Fan or fanatic? A fan, according to the American Heritage College Dictionary, is "an ardent devotee, an enthusiast." Fanatic is defined as "a person marked by an extreme unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause." The distinction, then, apparently rests on whether the enthusiasm is ardent or unreasoning.

Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans, a global partner network with over 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, teams, players associations, athletes, celebrities, colleges, and college conferences, and over 2,000 retail ...

With excess of $1 billion in sales annually, Fanatics is a top 50 Internet Retailer Company that comprises the broadest online assortment of officially licensed items via its Fanatics (fanatics.com) and FansEdge (www.fansedge.com) brands, as well as the largest selection of sports collectibles and memorabilia through ...

In 2011, Rubin acquired Fanatics from its founders, brothers Alan and Mitchell Trager; the Florida-based sports retailer had an e-commerce presence across college and professional teams, and the new assets merged into GSI.