Ever switched your loyalties to another team and why?

The Game Room
41

The Red Wings? :wink:

Vikings fan? Please. You’ve won a game in the playoffs. You actually have a chance at winning more games that you lose most seasons. Mention that you think the Lions will have any sort of a winning record and the most die hard Lions fan will look at you like you’re nuts. Hell, you’ll get that same look if you honestly think we won’t be down to our third string quarterback by game four. Who’s the most valuable player on the team? Jason Hanson. The kicker is the one player we can’t afford to lose.

:slight_smile:

Now that’d be a fun thread. Which team is the hardest one to be a fan of?

42

But that’s pretty much the only hockey that’s ever on TV here! How else can I get my fix? I check out highlights clips online, but I can’t watch whole Canadiens games. And they’re better in French, anyhow, because that’s how I grew up watching with my grandfather, and because I curse at them in French when they screw up.

43

RDS used to have a deal where they streamed games online for something like $3.50 a game (and there was a package deal for the season, but I don’t remember the cost). I did it twice in 08-09, but they don’t do it any more. They really should bring it back. Paying for online games from NHL.com is a rip off.

You can listen to the radio call online through the team homepage, though (above the score in on the right side). That’s what my husband does when he’s in the states or overseas for business.

How about this: you can watch the Caps games, but you have to cheer for whoever their opponent is. Exemptions only for the Bruins, Laffs and Flyers, who deserve to be annihilated at every opportunity. :wink:

44

My dad and grandfather were Dodger fans from the Brooklyn days. My dad wad 12 when they moved, and never gave up the fandom. I grew up as a Dodger fan, just because. When I moved out here to San Fran in 1996, I became an A’s fan because

  1. They had Dollar Wednesdays - dogs, sodas, and tickets for a buck each!

and

  1. I despised Barry Bonds as a person. Such a prick.

But since Bonds left, the Giants were more endearing. In the 2009 season, I listened to a lot of the games at work on the radio, and grew to like the team. This season, from opening day, I was able to listen to about 150 of the 162 regular-season games. Even if they hadn’t made the playoffs, I truly became a Giants fan this year. The Series win is just icing.

About 6 months ago, when I told my dad that I was really enjoying the Giants game, he gave me a good-natured ration of shit for it. But he also said, “Well, at least you’re a baseball fan.” I still have great memories of 81 and 88 with the Dodgers.

My grandfather never forgave the Dodgers for movig. He bided his time until the Mets came in 62, and was a Mets fan until the day he died.

Joe

45

Yup, I’m in Ottawa.

Hey, my hatred for the Habs as mellowed over the years. Nowadays I could actually stomach them winning a cup. I can’t say the same for the Senators though. They’ve become my latest Anyone But team. Not sure why.

46

Same here, except in my case it was the Steelers. I wasn’t even really much of a football fan, though as a kid growing up outside of Chicago in the 70s, my whole family used to watch football together on Sundays. We moved as I hit my teens so my family fell out of love with the Bears, and I was too busy with drugs and girls to care about sports. In my late teens a good friend got me invested in the Giants, who had been my home team since the move.

I generally have no respect for douchey little shits like I was as a kid that root for non-home teams just to be contrarian. I know several people like that. I have since moved a few times, but I always come back to this area because I just love it. My Giants fandom has never wavered and it never will, though I did add the Jets when Parcells took over.

47

Tried typing this last night in the middle of Burn Notice, got sidetracked. First of all, I’m weird. Second of all, until 1996, I had no major league hometown teams to follow, at all. Combine the two, you get the following mess:

NFL

Raiders 1975-present (more or less)
Browns 1972-1974 (at which point we moved…)
Jaguars 1996-present (to the hometown of this future team)-rooting for Raiders tho in their December game

College FB

Florida Gators 1976-present (alumni too)

MLB

Cincinnati Reds 1976-c. 1982
Red Sox 1978-present
Brief flirtation w/ Milwaukee Brewers 1982-83
Cubs 1984-present, intermittently

NBA

76ers, 1977-to-sometime in the middle of the Allan Iverson era, at which point I ceased to care about the NBA, at all

NHL

Edmonton Oilers 1983-1991
NY Rangers 1994-1999
Detroit Red Wings 1997-present

Basically, what the above shows is that it is hard to follow a team & continue to care about them when you can’t see any of their games. In the pre-cable & then pre-internet days, if a team got bad, the networks hardly showed them at all. I’ve also tended to become enchanted by individual players, which sometimes includes organizational styles. Once those players are traded, and the styles disappear with them, I often would (note past tense) switch to the team they went to, or a completely new team.

Hence in hockey, I was absolutely captivated by the Edmonton Oilers’ talent, style, and overall modus operandi; they were so far ahead of the league that it wasn’t funny. But once owner Peter Pocklington sold all of their stars, I was in limbo for a few years until Mess began his quest to deliver the Rangers to the promised land, at which point I naturally followed him. When they exiled him away to Vancouver tho, I was in a bind because Gretzky was still on the team. At this point I started to notice Detroit’s Russian Five line; combine that with the auto accident that forced Vladimir Konstantinov to retire, and I damned sure was going to root for a repeat.

Baseball was similar; once WGN was regularly beamed into my house, I was able to follow one team without the chance of not seeing any of their games. But sometime in the mid-90’s I got deeply disenchanted with their hopeless front office, Ryno retired, and the Nomar/Pedro Sox became my #1. In 2003, Boston’s loss in the ALCS hurt about 5x as much as the Cubs’ simultaneous swoon (damn I was so effin’ looking forward to that World Series-never caught a single second of the one we had in this timeline).

In any event, my loyalties are probably as solidified as they’ll ever get now; the Red Wings still have the same organizational ethos they’ve had for 15 years, the Raiders are on the rebound, which has my <ahem> juices flowing, Red Sox fan to the end for sure, hate the NBA, Gator alumni. If you called me a fair-weather fan, I probably wouldn’t argue against it.

48

I was born in Wisconsin, moved to Illinois, then North Carolina as a kid. My NHL team from 1982 to 1997 was the Blackhawks, then I switched to the Canes. I’m still a Packers fan, since the Panthers are on the other end of the state, and I’m a casual Cubs fan. I went to N.C. State, so I’ll forever be a Wolfpack and ABC fan*.

*Anybody But Carolina.

49

When I was younger I had no allegiance to teams, just to players. So I grew up an Oakland Athletics fan because of Rickey Henderson (my favorite at the time) and only switched when I discovered the greatness that was Ken Griffey Jr… For years I was a Mariners fan, and only switched when the Diamondbacks came into existence and I finally had a home team to root for. I still follow the A’s and Mariners, but I don’t root for them. The Diamondbacks were my first favorite “team” in baseball.

I’ve switched my allegiance on pro basketball teams numerous times… until I finally decided to pick, and stick, with one. I decided that most of all (from baseball) I hate teams that are stagnant. I hate teams that don’t try to improve. So before the 2006 draft I swore to myself I’d be a fan of whichever team did the most with their picks. Not who they picked, but the way they picked them. Portland ended up making several deals, eventually getting the #2 and the #5 players (Aldridge and Roy). I’ve been a fan since. Unfortunately I was quickly indoctrinated into what it’s like to be a Blazers fan when they drafted Oden. Damn it.

Football is where I’ve stayed true. I became an Eagles fan in 3rd grade when our class made the Eagle our mascot. I went home and saw Sportscenter and saw Randall Cunningham for the first time… on the Eagles! He was as incredible as any athlete could ever be, and I was hooked. The only time I could say I even wavered was a brief flirtation with the Vikings in '98 when Cunningham led that team to the Super Bowl’s doorstep. Not even a glance at another team though. This is by far the strongest connection I have with any team, and if I had to keep only one, the Eagles would be it. Every team I root for makes me happy when they win… the Eagles are the only team to make me upset when they lose.

I grew up minutes from the University of Arizona, so I’m also a die hard, no questions asked Wildcats fan.

50

I switched due to an emotional reaction.

Being English I always supported the England international rugby side. I had an Irish girlfriend for many years and she and I would watch Ireland/England matches and have a lot of fun derogatory banter during the games.

I would also watch all the matches where those two teams weren’t playing each other, and root for either England or Ireland.

After several years of this, while living in Ireland, one day I was watching an Ireland/England match and England scored a try, and without thinking about it I felt disappointed. And I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for England for the rest of the match. I realised at the end of it I must have become an Ireland supporter without realising it - and despite moving back to England, I have been an Ireland supporter ever since.

51

well growing up i was a big celtics fan. but when the spurs came to town i made that switch pretty quick.

also, i rooted for the yankees because they were my dad’s team. but as i actually developed coherent thought processes i switched to the astros. although upon reflection that might not have been a real coherent choice.

52

Hey thats too cool. I played against Laphonso in high school He was a terrific player and a really nice guy. East St Louis was a tough place and man the guys who played ball their played like they wanted to get the hell out!!!
Always a Chicago fan… since i moved to atlanta I’ve adopted the home teams… as long as they aren’t playing my Chicago teams…

53

Guess I’m not the only crazy person. :cool: