team and completely stopped following your old team and are all in on your new team in any sport at any level? I mean rooting for at least 10 years for the old team before the switch
allegiances and can't imagine any scenario where I would, but I am sure something could force me on that.
I do have a friend who was a Bluejays fan for some reason most of his life (lived in MA), and became a Red Sox fan around 1992 - before the Bluejays World Series wins.
No, but I grew up with a lot of "die hard" Mets fans...
that you cannot win the Super Bowl every year and that being a Fan has its ups and downs. No matter how good or bad your team is you are still a Fan through it all...
My six year old asked me this yesterday while we were in the car. Think he wants to be a broncos fan LOL
You should have made him walk home. My 6 y/o son told a friend from school that he couldn't come over to our house during football season because his friend is a Skins fan, and our house is Giants fans only. I've never been prouder as a father.
who is from va, parents from ny...never lived in ny...grew up a yankee fan...he has lived in atlanta for 5 years now...i saw him recently at a wedding and he told me when Jeter retires, he is going to switch to being a braves fan...
i see his point...i am a long time yankee fan...i have no ties left to the yankee players...however, i will not choose another team, i will just watch baseball less than i already do...i watch a few games a year, now ill just watch none, but i still own a hat, and when i visit fam in ny, ill go to a game...good enough for me and i dont think my friend is wrong for doing so.
I've posted this before, but I was a very casual football fan until college. I grew up in a Giants household and rooted for the giants when I was younger. I attended a number of games with my Dad. But I was never really a big fan of football. It was more a casual thing that my family did.
In college I got more interested and football and it cemented my giants Fandom (depsite it being the mid-nineties during the giants lack of success). But I could see a casual fan like myself adopting another team when they make the transition from casual to more "hard-core" fan. Especially if you attend school in an area that is not local to your "hometown" team.
who grew up as technically a "fan" of a team but never really followed the team closely. They moved to a new city and started following the local team very closely.
Ultimately, you're a fan because you enjoy being so-- you are entertained by watching the games and find the emotional experience of cheering for a team satisfying. But if the team you cheer for makes being a fan no longer enjoyable for some reason, I don't see the problem in switching to another team.
Sports are a TV show. They have done nothing for you to deserve your loyalty.
I had a brief spat around the mid 2000s where I briefly considered switching from the Islanders to the Rangers. The islanders hadn't won anything in my entire life as a fan (still haven't!) other than a decent playoff run when I was 8 years old. I didn't watch sports prior to being 8, so that was it. All my friends were/are Rangers fans. So I agreed to give it a shot and my first game watching with an attempt to root for them ended up being the game of Marek Malik's shootout goal. Hell of a way to get "broken in."
But after 3 weeks or so I realized it just wasn't in me. In fact, I hated everyone on that team and every one of their fans. Like, viscous. debilitating hate :)
Some on here may remember me debating it.
Other than that, the thought has never crossed my mind at any point.
I will say though, I do root for the Blue Jackets. They are my only "second team" in sports. I love that they've made hockey relevant in Columbus where I lived for 5 years.
when I moved to Ottawa in the mid-90's. Being from here, I had no geographical ties to any teams. Once I moved to a city with a team it seemed like a good idea to support the local squad. Always cheered for Messier before that so I suppose the Rangers were my team prior to switching but it was more about the player than the team.
who taught me all things Giants and died a little with me every Sunday during the dark period, moved to Cape Cod about 20 years ago and now follows the Patriots.
and moved somewhere else and got into following the local team because you could go to the games. Over the past 10 years I have wished at times I could stop being a fan of the Islanders and become a Blue Jackets fan since it would be fun to go to games, but my love of the Islanders - despite all the losing - is too deeply embeded for me to switch. I root for the Blue Jackets to do well, but don't go out of my way to watch them like I do the Islanders.
If I didn't hate the NBA I could switch from the Knicks in a heartbeat, but watching any NBA game is just too painful.
The one exception I can see is college, because I've done that
But it's not as if it was to my benefit. Growing up I was a fan of UNC basketball and FSU football, because I had one uncle who was a UNC alum and a huge basketball fan and one uncle who was an FSU alum and a huge football fan. The minute I started attending Virginia, that was all over. I was a Hoo for life, resigned to a fandom of heartbreak and misery.
Still will always root for UNC against Duke and FSU against Florida and Miami, but that's where it stops.
RE: The one exception I can see is college, because I've done that
But it's not as if it was to my benefit. Growing up I was a fan of UNC basketball and FSU football, because I had one uncle who was a UNC alum and a huge basketball fan and one uncle who was an FSU alum and a huge football fan. The minute I started attending Virginia, that was all over. I was a Hoo for life, resigned to a fandom of heartbreak and misery.
Still will always root for UNC against Duke and FSU against Florida and Miami, but that's where it stops.
my team was whatever team Wilt Chamberlain plyed for. So first it was the Warriors (Philly then San Fran), the Sixers, and then the Lakers (but not San Diego). After that it was Kareem.
Switched from NBA to EPL about 10 years ago. A team? Unless you re-locate I cant imagine it.
Hell I think that is a given if you start following a new league and sport. When I started watching the EPL, well not really watching but as a casual observer, I followed Portsmouth. Not religiously of course, but even though I follow another team now, I still like to read and follow their score lines.
For me it's something almost primal in nature. It's like being born into a tribe. I literally was raised to be a fan of the Giants, Yankees, Rangers and Knicks. It was every bit a part of my upbringing as eating my vegetables and making my bed. I could never even fathom changing allegiances - it would be like changing my last name.
and I don't understand anyone who does. My teams are in my blood. Good or bad that's just how it is.
I don't understand how someone can spend time and money rooting for a team, get emotionally invested in that team, and then one day switch to another team.
For me it's something almost primal in nature. It's like being born into a tribe. I literally was raised to be a fan of the Giants, Yankees, Rangers and Knicks. It was every bit a part of my upbringing as eating my vegetables and making my bed. I could never even fathom changing allegiances - it would be like changing my last name.
Yup that's how I feel. I was born into this and it's been a part of my life forever. I could never change allegiances, and to me... people who do are frauds!
I understand it for people who move to different geographic regions
I had a friend in college who relocated to California, and became a 49ers fan (he was a Jets fan here). He still roots for the Jets, but he's a 49ers fan who goes to games regularly there. Seeing as there's rarely any conflict between the two, I can understand it - although he barely seems to care about the Jets anymore. Not sure if it's just his new fandom or the team's lack of success that caused it though.
Now, had the same guy relocated to NE and started rooting for the Patriots? That would be some strange concept of fandom to me, IMO.
One of my best buddies didn't like football until we were late 20s.
He picked the Jets because they had Parcells and Testaverde. To his credit, he stuck it out for a bunch of years. He recently switched to the Giants because of the Jets bringing in Michael Vick. (ok, I guess)
That's why one championship that always bugged me was the 1996 Stanley Cup. Nordqiues fans suffered through years of awful teams, then their team rises from the ashes to become a contender, and what happened? They skip town and win a Cup. People in Denver invested NOTHING in that team and reaped instant benefits.
For me it's something almost primal in nature. It's like being born into a tribe. I literally was raised to be a fan of the Giants, Yankees, Rangers and Knicks. It was every bit a part of my upbringing as eating my vegetables and making my bed. I could never even fathom changing allegiances - it would be like changing my last name.
Well I picked the Canadiens when I was young. Like 10 years old. My father was a Rangers fan, but when I started playing hockey the Canadiens were the best team in the league and when we'd get hockey games on TV, which was rare, it was the Canadiens, and I was told by my dad "watch that guy play if you're going to play defense" and it was Chris Chelios. So I was hooked from that point on.
The fact they won a couple championships early on once I began following them cemented the deal.
I did "follow" the Whalers because we'd get free tickets a lot, and I know a lot about the franchise (best live game I've seen was game 6 1991 Bruins Whalers), but I was never a fan.
For me it's something almost primal in nature. It's like being born into a tribe. I literally was raised to be a fan of the Giants, Yankees, Rangers and Knicks. It was every bit a part of my upbringing as eating my vegetables and making my bed. I could never even fathom changing allegiances - it would be like changing my last name.
Well I picked the Canadiens when I was young. Like 10 years old. My father was a Rangers fan, but when I started playing hockey the Canadiens were the best team in the league and when we'd get hockey games on TV, which was rare, it was the Canadiens, and I was told by my dad "watch that guy play if you're going to play defense" and it was Chris Chelios. So I was hooked from that point on.
The fact they won a couple championships early on once I began following them cemented the deal.
I did "follow" the Whalers because we'd get free tickets a lot, and I know a lot about the franchise (best live game I've seen was game 6 1991 Bruins Whalers), but I was never a fan.
PJ - what game was that? I recall, being a Bruins fan, a game where the Bruins scored four goals in the third period and erased a 5-2 deficit versus Hart (or something of that sort). But I thought that game was in 1990.
Growing up, I was a Yankee much to the dismay of my father who still rooted from the SF Giants even though they had moved to the west coast may years earlier. Despite being a fan of the Yankees, I really couldn't stand George Steinbrenner. In 1980, when the Yankees won 103 games, but failed to reach the World Series, Steinbrenner fired the manager, Dick Howser, who had done an excellent job. That was the last straw for me. I decided I could no longer root for that team.
I was basically without a team for 2 seasons until the Mets traded for Keith Hernandez in 1983. The Mets had been a laughingstock for so long, but that move told me that they were finally committed to winning. They followed that up with the trade for Gary Carter and became one of the top teams for a number of years.
I don't follow baseball that closely any more, but I still root for the Mets and despise the Yankees.
I only liked the Giants, Yankees and Rangers for as long as I can remember. I don't follow basketball at all and have a very hard time watching it. If I were to say I was a fan of one team it would be, the Brooklyn Nets? I did attend games with my mom back in 2002-2004 but eh. I don't have any "second" favorite teams either. I guess my second favorite team would be whoever plays the Eagles or Cowboys in the playoffs, if they play each other, I gotta go with the Cowboys...
"What the fuck?? How can you root for the Cowboys" -every person that lives north of Brick
That's why one championship that always bugged me was the 1996 Stanley Cup. Nordqiues fans suffered through years of awful teams, then their team rises from the ashes to become a contender, and what happened? They skip town and win a Cup. People in Denver invested NOTHING in that team and reaped instant benefits.
but that wasn't their doing. I can't fault the fans for that. It's not like the fans were the ones that moved the team.
For example, I would root for the Giants to beat the ever living shit out of a bunch of nuns and priests (on the football field of course :0) but I do have to say that for some reason, I do like to root for the Pats (of course unless they play the Giants or a team where a win would affect the giants chances in ANY way, shape or form- basically any NFC team if the Giants are still in it).
Maybe it's my hatred for the Jets (they are my #3 most hated franchise behind eagles and cowboys- somehow they are ahead of the skins on my hate list...but I digress.)
Maybe it's the Belichik connection to the Gmen or maybe it's just that Tom Brady is sooo dreamy.
Can't explain it. Maybe I just like cheaters?
I've come REALLY close to ditching the Islanders over the years
If they had moved away, I'm really not sure what I would've ever done. Cheer them in Seattle or wherever they went? I suppose I could've reconciled cheering for the Rangers, but good grief how weird would that be. At least (unlike the Devils) the Rangers are New York through and through.
I've tried to get behind the Capitals here in the DC area, but I never could. Even as the Islanders have sucked for the better part of 25 years. I never wanted to wear anything Caps wise. I just couldn't get into it.
The Knicks, it was easier for me as basketball is hands down my least favorite sport to watch on TV. I do get into college basketball a little bit, that's probably because my school VCU has been fairly good for a long period of time now - pretty much since I went there in the 90's. Sure, they are mainstream now, but even back in the Kendrick Warren days the boys were tripping people up in the tournament and competing for the CAA every year.
just wanted to re-emphasize that the only thing that might have made me switch allegiances was the Islanders leaving New York.
I don't think that's particularly clear in my previous post header.
All these years I've sorta stopped watching hockey much. Although part of that is still based on the fact I had to physically stop playing hockey due to a bad kidney disease over ten years ago. Some wounds are still slow to heal. Sometimes it's tough for me to watch hockey because it reminds me of what I can't do anymore.
I do have a friend who was a Bluejays fan for some reason most of his life (lived in MA), and became a Red Sox fan around 1992 - before the Bluejays World Series wins.
You should have made him walk home. My 6 y/o son told a friend from school that he couldn't come over to our house during football season because his friend is a Skins fan, and our house is Giants fans only. I've never been prouder as a father.
i see his point...i am a long time yankee fan...i have no ties left to the yankee players...however, i will not choose another team, i will just watch baseball less than i already do...i watch a few games a year, now ill just watch none, but i still own a hat, and when i visit fam in ny, ill go to a game...good enough for me and i dont think my friend is wrong for doing so.
In college I got more interested and football and it cemented my giants Fandom (depsite it being the mid-nineties during the giants lack of success). But I could see a casual fan like myself adopting another team when they make the transition from casual to more "hard-core" fan. Especially if you attend school in an area that is not local to your "hometown" team.
Sports are a TV show. They have done nothing for you to deserve your loyalty.
But after 3 weeks or so I realized it just wasn't in me. In fact, I hated everyone on that team and every one of their fans. Like, viscous. debilitating hate :)
Some on here may remember me debating it.
Other than that, the thought has never crossed my mind at any point.
I will say though, I do root for the Blue Jackets. They are my only "second team" in sports. I love that they've made hockey relevant in Columbus where I lived for 5 years.
It burns to even acknowledge this.
If I didn't hate the NBA I could switch from the Knicks in a heartbeat, but watching any NBA game is just too painful.
Still will always root for UNC against Duke and FSU against Florida and Miami, but that's where it stops.
Still will always root for UNC against Duke and FSU against Florida and Miami, but that's where it stops.
Read that too quickly haha
I was talking to his brother-in-law last night at their practice about it and i can support that.
He is a Nashville Predators fan right now, but he, though he's from Mass, never grew up a hardcore Bruins fan, so his family follows Peter's teams.
it was only really a problem when they were Flyers fans.
Hell I think that is a given if you start following a new league and sport. When I started watching the EPL, well not really watching but as a casual observer, I followed Portsmouth. Not religiously of course, but even though I follow another team now, I still like to read and follow their score lines.
I've tried to become a Ranger or Bruins fan but both of them are just "Not the Whalers". I couldn't stomach it.
I don't understand how someone can spend time and money rooting for a team, get emotionally invested in that team, and then one day switch to another team.
Yup that's how I feel. I was born into this and it's been a part of my life forever. I could never change allegiances, and to me... people who do are frauds!
Now, had the same guy relocated to NE and started rooting for the Patriots? That would be some strange concept of fandom to me, IMO.
Personally, I could never do it. I'm a Giants/Rangers/Mets/Knicks fan and none of those 4 will ever change.
Well I picked the Canadiens when I was young. Like 10 years old. My father was a Rangers fan, but when I started playing hockey the Canadiens were the best team in the league and when we'd get hockey games on TV, which was rare, it was the Canadiens, and I was told by my dad "watch that guy play if you're going to play defense" and it was Chris Chelios. So I was hooked from that point on.
The fact they won a couple championships early on once I began following them cemented the deal.
I did "follow" the Whalers because we'd get free tickets a lot, and I know a lot about the franchise (best live game I've seen was game 6 1991 Bruins Whalers), but I was never a fan.
Wasn't Jody McDonald a guy who was a Jets fan, but the Cowboys were his NFC team. WTF?? LOL.......
I can appreciate good players on other teams, but that is as far as it goes.
I'm with my teams thru good and bad...........
Quote:
For me it's something almost primal in nature. It's like being born into a tribe. I literally was raised to be a fan of the Giants, Yankees, Rangers and Knicks. It was every bit a part of my upbringing as eating my vegetables and making my bed. I could never even fathom changing allegiances - it would be like changing my last name.
Well I picked the Canadiens when I was young. Like 10 years old. My father was a Rangers fan, but when I started playing hockey the Canadiens were the best team in the league and when we'd get hockey games on TV, which was rare, it was the Canadiens, and I was told by my dad "watch that guy play if you're going to play defense" and it was Chris Chelios. So I was hooked from that point on.
The fact they won a couple championships early on once I began following them cemented the deal.
I did "follow" the Whalers because we'd get free tickets a lot, and I know a lot about the franchise (best live game I've seen was game 6 1991 Bruins Whalers), but I was never a fan.
PJ - what game was that? I recall, being a Bruins fan, a game where the Bruins scored four goals in the third period and erased a 5-2 deficit versus Hart (or something of that sort). But I thought that game was in 1990.
I was basically without a team for 2 seasons until the Mets traded for Keith Hernandez in 1983. The Mets had been a laughingstock for so long, but that move told me that they were finally committed to winning. They followed that up with the trade for Gary Carter and became one of the top teams for a number of years.
I don't follow baseball that closely any more, but I still root for the Mets and despise the Yankees.
"What the fuck?? How can you root for the Cowboys" -every person that lives north of Brick
but that wasn't their doing. I can't fault the fans for that. It's not like the fans were the ones that moved the team.
Maybe it's my hatred for the Jets (they are my #3 most hated franchise behind eagles and cowboys- somehow they are ahead of the skins on my hate list...but I digress.)
Maybe it's the Belichik connection to the Gmen or maybe it's just that Tom Brady is sooo dreamy.
Can't explain it. Maybe I just like cheaters?
I've tried to get behind the Capitals here in the DC area, but I never could. Even as the Islanders have sucked for the better part of 25 years. I never wanted to wear anything Caps wise. I just couldn't get into it.
The Knicks, it was easier for me as basketball is hands down my least favorite sport to watch on TV. I do get into college basketball a little bit, that's probably because my school VCU has been fairly good for a long period of time now - pretty much since I went there in the 90's. Sure, they are mainstream now, but even back in the Kendrick Warren days the boys were tripping people up in the tournament and competing for the CAA every year.
I don't think that's particularly clear in my previous post header.
All these years I've sorta stopped watching hockey much. Although part of that is still based on the fact I had to physically stop playing hockey due to a bad kidney disease over ten years ago. Some wounds are still slow to heal. Sometimes it's tough for me to watch hockey because it reminds me of what I can't do anymore.