# Who's your alternative NFL team? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971 "2010-12-21T17:13:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/41 "2010-12-22T18:00:09Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The right answer is that you guys are nuts if you can switch loyalties based upon circumstance. Pick a team and stick with it. Even after your team is out of the mix and you’re forced to at least sympathize with one team or the other to retain interest you should feel pain in doing so. > > As I said in the other thread, once the Steelers are out I will only reluctantly favor a team if I hate the team they’re playing more. When the Giants played the Patriots a few years back I held my nose and backed the Giants. No sooner was the game over than I went back to despising them, because they accomplished the desired result. Same with the Saints last year. > > Strangely, it’s the Colts that really taught me the lesson of betrayal and why one should never have an “alternative” team. I actually respected them until last year when they quit on their to-that-point perfect season. When they quit on the Jets with the lead at halftime they closed out Pittsburgh’s season while simultaneously quitting on history. My heart finds the first reprehensible and the rest of me finds the second incredibly offensive. Of course, the bottom line is that “nobody owes any team anything”, something I have been told many times. In that case, only one team is deserving of my loyalty, or even my interest. My interest in other teams now typically lies in hoping they lose, which is an interesting quandary because somebody has to win. > > OK, I’m done rambling now. The answer is that if you have an “alternative” team you’re a traitor. Everything else is rationalization for why you choose to be one. I agree with you about “switching loyalties” (it was astounding to me how many New Englanders here were rooting for the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, although a lot of them were college kids who wanted to party if the Rams won), but having a mild rooting interest in another team isn’t really switching loyalties, at least for me. The Rams are in a different conference from the Patriots. They rarely play each other (and you can be damned sure that my loyalties are quite well sorted when they do), and the Rams’ successes and failures have no bearing on the Patriots. So I’ll follow them with some interest and be happier if they win than if they lose. I’m not all that invested in it, though. I could probably never root for another AFC team, and certainly not another AFC East team no matter where I lived because that would be rooting against my interest at least to some degree. It’s like this. If my wife is up for a job against one of my friends and a bunch of other people, I’ll be rooting for my wife to get the job. If she’s not in the picture and it’s just my friend against a bunch of other people, I’ll root for my friend. I’ll reiterate though, that I _barely_ care about the Rams. It bothers me very little if they lose, I’ll just sort of cheer half-heartedly if they win. Hell, I didn’t even know that they were tied for the division lead until I went and checked (6-8? Christ, that division sucks). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/42 "2010-12-22T18:05:08Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > having a mild rooting interest in another team isn’t really switching loyalties, at least for me. Right. If I’m watching a game, I’m going to wind up rooting for one team or the other. It’s not like I stop pulling for Buffalo. But threads like this do make me wonder what I like about the Steelers. As if the players didn’t make it tough enough, there are comments like these from fans. At least they’re not the Patriots. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/43 "2010-12-22T18:14:19Z")
always a cowboys fan. but, and i don’t want to show my age, i had a buddy from a military family when growing up that named his beagle bart starr. so i guess the packers would be the second choice. regardless of the outcome of the ice bowl. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/44 "2010-12-22T18:16:31Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Right. If I’m watching a game, I’m going to wind up rooting for one team or the other. It’s not like I stop pulling for Buffalo. But threads like this do make me wonder what I like about the Steelers. As if the players didn’t make it tough enough, there are comments like these from fans. At least they’re not the Patriots. 😉 Heh, being a Patriots (and Red Sox) fan in St. Louis ain’t easy. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/45 "2010-12-22T20:02:47Z")
I have a personal connection to the Rams organization and I have a personal connection to the Cowboys organization so I like them both. I root for the Rams when they play. I root for the Cowboys when they play. If they play each other, I sit back and enjoy the show. I do not owe any team any loyalty. I am not on thier payroll, I can like who I want. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/46 "2010-12-22T20:09:54Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The right answer is that you guys are nuts if you can switch loyalties based upon circumstance. I’m not nuts – at least not for that reason. I have minimal team loyalty, and will root for whichever team I feel like, until the Redskins get their act together. And I do so without pain, without shame. I will always root against the Cowboys. A bit like many loyal fans, this week’s opponent of my team’s rival is my team. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/47 "2010-12-22T21:46:06Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The right answer is that you guys are nuts if you can switch loyalties based upon circumstance. I haven’t read one entry that falls into this category. Everyone has their favorite team. Unless they are not interested in football in general, they root for their favorite team to win, and to hopefully go to the Super Bowl. And win there. But that doesn’t happen every year. The Steelers and I have a relationship that covers the Immaculate Reception, so I doubt you could ever question my loyalty. However, in last year’s Super Bowl, rooting for the Colts gave me something to do, and made the game more interesting. When the Colts lost, was I crushed? No. I get crushed only when I close my eyes and see Neil O’Donnell throw those 2 interceptions to Brown. Don’t even get me started about seeing Sid Bream slide across the plate in the bottom of the 9th. What I find interesting about myself is how I’ve changed as I’ve aged. As a kid, things were much more clear-cut. Steelers, yes. Everyone else, No. Now, I find myself \*\*hating \*\*teams because of their coach and/or owner. My hate for the Cowboys has nothing to do with their players, but with Jerry Jones, that mummified fossil. The Patriots can suck my dick as long as Belichick is the coach. The bastard combs his hair like his mom did it for his first grade picture, and cuts the sleeves off of his sweatshirts. No, it’s not rational, but I do hate the Patriots because of him alone. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/48 "2010-12-23T14:42:21Z")
It’s also much easier to have **Airman’s** attitude when your team is the Steelers. Had that come from a Lions or Bills fan OTOH… ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/49 "2010-12-23T16:43:18Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > It’s also much easier to have **Airman’s** attitude when your team is the Steelers. Had that come from a Lions or Bills fan OTOH… Post #37. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/50 "2010-12-23T17:00:13Z")
Not really an NFL fan, but I am a Redskin fan. But I have some allegiance to both the Patriots and Falcons. So I picked those two teams. Just so happens that both those teams have the best record thus far this year. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/51 "2010-12-23T17:06:44Z")
I am a lifelong Giants fan but I spent most of the last 8 years in Pittsburgh. Something about that place just rubs off on you whether you want it to or not. I root against the Penguins (Im also a sad Devils fan), I’m indifferent to the Buccos (what type of scumbag roots against the Pirates) but I do like to root for the Steelers. If there ever is a Giants-Steelers Super Bowl, I will cheer for the Giants to destroy them and I won’t feel the least bit of compassion. Until that happens, though, I have no problem cheering for the Black and Gold. I have never been to another city that cheers their teams on that way. Walking through the neighborhood I used to live in you would hear every house and bar cheer at the same time. It’s something else. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/52 "2010-12-23T19:24:44Z")
I am a Redskins fan and I more or less consider the Ravens to be my AFC Home team, so they’re the team I picked as my alternative team. I’d like to say any team playing against the Patriots because my hatred for them burns with the fire of a thousand suns, and to a somewhat lesser extent, anyone playing the Cowboys, but there’s not really any way to indicate that in the pole. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/53 "2010-12-23T20:23:12Z")
> [@Frosted\_Glass](#): > > I am a lifelong Giants fan but I spent most of the last 8 years in Pittsburgh. Something about that place just rubs off on you whether you want it to or not. As organizations, the Giants and Steelers are closely tied together in many ways. These ties are personified in the lovely Mara sisters, [Kate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KateMara08TIFF.jpg) and [Rooney](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67G11120100817), great granddaughters of Giants founder Tim Mara (paternal) and Steelers founder Art Rooney (maternal). Both teams have remained family-owned to this day, though the Giants did bring in a partner and I think the Rooneys were looking for one a few years ago. In a list of the top NFL families, the Maras and Rooneys are 1 and 1a with a huge dropoff between them and number two. I mean, c’mon, there is an actual person named Rooney Mara with blood ties to both families. It doesn’t get more intertwined than that. Then again, despite all this, I still don’t like the Steelers. > [@DCnDC](#): > > Colts […] have (or had) players that are (or were) hard not to like, like […] Marvin Harrison […] When he’s not shooting people dead in the street. > [@VarlosZ](#): > > And liking a second team doesn’t make you a traitor, at least not as long as you don’t claim dual allegiance. I legitimately claim dual allegiance to both of my hometown teams. I am emotionally invested in the Jets, excited when they win and down when they lose. My heart gets pumping as opening kickoff approaches, and I scream and cheer for them. (Unlike any non-NY game where I’m not invested but almost always choose sides.) My Jets fandom is probably on par with an above-average football fan, say the 70th percentile. This is of course dwarfed by my burning passion for the Giants. As an example, this past weekend I watched the Jets beat the Steelers in numb detachment, still in shock from the Giants collapse even though I waited a couple hours before watching the Jets. (I couldn’t bear the sight of football immediately after the game.) By contrast, had that awful collapse happened to the Jets at the hands of the Patriots at 1:00 and then the Giants earned a hard-fought last-second victory against the Packers at 4:15, the Jets collapse would have become a distant memory shortly after the opening kickoff, when I’m in full-on adrenaline frenzy. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/54 "2010-12-23T20:38:10Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I get crushed only when I close my eyes and see [redacted] throw those 2 interceptions to Brown. Maybe I get whacked for “changing” your words while quoting you and maybe I don’t, but don’t EVER say that name again. If you are the Pittsburgh fan you claim to be you should know that that name is [_Damnatio memoriae_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae), and he is dead to Steelers fans. Around here he is known as “He Who Shall Not Be Named In This House Or In My Presence, Forever And Ever Amen”. I am not kidding. As far as I am concerned that game happened only in the context of history, which shows that it was played. It is only mentionable in that context unless the discussion turns to how much Jerry Jones paid to make it happen, in which case it can be spoken of quietly. I think it’s pretty clear from the above that there is NO possibility that I could ever look positively on another team with a straight face or a clear conscience. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/55 "2010-12-23T22:08:26Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Maybe I get whacked for “changing” your words while quoting you and maybe I don’t, but don’t EVER say that name again. If you are the Pittsburgh fan you claim to be you should know that that name is [_Damnatio memoriae_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae), and he is dead to Steelers fans. > > Around here he is known as “He Who Shall Not Be Named In This House Or In My Presence, Forever And Ever Amen”. I am not kidding. > > As far as I am concerned that game happened only in the context of history, which shows that it was played. It is only mentionable in that context unless the discussion turns to how much Jerry Jones paid to make it happen, in which case it can be spoken of quietly. He’s really not kidding. -Mrs. Airman Doors, USAF ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/56 "2010-12-24T02:30:49Z")
sorry, but nobody is going to comment on post 12? Trom is a vikings fan AND a bears fan? ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/57 "2010-12-24T02:41:42Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Maybe I get whacked for “changing” your words while quoting you and maybe I don’t, but don’t EVER say that name again. If you are the Pittsburgh fan you claim to be you should know that that name is [_Damnatio memoriae_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae), and he is dead to Steelers fans. > > Around here he is known as “He Who Shall Not Be Named In This House Or In My Presence, Forever And Ever Amen”. I am not kidding. This made me laugh. **And a note for the mods** : Given Airman Doors state, I have no problem that he redacted a certain name from my quite. If he didn’t, I shudder to think what would happen to MsRobyn, and any children or pets in the vicinity. ---
**Author:** ![tpatsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tpatsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tpatsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/58 "2010-12-24T04:27:40Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The right answer is that you guys are nuts if you can switch loyalties based upon circumstance. Pick a team and stick with it. Even after your team is out of the mix and you’re forced to at least sympathize with one team or the other to retain interest you should feel pain in doing so. > > As I said in the other thread, once the Steelers are out I will only reluctantly favor a team if I hate the team they’re playing more. When the Giants played the Patriots a few years back I held my nose and backed the Giants. No sooner was the game over than I went back to despising them, because they accomplished the desired result. Same with the Saints last year. > > Strangely, it’s the Colts that really taught me the lesson of betrayal and why one should never have an “alternative” team. I actually respected them until last year when they quit on their to-that-point perfect season. When they quit on the Jets with the lead at halftime they closed out Pittsburgh’s season while simultaneously quitting on history. My heart finds the first reprehensible and the rest of me finds the second incredibly offensive. Of course, the bottom line is that “nobody owes any team anything”, something I have been told many times. In that case, only one team is deserving of my loyalty, or even my interest. My interest in other teams now typically lies in hoping they lose, which is an interesting quandary because somebody has to win. > > OK, I’m done rambling now. The answer is that if you have an “alternative” team you’re a traitor. Everything else is rationalization for why you choose to be one. I second that except I’m I’m a Patriots Fan. And when my team isn’t in the Super Bowl I vote for the team I hate the least. ---
**Author:** ![tpatsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tpatsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tpatsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/59 "2010-12-24T04:30:25Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I don’t have one right now. I used to root for the Packers when I needed a backup, but not anymore. Is it because you lost your boy. Favre? Well now he just might be gone forever. But the odds of that are slim because he always says this is my last season and it never is… ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971/60 "2010-12-24T15:20:52Z")
With 80 votes cast I’m a little surprised the Jets are in second place behind only the Colts. I would have guessed that everyone hates the Jets because, let’s face it, they’re really easy to hate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-alternative-nfl-team/564971.md?page=4)