How Did you Decide Your Team "Loyalty"?

[Coupé It]

I chose the teams I grew up watching on local sports tv, the teams I grew up going to their games, the teams that represent my city. (New York)

You know? the reason why sport teams were created for in the first place - for you and your neighbors.

But hey, a lot people don't understand that, especially on this basketball-centric board. I've been and lived in different places and one thing I've noticed is the NBA fan is the worst. Dudes will legit root for there home teams but when it comes to the NBA they loved Michael Jordan too much, or Kobe too much, and now LeBron - so they root for they're favorite player's team instead of there cities.

That's just so weird to me, the NBA is the only league with this type of fanhood. The NFL is bad at times, with amount of Dallas Cowboy fans everywhere you go, but not like the NBA. MLB local teams are pretty loyal, I'd say they're the loyalist out of all the sports. You get your Yankee fans all over the place, which makes me sick as a Yankee fan, but besides that pretty even on the home front.

 

[nazdrowie]

lived in Chicago as a kid and family is from there. dad and uncles of course Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks so I followed suit.

at some point i had to choose between da Cubs and Sox tho. both sides of my family are from the Soutside and my uncles were a mix of Cubs/Sox fans while my dad was strictly a Sox fan. i sided with the Cubs because my grandfadder (originally from the Nortside) got to me first with Cubs games before my dad started taking me to Sox games. i dont hate da Sox tho because my family is from the Soutside and I respect where they came from. 

i wish the Sox the best but thats cuz it would be amazing to see and Cubs-Sox WS

 

[dako akong otin]

spent my childhood in OC and my teen years in the Inland Empire. Hence my teams are Lakers, Angels, USC, and the formerly LA Rams. Being between Anaheim and SD, most of the baseball fans and merchandise sold in sports stores pre-2002 were mostly Padres and Dodgers. Now, Temecula/Murrieta/Lake Elsinore are mostly Angel fans

And I agree with the dude saying that a lot of San Diegans hate the Lakers, lol... Its like half the city are Laker fans, and the other half despise them. And they'd cheer for random teams like the Bulls, Thunder, Heat, or whatever is the current trendy team

 

[sportsjunkie]

I was a huge fan of Isiah Thomas so i stuck with the Pistons good and bad times. I was a huge fan of Cris Carter so i stuck with the Vikings. Good and bad times. My father use to take me to Chicago CUbs game every summer growing up and i am stuck being a Cubs fan. Those are my teams. Win, lose or draw.

 

[antidope]

I chose the teams I grew up watching on local sports tv, the teams I grew up going to their games, the teams that represent my city. (New York)

You know? the reason why sport teams were created for in the first place - for you and your neighbors.

But hey, a lot people don't understand that, especially on this basketball-centric board. I've been and lived in different places and one thing I've noticed is the NBA fan is the worst. Dudes will legit root for there home teams but when it comes to the NBA they loved Michael Jordan too much, or Kobe too much, and now LeBron - so they root for they're favorite player's team instead of there cities.

That's just so weird to me, the NBA is the only league with this type of fanhood. The NFL is bad at times, with amount of Dallas Cowboy fans everywhere you go, but not like the NBA. MLB local teams are pretty loyal, I'd say they're the loyalist out of all the sports. You get your Yankee fans all over the place, which makes me sick as a Yankee fan, but besides that pretty even on the home front.

What about people who dont have a hometown team? Just root for the closest team? Either way I think that its unfair that you should have to root for the team just cause you live there. I mean imagine if I was born in Atlanta and was forced to root for the Hawks? Suicide would have to be the option rooting for that horrible franchise

 

[mrdozo]

I was born and raised in queens, NY. I remember watching Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Mookie, K. Hernandez, and others hustle on the diamond. I watched a lot of yankees as well but I guess living in queens, and that blue&orange captivated me. My father took me to both yankees and Mets games, but a few more Mets since we lived closer to Shea (RIP).

I love the Mets and Yanks but if I had to choose, I'm with the Metropolitans.

Thats baseball, as far as basketball, NY has had only 1 team until recently so its a no-brainer to root for the Knicks.

 

[Retroballer]

All my teams date back when I was 6/7 years old my favorite players played for them. Espn had a lot of reason, as those players were shown more.
Packers-Favre
Astros-Bagwell/Biggio
Rockets-Hakeem
Rangers-Messier/Ritchter
I didn't get into the college sports until a little later but
Early 2000 USC teams
Maryland-Kid from my HS played there
Chelsea-Drogba

Then as I grew to like those teams. I stuck with them.

 

[milbert]

49ers were great when i was young so i became a fan. Decided my loyalty when i stuck with them through all the garbage years. My parents were Canes fans so i became one and eventually went to the school. Not really into baseball so i don't have a team, same with basketball. I'll support the home teams (heat, marlins, panthers) but i'm more of a fan of the sports rather than the teams.

Talbert

 

[Coupé It]

What about people who dont have a hometown team? Just root for the closest team? Either way I think that its unfair that you should have to root for the team just cause you live there. I mean imagine if I was born in Atlanta and was forced to root for the Hawks? Suicide would have to be the option rooting for that horrible franchise

You're just proving my point that NBA fans are the worst. It's a superstar driven league, so the folks who represent there city and actually root for there hometown team I give them respect.

If you don't have a team in your area, then I can't speak on that. - But it's ridiculous when some of my fellow NYers are rooting for Lakers because Kobe Bryant was their favorite player. It's ridiculous when some kid from SoCal's favorite team is the Miami Heat because he loves LeBron James.

NBA fanhood is all messed up. So much of it is driven by what I call "idolism". So many NBA fans are driven by the worshipping of a single man, than there very own region. It's ridiculous to me. It's :x

Players come and go man, teams are here forever, they're suppose to be the foundation of your city/town/area/region.

 

[The_Isomotion31]

You're just proving my point that NBA fans are the worst. It's a superstar driven league, so the folks who represent there city and actually root for there hometown team I give them respect.

If you don't have a team in your area, then I can't speak on that. - But it's ridiculous when some of my fellow NYers are rooting for Lakers because Kobe Bryant was their favorite player. It's ridiculous when some kid from SoCal's favorite team is the Miami Heat because he loves LeBron James.

NBA fanhood is all messed up. So much of it is driven by what I call "idolism". So many NBA fans are driven by the worshipping of a single man, than there very own region. It's ridiculous to me. It's :x

Players come and go man, teams are here forever, they're suppose to be the foundation of your city/town/area/region.

I blame Michael Jordan for this.

 

[lightweight champion]

49ers - This is pretty much automatic. They're the local team that was always shown, plus the Raiders were in LA at the time. My first NFL season I can remember is '92. I know about Joe and all his success and accolades, but I'm more Steve Young because he is who I grew up watching.

Giants - The A's were more successful than the Giants in my childhood and they had more coverage (once upon a time). But they were showing their games on KRON and KPIX and the Giants were on KTVU. We didn't get cable TV until I was 7.5 years old. The area we live in has better reception getting KTVU than either KRON or KPIX. So it's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to root for the team that I see as opposed to the team I don't.

Kings - Again, without cable I can only go with what I'm able to see. We got Sacramento channels much clearer than Bay Area channels. The Kings came in clear, the Warriors not so much. Yes, they were bad. Really bad. We got beat throughly by Portland on a regular basis. But it's what I had to go with. Mitch Richmond on the Kings was who I idolized growing up. Then Chris Webber after that.

 

[lightweight champion]

I blame Michael Jordan David Stern for this.

 

[jumpmanfromdabay]

Rooting for Local Teams

Warriors- only NBA team. The years before We Believe :x

Raiders- My Grandfather was a huge Raider fan and took me to my first game in 99 been a fan since

Giants- Father was huge giants fan. Those Candlestick days

CalBear- Family full of Bears



And when the A's don't play the Giants I root or them.

 

[jumpmanfromdabay]

What about people who dont have a hometown team? Just root for the closest team? Either way I think that its unfair that you should have to root for the team just cause you live there. I mean imagine if I was born in Atlanta and was forced to root for the Hawks? Suicide would have to be the option rooting for that horrible franchise

You're just proving my point that NBA fans are the worst. It's a superstar driven league, so the folks who represent there city and actually root for there hometown team I give them respect.

If you don't have a team in your area, then I can't speak on that. - But it's ridiculous when some of my fellow NYers are rooting for Lakers because Kobe Bryant was their favorite player. It's ridiculous when some kid from SoCal's favorite team is the Miami Heat because he loves LeBron James.

NBA fanhood is all messed up. So much of it is driven by what I call "idolism". So many NBA fans are driven by the worshipping of a single man, than there very own region. It's ridiculous to me. It's :x

Players come and go man, teams are here forever, they're suppose to be the foundation of your city/town/area/region.

 

[moe fab]

Born in LA in '88. Lakers and Dodgers won that year, so I guess it was destiny. Chargers became my favorite team the year they really stunk it up (everybody loved the raiders), then they got LT and it was a wrap.

 

[grandtheftbike]

I do what I want.

 

[CP1708]

I was just a youngin and found this old hat one day, was random, had never seen one in Cali before, so I liked it. Was a Miami Dolphins hat. Then I saw they was gonna play on MNF and I wanted to check it out, saw Dan Marino throw the ball around and that was that, I was SOLD.

My father introduced me to listening to Chick Hearn call basketball games, SOLD.

Summer afternoons, nothin to early in the morning, nothin good on, boom, Cubs baseball, WGN, Harry Carray, afternoon's at Wrigley, SOLD.

Got my Dolphins, needed/wanted a college team, Hurricanes were comin on, saw the smoke, the attitude, the 57 penalties and yet everyone smilin anyways, SOLD.


Been my 4 ever since. Wont ever change neither. That's why my sig has never been altered, adjusted, nothin. Til I'm dead, they are a part of me.

 

[Peep Game]

Born in Seattle, raised in Houston, and was a huge David Robinson and Tim Duncan fan back in the day.

 

[red is on nt]

A fan of the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants.

Born in San Francisco, have been living around the area my entire life.

 

[MajinZuub]

I'm a Lakers fan because I loved Eddie Jones as a kid, wasn't gonna jump ship after I committed to them.

Raiders/A's/Sharks I all support because they're local teams and I got into all 3 of those sports when I was a young teenager as opposed to basketball which had been in my life since I was born.

 

[antidope]

What about people who dont have a hometown team? Just root for the closest team? Either way I think that its unfair that you should have to root for the team just cause you live there. I mean imagine if I was born in Atlanta and was forced to root for the Hawks? Suicide would have to be the option rooting for that horrible franchise

You're just proving my point that NBA fans are the worst. It's a superstar driven league, so the folks who represent there city and actually root for there hometown team I give them respect.

If you don't have a team in your area, then I can't speak on that. - But it's ridiculous when some of my fellow NYers are rooting for Lakers because Kobe Bryant was their favorite player. It's ridiculous when some kid from SoCal's favorite team is the Miami Heat because he loves LeBron James.

NBA fanhood is all messed up. So much of it is driven by what I call "idolism". So many NBA fans are driven by the worshipping of a single man, than there very own region. It's ridiculous to me. It's

Players come and go man, teams are here forever, they're suppose to be the foundation of your city/town/area/region.

So even if I grew up in a place I hate, with a team that I hate, I have to root for them because I live there? No sir, that is not fair. People are allowed a choice, and they should be able to exercise that choice without fear of criticism. I dont mind when people root outside of their region, its front running and bandwagoning that I dont like.  

 

[madj55]

I was born in Chicago, but moved to Virginia when I was 4. My first sporting event I ever attended was MJ's retirement ceremony at the beginning of the 1994 season, I have a ton a memorabilia from that game but I was only 1 when it happend so I have no memory of being there just what my Dad has told me. My first baseball game was at Wrigley when I was 2 and I went to a Bears game when I was 3 but I don't remember either of those.

********: Once I moved to VA my neighbor had season tickets for the ******** and invited my family to a game and ever since I've been a diehard, even through all of the terrible years we've had. IBM having a suite at FedEx Field also helped my fan hood grow as I went to a ton of games (even though we lost almost every game I've been to).

Nationals: Baseball has always been my favorite sport but I never had a real hometown team until 2005. Before the Nats came to town I used to just cheer for Sammy Sosa since he was a Cub and my former childhood idol, I also followed the Expos and Vlad and Orlando Cabrera since my dad told me that they would be moving to either VA or D.C. Now ever since the Nats came in '05 we've had season tickets and I've gone to at least 45 games a year. Hopefully this year they bring home a title

Wizards/Capitals: I'm not a huge fan of either of these teams but I follow them consistently just because they are my hometown teams. I've been to a Caps playoff game and that was pretty crazy, but they've fallen off in recent years. I attend a lot of Wizards games, but that's just because you can get into the game for $2 I enjoy going to the games though and hope one day Leonsis figures it out and puts a winning product on the court.

I also root for Georgetown basketball because my sister attends the school and we go to a lot of games, but I attend Quinnipiac University so I'm not too big of a fan of Georgetown.

BTW Quinnpiac is ranked #1 nationally in hockey, it's a pretty sweet story for a 7k private small school in Connecticut.

 

[miamin2]

Professionally

I really started getting into basketball during my 5th/6th grade years. I started to pay attention to the NBA and started rooting for the heat. The first season where I really followed the team was Caron Butler's rookie year, and we were pretty bad lol (I remember a early game where Malik Allen and Travis Best were our leading scorers and my dad just saying "it's gonna be a long season...") Basketball is by far my favorite sport, and the Heat have been the team I've been rooting for the longest so that's definitely the team I root for/pay attention to the most.

I always root for the Dolphins but I'm just not a huge football head. Don't get me wrong, I love the sport, but I grew up in a basketball household, always playing basketball, so I didn't have as much of a deeper understanding of the sport. Plus the fins haven't been competitive since I started watching sports

The Marlins...... **** jeffrey loria. It's a tough situation now. I want to support the local MLB team, would hate to see them relocate, but at the same time that scumbag running them deserves to be banned from the city and mlb.

College wise I never felt too partial to a team before I went to college, because I feel like I didn't have a real connection to any squads but a team I started to root for was Uconn Huskies bball. I think it started when I was getting into sneakers and noticed that those old Uconn teams were always rocking the sickest kicks. I also rooted for UM for a bit because they were the local team and I'd go to their games.

Never was an FSU fan before going to school there but now of course those are the college football and basketball programs where my loyalty remains

 

[joeyxfresco]

I'm a huge Celtics fan because of Iverson. **** makes no sense right now but hear me out. Back in my 5th/6th grade years I was a huge Iverson fan but personally I never liked the 6ers because my cousin would make em sound like they were unbeatable. So when rumors spread of Iverson getting traded to Boston flourished I was ecstatic. I decided I was gonna be a Celtics fan before Iverson before the trade happened so it wouldn't look like I jumped ship. During that time tho I fell in love with Paul Pierces game. So one Denver trade later AI was a Nugget and I became a huge Celtic fan and it stuck with me ever since

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

I do what I want.

Hence your immortal spot in frontrunner4life's sig

A's - Always and forever. Siblings are A's fans and we've grown up rooting for them.

Lakers - Shaq was my favorite player.

Raiders - My two older siblings are Niner fans, but I never felt any affection for them. Found myself more interested in watching the Raiders play. Had my heart broken by Tony Siragusa's fat *** intentionally crushing Rich Gannon and ending our 2000 run. Been a diehard since.

UCLA - Never liked Cal, was admitted into UCLA and have supported since.