20 Sports Fans Who Really Know How to Get on TV

The life of a sports fan is bittersweet. On one hand, your entire week can be ruined by a bad loss—precious few fans have the luxury of counting themselves among those devoted to a dynasty.

On the other hand, any given day, week or month can be inspired by hope. Even if you are a long-suffering fan of a team like the Chicago Cubs, the history, the culture, the experience—these far out-value the negatives.

Then, there are the more superficial perks: beer and nachos at the arena, man-caves decked out in memorabilia, and tailgating—just to name a few.

While photobombs are all the rage when it comes to social media sites, there are plenty of fans who don’t have to creep their way into a shot. From stadium “Kiss-Cams” to College GameDay’s roiling-human backdrop, there are plenty of opportunities for diehard fans to get on camera when their antics are welcome.

And, where else can a dude have his bare, hairy, team-colored belly broadcast to millions of households other than at a prime-time game?

That’s right! There are a plethora of venues and events where the television cameras are actually seeking out fans for airtime. Naturally, this has inspired a variety of awesome strategies and tactics for attracting the attention of the men and women who run the show.

These are 20 sports fans who really know how to get on TV.

I'm not sure what the deal is with sports fans dressing as gorillas, but I do know it's definitely a thing. I've seen it in person, and I've seen it even more going through galleries of sports fans. 

Actually, I guess that's what the deal is. Seeing a large man (or maybe a woman...but probably a man) dressed as a gorilla wearing a baseball uniform is quite memorable. 

This Royals fan combined two attention-grabbing gimmicks during a game against the Rays in May 2013: dressing as a gorilla and standing alone in the rain. 

Game. Set. Match.

Ever since that Alabama face guy got his 15 minutes of fame by taking his show on the road to a Knicks game, the popularity of the giant cardboard face has been on the rise. 

Let's be real, if fans show up to a game with props, they are obviously looking to get a little love from the cameraman. The bigger, the better. 

In June 2013 these Heat fans went really big with their giant LeBron face. They may have had their picture taken, but the Spurs won the game. 

Unless you happen to have a friend who is a fan of a rival team and you go to a game together, getting seated next to the enemy is a complete crapshoot. 

You can't plan it, but if you're a Packers fan who happens to get seated next to a Vikings fan in an important game, the chance that you'll be spotted by the cameras is approximately 100 percent. 

This is definitely the worst way to get on television, though. I'd rather disappear from existence completely than have to sit next to a Ravens fan for three or four hours. 

It's just not worth it. 

No one cares about cycling anymore thanks to Lance Armstrong. The American interest in the sport even before Armstrong was internationally disgraced was only marginal. Now anyone with even marginal interest is to jaded to care. 

Yet, events like the Tour of California are still televised because there are an awful lot of channels these days that need to put something on air. 

Although, if you were lame enough to watch Stage 5 of the event in May 2013, you would've been treated to a fun little distraction—a bevy of barely covered male booties dressed to distract.

And distract they did. 

There's no team in MLB hated more right now than the Marlins. You may think it's still the Yankees, but at least they have their owns fans to support them. 

After the Marlins secured $500 million worth of public funding for their new stadium, which will actually cost Miami-Dade county $1.2 billion by the time the loan is paid off, there was an expectation that they would field a competitive team. 

That expectation was not met, which has only served to turn the once ambivalent Miami fans into disgruntled former fans. They really like to hammer that point home during Marlins home games, often panning to shockingly empty sections of the stadium. 

So, lonely as it may be, sitting in seclusion is an excellent way to get some attention. 

If you show up to a potentially playoff series-clinching game dressed in a full-on bear costume, you're definitely there to do more than just watch the game. 

I imagine you want to watch the game while others are watching you.  

In June 2013 this Beantown beauty donned her own particular brand of Bruins gear at Game 4 of the semifinals against the Penguins. And it's hard to imagine she didn't get a little airtime. 

It's no surprise that the NRA 500, sponsored by the National Rifle Association, attracted a large number of firearms enthusiasts.Frankly, I'd imagine that there's considerable overlap of NASCAR fandom and NRA membership to begin with.

Even so, considering gun control debate has been taking center stage, the right gun-related sign can attract some serious attention—even in a sea of other gun-related enthusiasm.

This sign was even more memorable than the man who committed suicide at the event by shooting himself in the head after getting into an argument with other fans.

Which is impressive…in a very horrible way. 

At the power Championship in May 2013, Brighton defeated Wolverhampton 2-0. Which is the second tier of the English football league system.

Although it's a little more impressive when you consider they have approximately a million different leagues. It's hard to tell which team this well-dressed woman, dressed in full Fred Flintstone attire, is a fan of.

Considering she's dressed like…Fred Flintstone.

She does look a little sad though, so I'm assuming she's a Wolverhampton fan. I'm also going to assume her ridiculous getup was quite the conversation topic at the match. 

In football games, storming the field isn't a great way to get on television because they go out of their way to cut away from the spectacle and pretend it isn't happening. 

Which is a pretty solid strategy. If you're running onto the field during a professional sporting event, you're looking for attention. Not televising the incident takes away some of the allure. 

But baseball games are different. I'm not sure if they have the same televised policy, but I'm guessing not. People are always storming the field during baseball games, and it's usually the most entertaining event of the night. 

In May 2013 this guy was probably just annoyed and bored that his Rockies were getting beat by the bottom-feeder Astros at home. He saw an opportunity to get some attention, and he took it! 

I wouldn't say that the NFL Draft is ruined by Jets fans every year, but I wouldn't not say that either. Mostly because it usually is ruined by them. 

During the draft coverage the camera tries to pan to as many non-Jets fans as possible, so dressing up in full throttle Vikings gear, like this couple did in April 2013, is an on-camera guarantee. 

Seriously! Horns. Capes. Shields. Fur collars. That's the real deal. 

Awww. Remember back when the Thunder were supposed to face off against the Heat in a rematch of the 2012 NBA Finals?

Those sneaky Spurs—you never know when they're going to come from out of nowhere to take your ass down. Although, the fact that Russell Westbrook's ass went down for the season probably had as much to do with that as anything else. 

There's at least one person who remembers a time when his Thunder were destined to right the wrong of 2012—this bare-bellied bro whose body paint is impressively…symmetrical?

I don't know if that's exactly the word I'm looking for…but it's at least one of the words I was looking for. I bet he had more people talking after the Thunder's Game 1 series against the Rockets than Jeremy Lin! 

I'm not going to say this is definitely a teenager risking his life by scaling scaffolding at least 10 stories high, but I'd certainly be willing to put a few bucks on it. 

In May 2013 Paris Saint Germain received the Ligue 1 trophy, which just means they were the best team in one of many leagues in all of France for a single season. 

Man…soccer fans are going to be annoyed by that. 

Especially this soccer fan, who celebrated several stories above the crowd below, who probably climbed that contraption while drunk and filled with bad decisions. 

And I don't mean that in a negative way. I'm not suggesting in any way that these Capitals fans with front-row seats had anything but the best intentions in mind when they made their sign. 

It's just that being front-row at a hockey game with a sign that doesn't say something pornographic is a surefire way to get on the television broadcast. Granted, that's more limiting than you'd imagine.

But in the wake of the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, anything that showed support for the city and the victims was obviously going to get plenty of camera time. 

If you thought a woman wearing a cleavage-bearing crop top at a sporting event was bad, that's got nothing on a man wearing…that.

In April 2013 a very creative Englishman wore an amazing, and I'm guessing homemade, shirt that can only be described as haunting. 

He attended a match between the Leicester Tigers and London Wasps and must have been more memorable than anything that happened in the game. 

The 49ers were it for much of the 80s and 90s, and then for some reason they stumbled into a rabbit hole of futility for over a decade. With the hiring of Jim Harbaugh in 2011, suddenly they were back with a vengeance. 

Also back with a vengeance? The absolute insanity that Bay Area sports fans are known for. Niners fans kind of faded into the background during their reign of futility, but Raiders fans kept up the same level of intensity while sucking during the same period of time. 

But when the 49ers made their way back to the Super Bowl in 2013, all crazies came out for the occasion. Including this guy! Who is apparently shirtless, wearing a cape, a mask, and what looks to be a pile of dog poo on his dome. 

I know it's supposed to be a gold nugget…but you know it looks like poo. 

In April 2013 the Dodgers took on the Orioles in a game of baseball. Maybe it was good. Maybe it was bad. Either way, it was definitely boring. 

Boring except for this hairy man in orange, who completely stole the show. What show wouldn't he steal, though? And I'm not just saying that because he looks like a colorful member of the Hell's Angels. 

If baseball wants to raise its television ratings, it should've been arranged for this guy to fight Josh Beckett during the seventh-inning stretch, while Take Me Out to the Ball Game played in the background. 

I'm not a exactly an expert on the best way to get attention, but I definitely know a little something about how to attract it as a woman. 

And let's just say that a skintight spandex suit with nothing but the bra area cut out is the best way to turn as many heads, and attract as many men with cameras, as I've seen in quite some time. If not ever. 

In May 2013 these two Heat fans were en fuego when they showed up for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers. 

The weirdo makeup, Lady Gaga wigs and Kanye West glasses were also nice touches. 

You know what always attracts attention? Walking cliches. It's not super nice, but it's true. 

If you asked a non-NASCAR fan to draw a picture of someone who would attend the NRA 500 in April 2013, it would look a lot like this. 

The only difference is that the massive tattoo of Dale Earnhardt wouldn't be nearly as accurate. Ya know, since they wouldn't know who Dale Earnhardt is. Good gravy!

Hey—why do they call them "red necks" when the sunburn extends at least six inches in every direction. 

At the State of Origin rugby match between New South Wales and Queensland in June 2013, nearly every single NSW fan in the stadium was rocking their blue clown wigs. 

A blue clown wig may be enough to get you noticed at Starbucks and have a stranger upload a video of you to YouTube. But it won't cut it here. 

This trio of NSW bros knows that if you want to stand out in a crowd, the best way to go is half-naked and covered in body paint. Mission accomplished. They got their moment in the spotlight, and NSW got the win. 

Making a sign is actually a great way to get on television at an NFL game—particularly if you're from the opposing team and your sign incorporates the network's acronym in it. 

They've got time to fill in between plays and during timeout, and scanning the crowd for interesting fans is one of the best ways to kill time. 

What makes it even better is when your sign turns out to be totally wrong, as was the case with the sign of these Cowboys fans who attended their division-losing away game against the Redskins in December 2012. 

Let me just say that I am completely opposed to this kind of thing. Any references to getting "sacked" by a football player or having a hockey player put it in your "five hole" is just vulgar. 

**That being said, I'm totally digging that giant cheese bra. I almost wish I was a Packers fan so I could get one...almost...or maybe I'm just hungry. 

I guess I'll just have to figure out how to make a bra out of steel and Lombardi trophies though. If you want to see how that turns out, you'll have to follow me on Twitter: Follow @blamberr