I was talking about the Midlands (UK) rugby team called Leicester Tigers.
Yes (as DSYoung said), the Tigers won the English League in 2008, 2009 + 2012 and were runners-up in 2007, 2010 + 2011.
However they have slid down the League since then.
Colibri, I’m guessing you’re discussing the Detroit Tigers?
Grew up in Toronto. Being a Maple Leafs fan went with the territory, and I’m old enough to remember them winning Stanley Cups.
Now, even though I’ve lived in Calgary and Edmonton, both with pro hockey teams, I remain a Leafs fan. Same for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL, and the Blue Jays of MLB.
They look very strong this year, yeah. That’s okay. I enjoyed the 49ers’ glory years with Montana and Young. That was a great time. Many fans live their entire lives never having won a Super Bowl. I’m grateful to have experienced the thrills of victories, especially for Super Bowls XXIII & XXIV, and XXIX, when I was fully on board the bandwagon What fun!
And I was also genuinely happy for Ram fans back at Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999.
No. As has been noted above, fan loyalties are tied up in tribalism, heritage, and, for me, childhood nostalgia. I have lived in Atlanta for the past thirty years, so I “should” be a Falcons fan. But I first got hooked on football as a child in Northern Ohio, watching the Kardiac Kid Browns of Brian Sipe, Greg Pruitt, and Ozzy Newsome. So I am, and always will be, a Browns fan. I’m mildly glad to see the Falcons do well, but I really don’t care if they win, lose, or move to Vegas. (Part of this stems from a lingering distaste for the shenanigans of Rankin Smith, their previous owner. When he would threaten to move the team to Jacksonville, I longed for the mayor to tell him not to let the door hit him on the ass on the way out.)
It’s also partly to do with being a Cleveland native. You don’t hear it so much anymore, but time was when Cleveland was a national joke - the “Mistake By The Lake”. I remember seeing an ad for a carpet company here in Atlanta that boasted they had “enough carpet to cover Cleveland completely”. All this engendered a pride in my native city that probably would not have been fostered so strongly if I’d stayed there. Wearing Browns gear in Atlanta was a way of proclaiming my identity. I was a Cleveland native, and damn proud of it, too.
(Now, of course, I’m even more proud, having seen what an amazing, lively, wonderful city it now is.)
On the other hand, while I have childhood memories of the Indians – anyone else remember Len Barker, or Joltin’ Joe Charbonneau, or Mike Hargrove’s interminable “adjust gloves, adjust belt, hitch up crotch, tap spikes” routine between every pitch? I swear, he took 10 minutes for each at-bat – I only really got into baseball during the Braves’ amazing playoff run in the 90s; my fandom was created in the excitement of that worst-to-first season in ‘92, when the whole city was gripped. So I’m a Braves fan, in baseball, even though Mad Dog and Lemmer and Smoltzie and Chipper are all long gone.
That’s part of the issue, though. If your rooting interest is tied to memories of certain teams and certain players, what happens when they move on? Greg Maddux was one of my favorite players, a real master of his craft. He ended his career with the Cubs. Should I have become a Cubs fan when he was traded? Or started rooting for him to get lit up for five runs every start? Like Jerry Seinfeld pointed out in one of his monologues – cheering for a player because he’s wearing your team’s uniform means eventually, you’re rooting for laundry. (And frankly, this is part of it, which is why I dislike the Browns’ new uniforms. The seal brown is okay, but that orange is way too red!)
Hockey, soccer, and basketball don’t interest me, so I don’t really have teams in those sports.
TL;DR version: No. It’s tied up in nostalgia for my childhood, and pride in my native city.
I was born in Washington state but spent part of my formative years in California (mostly NorCal). I used to follow all the Bay Area teams (Giants, A’s, 49ers, Raiders, and Warriors) but after my family moved back to Washington, I gradually shifted my allegiance to the Seattle teams.
Traitor.
Since you lived in Philadelphia during the 40s and 50s, perhaps you can tell me how accurate this statement is.
If the Phillies had not won the NL pennant in 1950, they would’ve been the team that moved out Philadelphia a few years later rather than the A’s.
Gradually, me too. I grew up in Maryland (Jr. High and High School), but I’ve been in Washington about 6 times longer than I lived in Maryland. Over time, I adopted the Mariners and Seahawks, as I had less and less exposure to the Baltimore teams.
For you youngsters out there, it wasn’t always possible to closely follow a team from the other coast. Now you can get the games on TV or the internet, but in 1985, for example, you could see your team on TV once or twice a year (except the Yankees) and see them when they came to town.
I’ll never, ever stop being a 49ers fanatic. I grew up in a city without a football team and picked them at age 6, not knowing they were my mom and granddad’s team. Geography has no bearing.
I don’t care much about baseball or basketball, so routing for the home team is fine for me. It was fun watching the Giants win those three World Series when I was in the bay area, but they weren’t “my” team. Now I have friends, coworkers and family all into the Mariners, so go Mariners (at least I won’t be personally disappointed by then every year).
Hockey, now that one’s interesting. I moved to San Jose just after the Sharks expansion and after 20 years I’m still a long distance fan. But Seattle is getting its own expansion team and I’m honestly excited about it. I’m looking forward to routing for a team with my coworkers and friends. (I hope they don’t pick a stupid name like the Sockeyes or some shit.)
I’ll still pull for the Sharks otherwise, though.
LOL, the Mariners are a trap team. Each year juuuuust good enough to think they have a chance but they’ll fail hard right in time to miss the postseason. Every year.
Not me my favorite basketball team has always been the bulls and always will be
I am a lifelong Kansan and we were all raised by my Dad to root for the Jayhawks, Royals, and Chiefs. I cannot fathom rooting for any other teams.
However, my siblings are another story. My brother moved to Wisconsin and is now a Brewer, Badger, and Packer fan. One sister lives in Chicago and roots for the Cubs and Bears. And the other sister lives north of the Bay Area and is a fan of the Niners and Giants.
Traitors, all of them. Traitors.