So what made you become a fan of your favorite NFL team? (1 Viewer)

[Doctor Detroit]

When I was six I was being punished and had to sit on the couch and football was on, Seahawks and Falcons. I liked the Seahawks helmets and they were really hard to get out of the vending machines that carried the mini plastic helmets back in the day. Then I saw Zorn to Largent and Dan Doornick breaking tackles, Dave Brown on the INT; then came Curt Warner, Dave Kreig, Kenny Easley, and a whole lot of wins in the early to mid 80s. It was my first professional sports team so I just stuck with them and I was rockin' the original Seahawks Starter jacket in HS when that stuff was pretty hard to find. I guess after spending 2k for a Super Bowl seat I'm kind of in the family now, it's been almost 30 years since I've been a Seahawks fan.

 

[by_the_sea_wannabe]

Be honest?*sigh*...Tecmo Bowl. That's what got me hooked on the NFL, and my favourite team - da Bills.

no shame here. I was always the Bears and everytime I scored I sang : Oh yes I want to be in that number when the Bears go marching in :

 

[FantasyTrader]

Wow. Great stories. Mine is so pathetic in comparison. I became an NFL fan at the age of 21 - the first year I joined a fantasy football league. I grew up in Nebraska, where it's the Cornhuskers. When you grow up in Ne., the Huskers envelop your soul - I can't ever become a fanatic about any other sports team. Only shades of casual affiliation.

Anyway, I looked around the NFL thinking, "If I'm playing fantasy, I may as well have an NFL team to root for." There were two teams who joined the NFL in expansion that year - the Panthers and Jaguars. That was attractive to me. I liked the idea of having a team that, if they ever won it all, I could say I was there from the beginning. I flipped a coin and have been a Jags backer ever since. I say "backer" because, compared to the Huskers if there's NFL fans out there that feel about their franchises the way I feel about the Big Red, it'd be a slap in their face to call myself a Jans "fan". Not sexy - but it's the truth.

 

[hauser42]

Come on I live about a half hour from the frozen tundra how can I not be a Packer fan. There is no real great story to it.

Yes I have lived through the 70s and 80s which had to be some of the worst Packer teams in the history of the frachise. But for a while they had an exciting offense that kept you awake during those poors years. Getting some kind of Packer gear for Christmas has become a tradition in our family.

Will say this I went on the Lambeau tour the day that Brett Favre annouced he was coming back. Heard the info while sitting in Curly's Pub. If you get a chance take the tour it is awesome all the things you get to see while there. They bring you out of the tunnel with the music playing. My friends and I all had goosebunps and wanted to run on the field.

 

[caglassc]

I grew up in the 70's wanting to be just like my brother, who is 5 years older than I am. He was a HUGE Cowboy fan, so I became a huge Cowboy fan too. We both still are today, though I am not as big a Cowboy fan as I once was.I miss the Tom Landry, Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett days!

Same here...I didn't have a brother but I was a Cowboys fan from the start....

 

[DarkManX]

Funnily enough, Madden 97-98, found this guy Eddie George who turned out to be a beast in the game and much the same in real life. Been a Titans fan ever since.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Bo Jackson.

I still die a little inside when I think of the injury and what could have been.

 

[Jerry Lawler]

I was 8 years old an rooting for the Bengals when the Colts moved to my Indy where I lived at the time. In hindsight, the Colts saved me from a lot of frustrating Bengals seasons.

 

[sho nuff]

Come on I live about a half hour from the frozen tundra how can I not be a Packer fan. There is no real great story to it.Yes I have lived through the 70s and 80s which had to be some of the worst Packer teams in the history of the frachise. But for a while they had an exciting offense that kept you awake during those poors years. Getting some kind of Packer gear for Christmas has become a tradition in our family.Will say this I went on the Lambeau tour the day that Brett Favre annouced he was coming back. Heard the info while sitting in Curly's Pub. If you get a chance take the tour it is awesome all the things you get to see while there. They bring you out of the tunnel with the music playing. My friends and I all had goosebunps and wanted to run on the field.

I need to do that tour some time when Im up there.See you are in Shawano...my family has a place up on Berry lake not far from there.

 

[Mustang Man]

Well this was what happen for me. I was 7 years old never seen a football game before. My father had to take me to a Super Bowl party cause my mother had an emergency. It was 1978 Dallas vs the Broncos. I originally picked the Broncos, reason I have no idea (Probably like the orange or something). As I watched the game, cause I really had no choice I fell in Love with the Cowboys( I think because everyone was rooting against them) and have been a die hard fan ever sense. I am like that I never go with the crowd I am not a person that likes to pile on just because it is popular. Multiple pictures of every gift for me was a Cowboys something or other. I was hooked and that game just left a lasting impression on me. Through the good and the bad I have and always will be a Cowboys fan. Everyone I know knows this and knows it will never change!

 

[bigmurd]

Moved to the USA (Los Angeles) in 1996 and there were no LA teams left at that point. Started playing in a band with a guy from Buffalo who introduced me to the wonderful world of Sunday drinking with his home town cronies; it seem logical at the time to just join in rooting for the Bills with the other guys. Now I can't imagine rooting for anyone else and I'm a hardcore fan - I Billieve!

 

[Capn Crunch]

Two words: Spider Lockhart. 8 year olds latch on to names like that and do not let go...

 

[Bills Fan]

Joe Cribbs

Jerry Butler

Frank White

Joe Ferguson

Fred Smerlas

Joe Delamlure (sp)

Jim Haslett

"The Bermuda Triangle"

God Bless my Buffalo Bills

 

[jaspry]

In third grade in mid-70s. My dad was my elementary principal and school was selling those "pleather" NFL duffel bags. All the kids were getting one ad Dad asked me which one I wanted. I didn't know the NFL so I just picked the one that was my elementary school's colors: Black and Gold. Got my Steelers satchel and have stuck with them ever since. Still have one of those bags (went back and got one off Ebay).

 

[Giantseasonticketholder]

Harry Carson, Brian Kelley, Brad Van Pelt. My Dad took me to my first game in September of 1979. I've been hooked ever since.

 

[resko99]

Early as I can remember, I was a Cowboy fan. This was the early 70's and I loved the colors of their unifoms. Shortly after I became informed that I lived in Michigan and should remain loyal. It was easy back then because the uniforms were similar and Billy Simms was jumping over a defender and putting a cleat in the chest of the next guy. Barry Sanders made about 11 years tolerable but being a Lions fan has just plain sucked since.

 

[the roflmobile]

I remember watching Superbowl 23 with my grandpa. He was indifferent as to the outcome because he was a Bears fan. But for some reason when John Taylor caught that late TD pass from Montana, I became a 49er fan. Next year it wasn't a happy household when the 49ers beat the Bears in the playoffs.

 

[oukurt]

I was very young and my dad always watched the Cowboys game on Sundays. His favorite player was Roger Staubach and he soon became my childhood hero. Watching Staubach throw to Drew Pearson and Butch Johnson is a favorite memory to this day.

 

[Bulldawg]

As a child, went to old Municipal stadium (with the stinky bathrooms) and watched Jim Brown, Gary Collins, Paul Warfield etc.

Heard stories from family members about Paul Brown and "The Winningest Team" in pro football and was hooked.

Modell ripped the heart $$$$ out and just don't care anymore.

More about fantasy.

Too many punks and no class in the game.

 

[theplayer11]

you root for your hometown team, even if they suck.(and the Patriots sure did suck) That's how it starts. The kids that rooted for the Steelers or the Cowboys just because they were good were want-a-bees, no respect for those turds. I got my payback.

 

[pollardsvision]

to many, i'm a despicable human being

2 years ago, i divorced the team i was a fan of since i was 8 years old. i began hating them years before that and saw no point in continuing to pretend anymore. life's too short to stick around in a miserable marriage. football just wasn't enjoyable anymore.

there were no children involved, so i filed for divorce.

i married my mistress, the jacksonville jaguars.

i fell in love with them for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to:

1. i love the way they play football. even when they lose, someone gets punched in the mouth.

2. they are a somewhat forgotten about team in a forgotten about nfl town. that is appealing to me and, already being a traitor, i didn't want to pick a team with an already huge fanbase.

3. i've always hated the colts. the jags made a natural fit.

although some view me as the most vile scum walking the planet for being a turncoat, i have no regrets. the NFL is fun again and winning has nothing to do with it. i actually like watching the team i'm married to.

 

[kajaet]

you root for your hometown team, even if they suck.(and the Patriots sure did suck) That's how it starts. The kids that rooted for the Steelers or the Cowboys just because they were good were want-a-bees, no respect for those turds. I got my payback.

Amen.Go Eagles.

 

[Homer]

I was 10 and didn't really live close to an NFL city, and Air Coryell was just getting rolling. John JJ Jefferson with his cosmic glasses was the BOMB in my little world, and Fouts to anyone and everyone was revolutionary in the game at that time. It wasn't hard to fall in love with that team.

Or OUT of love when Fouts kept getting hurt and the Chargers (who eventually became my hometown team) kept rolling guys like Babe Laufenberg out to replace him...

When the NFL strike hit in '87 and they used SCAB PLAYERS, I swore I would never have any allegiance to an NFL TEAM again. I actually lost interest in the game until I started playing fantasy football about 10 years later. I had Peyton Manning on my keeper league team since day 1 I started playing fantasy, and the Colts are the only team I get consistently get excited about watching to this day. It's funny, 'coz I always thought Manning was kind of prissy in college! Maybe he still IS, but he's 'MY' PRISSY BOY!

 

[BringBackStark]

2 words: Dan + Marino

 

[teamramrod]

I became a Packer fan because as a kid if the Packers won my father was happy and took us to get ice cream and if they lost he was frustrated and we did yardwork. The yard always looked nice in the 80's.

Awesome. My dad did the same, but it was the Dodgers in Oct. this was in the 70s. In the 77 series, I think I mowed the grass every time Nettles robbed da bums of a triple.Peace

 

[Big Dumb Ape]

They play in the city I grew up in. I thought that's just how it worked.

 

[teamramrod]

This thread really made me think this morning.

My story above and many of the other stories here involve the influence of a father. My dad was awesome. Raised in Jersey, his best year as a child was '55 when his beloved Bums won their only series as the Brooklyn Dodgers. Despite his love for the pastime, he supported my love for football. I grew up in Michigan so the Lions are my team. they just are. He took me to a game in against the Buccaners, still with the gay colors, and the Lions won. I was ecstatic. He even took me to the Michigan Panthers playoff game. we tore down goal posts together and celebrated in the parking lot.

I love him for supporting my football habit even though it did not mean the same to him.

Now going forward.

My son is autistic. And honestly, I would not change that for the world. But as a sports fan, he is not. He is not interested in football. But I find my self encouraging his other interests and doing those things with him. And then it comes to me. I am able to do this because my dad taught me, not by telling but by actions, that you support the interests of your child despite your own.

So my Dad is cursing the Phillies, I am cursing Millen and my son is cursing the latest patch in WoW that nerfed his character.

But, my son is cognizant of what is going on. When he was three, we were watching cartoons and he looked over at me and said, "Dad, that coyote is never going to catch the road runner is he?"

Now at 15, he looks over at me on a Sunday afternoon and says "Dad, the Lions will never win a super bowl will they?"

Peace

 

[FantasyTrader]

This thread really made me think this morning.My story above and many of the other stories here involve the influence of a father. My dad was awesome. Raised in Jersey, his best year as a child was '55 when his beloved Bums won their only series as the Brooklyn Dodgers. Despite his love for the pastime, he supported my love for football. I grew up in Michigan so the Lions are my team. they just are. He took me to a game in against the Buccaners, still with the gay colors, and the Lions won. I was ecstatic. He even took me to the Michigan Panthers playoff game. we tore down goal posts together and celebrated in the parking lot.I love him for supporting my football habit even though it did not mean the same to him.Now going forward.My son is autistic. And honestly, I would not change that for the world. But as a sports fan, he is not. He is not interested in football. But I find my self encouraging his other interests and doing those things with him. And then it comes to me. I am able to do this because my dad taught me, not by telling but by actions, that you support the interests of your child despite your own.So my Dad is cursing the Phillies, I am cursing Millen and my son is cursing the latest patch in WoW that nerfed his character.But, my son is cognizant of what is going on. When he was three, we were watching cartoons and he looked over at me and said, "Dad, that coyote is never going to catch the road runner is he?"Now at 15, he looks over at me on a Sunday afternoon and says "Dad, the Lions will never win a super bowl will they?"Peace

Wow. Awesome.