I don’t think they wear these anymore, but I went to a Met game in 1993 against the Marlins, and were blown away by their road uniforms. The marlin with it’s tail-fin helping form the “F”. The shiny teal outline around the black letters/numbers, set against the standard “road grayish” background. Pictures don’t do those uniforms justice, you had to see the teal shine in the sunlight to properly appreciate its beauty.
I’m a die-hard Royals fan, but those uniforms will always make me like the Marlins to some degree.
The only sport I follow is baseball, and there are complex algorithms for which teams I’m rooting for at any one time. The givens are
Any team playing the Yankees.
Any team playing the Braves except the Yankees.
Other than that, it takes the exact matchup for me to pick. Some are dependent on how my team (Cleveland) is doing. I nearly always root for Kansas City and Detroit, unless they’re going to be spoilers for another race.
I don’t have any NL teams, though I’m a sucker for the underdog. And I’ll tend to root for Cincinnati.
Red Sox. They’re arch-rivals of the Yankees, I love their stadium, their uni’s, and their history and players. I also visited their once, and loved the city.
U of South Carolina. My mom lives there, and you gotta admire a team that will wear Go Cocks on their shirts.
Well, Notre Dame kind of goes without saying for those of us who grew up Catholic in the Sixties. I never knew anybody who went to Notre Dame, but I always thought of them as my team
True story: my Mom dragged me to Mass with 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter of the 1970 Cotton Bowl (it took me years to forgive her). We sat in the pew for what seemed like an eternity before the priest finally came out. And his first words were, “Sorry folks, Texas won, 21-17.”
So I was doubly pissed- not only did the Irish lose, but the priest was in the rectory watching the game until the very end (as I wanted to!).
Other teams I liked:
Montreal Canadiens, in part because was a tall, 4-eyed, intellectual geek… which made Ken Dryden seem like the ideal sports hero for me. The idea of a guy who could win a Stanley Cup, take off a few years to go to law school, then win a few more Stanley Cups was just WAAAAY too cool for words.
The Oakland Oaks- Rick Barry’s team in the old ABA. I loved that red, white & blue ball! The Oaks went through a bunch of moves and new names, but I kept rooting for them no matter what they called themselves.
Penn State. Even as a kid, I was awfully retro! Plus, Joe Paterno was just like the Italians I grew up with. Hard not to root for him, even though I didn’t go to Penn State and never knew anyone who did.
In NHL playoffs I cheer for any Canadian Team that isn’t from Ottawa. If all Canadian teams are elimanted I cheer for original 6 teams. However that is just a playoff thing. Now that Detroit plays in the western conference, I appreciate when they do well, the reason? Stevie Y.
In football I like Cincinnati and Arizona. Teams that have sucked for so long deserve a little exra fan love. I have an NFC team (Eagles, my #1 NFL Team), and an AFC Team (Dolphins) to cheer for, but I identify myself as a fan of both.
In Basketball, don’t really like Basketball very much, but whoever is playing against the Nets. This may change if Carter whines his way out of Jersey as well.
I always cheer for the Netherlands in the World Cup. I approve of their forward thinking society.
I’m a current Mets and Knicks fan who grew up and is still in NYC. I confess to rooting for the Red Sox (due to that Yankee Complex thing) and to a much lesser degree the Giants, because they play in SF, my second favorite city. (It was kind of weird watching a Mets-Giants game played out in SF a year or two ago when the Giants were doing a “throwback uniform” day; they wore the home uniform of the 1954 New York Giants, whose stylized “NY” on the cap is the exact basis for the one the Mets use.)
In pro basketball I don’t really have an alternate team per se to the Knicks; but now that they’ve become unwatchably bad, I’ll watch whatever team I think is playing good team basketball other than the Lakers or the Heat. For the past few years it’s been the Rockets and the Pistons.
After Michael Jordan retired I vowed that I would never get tired of seeing the Bulls lose, but that has worn off. I will never, however, root for the Miami Heat, unless they are somehow incredible underdogs, such as by fielding a starting lineup of midgets in flip-flop sandals remote controlled via a Sony Playstation against the Western Conference All-Stars.
Are we allowed to extend this discussion to Europe?
The OP’s criteria exclude my leaning towards Man City and Liverpool, but not Spurs (which I’ve acquired from my father). Also I certainly support Celtic, through both Irish parentage and Catholic Glaswegian friends. Locally, we’re supposed to hate Colchester, but I’m enjoying seeing them do so well. It’ll be a different matter if we’re playing them next season, though.
