As a Pens fan, I approve of this post.
I’m not saying you SHOULD or SHOULDN’T root for your hometown. I just wanted to start a discussion on this. I am say I don’t like the whole “bandwagon jumpers”, who only start supporting a team solely because they’re winning.
If I had to guess which team’s fanbase had the largest percentage of such fans, I’d have to go with the Steelers.
I like you. 
I begrudgingly became a Jays fan about 3 years after both the Ottawa Lynx and the Expos were gone. Due to restructuring of the league they became the NEW “team closest to my house!”
I’m a somewhat odd case, as I’m the child of uprooted Pittsburghers, so I was raised in the Pittsburgh sports culture, and have always considered the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins my ‘home’ teams, even though I’ve never lived in Pittsburgh. I have been to the city, many, many, many times, as my grandfather and cousins still live there, and I used to do my Army National Guard drills in the Burgh as well. I grew up in Browns country, so I had a rough time as a kid in the 80s, wearing my Steelers gear to school, but it was worth it.
Now I live in Columbus, and I have a passing interest in Ohio State football (though I’m not emotionally invested), and I root for the Columbus Blue Jackets as my Western Conference hockey team, though when they play the Penguins, I’m definitely wearing my black and (Vegas) gold. I also was a moderate Cleveland Indians fan growing up, and didn’t see any conflict given that they were in the A.L. and never played the Pirates until interleague started. I root for the Pirates against the Indians as well, though.
The thing is, except for the Indians in the mid-90s, I’m not nor have I ever really been emotionally invested in my ‘adopted’ secondary teams. When the Steelers or Pens lose, I’m in a foul mood…when the Jackets, Indians or Buckeyes lose, I’m very ‘oh well.’ And never at any time has my emotional attachment to these teams been on par with my Pittsburgh teams.
I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan, and don’t really care much about any other sports besides hockey. Now that I’m in Maryland, I’m trying to talk myself into rooting for the Capitals, since they’re pretty much the only hockey I can watch on TV here, but it’s not easy.
Yes, I support Reading FC and I’ve lived in Reading since I was a child. For most of my life we’ve been a fairly mediocre professional football (soccer) team in the English league flitting between the 2nd and 3rd tier of English football*.
In England hometown loyalties I think are much stronger when it comes to supporting sports clubs. I think this is in part due to the fact that the chances of a ‘franchise’ relocating to another area in England are extremely slim. Only once in the history of English football has this happened*** (or twice if you include Arsenal who were originally based in Woolwich, London, but moved away from their traditional fanbase 12.5 miles to Highbury, London to move to a new staium).
My club Reading FC has been Reading since it was founded in 1874.
There are 92 professional football clubs in the English league* divided in to four tiers (The Premier League, The Championship, League One and League Two), each league is national (the leagues don’t start splitting in to regional leagues until you get to the 6th tier of English football) and teams are relegated/promoted between different tiers depending on their league placing.
**Infact a number of clubs in tiers below the 4th tier of English football are also effectively professional, quite often these are teams hat have recently been relegated from the 4th tier. Also two of the clubs in the English league are actually Welsh (Cardiff City and Swansea Town), despite the fact a seperate Welsh league system exists.
***Wimbledon FC (a club with a remarkable history) of South-West London who relocated to Milton Keynes a town North West of London and became MK Dons.
Sure , I do. But the Detroit Lions make it hard to do.
The Red Wings and Tigers are loved by all across the world.
The Pistons are in transition since their owner died and they are up for sale. But NBA is a second tier sport anyway.
Hmm. I’m a little disappointed. Nothing against hometown loyalties, as such, but it seems like not that many people can think of any other reason to root for a team, other than living near them, or formerly living near them.
My rooting interests derive from a blend of factors, including organizational history, fanbase personality,* player development approach, managerial acumen, so on. Extra points for teams that do more with less.
- Sometimes you’ll hear people say that fans are about the same everywhere. These people have not attended games at very many different venues. It is not true.
I don’t know, but in my case, I’ve always rooted for the Rangers because they were such underdogs. That’s not how it is now, of course, but the way it’s been for the vast majority of their franchise-ship. And I like rooting for scrappy teams, so that’s why my loyalty is there much more than because they are the closest team to me.
By the same token, growing up in the 70s, I was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. Can’t get much more underdog than those two.
I wavered between “Sometimes” and “You forgot to put X”. I went with “X” - I grew up in Kansas City, and root for the Chiefs and the Royals. But I moved to Indianapolis about 10 years ago, and root for the Colts and AAA baseball team (the Indians, who are a farm team for the Pirates, incidentally). If the Colts play the Chefs, I root for the Chefs.
The Indians are probably more fun for Pirates fans to root for. We go into the season knowing we’ll lose all the talent to the majors by the end of the season, unlike the Pirates, who should just expect having their front office trade away all hope every year. They always have a great farm system, so the team has future MLBers on it. Plus, you get to see the talent of other teams come through as well.
IMO, this is a pretty good operational definition for a bandwagon fan.
For my money, the best real-world example of what is “bad” about bandwagon fans came from the early defenses of Michael Vick. I can’t remember exactly who said it – I think it was Deon Sanders but I could be mistaken – that he understands how people love their pets, but maybe Michael Vick loved that his pet was the toughest dog around. Maybe that’s what he based his love on, so the guy talking could understand.
The very idea of that kind of love is offensive to most dog owners. That you could love your dog based on performance? The love of your dog, for most people at least, is based on unconditional love. In a similar way, love of your hometown team is an example both of loyalty and of unconditional love. Choosing to support a team instead because they show good performance can be fairly characterized as a lesser type of fandom.