduced them to,” FanSided said. “No matter how dark it looked, they believed wholeheartedly in that trusty mantra: There’s always next year.”
Craig Webb, who is still waiting for his beloved Browns to win just a single game this season, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.