I’m a pretty rabid Denver Broncos fan. Even when they’re breaking my heart. Though sometimes I think I hate the Oakland Raiders more than I like the Broncos.
My grandpa was a Broncos fan, my mother was a Broncos fan, and some of my earliest memories are watching the Broncos on a Sunday afternoon (they always had the late game in Utah), eating almonds with my grandpa, or popcorn with my mom, and yelling at the TV at the top of my lungs. My mom is very passionate about football. She’s not fucking around when it comes to the Broncos.
In fact, oddly enough, my first clear football memory is of the Broncos getting absolutely destroyed by the 49ers in the Superbowl. It was so awful. I remember my mom was so excited that she taped the game. I remember the pre-game show focused heavily on the 49ers and it was clear, even to me, that they were the heavy favorite, and I remember resenting that a lot.
Anyway, The Broncos have always been my team. Elway was drafted the year after I was born, and I grew up watching him and his brilliance. Of course, the Raiders are the Broncos biggest rivals. Pretty much everything they do annoys me. A lot.
But they’re consistent. They will find a way to fuck themselves over. They’re their own worst enemy.
I agree with the Nordique fan- they were indeed a fun team to watch. The Nordique-Canadien games were a lot of fun and the intensity was evident even on television. I remember the Stasny brothers, sometimes they’d all play on the same line and sometimes one would score a goal and the other two got assists and the crowd went wild as they announce Stasny from Stasny and Stasny on the score. Another memory- the crowd singing The Happy Wanderer in French. Too bad that this team had to move to satisfy the gods of money.
Baseball: Love the Yankees. Lifelong fan, I remember the days of Horace Clarke and Stan Bahnsen so we aren’t all just fair weather fans.
Hate the Braves. Hate the way they not only get nearly all their games on WTBS, they also get to be on ESPN far too often. And that god-awful tomahawk chop. Uggh!
NFL Football: No strong favorites. Hate the Cowboys because, well they’re the Cowboys. Also don’t like the Cardinals for leaving St Louis for that hot and sweaty armpit of America, Arizona.
College Football: Love Michigan State. Like the rest of the Big Ten and all the MAC teams. Hate all the SEC teams, I say SEC stands for Schedule Easy Competition. Hate Nebraska and Oklahoma for the same reason. All those teams love to schedule patsy non-conference foes, but then feel the need to run the score up. But really double-hate Miami of Florida and Florida State.
Basketball: No feelings for anybody.
Hockey: Love the Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and Red Wings. Hate any team from the south. I like any Original 6 team, plus any Canadian team.
The only sports team I’m REALLY emotionally invested in is the Toronto Blue Jays. Which makes this season pretty painful. But they’re my team, have been since before the glory years and will be forever.
While this means I should hate the Yankees, I don’t. It wasn’t long ago that they sucked pretty bad, and likely will again in a few years. I do, however, take great pleasure in watching the always amusing Red Sox blow one critical game after another. Good theatre always has a perennial loser, a fool, a Capitano if you will, and the Red Sox are that - blustery and full of themselves, but always ready to choke it up real good when the chips are down.
The Toronto Blue Jays: I’ve been watching their games on TV since I was a kid and I was ecstatic when I finally got to attend a game a couple years ago. While I enjoy watching most sports, the Jays are the only team that I really care about. I’m trying to believe that they will get better after this miserable season, but it doesn’t matter. I will cheer for them regardless for as long as I can.
I love the Cleveland Indians, Notre Dame and the Cleveland Cavaliers, in that order. I used to love the Browns too, but after that rat-fink Modell moved the team and his buddy Al Lerner arranged to get ownership of the new Browns team I swore off the NFL. As I’ve said on other threads, the only NFL team I follow now is the Oakland Raiderettes, for purely non-football reasons.
I used to hate the “Stillers” but now I just hate the Yankees, the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Cubs.
Hockey: My Maple Leafs. How you hurt me so much but I can’t stop loving you. Hopefully they can a win a cup before I die, that gives them another 60 odd years to do it.
Football: Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre singlehandedly turned me into a lifelong Packers fan.
NCAA Basketball: Duke. I like cheering for them, they seem like a well run program who is just hated by the rest of the country because they keep winning not because they cheat or what not.
Basketball: I love watching it but I don’t have a “team”. I sick and tired of the Vince Carter soap opera here in Toronto, last year I said I’m putting them on a 3 year hiatus to get their act together. Well, we’re on year 2 and things don’t seem to be improving.
English Soccer: Arsenal. Arsenal because they beat Man U and have plenty of French players. OK, those aren’t the best reasons in the world.
Baseball: The Blue Jays. Those 2 World Series years I was only 9 and 10 years old. So, I’m on board for life. I still think Ricciardi is an idiot and has been given a longer than necessary amnesty period.
I’m sure jarbabyj appreciates that:-D
Lotta teams. On the one hand, almost always have something good on sportscenter. On the other hand, almost always have something bad on sportscenter. Braves (father’s team), Sox (high school), anyone playing the Yanks, Orioles a little bit (area team), Colts (father’s), Redskins (area), anyone playing the Cowboys, Knicks (father’s team), anyone playing the Bulls, Celtics marginally, Bruins and anyone playing the Penguins, Georgetown (father), anyone playing Duke, Maryland. At the right time of year, almost half of sportscenter is relevant to teams I’m following.
I am a fan of the New Orleans Saints pro football squad since childhood. One of my cousins played several seasons for the Saints, and several members of the team were friends of my brothers. On top of that, they were on TV in our household (and my relatives’ households) every Sunday.
I am one of the rarest of breeds- A New Orleans Saints fan. Not so rare you say?
I was born and raised in the CA Bay Area. Yep, right here in Niner central!
Wow! On review it seems I am not alone!
::raises a mug to bordelond::
But it is rare to be a Saints fan in the Bay Area. I think I started liking them because my father used to love to watch the Niners play them back in the day because the Niners would win. So naturally, I rooted for them just to piss him off.
Not to mention I really liked the black and gold.
At least this is the best I have been able to come up with. All I know is I have been a Saints fan for as long as I can remember.
Oh ya, for the other three big sports:
Go A’s!
Go Sharks!
Go Earthquakes!
Really passionate about: University of North Carolina football and basketball. Season tickets to both and never miss a game. Been a fan for over 35 years. The basketball thing is pretty easy, because over the years, there have been a lot of wins consistently. Football can be a different story, but there’s always next year.
Enjoy: Carolina Panthers. Don’t have season tickets or anything, but I don’t miss a game on TV at least. I’ve been following them since they entered the league 10 years ago, since they are the closest NFL franchise. Another labor of love until this past year when they finally made it to the Super Bowl.
**Hate List: ** Dook Basketball. Funny how there are so many Duke fans on the bandwagon now that they’ve had a few winning years in a row. I used to at least grudgingly respect them because of the great rivalry with my beloved Tar Heels. But when K went down with the “back injury” back in the mid 90’s when his team flamed out and then appealed the NCAA to have the losses removed from his record, that respect flew out the window. Now I just need to fully embrace this hatred and buy a “Duck Fook” t-shirt, for when they come to the Dean Dome. I’m pretty lucky I feel this way, because this level of distaste for one’s rival is pretty much required where fans of Tobacco Road basketball are concerned.
Since childhood I’ve loved the Cincinnati Reds, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Cincinnati Bengals (yes, you may pity and/or tease me for that last one). Quite naturally, then, I’ve always hated the Dodgers and the Steelers.
In my rabidest NFL fandom (ages 11-16) I also loved, for some reason, the Los Angeles Rams. They scratched their way to Super Bowl XIV and played their little underdog hearts out, but the Steelers (boo!) were too much for them, 31-19. This would have been slightly less heartbreaking if Ohio State hadn’t lost the Rose Bowl to USC, 17-16, just a few weeks earlier (USC’s goal-line stand held, OSU’s didn’t). Not my best month, January 1980.
