It

[Kblaze8855]

A slang term that grew from a real Slim Shady song has been added officially to Merriam-Webster.com.

"Stan," a noun that means "an extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan," is among 640 new words and meanings that, according to Merriam-Webster, demonstrate how language is always changing and expanding.

Stan also gets an entry as a verb, as when someone stans, stanned or is stanning a favorite celebrity.

Both uses are described as slang, often disparaging, with a history and etymology traced to the 2000 song "Stan" by Eminem, aka Marshall Bruce Mathers III.

It probably had to be done. Stans are probably more no more prevalent than they used to be but the internet has done a great/awful job of getting them all together where you can see them.

In day to day life they are hard to locate.

I might know.....like...two Stans in person. One Lebron fan who is pretty out of control....and a Celtics fan who is totally over the top about Kyrie.

That

[TheCorporation]

A close friend of mine is a gigantic Laker stan/homer.

I remember when they signed Nash and Howard he said they were going to get 73 wins easily. I remember he also said Bynum was going to be better than Shaq.

He named his dogs Kobe and Rambis (Kurt) so you know it's real stanning

[elementally morale]

In high school I had a classmate. He played some high school basketball.. wasn't very good. There was no internet at the time... but there were NBA stat books. He learned them. Knew every stat of every player or game or whatever in those books. You tried to talked basketball with him. You just couldn't. He was a stat geek before stat geeks. You may have been right on an issue... but he won every argument with 'facts'.

We were not close friends. He also knew all public transport stops in every city in my country, etc. Was a good kid... just strange.

He died of colon cancer 4 years ago.

[bullettooth]

Wheels Stan Parade:

[ImKobe]

Kobe missed the Playoffs...

[Rico2016]

Kobe missed the Playoffs...

.?.

[Mr.GOAT2408]

I know a ton of Kobe/LeBron stans, a few MJ and Wade stans as well

MJ stans are stuck in the past, LeBron stans are stuck in the moment, it's fun trying to get both groups involved in a debate and seeing the LeBronies get destroyed by intelligent basketball observers which most MJ stans are

[elementally morale]

intelligent basketball observers

Observers of basketball don't talk too much about stars. They talk about the game. Intelligent guys who played the competitive game know neither stats is everything nor winning is everything. It's a team sport. Observers know the difference a 6th player or a coach adds or a schedule changes.

Intelligent basketball observers rarely take sides. They are most of the time boring for the general fanbase.

[Spurs m8]

I know a ton of Kobe/LeBron stans, a few MJ and Wade stans as well

MJ stans are stuck in the past, LeBron stans are stuck in the moment, it's fun trying to get both groups involved in a debate and seeing the LeBronies get destroyed by intelligent basketball observers which most MJ stans are

MJ stans aren't stuck in the past, they just acknowledge no one has been better since....which is true.

Kobe stans are stuck in denial that someone like LeRoid sits at about his level.

[Ben Simmons 25]

I know a ton of Kobe/LeBron stans, a few MJ and Wade stans as well

MJ stans are stuck in the past, LeBron stans are stuck in the moment, it's fun trying to get both groups involved in a debate and seeing the LeBronies get destroyed by intelligent basketball observers which most MJ stans are

[Rico2016]

I know a ton of Kobe/LeBron stans, a few MJ and Wade stans as well

MJ stans are stuck in the past, LeBron stans are stuck in the moment, it's fun trying to get both groups involved in a debate and seeing the LeBronies get destroyed by intelligent basketball observers which most MJ stans are

I know a lot of old school basketball fans that know way less than the casual current fans because information is so readily accessible nowadays. Just as an example, current fans can download the ESPN app for free and see game highlights, records, stats, interviews, betting lines, favorites, standings, schedules, you name it, it's there and within a finger's click. A lot of old school NBA fans had to rifle through news papers just to find how many points someone scored or what the standings/seeding was after that day's games were played.

I think both fans see the game from a very different perspective and both think they know more than the other but if they just came together they could both learn from one another. But they don't, they just fight it out or offer nothing constructive to help the other. It's just one big power struggle and they take every inch they can.

[Kblaze8855]

I know a lot of old school basketball fans that know way less than the casual current fans because information is so readily accessible nowadays. Just as an example, current fans can download the ESPN app for free and see game highlights, records, stats, interviews, betting lines, favorites, standings, schedules, you name it, it's there and within a finger's click. A lot of old school NBA fans had to rifle through news papers just to find how many points someone scored or what the standings/seeding was after that day's games were played.

A stat sheet doesn

[Akeem34TheDream]

Observers of basketball don't talk too much about stars. They talk about the game. Intelligent guys who played the competitive game know neither stats is everything nor winning is everything. It's a team sport. Observers know the difference a 6th player or a coach adds or a schedule changes.

Intelligent basketball observers rarely take sides. They are most of the time boring for the general fanbase.

So true.

[DaHeezy]

Jordan stans are the worst and it's not even close. ANY player in ANY sport. Hands down the most delusional and unreasonable.

[Sarcastic]

It was really when Nas used it in Ether that it became popular. No one used it before that.