thoughtfulI got to thinking about this, and this distinction is true in other areas as well, such as sports. One can be a baseball fan. A few people can be professional baseball players. But a pro can be a fan of the game, too. Some pro baseball players are not fans. Once they end their playing career, they pack away their gear, store it away, and never look at it again. Other former pro players are unabashedly fans of the game, too. Just look at the San Francisco Giants TV broadcasters Mike Krukow & Duane Kuiper. Both of them are former players, and today work as professional baseball broadcasters. But they are both clearly fans of baseball. Everything about they way they carry themselves and talk about baseball screams "fan" to me. And that's not a bad thing.
Update, 18:30: Corrected missing word "not" spotted in comments.