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Fans of non-local teams (1 Viewer)

nirad3

Footballguy
Obviously if you're from Boston, you grew up on the Celtics, Pats, Bruins, Sox...

But how about if you root for teams that are not local to you?  How did you become a fan?

For me... my Dad was always watching Chicago teams.  He was born and raised there and thanks to channels like WGN once we got cable, we could watch the Cubs.  And in the 90s of course the Bulls were on top of the world.  So I became a Chicago sports fan by default.  I still liked the Lakers, being from SoCal... but Chicago teams were always (and still are) #1 for me.

And as far as my college football team, well, I went to a college without a football team so I kinda needed a team to root for.  I, for some reason, chose the Texas Longhorns.  Been a fan since the mid-90's.  I will root for the Horns' basketball team, too, but not as fervent a fan as I am for football.

So, what say you?

 
Obviously if you're from Boston, you grew up on the Celtics, Pats, Bruins, Sox...

But how about if you root for teams that are not local to you?  How did you become a fan?

For me... my Dad was always watching Chicago teams.  He was born and raised there and thanks to channels like WGN once we got cable, we could watch the Cubs.  And in the 90s of course the Bulls were on top of the world.  So I became a Chicago sports fan by default.  I still liked the Lakers, being from SoCal... but Chicago teams were always (and still are) #1 for me.

And as far as my college football team, well, I went to a college without a football team so I kinda needed a team to root for.  I, for some reason, chose the Texas Longhorns.  Been a fan since the mid-90's.  I will root for the Horns' basketball team, too, but not as fervent a fan as I am for football.

Chiefs - because they are awesome and I had some good KC BBQ years ago when I was traveling through.

So, what say you?
FYP.

 
I am a Vikings fan because of fantasy football.  I live in California and never really had a team that I liked.  I started playing FF in 1985.  The league we started had NFL team names.  Since I didn't have a team I threw the available team names in a hat and picked the Vikings.  I started getting hats/shirts etc for the drafts and would wear them around town.  People would always come up and say something about me being a Vikings fan.....I said no that it was my fantasy football team.  I got so sick of trying to explain fantasy football since nobody really knew what it was back then that I just said #### it.  I will become a Vikings fan...…..been mostly miserable ever since...….

 
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I don’t remember ever deciding which team to root for (cue the Memories thread in the ffa).

Ive only ever rooted for the Cowboys and Dodgers  🤷‍♂️

 
Lived in the Philadelphia market my entire life so I do follow the Eagles and Phillies but they aren’t my favorite teams.

I became a Red Sox fan because of Carlton Fisk.  I was a catcher in Little League and he was my favorite player.  I never changed my Sox when Fisk changed his.

In football I’m a Miami Dolphins fan, but I’m sure how I landed on them.  I assume it’s because the Eagles stunk and the Dolphins were very good back when I was an impressionable youngster in the early 70’s.

It’s the Flyers and Sixers in hockey and basketball.  Just a casual hockey fan and don’t pay much attention to BBall.

 
Just on the NFL grew up in south central Kansas so no local team. We always got the Chiefs at noon and the Cowboys and Broncos at 3. Found the Broncos more interesting to watch because of Elway. So became a Broncos fan, moving to Colorado just solicited the deal. 

 
Huge fan of Gally's fantasy football team. 
Wise choice.  I lead the league in Championships with 6.  Also have the most finishes in the money and total money won.  Been in a drought with the last title in 2013.  Finished in the money this year with a 4th place finish though. 

We are a dominate franchise...hahaha

 
I'm all over the place. Grew up and still live in NJ. My dad and his dad got us all into Notre Dame football from an early age. Fighting Irish and all that, so that was an easy one. Rooted for the Yankees and Knicks as local teams, but never got into hockey and my dad made me hate the Giants and Jets bc they called themselves NY even though they played in our backyard. So while watching a Chargers game in 1992, Junior Seau was absolutely all over the field, going crazy and just blew my mind. Started watching all the highlights on TV and reading up about them everywhere, the Chargers went on a run to the playoffs that year after starting 0-4, and I was hooked.

Around the same time, Michael Jordan was secretly my favorite basketball player but I couldn't very well wear a Bulls jersey being a Knicks fan. So my mom surprised me with a Tar Heels Jordan jersey for Christmas. Then Donald Williams and co beats the fab 5, and away we go.

 
49ers fan here. Growing up my Dad didn't like football so I picked my own team. I gravitated towards the 9ers because they had Montana and Rice and they were good. Sue me I was a kid. I stuck with them ever since. 

 
But how about if you root for teams that are not local to you?  How did you become a fan?
As a pre-teen the Fouts/Coryell teams were the most fun to watch. Kellen Windslow Sr. may have cemented it with THE playoff game at MIA.

The spanos family had punished me for that naive misstep for decades until they mercifully lifted the curse by moving the team to la. Now I, like 99% of charger "fans" at home games in la, am free to root against them.

I've never even set foot in the city of San Diego.

 
Superbowl - Rams Titans. Always liked the underdogs and Dyson being stopped at the 1 in the closing seconds sealed it. I watched that game in Sao Paulo, decided to learn more about the game and FF was the only option available, so that eventually led me here. I did watch a game in '92 on Soldier Field when I lived in Chicago, but it didn't really take. It was cold and miserable, light rain, sitting in the nosebleed section behind one of the goalposts (the one with no scoring) and I watched Green Bay beat the Bears 17-3. I later found out that this was Brett Favre's fourth or fifth start...

 
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Grew up in Michigan, currently living in Florida. I rooted for mostly Detroit teams growing up, but that's pretty much just been reduced to the Lions now. I stopped watching hockey for a few years, but late 2018, I decided to get back in, and chose to follow the Tampa Bay Lightning, despite actually living closer to Miami and the Panthers. 

 
Moved to Tampa 15 years ago and have adopted the Rays and Lightning as my teams, but the Bucs? ##### no!  Originally from Philly so the Eagles will always be my team. 

 
Grew up in Philly area, but adopted all the Hollywood teams when I was an impressionable young lad.  Place in my heart for the Philly teams, but they are back seat.  Biggest Rams fan with Roman Gabriel as my first hero.  Loved Wilt the Stilt.  Moved to Michigan, then Rams moved to St. Louis.  Nothing changed, except that I could drive to Rams home games.  Happy to see that my boys followed in my footsteps.

 
While I'm a huge Flyers fan, growing up I remember watching Joe Sakic play on the Nordiques.  He was so amazing and he was on a truly terrible team.  I think the one year they won like 6 games all year.  I became fascinated with him, and eventually the team.  Everything about them was fascinating to me.  The team name was a different language, their uniforms were oddly unique, they had a guy named Michel (which seemed odd to me)...

Eventually I found myself rooting for them to emerge from a basement dwelling team.  And Sakic was my favorite player.  I will say, that even after Sakic retired, I still followed them closely.  But over the past 5 or 6 years, I've slowly started to stop following them.  I think it's more because I stopped following all sports so intensely.  When the playoffs roll around, I still pull for them.  But I don't even know anyone on the team anymore.  

 
My two favorite non hometown teams came about essentially by bandwagon jumping, though it lead to more pain and suffering than enjoyment.

January 1987 and my buddy asks me who I'm rooting for in the National Championship.  I'm in middle school, and without cable TV, so I have watched a grand total of zero minutes of non Gopher college football to this point.  I get a quick rundown that Penn State is the underdog, so I pick them.  Of course they win, but then the hometown Vikings draft DJ Dozier that spring in the first round. I jump in with both feet as a DJ and Penn State fan.  DJ was of course a bust, and PSU was essentially mediorce the whole time I was in high school sporting their colors.  Finally got rid of everything PSU I owned when the Sandusky stuff happened.  No payoff.

Summer of '86, my little league team was the Dodgers.  When they get to the series in '88, I root for them against the A's.  Fresh off a Twins World Series victory in '87, I'm thinking between the Dodgers and Twins I'm going to be watching great baseball by at least one of those two teams every year.  Twins win again in '91, but then both teams become mediocre with occasional competitiveness.  Finally got payoff with the Dodgers with the Dodgers winning the World Series in '17**** & '18****.

 
Like many others, I moved to another state but still root for my former home team (Philadelphia Eagles).  If they get eliminated for playoff contention, I then root for whatever relatively close home teams are still in contention (Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami, etc.).

 
My two favorite non hometown teams came about essentially by bandwagon jumping, though it lead to more pain and suffering than enjoyment.

January 1987 and my buddy asks me who I'm rooting for in the National Championship.  I'm in middle school, and without cable TV, so I have watched a grand total of zero minutes of non Gopher college football to this point.  I get a quick rundown that Penn State is the underdog, so I pick them.  Of course they win, but then the hometown Vikings draft DJ Dozier that spring in the first round. I jump in with both feet as a DJ and Penn State fan.  DJ was of course a bust, and PSU was essentially mediorce the whole time I was in high school sporting their colors.  Finally got rid of everything PSU I owned when the Sandusky stuff happened.  No payoff.

Summer of '86, my little league team was the Dodgers.  When they get to the series in '88, I root for them against the A's.  Fresh off a Twins World Series victory in '87, I'm thinking between the Dodgers and Twins I'm going to be watching great baseball by at least one of those two teams every year.  Twins win again in '91, but then both teams become mediocre with occasional competitiveness.  Finally got payoff with the Dodgers with the Dodgers winning the World Series in '17**** & '18****.
I was on the Twins and the Tigers.  It worked out great because it made me become fans of those teams just as they both won some World Series.  I eventually stopped rooting for them as I got older, but that Twins WS with Hrbek, Puckett, Gagne, and Gladden.  Wooo, that was a fun year.  

 
Born and raised in California and am a Royals fan.  Started rooting for them when a player I coached in high school was drafted by them and made the big club.  Got to see him win a World Series.  Outstanding moment to see him rewarded for all the hard work he has put in. 

 
I grew up in Detroit.  Avid Tigers and RedWings fan.  However, the Lions... ooof. 

When my brother and I were 9-10, we decided we didn't want to be Lions fans anymore.  We decided to be fans of the teams in the next game on TV.  Have been ever since (40 years).  If the Lions ever become good, we'll jump on the bandwagon.  In the mean time, we enjoy the folly of their ineptitude.  

 
Born and raised in CA and picked North over South as a kid (Niners, Warriors, Giants). 
 

got into hockey in the early 90s and am a Sabres fan because of NHL ‘94 on Sega. #EffBrettHullForever

 
Born in Portland so I am a blazers fan.

Lived in southern california for lots of years so I am a fan of the LA teams. Except the Rams. I mostly hate them. Loved them growing up. Then they moved. I stuck with them until after a few years of junk and going 4-12 with Tony Banks and Steve Bono as QB, I declared I was no longer a Rams fan. Then those jerks won the Super Bowl.  F them. 

Live in Wisconsin so I am a fan of the local teams.

Dad was born and raised in chicago and so I grew up liking the chicago teams. Was great being able to watch the cubs so much on WGN in college.

Some other random teams I follow that mostly are because of gambling futures bets and then I just kind of kept up with them. 

For some reason when I wear my Blazers shirt and a cubs hat it blows people's minds and people simply can't avoid talking to me left and right. Portland doesn't have an MLB team so I wouldn't think that one would really cause anybody to notice, but it sure does. Especially because it doesnt even say Blazers on it. It just has the logo and says Rip City. So presumably they are at least somewhat educated about the matter and I would think would know that Portland doesnt have a MLB team. I can be walking on the strip in Vegas and people will stop me just to ask me how I became a fan of those two. Super weird. 

 
I think a lot of fans start out as kids and simply prefer different logos and colors.  That's probably a reason why the Raiders are so popular.  Who doesn't like black and white?  And pirates?

 
I grew up in Detroit.  Avid Tigers and RedWings fan.  However, the Lions... ooof. 

When my brother and I were 9-10, we decided we didn't want to be Lions fans anymore.  We decided to be fans of the teams in the next game on TV.  Have been ever since (40 years).  If the Lions ever become good, we'll jump on the bandwagon.  In the mean time, we enjoy the folly of their ineptitude.  
So what team was that that you are now fans of?

 
I grew up in Detroit.  Avid Tigers and RedWings fan.  However, the Lions... ooof. 

When my brother and I were 9-10, we decided we didn't want to be Lions fans anymore.  We decided to be fans of the teams in the next game on TV.  Have been ever since (40 years).  If the Lions ever become good, we'll jump on the bandwagon.  In the mean time, we enjoy the folly of their ineptitude.  
So what team was that that you are now fans of?
Him - Steelers.  Me - Patriots

 
I think a lot of fans start out as kids and simply prefer different logos and colors.  That's probably a reason why the Raiders are so popular.  Who doesn't like black and white?  And pirates?
For baseball, we could always turn on WGN and TBS. The Cubs and braves probably have more non local fans for that than anything else. 

You make a solid point. I liked Nolan Ryan and for whatever reason the Astros uniforms. They became my national league team. 

 
For baseball, we could always turn on WGN and TBS. The Cubs and braves probably have more non local fans for that than anything else. 

You make a solid point. I liked Nolan Ryan and for whatever reason the Astros uniforms. They became my national league team. 
And how you point out Ryan, I think a lot of kids have favorite players and become a fan of the teams.  

 
I grew up in Detroit.  Avid Tigers and RedWings fan.  However, the Lions... ooof. 

When my brother and I were 9-10, we decided we didn't want to be Lions fans anymore.  We decided to be fans of the teams in the next game on TV.  Have been ever since (40 years).  If the Lions ever become good, we'll jump on the bandwagon.  In the mean time, we enjoy the folly of their ineptitude.  
I think all of us Lion fans have another team to root for.  We have to if we want to watch any meaningful games.

I became Saints fan when Drew Brees first arrived there and have stuck with them ever since. Was a 49er fan ever since they played in the Superbowl at the Silverdome.   Stuck with them pretty much through the Montana and Young years. For some reason I always wanted the Cowboys to lose.   I think it was because I never had Emmitt in FF.

 
I grew up in Florida so ended up with Florida teams in football/basketball.  But at the time there were no Florida teams for baseball.  I really liked Bad News Bears movies and for some reason the Astrodome stuck with me, so the Stros became my team.

 
I grew up in Detroit.  Avid Tigers and RedWings fan.  However, the Lions... ooof. 

When my brother and I were 9-10, we decided we didn't want to be Lions fans anymore.  We decided to be fans of the teams in the next game on TV.  Have been ever since (40 years).  If the Lions ever become good, we'll jump on the bandwagon.  In the mean time, we enjoy the folly of their ineptitude.  
I think all of us Lion fans have another team to root for.  We have to if we want to watch any meaningful games.

I became Saints fan when Drew Brees first arrived there and have stuck with them ever since. Was a 49er fan ever since they played in the Superbowl at the Silverdome.   Stuck with them pretty much through the Montana and Young years. For some reason I always wanted the Cowboys to lose.   I think it was because I never had Emmitt in FF.
Oh... and I forgot to mention... my kids are Saints, Texans and Bengals fans.  Not a Lions fan in the bunch.

 
nirad3 said:
thanks to channels like WGN once we got cable,
TBS for me when we got cable.  Which is why I'm a Braves fan.  Not sure why dad rarely watched the Cubs.

My friends were Vikings fans when I was young, but I became a Lions fan when they drafted Billy Sims.  Which is odd for a Nebraska fan.  Detroit did draft one of my favorite Husker players a couple years later which solidified my fandom.

Was a Sixers fan when young because of Dr. J, but have pretty  much stopped following the NBA.

 
TBS for me when we got cable.  Which is why I'm a Braves fan.  Not sure why dad rarely watched the Cubs.

My friends were Vikings fans when I was young, but I became a Lions fan when they drafted Billy Sims.  Which is odd for a Nebraska fan.  Detroit did draft one of my favorite Husker players a couple years later which solidified my fandom.

Was a Sixers fan when young because of Dr. J, but have pretty  much stopped following the NBA.
We had TBS too and saw lots of Braves games.  I really like Chipper Jones.  

 
Michael Brown said:
I'm all over the place. Grew up and still live in NJ. My dad and his dad got us all into Notre Dame football from an early age. Fighting Irish and all that, so that was an easy one. Rooted for the Yankees and Knicks as local teams, but never got into hockey and my dad made me hate the Giants and Jets bc they called themselves NY even though they played in our backyard. So while watching a Chargers game in 1992, Junior Seau was absolutely all over the field, going crazy and just blew my mind. Started watching all the highlights on TV and reading up about them everywhere, the Chargers went on a run to the playoffs that year after starting 0-4, and I was hooked.

Around the same time, Michael Jordan was secretly my favorite basketball player but I couldn't very well wear a Bulls jersey being a Knicks fan. So my mom surprised me with a Tar Heels Jordan jersey for Christmas. Then Donald Williams and co beats the fab 5, and away we go.
Totally random but I met him recently.  Good guy and he has a daughter in high school that can really play.

 
  • Arsenal FC - when I first started following soccer and it started gaining more mainstream TV coverage in the US in the early 00s, I became a huge fan of Thierry Henry.  Arsenal was extremely good at the time and pretty accessible for an American sports fan (FIFA video games, deep Champions League runs on national television, Fox Soccer Channel, etc).
  • Syracuse University athletics - my childhood best friend's father went there, so my friend was always a fan growing up and I became a fan by osmosis.  Not a huge fan but I follow em enough.
  • Alabama football - I decided to make a focus of really following college football when I was a senior in high school heading into college.  The school I attended was really, really bad at football at the time, arguably the worst in 1-A, so I decided to pick a "major" team to follow.  I wanted to follow a team who had a rich history, but who wasn't very good at the time, so that I wouldn't be known as a frontrunner.  Alabama and Notre Dame were both coming off dismal under-.500 2003 seasons.  I flipped a coin and it ended up on Alabama.
 
I first grew up in Chicago, and moved to Boston when I was 6. This was in the mid-70s (I'm old!) when the Patriots where reeaallly bad. So there was no reason to attach to them, and I stayed a Bears fan (Nice for the Super Bowl Shuffle!!). Marrying into a family from Green Bay has truly hurt over the last 20+ years. Having to hear the "The Bears Still S*ck" song whenever I visited is disheartening. Let year, I thought we had it, and was on a high over the holidays, but the "double-doink" just killed my trip to Green Bay last summer. Don't get me started on having to see a picture of one of my sons wearing cousin-in-law's GB Super Bowl ring.

Larry Joe Bird is my favorite basketball player of all time. I loved his deep shooting ability, his willingness to destroy himself for the ball, and his snarky attitude towards his opponents, especially with his mid-game teasing, made him a god to teenage guys in the Boston area. The team around him were great as well. I remain a Celtics fan, although I am not as big of a professional basketball fan.

As for baseball, I was never a huge fan growing, up and once we got a new team here in DC, I have latched on to them, but I really only like to watch baseball during the playoffs, because the games become more interesting.

Hockey falls into the same area as baseball, I have attached to the Capitals, but only get truly interested duding the playoff season.

My college (George Washington University) has never been a big sports school. We don't have a football team, and in general our basketball team is not that good. In 2016, we won the NIT, which I think is a better deal than making the NCAA as a 16, and being knocked out in the first round by the second team of the #1 seed.

Because I don't have a college team, I plan to attach to the schools that my kids are going to be attending in the near future. Living here in VA, I could easily become a Hokie fan or a JMU Dukie! My kids involvement in the marching band, will make this an easy thing to do! 

 
99% probably one of these reasons:

1.  Father or friend was fan

2.  Jumped on bandwagon

3.  Fan of player on team

4. Like uniforms or mascot of team

5.  Rival of favorite team of someone you dislike

 
99% probably one of these reasons:

1.  Father or friend was fan

2.  Jumped on bandwagon

3.  Fan of player on team

4. Like uniforms or mascot of team

5.  Rival of favorite team of someone you dislike
Awesome.  I am in the 1%...……...

 
I first grew up in Chicago, and moved to Boston when I was 6. This was in the mid-70s (I'm old!) when the Patriots where reeaallly bad. So there was no reason to attach to them, and I stayed a Bears fan (Nice for the Super Bowl Shuffle!!). Marrying into a family from Green Bay has truly hurt over the last 20+ years. Having to hear the "The Bears Still S*ck" song whenever I visited is disheartening. Let year, I thought we had it, and was on a high over the holidays, but the "double-doink" just killed my trip to Green Bay last summer. Don't get me started on having to see a picture of one of my sons wearing cousin-in-law's GB Super Bowl ring.

Larry Joe Bird is my favorite basketball player of all time. I loved his deep shooting ability, his willingness to destroy himself for the ball, and his snarky attitude towards his opponents, especially with his mid-game teasing, made him a god to teenage guys in the Boston area. The team around him were great as well. I remain a Celtics fan, although I am not as big of a professional basketball fan.

As for baseball, I was never a huge fan growing, up and once we got a new team here in DC, I have latched on to them, but I really only like to watch baseball during the playoffs, because the games become more interesting.

Hockey falls into the same area as baseball, I have attached to the Capitals, but only get truly interested duding the playoff season.

My college (George Washington University) has never been a big sports school. We don't have a football team, and in general our basketball team is not that good. In 2016, we won the NIT, which I think is a better deal than making the NCAA as a 16, and being knocked out in the first round by the second team of the #1 seed.

Because I don't have a college team, I plan to attach to the schools that my kids are going to be attending in the near future. Living here in VA, I could easily become a Hokie fan or a JMU Dukie! My kids involvement in the marching band, will make this an easy thing to do! 
People who don't know CBB won't understand this.  Winning the NIT is pretty impressive.  

 
99% probably one of these reasons:

1.  Father or friend was fan

2.  Jumped on bandwagon

3.  Fan of player on team

4. Like uniforms or mascot of team

5.  Rival of favorite team of someone you dislike
#3 and #4 here

Earl Campbell and tequila sunrise uniforms. Grew up nowhere near Houston and just a coincidence both teams I liked were there. 

No longer really like the NBA but my team was the Sixers when I did. Probably due to #2. 

 
TBS for me when we got cable.  Which is why I'm a Braves fan. 
When I was a kid in the early 90's, it was Cubs on WGN and Braves on TBS.  Braves were good and won their division every year, Cubs sucked.  I became a Braves fan. 

For football, the closest team to us was the Saints so they were always broadcast every week, so I adopted them as a kid.  

Couldn't care less about the NBA or hockey.  

As for college, I root for the school I went to. 

 
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Before the Rockies were a thing, I rooted for the Twins.  My uncle and his family lived in Minnesota and we used to visit a lot.  The first pro baseball game I went to was in MN so they became my team.  I dropped them day 1 of the Rockies though!

 
99% probably one of these reasons:

1.  Father or friend was fan

2.  Jumped on bandwagon

3.  Fan of player on team

4. Like uniforms or mascot of team

5.  Rival of favorite team of someone you dislike
Pretty true.

1. I was brain washed to be a wolverines fan growing up.

2. Yeah, kinda. When we moved to Alabama 5 years ago it was almost automatic*

3. Nolan Ryan as mentioned before

4. Yep. No idea why but in middle school I decided I liked elephants. Became a fan of Alabama- which worked out well years later. (See 2)

5. Meh. I'll cheer against Ohio State but don't care too much

 

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