The question is about the Super Bowl but it could really be about any sport.
When you are watching a championship game but your team is out do you find ways to root for a specific team or are you watching just hoping to see a good game? I always find a reason to pull for one team or the other. For this Super Bowl it’s easy. I’m a Giants fan. I am incapable of wanting the Eagles to win. In other years I want the underdog. Sometimes I like a particular player. Or dislike a particular player and root for them to lose. Sometimes I am hoping for a fan base to have something to finally celebrate. I can always find something.
Yeah, normally I have some sentimental “pull” in one way or the other. Either a story line or a specific player (which could be one I like or hate).
There are few pretty hard-and-fast rules (if my team isn’t in the game):
I will never, ever root for the Yankees. I hate the Dodgers, but was still rooting for them over the Yankees.
I will always root for a team that has never won a title. Note: This does not apply to long droughts of teams I don’t like, so the Cubs did not get my support to break their curse.
After that it’s a bit more fluid. I will tend to root for NL over AL, and AFC over NFC, but not always. In college I almost always root for the underdog, particularly against a “big name” school.
ETA: During the game, however, I might switch sides. Especially if it’s getting lopsided. Closer games are always better than blowouts.
This is my ironclad rule. If it was a game between the Yankees and the ETs from Arcturus and they would blow up the Earth if they won, I’d still root for the BEMs.
Other teams that are in the “automatically rooting for the other guys” pool are the Giants, the Angels and the Asterisks.
Fair enough. (The title “Watching the Super Bowl when you’re not a fan of either team” doesn’t rule out non-sports fans watching, but of course you’re entitled to limit responses to sports fans only, if you wish.)
For me it is the Red Sox and Cowboys. I have to root against them. Eagles come close, but with them there are exceptions. The aforementioned Pats superbowl and often when they’re playing the Cowboys.
But how does it feel that your team is now out-Yankeeing the Yankees?
What about us poor suckers who don’t like football in the first place? I mean, I’m going to my sister’s house this afternoon (because who am I to spurn a chance at some free grub?), but it will be an ordeal to occupy myself in the spaces between the commercials.
I wonder if Picture in Picture works while playing MarioKart? That way we could play video games and know when it’s time to switch back to the commercials.
The Yankees buying talent never bothered me much. It’s the fact that they are AL and the historic enemy of my Dodgers that keeps them on my “Hate” list. That and the fact that I think pinstripes look stupid. And they’re from, you know, the Wrong Coast.
I stopped following sports several years ago. Back when I was employed, people at my company were NFL crazy. Like jerseys on Fridays and non-stop discussions on Mondays. I always silently rooted for the team or player that drove the true fans batshit like Tim Tebow or Brady. The whining on Mondays when they did well was hilarious. If one of my good buddies was a big fan of a team, I’d root for them in the SB. If not that, the team who hasn’t won one in a while.
This year I’d either root for the Chiefs since people hate them or maybe the Eagles because to my recollection that’s my buddy Rich’s team.
Weird, how did they take priority over the Giants then?
I mean, after the Red Sox, all other rivalries pale by a lot for me. Never disliked the Mets, (some of their fans, but not the team or most of their fans.)
I loved the series against the Dodgers, though being totally out-classed by them last year sucked. I really loved the only Subway series in my life (against the Mets). As the ex-Brooklyn team, I’ve rooted for the Dodgers when not playing the Yanks.
I can’t enjoy watching a game if I’m not rooting for one side or the other. Sometimes my decision is easy, when one of the teams is on my “like” list, or my “hate” list (and being a Clevelander, I absolutely have to have a “like” list with more than just my team, or I’d never get to enjoy a football game). Sometimes I go with which city I like better. If nothing else, I usually fall back on rooting for the same team as the folks I’m watching the game with. But there has to be something.
This year, well, I went to college in Philadelphia, so Eagles it is.
Actually, when they’re done right (a contrasting color against a dark base color, such as navy or charcoal grey) they can look classy. Black pinstripes against white is stupid, and would likely get you blackballed from any boardroom you care to name.
BTW, if the Yankees are going to insist on wearing pinstripes, why don’t they have neckties?
Teams I would never, ever root for, no matter what:
Yankees
Cheat-stros, Asterisks, whatever you want to call them.
Cowboys.
Ohio State, because my ex-wife was arrested in Columbus for being a hippie.
Notre Dame, because Notre Dame.
Lakers, because Kurt Rambis
Georgetown basketball. Miami U. football, “Raiders,” whatever city they are currently inhabiting.
Teams I would always root for:
Anyone from my home town, Washington (except who cares about the Wizards or Capitals?)
Red Sox
Cubs
Rust belt teams, like the Lions, Bills, Browns, etc.
