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How do you choose your favourite NFL team? (1 Viewer)

thaniz

thaniz

Footballguy
Ok hear me out.

More and more of my friends are starting to follow the NFL. The problem many are having is finding a favourite team! Since we don't live in the US, and not many of us have even been there, geographic ties doesn't matter.

Any ideas I could pass on to my friends lost in the NFL jungle?

 
That's a very interesting and great question, and one I don't think there's an answer for. Everyone has different reasons, usually tied to geography, what team a family member cheered for, or their first game they saw, etc. Sometimes its just an experience or a gut feeling you get while seeing a team or player and you start following them and it just grows from there. Since none of these really apply to you, it will be interesting.

My own experience was that my 2nd cousin (mark rypien) was a backup qb for the eagles when I first started watching nfl (as a canadian, i grew up watching the cfl before i smartened up 15 years ago or so haha). So I started cheering for them and have never looked back, and my loyalty and attachment to the team have grown exponentially.

Maybe for you and your friends, you can try to relate some of your core values, etc to an NFL team. Kind of similar to the "an american football coach in england" youtube spoof which is perhaps the funniest thing on the internet right now. Maybe you like the underdog, and you can narrow it down to a few teams. Maybe you like a team with a lot of history, a team with a lot of offense, or with a solid defense. Look up some of the players and teams, watch a few games, and see if any team just gives you that feeling of attachment and excitement. I think if you do some research, narrow it down to a few teams that match your traits/likes, then watch some games, that a team or two will just click.

 
I am loyal to the team from my home town, while I have a 2nd favorite for personal reasons. I didn't choose.

Watching a team since I was a kid will always make me a fan, then having a team be there for a city when they needed it didn't allow me to choose them, it just happened. Sounds weird like a relationship, but its football. I'm more committed to this than most relationships. lol

 
It was predestined and genetically coded in my great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather William Pitt, that I would be a Steelers fan for life.

Just joking on the ancestry, but as a Pittsburgh native, I was born a Steelers fan, bleeding black and gold.

For non-American fans with no ties, I recommend trying to just identify with a team City, and see if any players past or present strike a cord with you.

My step son from Virginia chose the Dolphins as a young kid just to be different from his family friends who all follow the Redskins. He is a life long Fins fan now at age 34.

 
Believe it or not, I watched "FIGHTING BACK: THE ROCKY BLIER" (yes, the one starring Robert Urich) when I was about 11 years old and was so inspired by both him and the way the team was portrayed, I became a fan of the team.

I'm not sure if that is a story that should be repeated, :D but those be the facts.

 
Actually you have a chance to just follow players you like an forget cheering for the uniform. Cheering for the Broncos is breed into me but with playing fantasy and intellectually realizing that at least in part what I am doing is cheering for Wal Mart and against Target, I pick out some players to follow and cheer for. Or pick the coolest looking unis and cheer for them. Those stupid Browns uniforms deserve to lose and Saints should win every game.

 
I chose when Kevin Dyson couldn't reach the end zone in the Super Bowl many years ago. I was watching in Brazil.

 
brohans from other nations let me tell you this there is only one team owned by its city and that has farmers that paint there barns after it and that my friends from other lands is the green bay packers and they are one of the oldest teams in the nfl and they have won more championships than anyone else and the superbowl trophy is named after one of there coaches and unlike other winning franchises like the yankees or manchester united or the lakers that everyone hates they do not just go out and spend more than everyone else in fact they are not a super rich team they just have tradition a small town and there fans love them like there is no tomorrow so take that to the bank and make the right call brohans

 
I'd go with the Chicago Bears. You know the city of Chicago was once called the "City of Big Shoulders". Big strong working class people... Nasty defense through the years. The epitome of football.

 
Gottabesweet said:
Pick a team that's never won a Superbowl. You can also sell your rights on EBay. I've seen that before
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I like this idea too. It's got to be sweeter to say you were there for a team's 1st title rather than Pittsburgh's 7th right?

Outdoors and cold weather should be requirements too - you're in the UK and plus colder games are just way more fun.

That leaves you with the Eagles/Browns/Bills/Bengals. Pick the uniform you like best.

 
Fell in love with the Raiders logo when I was 5 years old. Sometimes that's all it takes.

My second-favorite team has always been the Vikes. Not really sure why. Guess I enjoyed watching them play outdoors in the snow at the old Met.

 
SWC said:
brohans from other nations let me tell you this there is only one team owned by its city and that has farmers that paint there barns after it and that my friends from other lands is the green bay packers and they are one of the oldest teams in the nfl and they have won more championships than anyone else and the superbowl trophy is named after one of there coaches and unlike other winning franchises like the yankees or manchester united or the lakers that everyone hates they do not just go out and spend more than everyone else in fact they are not a super rich team they just have tradition a small town and there fans love them like there is no tomorrow so take that to the bank and make the right call brohans
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Yeah but they also wear cheese on their head....so make sure to factor that in.

 
Raider Nation said:
Fell in love with the Raiders logo when I was 5 years old. Sometimes that's all it takes.

My second-favorite team has always been the Vikes. Not really sure why. Guess I enjoyed watching them play outdoors in the snow at the old Met.
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It may be because the Vikings are usually a lot of fun to watch.

Since the team's first season in 1961, the Vikings have had one of the highest winning percentages in the NFL.[8] They are also one of only six NFL teams to win at least 15 games during the regular season. The Vikings have won one NFL Championship, in 1969, prior to the league's merger with the American Football League (AFL). Since the merger, they have qualified for the playoffs 25 times, third-most in the league. The team has played in four Super Bowls (IV, VIII, IX and XI), losing in each one. In addition, they have lost in their last five NFC Championship Game appearances since 1978. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Vikings
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I think the Vikings are a shoe in to become popular with European fans and fans in general. Winning team that hasn't won a Super Bowl yet. Current MVP of the league Adrian Peterson, improving young team that could take the next step and go deep in the playoffs with modest improvements to the passing game and defense.

There is a lot to like about the Vikings. As a football fan and player of fantasy football they are a team that doesn't usually hurt you much for being a fan of their star players.

 
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I know in the US, there are bars where the international soccer culture is prevalent ("soccer bars"), and I think it just naturally happens that groups of people there tend to develop an affinity for one team or another.

Find yourself a nice American football bar where they show the games and get a steady supply of regulars, and root for who they're rooting for. (Or for their arch-rival, if you're more contrarian-minded.) They'll become the de facto home team.

 
Don't pick a team. Just watch football and root for the underdogs to come back and win. After you've done that for a while, you'll find one or more of those underdog teams you keep rooting for has a chance to actually make the playoffs, or maybe even win a playoff game. That's when you'll pick a team. If it hurts when they lose, that's your team.

 
Go with the Jaguars since they'll soon be the closest geographical team to you if you're in Europe and they move to London.

 
Depends what they like as sports teams go. Want to be a smug fan of a top team, no better choice than New England. Looking for a fun, lovable loser? Detroit. You want the new hot team, root for the Seahawks. More into the tradition of greatness, can't go wrong with Dallas, San Fran, Green Bay, or Pittsburgh. You want craziness, choose Oakland.

 
seahawk 17 said:
Gottabesweet said:
Pick a team that's never won a Superbowl. You can also sell your rights on EBay. I've seen that before
Click to expand...
This is a great answer. Support a team now, and then when they win/go to the big game you can announce that you liked them before they got good.
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I did this with New England sort of. Everyone around me was rooting for the Packers in the 1996 SB so I went with the Pats and have stuck with them since. My dad was a Dallas fan when I was growing up so I followed them for a bit. The Vikings are the closest geographically for me being in Canada but never really liked them.

 
thaniz said:
Ok hear me out.

More and more of my friends are starting to follow the NFL. The problem many are having is finding a favourite team! Since we don't live in the US, and not many of us have even been there, geographic ties doesn't matter.

Any ideas I could pass on to my friends lost in the NFL jungle?
Click to expand...
Have them pick the Seahawks.

 
The Browns.

There's something to be said for the simplicity and losing tradition we've ingrained into the footballing community.

When I tell people Im a Browns fan... I get so much sympathy love

 
The first football game that I actually watched the whole game was on my 8th birthday. It was the superbowl between the Raiders and the Redskins. Both my dad and grandpa were there to celebrate my birthday on that day and were also Raiders fans....so for obvious reasons the Raiders became my team.

 
I was born into my team. It wasn't a choice by me. It is like that natural, genetic, unconditional love parents have for their children. It isn't a choice, it is just part of them and who they are. That is how my and my brothers were with the SF 49ers and SF Giants. It was what it is. During the good years and during the bad years we were true to our teams. I have friends and jump to different teams different years and then when that team does great they gloat all around about how THEIR team is the best and yada yada yada. That is the stuff I don't get. Be a true fan. Stick with your team and support them.

To the OP, in your situation, I probably can't give you a good answer since I never chose my team. But, for you and people in your situation, figure out who your single ONE favorite player is. Figure out if their is any team that has just a slight significance to you. Like, was watching hardknocks the reason why you got into the NFL? Therefore, you'd have some type of bond with that team in that show. Or, that split second when you figured out you loved american football...who was on the tv playing? Is there a historic player you love...who did he play for? Or like I started with, who is your current favorite player..what team does he play for? That is how you choose. For the love of God, don't pick your team solely based on who won the super bowl recently or who is projected to be the best team. That is not how you go about it.

 
Despite growing up in Southern California, I became a 49er fan due to the city. Went there to visit relatives as a kid, and that was my first visit to San Francisco. This was in the 70's, and one of my relatives was a huge 49er fan. I later moved to SF and lived there for a number of years, and with no other NFC team in SoCal as of now, it's still the best NFL team in California.

 
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Wow, I'm overwhelmed with all of your answers. Thanks! I will point them towards this thread.

I -think-, that for my own part, I have come down to 3 teams.

In hockey I cheer for the Philadelphia Flyers, so with that in mind, I already have -some- ties to Philly, although I can't say that really matters lol.

I love history, I love the mystique and craziness that seems to go with the Oakland Raiders. Also, they are in a rebuilding stage, so it would be a nice time to join in on the now.

Speaking of rebuilding, a new GM, a new coach, and a team that has never won the Super bowl, The Buffalo Bills. I think they would be really interesting to start to follow atm. Altough I sens some kind of hate for the raiders from other team's fans lol. Dont know why. And if I ever come to the US to watch football live, will I survive in Oakland, lol.

The advantage that both the Bills and the Eagles have over the Raiders is a time zone issue. Since I'm 7-10 hours ahead of the US time zones, the Raiders home game starts 11:30 pm, while the east coast teams play 8 pm my time. That is affecting it a bit too I think.

I can only speak for myself, but starting to cheer for a team that recently won the Superbowl, that is just not me.

Thank you, and feel free to comment and contribute, I hope this thread can help others as well!

 
thaniz said:
Ok hear me out.

More and more of my friends are starting to follow the NFL. The problem many are having is finding a favourite team! Since we don't live in the US, and not many of us have even been there, geographic ties doesn't matter.

Any ideas I could pass on to my friends lost in the NFL jungle?
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If you've visited the US and have a favorite city you could always go with that team.

 
Bills, Raiders and Eagles are good choices. I respect the fact that the teams winning percentage seems to have little weight in your decision.

I chose the Vikings after watching Tommy Kramer connect on a long bomb to Ahmad Rashad on a black and white TV. I've been a fan ever since.

 
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We all have different ways we've decided on our team, mine was thnx to Tecmo Bowl. Payton was the man, and that game got me into football a long time ago.

 
Whichever one is broadcast the most where you live might be a good choice too. (If any??)

Many of the AZ natives I know are Cowboys and Broncos fans because they say those were the games most often shown on TV locally before the Cardinals came to town.

Also, slight hijack. I stumble onto Aussie Rules football on TV sometimes. Do people in Australia devoutly follow it, or is it just sort of a sideshow? The stands have looked half empty during the last couple of matches I've seen.

 
Dr. Octopus said:
Tell them to pick the Jets. It will help them build up a tolerance for life's many disappointments.
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This!

Born and raised on LI, and lifelong Jets fan.

Growing up, my dad didn't really have a team (more of an NBA guy), and my older cousin was a Jets fan thanks to his father.

So I rooted for the Jets very early.

Meanwhile, all my other cousins that lived a little farther away were/are all die-hard Giants fans. If only I had grown up living closer to them....FML.

Starting fresh and looking in from a different country, I recommend rooting for the team that your favorite player is on. Or a team who's tradition you identify with and respect.

Trying to be as objective as possible, I'd recommend the Giants, Steelers, Ravens, Colts....and Jets (wtf not?). For God's sake, NOT the Cowboys, Eagles, or Raiders....with all due respect to their respective fans.

Raider Nation said:
Fell in love with the Raiders logo when I was 5 years old. Sometimes that's all it takes.
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Yes, this is the reason why one of my cousins (who's never set foot in California) is a Raiders fan. The unis.

 
thaniz said:
Wow, I'm overwhelmed with all of your answers. Thanks! I will point them towards this thread.

I -think-, that for my own part, I have come down to 3 teams.

In hockey I cheer for the Philadelphia Flyers, so with that in mind, I already have -some- ties to Philly, although I can't say that really matters lol.

I love history, I love the mystique and craziness that seems to go with the Oakland Raiders. Also, they are in a rebuilding stage, so it would be a nice time to join in on the now.

Speaking of rebuilding, a new GM, a new coach, and a team that has never won the Super bowl, The Buffalo Bills. I think they would be really interesting to start to follow atm.
Click to expand...
Finns love the Flyers, I just don't understand it.

Buffalo would love to have your support.

 
Pick the Giants. Isn't Finland the land of Ice Giants? The Giants have cool nick names like "Big Blue", "The G-Men" and "The New York Football Giants". The Giants won two Superbowls in the last six years, and as far as I know are the only team in the NFL that plans to win the Superbowl this year. Don't root for a team that loses all the time. Rooting for losers is for losers.

 
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