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When did you become and NFL fan? (1 Viewer)

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Family Matters

Footballguy
When did you become a fan? I was watching ESPN's "NFL's Greatest Memories" and they showed a couple of Super Bowl match ups between the Steelers and the Cowboys and I was reminded of how and when I became a fan.

As a kid we used to go to my grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. After the big feast I would go to one her bedrooms and watch the Cowboys play the Redskins, Cardinals or whoever. That's when I first became interested in football. Soon after I became an OSU Buckeye fan as well! :thumbup:

Watching those game was really cool. I just wish ny dad and brothers had been fans but they were not. I can remember one of my uncles being a football fan and when he came over we'd watch what was on. Here are some of my memories that made me a fan:

Cowboys v Steelers. They played regular season games like they were the playoffs. Their SB games were as good as they get. These games also had a big impact on who became HOFers as well.

Dolphins v Chargers. Watching Wislow play was incredible. I don't know how he made it through the game but he was a motivating force to me.

Browns v Broncos. It wasn't easy being a Browns fan. And it hasn't been since the Jim Brown days. When Modell and Paul Brown parted ways, the Browns were never the same. Anyway, Elway did a number on the Browns. He really played in a manner that is just so rare that you couldn't help become a fan.

Bengals v Browns. With Paul Brown starting the Bengals and making the Browns his motiovation it was interesting and quit a learning experience to observe this transition. I becane a Bengal fan because of Paul Brown, Ken Anderson, Issac Curtis, Bob Trumpy and few others.

Browns/Bengals v Steelers. Any time these 2 teams beat the Steelers it was a good day.

Hank Stram, Tom Landry, Chuck Knoll, Don Shula, Monday Night Football, Frank Gifford, Dandy Don Merideth, Don "Air" Coryell and many others made me a fan.

Fantasy football has allowed me to enjoy football even more so. And now my son (he's 9) has become a great fan and a really good player. Last week he threw 1 TD and rushed for 2 more in his season ending game.

What's yours?

 
didn't really become a big fan of the nfl game until i started fantasy football about five years ago. :bag: but i do have vivid memories of that game that emmitt smith played with his one arm dangling at his side.

 
I was a bad kid. I was over at my aunts when I was six and all my cousins were like ten years older than me and there was nothing for me to do. :rant: I got into trouble one way or another and my Mom made me sit with my great uncle who was watching football in the living room. It was the Seahawks and Falcons and it was Zorn, Largent, Sherman Smith, Barkowski, Cain, Andrews, and the rest of those two offensive juggernauts of the time. I loved the game and I loved the Seahawks helmets and I never strayed since. If my Mom would have known I would have turned out to be this big of a sports fan, this big of a Seahawks fan, she probably would have let me go on getting into trouble. :thumbup:

 
I can't remember a time when I was NOT a NFL or football fan. Therefor, I cannot recall at what time I became one. :confused:

 
In my family we're born Cowboy Redskins fans.  It's a birthright.  Newborns without the star shaped Indian head birthmark are culled.
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:thumbup:
 
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I became a fan when I saw Steve Young win an amazing game against the Packers with a TD pass to Terrell Owens in the last seconds of a play-off match-up. It was inspirational.

 
I don't remember the exact moment. I was born and raised in Green Bay, where football is life. I remember a time early in childhood when I thought it was boring because I was too young to understand it. Somewhere along the line I learned the game and loved it ever since.

 
I grew up hating the Bills cause I wanted to be different than my parents. I was 3-7 during the 4 Super Bowls, and I cheered against them for the last 2 (the only 2 I remember watching). I started to mature, and grew into a big Bills fan in about 1995. I've been a huge fan for 11 years now!Plus I collected football cards when I was younger and was in a free FF league at 6. So I've been a big NFL fan since like 1993 when I was 6.

 
I became a fan when I saw Steve Young win an amazing game against the Packers with a TD pass to Terrell Owens in the last seconds of a play-off match-up. It was inspirational.
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That was right after the play where Rice clearly fumbled the ball yet the refs inexplicably awarded it to S.F., right.
 
In 1979 my family moved down to Florida to be near our relatives. I was in 2nd grade. One day I was at my cousin's house and he was watching the Dolphins. They totally annihilated the team they were playing (can't remember who). I was hooked. Been a fan ever since.First time I cried like a baby when the Dolphins lost? 2 years later when John Riggins wasted cornerback Don McNeal for his infamous TD run in the Super Bowl. I've always hated Theisman since that game as well. I can still remember him knocking the ball away from Kim Bokamper (I think) who had a sure INT-TD in his hands before Joey played the hero.

 
Grandfather played in college and the NFL. Father played in college and is a life long coach. I am pretty sure I entered the world in a 3 pt. stance and was given a mouth piece as pacifier. I never had any real choice in the matter but glad it turned out like it did. My earliest memory of the NFL would have to be a game that the Steelers and Broncos played at some point between 74-76. I was watching with the uncles, etc. I do remember the game being played in Denver and it was snowing. I am pretty sure it was a Saturday game because my dad's season was over. It was blizzard type conditions and for someone being rasied it Texas I thought it was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. Been hooked ever since.

 
Grandfather played in college and the NFL. Father played in college and is a life long coach. I am pretty sure I entered the world in a 3 pt. stance and was given a mouth piece as pacifier. I never had any real choice in the matter but glad it turned out like it did.

My earliest memory of the NFL would have to be a game that the Steelers and Broncos played at some point between 74-76. I was watching with the uncles, etc. I do remember the game being played in Denver and it was snowing. I am pretty sure it was a Saturday game because my dad's season was over. It was blizzard type conditions and for someone being rasied it Texas I thought it was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. Been hooked ever since.
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Great story!
 
I was raised in Wisconsin on God, country, and Lombardi, and not in that order.
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Most people say "practice makes perfect". Lombardi always said "perfect practice makes perfect". And he's right. It applies to most everything you do.
 
didn't really become a big fan of the nfl game until i started fantasy football about five years ago. :bag:

but i do have vivid memories of that game that emmitt smith played with his one arm dangling at his side.
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I very much remember as he was on my fantasy team. I was playing the commish and I had Faulk and the "old" man going. That was an amazing performance!
 
I was raised in Wisconsin on God, country, and Lombardi, and not in that order.
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:thumbup: Yup...basically from birth...strengthened the first time I walked into Lambeau...and every other time I have walked into that stadium and taken the same seats my family has been sitting for a long long time...

 
Soon after I became an OSU Buckeye fan as well! :thumbup:
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:X :X :X
And now my son (he's 9) has become a great fan and a really good player. Last week he threw 1 TD and rushed for 2 more in his season ending game.
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:thumbup: Michigan will need a HB of his caliber in nine years. :D
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Sorry, he's a QB and he's going to be a Buckeye come hell or high water. Unless Michigan is offerring a full ride scholarship. Then I can be a Wolverine for 4 years. ;)
 
I became a fan when I saw Steve Young win an amazing game against the Packers with a TD pass to Terrell Owens in the last seconds of a play-off match-up. It was inspirational.
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That's back wheb TO was still a likeable player.
 
I grew up hating the Bills cause I wanted to be different than my parents. I was 3-7 during the 4 Super Bowls, and I cheered against them for the last 2 (the only 2 I remember watching). I started to mature, and grew into a big Bills fan in about 1995. I've been a huge fan for 11 years now!

Plus I collected football cards when I was younger and was in a free FF league at 6. So I've been a big NFL fan since like 1993 when I was 6.
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Wow! You really started early.I won't let my boy start FF until maybe 10-12 or so. We'll just have to see how that goes because he's already asking. :thumbup:
 
I became a fan when I saw Steve Young win an amazing game against the Packers with a TD pass to Terrell Owens in the last seconds of a play-off match-up.  It was inspirational.
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That was right after the play where Rice clearly fumbled the ball yet the refs inexplicably awarded it to S.F., right.
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Tough time letting go?
 
I remember playing football long before noticing it on TV. The neighborhood kids would always end up on somebody's front lawn tackling each other. Most of the kids in my neighborhood were a year or two older than me but they always let me play anyway. Sometimes I wish they hadn't as I got tossed around like a rag doll. Regardless, I loved the game of football for as long as I can remember being exposed to it.My first memories of the NFL were a cold Sunday in New York. My father, grandfather and a couple of uncles were gasping at the television every few minutes during a Jets game while I was playing in the other room. When I came in and asked what was up they told me O.J. Simpson had just gone over 2,000 yards in a season. The other memory that stands out was Super Bowl 11. I was playing with my matchbox cars on the TV room floor. Dad was watching the game. Every time I looked up Sammy White was catching a pass for the Vikings. And every time he caught one, the Raiders were pummeling him. I remember watching the play where Tatum hit White so hard his helmet came flying off and I actually winced. I remember feeling sorry for White too. The Raiders were kind of a scary bunch to a kid in those days.

 
Growing up in Miami, when I was real young I was a Steeler/Cowboys fan...loved to watch Dallas on Thanksgiving.When Miami went to the Super Bowl in the strike shortened 1982 season I started getting into the Fins...Riggins broke my heart in that Super Bowl.Than the next season my father took us to a couple of Miami games in the Orange Bowl, that hooked me real quick.

 
Growing up in Miami, when I was real young I was a Steeler/Cowboys fan...loved to watch Dallas on Thanksgiving.

When Miami went to the Super Bowl in the strike shortened 1982 season I started getting into the Fins...Riggins broke my heart in that Super Bowl.

Than the next season my father took us to a couple of Miami games in the Orange Bowl, that hooked me real quick.
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Let me ask you a question. How important was going to that game with your dad? Did that mean a great deal to you? The reason I ask is my boy has been asking to go to a game. I hate going to games but I think I should take him to one or more.
 
Growing up in Miami, when I was real young I was a Steeler/Cowboys fan...loved to watch Dallas on Thanksgiving.

When Miami went to the Super Bowl in the strike shortened 1982 season I started getting into the Fins...Riggins broke my heart in that Super Bowl.

Than the next season my father took us to a couple of Miami games in the Orange Bowl, that hooked me real quick.
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Let me ask you a question. How important was going to that game with your dad? Did that mean a great deal to you? The reason I ask is my boy has been asking to go to a game. I hate going to games but I think I should take him to one or more.
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I took my son to a local Arena Football game last year (National Indoor Football League or something like that). He was 8. It was a thrill watching his eyes light up as took in all of the sights and sounds. After the game, they let us go down on the field and he got 15+ autographs from the players. He has loved football ever since. I wish I could afford to take the 3 hour trip to the nearest NFL city and let the kid experience a "real game" but just too expensive. Some day it will happen. Going to a game with your son is indeed priceless!

 
...oh yeah.Couple years ago when I was visiting my father in Colorado, I scored a couple preseason tickets to the Broncos and Falcons at Mile High Stadium. My dad has been a Broncos fan his entire 60+ years but had never been to a game. Our seats were in the rowdy South stands about 15 rows back. Great stuff. The next day we sat in the same section and took in a Rockies-Dodgers game. Talking about quality Father-Son bonding time.

 
Thanks for raising the subject. You've helped me bring back memories I hadn't recalled in many years.

Many of you know I'm not a kid. I'm now 47. In the fall of 1962 I was just turning 4.

In the fall, when the kids would play touch football games in the street, these games could go on for hours. It was a regular weekend activity in our neighborhood. Kids would come and go; there would be in total maybe 30 or 40 of all ages participating throughout the afternoon. Sometimes an adult or two would also join in.

It was a big deal for me to be able to play with the 'big kids.' That's pretty typical of small children. I had an older brother of 10 who was always very good to me (I wish I had appreciated him more as I was growing up), and instead of pushing me away he often included me in things. So, I'd get to run around out there like I was actually doing something, and for fun sometimes I'd be given the ball and other kids would try to touch me but just miss. I had no clue at the time that it was all fake, but God did it give my 4 year old heart a thrill to score a touchdown.

I grew up in the Los Angeles area, and the street games were usually the Rams against the Chargers. The Rams of course were in LA at the time, and the Chargers won the American Football League's championship in its inaugural 1960 season before moving to San Diego in 1961, lost the championship game in 1961, and were pretty popular still in our area because Chargers games were televised there.

I idolized this 7 year old kid who lived across the street and who played in the touch football games, and he was a huge Chargers fan. He invited me to come over and watch Sunday football a couple of times that season, and I remember watching and trying to understand what was going on. We'd eat popcorn while he and his dad would explain what was happening on the field. It looked very little like the street football games to me, but the connection I felt - somehow being a part of things - made me feel good, made me feel 'big.' However, the Chargers sucked that year and lost both games I watched, and I honestly was bored by the time those games ended and was beginning to lose interest in the whole football-on-television thing.

But then one game really clicked for me and changed it all. It was the AFL championship game that year between the Dallas Texans and the Houston Oilers. I watched it with my 7 year old friend and his family, and it was a 2-OT thriller. Though the quality of play is something I had no knowledge of (it may have been a poorly played game for all I know), I remember it seemed to be tied forever. Though there wasn't much scoring, each time one team would get the ball, and then be stopped and have to give it up, would only increase the suspense. Even I understood enough to be riveted to it, and the excitement of that game carried through to the next season, and the next, and so on for the rest of my life.

I'm glad I became a football fan at such an early age. By the time I was 7 I was a seasoned vet of football watching and understood a lot of what was going on while other kids were still clueless. I was reading the sports section regularly, digging into books on football, collecting cards (man do I wish I still had those early ones!), etc.

I have vivid memories of the Browns shutting out an incredibly dominant Colts team in the 1964 championship game when I was just 6, and understood just how shocking that 27-0 score was. I remember well the Cowboys-Packers 'Ice Bowl' championship game after the 1967 season when I was 9, and remember how pissed I was when I learned the Packers-Chiefs game that followed (not yet known as the Super Bowl) wasn't to be televised live. My family thought I was nuts; after all, it was just an 'exhibition' game. And the next year when I was 10 and by then a Raiders fan, watching them get crushed by the Packers. Those were all significant games in my early memory of pro football. The very first, though, that made a significant impact, was that old 1962 AFL 2-OT game between the Dallas Texans and the Houston Oilers.

 
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1984 Preseason (I was 6) I went to the Chicago Bears vs. St.Louis Cardinals preseason football game. I was hooked. Then in 1994 I learned about this thing called "Fantasy Football", started my first league when I was 16 and have been playing ever since.The rest is the icing on the cake. The only bad part is it took my 10 years to find FF.

 
Let me ask you a question. How important was going to that game with your dad? Did that mean a great deal to you? The reason I ask is my boy has been asking to go to a game. I hate going to games but I think I should take him to one or more.
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You have to take him. In an effort to not get too far off task I will keep it brief. There is something unique about the symbiotic relationship between sports, fathers and sons. No matter how pissed off my dad has made me over the years, while trusting there have been some horrific differences of opinions between the two of us, football has always been there to provide common ground, mediation, round about apolgies, etc. My greatest memories from childhood were attending football/baseball games and practices with my dad or grandfather. We still get out to as many games as we can during a year. Of course, I got my little guy I now take but to this day there are still games reserved just for my dad and I. Even if you have to sit in the nose bleeds take the kid. It is the experience and memory that are ultimately most important. The game is almost an afterthought. Ok, that brings my public service announcement/ ABC After School Special to a close.
 
January 10, 1982. Dallas vs. San Fransisco, NFC Championship:58 left, Montana to Clark, "The Catch"I was 7 years old and became an NFL fan, and a 49er fan, for life.

 
Let me ask you a question. How important was going to that game with your dad? Did that mean a great deal to you? The reason I ask is my boy has been asking to go to a game. I hate going to games but I think I should take him to one or more.
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You have to take him.
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Agreed. I can't believe it's even a question.
 
Broncos Vs. Giants Super Bowl, '86 I think. I was either 4 or 5 years old. All I really remember is thinking how the Broncos didn't look THAT much smaller than the Giants. I've loved the Broncos ever since.

 
One of my earliest memories of football which made me fall in love with it was back in the 70's.I was born and raised in Houston so Earl Campbell was my favorite player. Back in those days, the Oilers and the Pittsburgh Steelers had some of the best rivalry games. Earl made me love football. I can still see Jack Lambert roaming the field if I think hard enough.......

 
Growing up in Miami, when I was real young I was a Steeler/Cowboys fan...loved to watch Dallas on Thanksgiving.

When Miami went to the Super Bowl in the strike shortened 1982 season I started getting into the Fins...Riggins broke my heart in that Super Bowl.

Than the next season my father took us to a couple of Miami games in the Orange Bowl, that hooked me real quick.
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Let me ask you a question. How important was going to that game with your dad? Did that mean a great deal to you? The reason I ask is my boy has been asking to go to a game. I hate going to games but I think I should take him to one or more.
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My father passed away last year. I can remember the smell of the hot dogs...this was when you didn't have to stand in a concession line...they actually had it in a warmer and carried it around the stadium. I can remember where we sat in the closed in part of the end zone in the Orange Bowl...I can remember seeign the helmets and the color of them. They played the Chiefs...those red uniforms took me aback...I coul;d never describe to folks that have never been how vibrant a football looks till I watched the NFL thru HD...I immediately thought of those games I went to with my father.

You asked a question that has really made me pause and think...you didn't know so its no biggie, but I will probably be thinking of him the rest of the day. It was a great time and a great memory and somethign I am so thankful of.

 
I was raised in Wisconsin on God, country, and Lombardi, and not in that order.
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I don't remember the exact moment. I was born and raised in Green Bay, where football is life. I remember a time early in childhood when I thought it was boring because I was too young to understand it. Somewhere along the line I learned the game and loved it ever since.
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I was raised in Wisconsin on God, country, and Lombardi, and not in that order.
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:thumbup: Yup...basically from birth...strengthened the first time I walked into Lambeau...and every other time I have walked into that stadium and taken the same seats my family has been sitting for a long long time...
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:thumbup: i was born in green bay...i put my initial football upbringing around 8 months and 30 days prior to that date :football:
 
it was Christmas of 1968.I got an electric football game.some might remember them, where the players would vibrate on this playing field.you would give one of them this little felt ball to carry and put him behind all the blockers. when a players from the other team touched him , he was down.the 2 teams I got were the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Colts.the Purple People Eaters with Alan Page, Jim Marshall and Carl Eller.the Colts with Tom Matte, John Mackey and John Unitas.I fell in LOVE with the NFL playing that game.later I got the Dallas Cowboys and became a life long fan after watching Bob Hayes, Mel Renfro, Bob Lilly and Jethro Pugh.ahhhh ...... the memories. :popcorn: :excited:

 
Let me ask you a question. How important was going to that game with your dad? Did that mean a great deal to you? The reason I ask is my boy has been asking to go to a game. I hate going to games but I think I should take him to one or more.
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You asked a question that has really made me pause and think...you didn't know so its no biggie, but I will probably be thinking of him the rest of the day. It was a great time and a great memory and something I am so thankful of.
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I"m touched by that, MOP. My mom passed away 3 years ago next week, and it was she and not my dad who was involved with my sports interests as a youth.Family Matters, MOP's answer is all you'll ever need. Begin making plans now with your son. Taking him to a game is not a cost in a situation like this. It's an investmernt.

 
Kevin Dyson stetching out at the one yard line as the clock ran out.

Been a Titans fan ever since
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that was also before i really started following the nfl, but i remember rooting for the titans cause they had eddie george. what a close game that was.

 
I have red hair - hence (one reason for) the handle. I was born and lived in Arlington, VA for the first 9 years of my life. Some of my earliest memories were of my parents getting a baby sitter so that they could go watch 'Skins games at RFK. According to my mom, when I was in a stroller and was decked out in 'Skins gear as a baby, people would ask whether I was Sonny Jurgenson's son because of my red hair.

 
I have been an NFL for as long as I can remember. However, it became my favorite sport by far in 1994 after the baseball strike. I used to be a huge baseball fan, but haven't cared about baseball since about that time. I needed something to fill the void, so the NFL became my favorite. Then I started getting into fantasy football and that just solidified my love for football over any other sport.

 
...oh yeah.

Couple years ago when I was visiting my father in Colorado, I scored a couple preseason tickets to the Broncos and Falcons at Mile High Stadium. My dad has been a Broncos fan his entire 60+ years but had never been to a game. Our seats were in the rowdy South stands about 15 rows back. Great stuff. The next day we sat in the same section and took in a Rockies-Dodgers game. Talking about quality Father-Son bonding time.
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The Broncos have been around for nearly 60 years? I thought they came into existence around 1960?
 
...oh yeah.

Couple years ago when I was visiting my father in Colorado, I scored a couple preseason tickets to the Broncos and Falcons at Mile High Stadium.  My dad has been a Broncos fan his entire 60+ years but had never been to a game.  Our seats were in the rowdy South stands about 15 rows back.  Great stuff.  The next day we sat in the same section and took in a Rockies-Dodgers game.  Talking about quality Father-Son bonding time.
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The Broncos have been around for nearly 60 years? I thought they came into existence around 1960?
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Maybe he meant the horses . . . :unsure:
 
Since there are a few guys 30 plus I have to ask. Did anyone else have the Hutch all in one jersey, helmet and pants set?

I got a Lions set and think my helmet lasted about half an hour before I cracked it in half, while hitting my brother. Oh, the Christmas Day memories...

Family Matters, I don't care if it is a high school game take your little man. If he is young enough, like 2-5, he will not even know the difference. My HOF MLB in the making is only 6 and has just begun to figure out the differences between attending a high school, college and pro game.

He's just as happy, though, at any of the three and has learned to immediately locate the cheerleaders, nearest bathroom and beerstand upon finding our seats. He even has the 3 in proper order. Nothing like taking him and the wife to a game and having him say, hey, dad the cheerleaders have different outfits this time. Of course, I placed full responsibility onto his grandfather.

 
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