CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 07: Justin Coneje (L) and Brandon Oliceron (R) of Chicago celebrate after Jake Arrieta #49 of the Chicago Cubs (not pictured) ended the the fifth inning with a strike out, during the National League Wild Card Game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, at Sluggers World Class Sports Bar on October 7, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)

Growing up in Iowa, among Chicago and St. Louis fans, I always hated the Chicago Cubs.

Cubs fans celebrated their losing, and their fans acted as though they suffered more than anyone else, though as a Baltimore Orioles fan since 1998, I watched my team endure 14 straight losing seasons before finally making the playoffs in 2012. To me, Cubs fans represented the worst in sports fandom — I even wrote a (very bad) article about it while in high school.

But now that I live in Chicago, and the Cubs appear to be in their best position ever to break their World Series curse, I have decided to root for the team I once detested.

Before all you *real* Cubs fans come out of the woodwork and call me a bandwagon fan, know that I absolutely agree. In fact, I own a shirt that proudly proclaims that I have been a diehard Cubs fan since October 7, 2015, the day the Cubs beat the Pirates in the National League Wild Card Game. That is the only Cubs shirt I own, and it’s probably the only one I will buy until the playoff run.

This will surely offend some fans, particularly those who don’t think I’ve earned the right to cheer for the Cubs, since I haven’t put in my dues. But that is nonsense, because being a bandwagon fan of your adopted city’s team is awesome. And if you’re a lifelong fan, you should welcome bandwagoners to make the ride that much more exciting.

If you’re a wanna-be bandwagoner, the first step is not feeling dirty, because there is really nothing dirty about deciding to cheer for a sports team. In fact, it’s way more fun to be a fan with the fellow citizens of your city.

When I first moved to Chicago for college, I would cheer against the Cubs when I went to games. Cubs-Nationals? Cubs-Phillies? I’d cheer for the opponent. This seemed like a great plan to stick it to the fans I’d long detested. But in action, it was significantly less enjoyable than expected. Here was a group of nearly 40,000 people all around me uniting with the camaraderie that makes us all love sports. Then there was me, refusing to join in on that fun — not because I was a fan of another team, but because I was a serious, principled baseball fan who was willing to put past allegiances ahead of fun.

Eventually, the unity and excitement of cheering along with my friends, and my city, became too much. I realized that having fun was a lot better than sitting on the sidelines. If I don’t have a dog in the fight, why not join in the joy with everyone else?

To be clear, you don’t have to abandon your past allegiances to be a bandwagon fan. I still like the Orioles, and I’d probably cheer for them if they somehow met the Cubs in the World Series. But being a bandwagon fan of a team like the Cubs allows me to enjoy baseball all season with my friends and neighbors.

If the point of sports is fun and joy, why not bring more of it into your life?

The same point stands for the lifelong Cubs fans debating whether to accept bandwagoners. But Chicagoans are no stranger to this debate.

The Chicago Blackhawks were once a dismal franchise with a small fan base in the city. In the mid-2000s, they averaged between 12,000 and 14,000 fans per game. But at the end of the decade, the team started winning and since 2008-09, the Blackhawks have averaged at least 21,000 fans in every season. The city is as much a hockey town as it is a baseball town, even with what promise to be two good teams.

Like many Chicagoans, I once mocked hockey. Now, I count myself as a Blackhawks fan and I can’t get enough of their games in the postseason. I’m no diehard, but I’m one of the thousands of people who go to the bars, cheer loudly for the team, and even take in a live game each year, that help make the playoff hockey experience in Chicago so incredible.

Without bandwagon fans, a picture like the one above doesn’t exist.

So if you’re in need of a team to cheer for, or if you’ve just moved to a new city, join the bandwagon of whichever team you’d like. And if you’re a lifelong fan, embrace your new friends. Sports are great because they bring people together, so the more the merrier.

About Kevin Trahan

Kevin mostly covers college football and college basketball, with an emphasis on NCAA issues and other legal issues in sports. He is also an incoming law student. He's written for SB Nation, USA Today, VICE Sports, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.