How do you choose which team to root for?

The Game Room
21

In games where I have no rooting interest, quality play – particularly on defense – will win me over.

In games where there is a conflict, I’ll root for offense. As in, whomever has the ball at the time is the team I root for.

22

NFL

  1. Packers. Their interests trump everything else below. NFL tiebreakers go pretty deep and playoff seeding matters a lot, so this determines a lot of games.

  2. Jets (this year). A few years ago, the Packers weren’t very good and Favre was more interested in trying to win than in “preserving his legacy,” whatever that means. Suck it, haters.

  3. Bills/Browns (tie, leaning Browns lately). I grew up in Western NY, rooted for the Bills in all 4 Super Bowls, and married into a Bills family. On the other hand, I spent several very happy years in my 20s living in Cleveland and have been to several games. I believe that the Browns have the most deserving fan base in sports, and I include the Cubs in that assessment. Both teams play in the cold like Og intended.

  4. Bears (!). Subject to 1 supra. They are division rivals, but I respect them and will root for them on the rare occasion that it does not implicate the Packers’ interests.

  5. Whoever is playing the Vikings or the Cowboys. Both are garbage organizations.

  6. Whoever is playing the Colts. I can’t stand Peyton Manning and I don’t respect dome teams. I had to root for the Colts twice this year (vs. the Bears and the Vikes) and both times I felt the urge to shower afterwards.

  7. Outdoor team > dome team.

23

In this household, we only root for one team - THE WHALE. Why? Because it’s the only pro-level sports team in Connecticut (thank god the Patriots didn’t end up moving to Hartford).

24

My teams are the Yankees and NY Giants.
I root for the RedSox and Cowboys to lose.
I have a softspot for the Cubs.
I like the Bears to a lesser degree when they have a good defensive team.

I root against the divisional rivals for the Yankees and Giants.

I guess I am a mild fan of the Nets, I use to root for the Knicks and Rangers but I am really rooting for a change of ownership instead. I feel about the Dolans the way others feel about Modell.

I don’t root against the Mets or Jets. In fact I would get a kick out of seeing the Jets making it to the Superbowl and losing to the Giants.

PS: It is good to see so much completely rational love for the Yankees. It means they are still doing something right.

25

YAY!

Boo!

I also root for my alma matter UCLA, and against U$C in college ball. (I don’t know why Cal gets a pass from Queen Bruin, but that’s her business.) I also root for University of Michigan for my wife, and am against Penn State and Notre Dame for the same reasons. So that gives me a good variety of college football and basketball.

In pro ball, I root for the Raiders. Why? Damned if I know, I guess it’s in my blood. They are like some sort of horrible drug that hurst you more than they ever made you feel good, but I just can’t quit them. I am trying to find a new team to root for, but none of them are taking. (Though I am liking the Bills quite a bit.) I should probably find myself an NFC team to like, I guess.

I used to love Basketball, but my love of the pro game is dropping. I am nominally a Lakers fan, but not really a huge one. I do still like college B-Ball though.

26

Football is all I watch.

I root for the Steelers because Dad did.

I sometimes root against a team, if I don’t like a player or coach.

I usually root for whomever will make my teams standings better.

I will sometimes root for a team because I like a player or coach.

If none of those apply, I probably won’t watch.

27

Probably because I’ve met more than my fair share of jerkoffs from Cal, and I still giggle over the “OMG you are actually turning us down for REALS? Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?” letters they sent me when I said I was going elsewhere. Cal is way too full of itself.

At least 'SC is local. All other things being equal though I think Stanford is a better rival for us (academically and athletically), and at least I can respect them. Their band is hilarious.

28

Fair enough on all counts. Cal can be damned annoying, and Stanford is at least 4 kinds of awesome.

29

I root for that selfish SOB to throw a pick every time he drops back.

Not infrequently, I am rewarded.

30

Teams I root for, or at least care about how they’re doing:
*Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Orlando being the broadcast market for them, I jumped on the bandwagon the one year they got good and haven’t gotten off since.
*Washington Redskins - Because Steve Spurrier coached there, so I still kind of follow them.
*Indiana Colts - Because it’s the new home of former Bucs coach Tony Dungy, and Peyton Manning is cute. :stuck_out_tongue:
*New York Giants - Hey, they beat the Patriots. And Eli isn’t that bad looking, either. :stuck_out_tongue:
*University of Florida Gators - Alma Mater for the win. It helps they did well when I was attending. (This means that Florida State University and the University of Georgia are automatic enemies. I tend to root for the SEC as a whole as long as they’re not playing Florida.)
*University of Michigan Wolverines - Dad’s Alma Mater, so that makes us honorary Wolvies by default or something. It’s too bad they pretty much suck these days. :frowning: (By extension, Ohio State University is an automatic enemy. I’m ambivalent about the other Michigan schools.)

31

For baseball, I have a hierarchy. It goes something like this: I cheer for

  1. the Red Sox. If they’re not playing then
  2. the Yankees’ opponent. If they’re not playing then
  3. the White Sox, as long as they don’t threaten the Red Sox’ playoff chances;
  4. the AL team lower in the standings (subject to #2 or #3)

If it’s an NL game, I have a few teams that I like: the Cubs, the Dodgers, the Rockies. I like to see them win but mainly I just like to see a good game.

32

I’m a Packer fan so I’m partial to outside stadium blood-and-guts football teams like The Browns, Steelers, Bears (I know, it’s a Packer sin).

If they’re not playing, I root for whoever sucks this year.

33

In United States, team chooses YOU!

34

College; I root for Univ. of Michigan. Then I root for MSU. Then I want the big 10 to do well.
Pro Football. I am stuck with the Lions. They make pro ball boring. I can’t get fired up any more.
Baseball: Tigers then American league to beat the much weaker National league.
Hockey: Red Wings are fun to follow
Basketball;Pistons
Golf: Tiger makes the sport fun to watch
Generally you root for local teams.
I want Notre Dame to lose. I want Dallas Cowboys to lose.

35

I also root for the Michigan teams. In college football, my most hated teams, in order, from best to worst (at the very bottom of the charts) is Ohio State, USC/Notre Dame.

I root for the Big Ten teams, with Michigan, and Michigan State in that order. Everyone else should do well.

In baseball, I root for the Tigers, but I also actively wish pain and anguish upon the Yankees. If I could somehow personally guarantee that they go 0-162 for every year that I’m still alive, I’d do it. The Red Sox are getting very close in the list of teams I dislike.

In football, I also root for the Lions, but there’s been so much pain in football for me this year, I’m numb to it. I appreciate good defense, so I have a soft spot for the Ravens, Bears, Steelers, and sometimes the Raiders, although whoever is playing amazing defense pops up here.

In basketball, I root for the Pistons. I actively dislike the Lakers and Celtics and wish for an asteroid to obliterate the stadium when they play. The Knicks are also hated, but our secret operative, Isaiah Thomas, did a good job of mucking them up for quite a while (or until they buy LeBron).

I root for the Red Wings in hockey. There are other teams?

36

I went to a catholic school in Glasgow, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone even dimly familiar with the west coast of Scotland that I grew up to be a Celtic supporter. Even though I’ve got no real interest in football these days I still keep track of how they’re doing. When they started showing basketball on UK TV this led to everyone at school automatically supporting the Boston Celtics.

When I was 8 years old, Channel 4 in the UK started showing American Football for the first time, which triggered a brief craze for the sport amongst British kids (the ones I knew at least). Popular choices of teams tended towards the ‘glamour’ teams of the time - Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers etc. There weren’t many Cleveland Browns fans as I recall.

Anyway, I opted for the Chicago Bears (it was 1985 and I was an impressionable -
8 year old - I got a bit caught up in the excitement) and I still take a passing interest in their fortunes to today. In fact - this has led to a general preference for Chicago-based teams in other US sports.

I’ve no idea why but I also tend to have a preference for the Jets, Steelers, Vikings and Browns (the latter probably because they were so universally reviled by the other kids at school).

37

For me my teams are traditional family teams… teams my family has rooted for and thus I became a fan of that team, (i.e. Yankees, Knicks, and Giants)… Other teams are those that I jumped on the bandwagon as a kid Seahawks (NFL), Islanders (NHL), and Lakers (NBA).

My other teams are those that are the affiliated pro teams of the local minor league teams (grew up in Syracuse, NY therefore the pro teams of the Chiefs (IL) and Crunch (AHL) to see how the guys playing for the local teams did in the “bigs”… so while not fans of per se, I followed the Blue Jays (MLB) and Canucks (NHL) for awhile. Now I have to pay attention to the Nationals (MLB) and the Blue Jackets (NHL)

NOW… how do I choose when any of those teams aren’t playing? On a sliding scale of the following:

  1. Any team playing against traditional rivals (Red Sox, Celtics, NY Rangers, Cowboys, Redskins)
  2. Any team playing against intra-division teams (Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays, Sixers, Nets, Penguins, Flyers, Devils, Eagles)
  3. Any team playing against popular “bandwagon” teams (Red Wings, Penguins, Patriots, Chargers, Spurs, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Tigers, Indians, Mets, Phillies)
  4. Any team playing a team from Boston (Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox)
  5. Any local team to where I live now (Denver) (Broncos, Rockies, Nuggets, Avalanche)
  6. Any team that may have a player from Syracuse University (Eagles, Colts, Nuggets)

If none of those conditions exist, I go read a book cuz I really really dont care

38

Fun thread, thanks.

For Pro-Football:

  1. 49ers - they suck but I love 'em anyway
  2. Anyone playing Dallas - they suck as people
  3. Anyone playing Denver - They have they most annoying fans I’ve ever come across and I love to see them suffer

For College Football:

  1. Notre Dame - I read a Lou Holtz book when I was about 8 and fell in love with the tradition
  2. Stanford - My Mom went to Cal so its started off cheering against her in the Big Game but as I learned more about the school and the fact there great at a lot of sports I enjoy them year round.
  3. PAC - 10 - lately this has caused me to cheer for USC, which hurts, but its still better then those other teams.
  4. LSU - My Dad’s family went there and my great-grandfather build Tiger Stadium, but lately my Dad has become annoying with his LSU stuff so I only root for them when he’s not around.
  5. Any one playing the Big 10 or Big 12 those posers deserve to be in the basement with the ACC and Sun Belt.

Pro Baseball:

  1. Dodgers - I’m a SoCal boy and bleed Dodger Blue.
  2. The rest of the NL West besides the Giants - Giants Suck but I like to see the rest do well because it makes the Dodgers look better
  3. Astros - I’ve spent enough time at Minute Maid that they are my backup team.

Beyond that I’ll cheer for either the team I have money on or who ever everyone else is cheering against.

39

I grew up in the DC area. I am a Redskins fan. I have season tickets that I pay too much money for and I have to drive too far to use them. But I do. I cheer for the Ravens since they are local and in the other conference. I don’t have anything against the Colts, I was like 4 when they split.

I am a Orioles fan, because there was no pro-ball team team in DC when I was growing up. The Nationals don’t really even show up on my radar since I have lived in PA since they were formed.

I’m a Wizards/Bullets fan, but I’m also a fan of certain players. A.I. for example played at Georgetown and I’ve followed him (Philly, Denver, Detroit) since then. I also like Shaq. He is just an entertaining person.

Not much of a hockey fan, but I’m glad when the Caps are doing well.

I used to be a fan of Univ. of Maryland until I started going to college. Now, I’m all Penn State.

40

When I became interested in American Football in the nineties, a friend told me to root for the Packers. “Why?” I asked. “It’s community owned”, he said. Wow, how cool is that? I thought and became a cheese head. Of course, only weeks later they won the Super Bowl, which made it rather silly to root for the Packers all of a sudden; you know like the guy in the school yard who roots for whomever won last season. But it stuck.