Good morning Uni Watchers, and Happy Humpday.
I wanted to discuss an issue that’s been on my mind for awhile, and it has both to do with age and upbringing.
As someone born and raised (and still living) on Long Island (a New York City suburb), I’ve been a fan of New York sports teams basically since birth. Now, New Yorkers are different from almost every other major city in the fact that we basically have two home teams for each of the four major sports. As you all know, I’m a Mets and (football) Giants fan first and foremost, but also an Islanders fan. Growing up, I first rooted for the New York Nets (when they played in the ABA), but switched allegiances to the Knicks when the Nets moved to Jersey after joining the NBA. After a brief flirtation with the Nets upon their return to Long Island (Brooklyn), I am still a Knicks fan first and foremost, although I’ll root for the Nets as well (except when they play the Knicks).
Most New Yorkers (and by that I mean those who live in the New York City metropolitan area, not New York State residents) face similar choices — which team in each sport to root for — since there are inevitably two choices for both. It’s a little different for someone from Long Island, since the Islanders play in Nassau County (located just to the east of Queens), and the Mets (who play in Queens), so usually those are our two rooting interests. Both New York football teams play nine miles west of Manhattan in the swamps of Jersey, while the Knicks and Rangers play in Madison Square Garden (Manhattan). The Yankees, of course, play their games up in da Bronx, which is still inside the City of New York, but in the borough just north of the City.
But fandom isn’t always determined by geography. Here’s where age and upbringing comes into play.
A lot of times, fandom is decided by whom your pop (or in some cases, mom) rooted for. My mom isn’t a sports fan at all, but my dad was a big fan, and so of course some of his fanhood rubbed off on me. But he was one of the rarer cases: despite perception, there are a fair amount of New Yorkers who actually root for both New York sports teams, only choosing a favorite when the two teams play each other. My dad was that kind of fan. He had his favorites (which perhaps not coincidentally were mine as well): Mets, Giants, Knicks, Isles. But he also rooted for the Yankees, Jets, Nets and Rangers. One of his happiest moments occurred when the Jets won Super Bowl III. He celebrated when the Yanks won multiple World Series. The Nets never won an NBA title, but I remember watching on the couch with him when they won a pair of ABA titles. And he was pretty stoked when the Rangers broke their “curse” to win the cup in 1994.
When I was growing up, I admit I was somewhat influenced by my pop’s cheering for the “other” New York teams, and I’ll even admit to rooting for the Yankees when they had their World Series run in 1976-78 (winning the latter two). But as I got a bit older, and my influences started coming from my school friends, I began to side with just one team. Most of my friends rooted for only one team in any of the four sports. But what I also started to notice is that my friends didn’t necessarily share my rooting interests, despite rooting for the local (New York) team. Most of my friends were Mets fans, but a few were Yankee fans — it’s not like we came to blows over this, but there was definitely some tension along with good-natured ribbing. This repeated itself in the other sports.
It was also at this time that one of my buddies — for reasons I never fully understood — was a New York fan in all sports except baseball, and he was a Red Sox fan. This was a time when the Sawx were terrible, and none of his family members were Sox fans, so it always seemed odd. And then there were a few new kids who moved into the neighborhood who weren’t native New Yorkers, and I was introduced to fans of teams from where they lived previously. I was beginning to realize not everyone around me had the same rooting interests.
One last thing about my pop — he was born in Brooklyn (and originally a Dodgers fan), but moved to Chicago for about a decade in his late 20s and early 30s. Somehow, in that time, he became a Cubs fan. When he moved back to Long Island and married my mom, he returned to being a Mets/Yanks fan, but always had a soft spot for the Cubbies. This impressed upon me that fanhood could be transferrable.
I never did ask him why he didn’t also become a White Sox fan (since he had no problem rooting for “all” the New York teams), and the Cubs were always pretty terrible during the time he lived in Chicago. I asked him why he became a Cubs fan and his reply was something along the lines of “well, I lived there and went to games, and you gotta root for the home team.”
When I went away to college, of course I experienced folks from all over the country whose rooting interests were (in many cases) MUCH different than my own. There were a lot of guys from Boston and while we were friends (and many of them were my fraternity brothers), things got tense in 1986. (One rather unfortunate incident ended with my being thrown through a terrarium following Game 6 of the World Series, when I may have celebrated a *bit* too hard, but I digress.) But what I learned more than anything is that most folks only had ONE local team for whom to root, and they did so hard.
After I graduated, I began working back on Long Island, and over the years, we’d have younger and younger “kids” (they were all around college age, but they got younger as I got older) work in the office, and while they were all local, I was noticing they were less and less fans of local teams. At the time I didn’t make the connection, but it became clear after a while. Their rooting interests were more and more being shaped by winning teams, not local ones. One guy, who grew up in the 1990s, was a Yankees/Cowboys/Bulls/Rangers fan. Of course, those teams enjoyed great success while he was a youth. His fanhood wasn’t shaped by local rooting interests, but by winning teams.
Now here’s where age — and not upbringing — began to factor into the equation. During the ’80s and ’90s, cable television began to proliferate, and thanks to ESPN and TBS and WGN (among others), we were treated to out-of-market games on television — something I never experienced growing up. If we were lucky, we got Mets/Yankees games on free TV, and other than Monday Night Football, pretty much just Giants and Jets games (there was no Sunday Night Football or Thursday Night Football). It wasn’t until the playoffs when we would see two out-of-market teams. For hockey and basketball it was worse. There were no home games shown on local TV (and very few road games), and even the playoffs for those two sports weren’t always on TV. But by the 1990s and after, the younger generations were seeing teams from all over, and this no doubt also influenced their rooting interests.
I need to pause momentarily here for an important uni-related note. You’ve seen how I occasionally say “As God intended” whenever an NHL team wears white at home. This is the way it was for me growing up (and for a bunch of years after that). But on TV, since we never got any broadcasts of home games, I always saw the Islanders or Knicks in blue. You had to go to a game to see them in white. And that was very special — and it’s why I’ll always want teams in hockey and hoops to wear white at home.
So, now I had been exposed to locals who didn’t necessarily root for the home team. But I finally made the connection that they weren’t just exposed to local teams in the media — they could see ALL the teams. And as mentioned, many became fans of non-local teams who had success during their youth. That fanhood carried into their adult years.
And over the past decade or so, I’m seeing the Gen Z kids liking not just non-local teams, but some have no rooting interests at all. But they’re huge sports fans. How is this possible, you might ask — again, it wasn’t something I immediately grasped but do now: Fantasy Sports and video games. Since I do neither, it took me a while to understand how someone could be a big sports fan but not have a team to root for. It wasn’t until one of my Gen Z friends explained to me that since he was a kid, he was “building” teams of his favorite players and that was who he rooted for. Fantasy football (and baseball, and I assume fantasy-anything) also played a role — the younger generation, who grew up with social media and access to all players, were fans of those individuals, but not necessarily the teams for whom they played. But whether the teams had success with those players was almost irrelevant; they seemed to only care that their favorite players’ stats were good.
Now, this is certainly NOT to say that Millennials only root for teams who were successful in their youth nor will Gen Zers root more for individuals over teams, but certainly there are a good number who do. Gen Xers like myself, who grew up with much less exposure to sports in general, and usually only our local teams, are much more likely to still root for the home team.
I’ve gone on long enough — but I’d love to hear from you guys about your own rooting interests. Are you a homer, or do you root for non-local teams? Do you even root for teams at all? If you’re a New Yorker (or perhaps a Chicagoan or Los Angeles resident, where there are more than one local team), do you root for only one (or both) of the locals in a particular sport? If you didn’t grow up near a major metropolitan (or any metropolitan) area, did you root for a team located close (or closest) to you? I once dated a woman from Florida whose favorite baseball team was the Braves. I asked her, “why not the Marlins or Rays?” and her response was “they didn’t exist when I grew up.”
So that’s another question for you: if you grew up in an area that didn’t have a professional sports team near you, but one either received a new franchise or a relocated one, did you become a fan of the “new” (local) team, or did you keep your allegiance to your “old” (not as local) team? New Yorkers lost both the Dodgers and Giants to California in 1958, so many kept their allegiances with those teams (especially fans of the National League), but adopted the Mets when baseball returned to New York in 1962. If you had a team “abandon” you (Colts, football Cardinals, many hockey/basketball teams, etc.), did you remain a fan after they left? Are there any Colts fans still in Baltimore, or have they all become Ravens fans now? And if you’ve moved to a different area/state, did you keep your favorite team, or did you become a fan of your new local team?
So many questions have I. Now it’s your turn: Where Did You Get Your Fandom? Do You Root for the Home Team?
The floor is yours.
Growing up in Minnesota in the 90’s, I existed in a sort of hockey vacuum. I was too young to be a North Stars fan, and the Wild wouldn’t come along until I was 13. So it seemed like a free-for-all on who everyone’s favorite hockey team was. For me it was the Penguins and Jaromir Jagr, as well as the Avalanche since I had an aunt and uncle who lived in Denver. Funny how most of that went away once the Wild were created. And how somehow Jagr could still be playing in the NHL….
• Brought up a Sunderland fan
• Always loved dolphins – got into the NFL when Channel 4 started here in 1982, and Miami drafted Marino a few months later
• Hooked onto the Magic when they came and played Atlanta here, just after they drafted Penny
• Channel 5 started in 1997, baseball was their late-night sport of choice (the presenter was terrible), and Florida won their first World Series
• …and became my second MLB team after the Sosa-McGwire HR chase
• NHL also went to Channel 5, where I went with the Panthers _(Champiónes, Champiónes, Ole Ole Ole)_
• and Orlando City, because the Fusion had gone and Inter Miami weren’t a thing yet – and OCSC isn’t a bandwagon
I grew up in central Nebraska…so I cheer for Nebraska Cornhuskers everything. But also…
NFL — Falcons. Why? I can’t even tell you.
NHL — Blues (I’m a musician, and it’s the Blue Note logo!)
MLB — Twins. Married into a Minnesota family.
Also in NCAA Basketball, UCONN. Khalid El-Amin in 1999 gave us less-than-athletic guys hope that we could play at a high level, too.
I grew up in Nebraska, too and this is pretty much my experience. Huskers came first and was the common rooting interest. But me and all my friends all picked different teams for different reasons. None of us had overlapping fandom in the pros. Probably had something to do with being far from all pro teams. For me it was Jazz, Chiefs, Royals, and Canucks. All but the Jazz were horrible my entire childhood (with one or two good Canuck years)…
I grew up in NY and am a fan of all the Pittsburgh teams. Never lived in Pittsburgh. No family members liked the Pittsburgh teams. But here’s the story: when I was first getting into sports (early 90s) my older brother and I were watching a Ranger/Penguin game. My brother was on the couch and I had to lay on the floor. When my brother got up to use the bathroom, I took the couch. When he came back, he threw me on the floor. In response I said I was rooting for the Penguins now. A few minutes later the Penguins scored and I began to cheer. At this time the Pirates were good, with Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, etc. So I became a front running fan of the pirates. Now rooting for the Penguins and Pirates, I figured I should root for all the Pittsburgh teams, so I began rooting for the Steelers.
Older-ish gen Z here. (Although this is in Russia, so the general attitude towards sports seems different from USA/Europe/etc.)
I remember in the 00s my family did kinda pay attention to our local Zenit Saint-Petersburg – ’07 and ’10 championships come to mind, those felt pretty damn big at the time – but then that entirely dissipated over the years and I never stuck with the team since and now its a rich local juggernaut anyway. Really, really feel like it just isn’t as big of deal to people as it was 10-20 years ago in general. Obviously just personal experience tho.
As for American sports, stumbled onto them through various youtube stuff some years ago (shoutouts Jon Bois), got interested in Mariners (of course)/Seahawks from that, found other fans online, stuck with that since. No way I’m getting to visit any of their games any time soon, but man i would love to.
Also – may be a personal thing, but may very much be a generation thing which you mentioned – mostly find myself just kinda checking box scores/news and going “oh nice” instead of actually watching the games. Aside from NFL Redzone, which is an incredible invention. Maybe my attention span is indeed completely cooked
Crazy for the Scott Torguson 1982 cross stitch!! That’s just dang beautiful all over.
Growing up in NE Ohio, most of my Fandom comes from my area (Guardians, Cavs, Buckeyes). The biggest exception is pro football, where I’m a Miami Dolphins game. I remember becoming a fan in the mid-90s. I remember watching Sunday night football with my dad and watching a Lions-Dolphins game. It was basically Dan Marino and Barry Sanders going back and forth. I was drawn in by Marino’s fire and have been a fan of the team ever since. I’m glad it didn’t go the other way, but I think the Ohio boy in me wouldn’t let me root for a team from that state up north.
Also grew up in NE Ohio, and except for a few years of rooting for the Cavs, I’ve never been a home team guy.
My football choices probably came from watching This Week in Pro Football and Howard Cosell’s halftime highlights. I got to see a lot of teams that way, even if only for a few minutes. Started out as a Vikings fan, then the Bears, then the Oilers, before making my PA-born parents happy by switching to the Steelers. Now, I’m a bit of a free agent fan.
Always been a Pirates fan, until I got fed up with Nutting. I’ll return when he sells the team. Until then, go Twins and Orioles.
Basketball: started as a Knicks fan (brother was a huge Clyde Frazier fan), then I rooted for Dr J’s Sixers. Rooted for the Cavs in Richfield and in between visits from LeBron. Now I like the Spurs.
Hockey: Penguins. I miss the Nordiques too.
College: grew up rooting for Pitt and Penn State in football, Villanova in basketball. Now for football I root for unis, which means Nebraska and LSU…. and the teams playing against Ohio State and Oregon.
I’m a straight ticket DC sports fan now because I have lived in Northern Virginia since I was 2. The Nationals are my favorite because I like baseball more than the other sports now – the signal to noise ratio of baseball is so much better than other sports, especially football. The Capitals are my second favorite and then after that, the other teams I wish well, but generally don’t actively follow. Third place is a battle between DC United and the Commies. I’d be more interested in the Spirit if their owner wasn’t also an co-owner of the Baltimore Orioles. That franchise’s hostility toward the District of the Columbia, the Nats and their fans has been ongoing for decades.
I’m kind of indifferent to basketball, but have enjoyed going to Wizards games is fun. I haven’t been to a Mystics game yet.
I didn’t grow up rooting for the proto-Commanders but officially, adopted them as my NFL team after Joe Gibbs came back. However, after attending Penn State, the NFL is kind of a vicarious experience. The Nittany Lions used to be “a lifestyle” with autumns scheduled around attending home games and then appointment television, but after the incompetence in handling Jerry Sandusky, I backed away and have not gotten back to the level of fandom I had prior to that revelation. I’d follow hockey closer if Big Ten Network actually broadcast games more often.
I also like the Yankees because my mother worked for them before I was born and when her dad was 9 years old, Babe Ruth and the Yankees literally moved down 161st Street from his home.
I joke that “my beige heart bleeds with neutrality” when the Nats and Yanks play each other.
Generally all of my main fandoms are from my family allegiances (Cleveland teams, Wisla Krakow in Poland since my family is from Krakow, Chicago Blackhawks because my mom was a fan and Cleveland didn’t have a team). I found Celtic when I was a kid and very interested in soccer and politics and have been attached to them since. Found Hertha Berlin in FIFA 2000 in the Champions League and have stuck with them.
Football: When I was a kid, the Jets and Giants were for crap (but Mom and Dad rooted for the G-men because they remembered the 1956 championship). My two favorite teams were Tampa Bay and Seattle, the 1976 expansion twins. I came to root for the Saints in the 1980s because of Archie Manning.
Baseball: Toronto and Seattle, the 1977 expansion twins, and the Padres and Indians because of their uniforms. The Mets became a favorite when I was seven because the 1969 World Series was the first piece of sports I remember hearing.
Basketball: Phoenix, because of how close they came to toppling the Celtics in 1976.
Hockey: The Rangers, Canucks, and Blackhawks because of the uniforms.
Oddly I could not abide the Jets or Giants being crappy, but that didn’t affect my love for the New England Patriots (I was a Steve Grogan fan)… until the team dropped the red jersey. They have been dead to me since, and I couldn’t get any joy from the Tom Brady years. Go figure.
I grew up in Wisconsin, but Minnesota was literally walking distance from my house, and the Twin Cities was less than an hour drive. My town was about an even split between WI and MN sports fans. I always hated the MN teams, because we were in the Minneapolis TV market, which meant I was “robbed” of viewing Wisconsin teams. And since I couldn’t watch them, I didn’t have allegiance to Wisconsin teams as a kid. I pretty much cheered for whatever team was successful. After high school, I moved to Minnesota, but I still hated their teams. At that point, it felt kind of silly to hate their teams if I wasn’t cheering for my home state, so I became a huge Packers fan, and a pretty big Brewers and Badgers fan as well. The Bucks I care less about because the NBA is hot garbage and no one should watch it (it’s not even basketball at this point). I also dodged the disappointment of the North Stars leaving. Still, based on losing those glorious uniforms alone: fuck Norm Green. (Okay I think the uniforms changed just before they left MN, but still…)
Native Long Islander who grew up in a Yanks-Giants-Knicks-Rangers home and has always been a Mets-Raiders-Lakers fan.
Growing up in the 80s made being a Mets fan pretty easy. The first football game I remember watching was the Raiders-Skins Super Bowl and dang were those silver and black unis cool. (Many times I have cursed that decision.) The Knicks weren’t very good pre-Ewing and the only teams which got consistent airplay were the Lakers and Celtics. One look at Magic and I was purple and yellow for life.
I’ve lived in DC for over 20 years and it’s been interesting to see how my daughter and our friends’ kids have taken to fandom. Some stay with their hometown team (my daughter has adopted the Wizards which I feel bad about) while others go all in with their parents’ teams.
Thanks for the discussion Phil!
I was born and raised in northern Iowa and attended college at the University of Iowa. Growing up, my parents had season football tickets to the Iowa Hawkeyes for football so I grew up a Hawkeye and have been loyal ever since. I had a cursory fandom of the Vikings and Twins as they were the closest pro teams but when I really started getting into baseball (my favorite sport) in the mid 80’s, the Cubs were the local TV team (thanks cable TV!). I got so annoyed with Cubs fans in 1984 that I started rooting for the Mets out of pure spite and hope they’d catch the Cubs. Well, they didn’t but they won the World Series 2 years later and the hook was set. I’ve been an afflicted Mets fan ever since.
My Red Wings fandom came when I moved to Detroit out of college. It was just as the Wings were starting their dynasty in the mid-90’s and I had not rooting interest in hockey. It just wasn’t a sport I was exposed to a lot growing up. So it was easy to latch on to a front runner as they were the local team. I’ve been following them ever since as well.
Lastly is probably the Packers. My wife is a life-long Packer fan and still claims the best thing I ever gave her was the share of stock I bought for her. The only NFL team I really had any rooting interest in was the Dolphins but that was only because Reggie Roby played there (former Iowa Hawkeye punter – yes, cheering for the punter goes way back). Roby was long since retired so I organically started rooting for the Packers, partly out of self-preservation. :-)
I root for the Jets, Rangers and Knicks. I’m not a huge baseball fan, but my family favored the Mets, so I did too. I moved a few times young (Dad work moves), but spent most of my youth through HS in CT, and was born in Mineola. I remember in the early 80s there were one or two seasons in a row where the Jets had playoff teams (Sack Exchange) and the Giants sucked (pre Parcells, or perhaps his first year). I opted for the Jets to be my team around that time, and have stuck with them since (I often say I’ve spent the rest of my life paying for that decision, given all the success the Giants have enjoyed since).
I live in the KC area now (have for 25 years, longer than I’ve lived anywhere), so I also root for the Chiefs (did so before their recent success, thank you) and the Royals, but still root for the Jets and Rangers.
I will say my kids are all Chiefs fans having been raised here, but all followed different teams when they were young for various reasons (their BFF rooted for a different team, a team was good when they started paying attention, etc.). For the most part, they’ve dropped that, although I somehow have a Saints fan and a Vikings fan at home. Not totally sure how that happened.
“was born in Mineola”
Same! Was it Nassau Hospital or Winthrop? (It was Nassau when I was born there, but changed to Winthrop later. Now it’s NYU/Langone-Winthrop)
Hi Phil. Honestly, I’m not sure, but I think it was still Nassau at the time (’68).
Yep! I was ’66. Was Nassau Hospital until the late 80s/early 90s.
I’ve got the same basic roots: Born in the city in 1960 and raised on Long Island.
Mets/Jets/Knicks/Rangers: They were all reaching their peaks in the late ’60s and early ’70s when I was becoming a sports fan, and I stuck with them despite the emergence of the nearby Nets and Islanders. My friends, too. College sports were for hicks.
My takeaway: when you were born means even more than where you were raised or by whom. And in NY, you chose one team or the other.
Great article. Thanks,
Tremendous article, Phil.
Born and raised in LA, grew up on Dodgers, Lakers, Rams and (kinda) Kings. But I came to Chicago and 30 years later I am still there. It helped that I married a SoCal girl, but our kids root for the same teams we rooted for as a kid. Being far away definitely made the Rams 20 year sabbatical easier to take. I lived in Lakeview for 20 years, so it was hard not to root for the Cubs: have probably seen more games there than anywhere. Bears, Blackhawks, Sox, are fine. Only CHI team I have a problem with is the Bulls. And all because I lived through the 90’s here. Chicago sports fans are not known for always making the most reasonable sports arguments (“Mini-Ditkas!”). I was once engaged by a guy who argued that Jud Buechler was a better player than James Worthy. That’s tough to forget.
34 year old here.
I moved around a lot as a kid, 16 different schools in 3 different states. Didn’t really get into sports other than hockey until I was 12. Became a Colorado Avalanche fan in their first year because of Peter Forsberg and the cool colors, have remained an Avs fan and watch every game every season. While on a trip to Denver to see them play in the last couple home games of the season, also went to some Rockies games and have supported them ever since. Moved to Arizona when I was 13 and immediately became a Cardinals fan after going to a game and getting pushed into the cheerleaders by my dad. Will be a Cardinals fan (for better or worse) until the end…
I inherited all of my dad’s NY teams (Rangers, Giants, Mets). I grew up in Philly territory, but he’s from outside NYC and when I was little I always watched sports with him. The only one that changed for me was college. I was raised a Michigan fan, but in state tuition brought me to Penn State. While I was in school I quickly started to hate Michigan, but as I get further away, they’re slowly slipping their way back to my 2nd favorite team. Good memories from childhood I suppose. Plus, the PSU-UM game at night in Beaver Stadium is the single best looking game in all of sports.
All that said, anyone who claims they can root for the Rangers and the Islanders is not someone to be trusted. That just goes against the laws of god, nature, and hockey. Mets and Yankees, sure. Giants and Jets, sure. Knicks and Nets, I guess. They all started out in different leagues, different conferences, etc.
But Rangers and Islanders!? Unthinkable.
“Rangers and Islanders!? Unthinkable.”
I know. Not sure how my Pop could do that. But he really did love ALL NY sports.
LOL. I always found it so amusing how Rangers/Islanders fans absolutely hated each others’ teams, and how that’s really not the case with Jets/Giants and Knicks/Nets. I would argue it’s pretty strong among the Mets/Yanks folks though.
Potvin Sucks!
Haha, fair enough! I guess he was consistent.
Hometown teams have definitely been a thing for me as a native Detroiter, but I didn’t really follow the Lions all that much until the 90s. The first big sports game I remember watching with full attention was Super Bowl XVI (I had just turned 7), and I became somewhat of a 49ers fan as a result. Not so much since the end of the Steve Young era, but I’ll only really root against them if they’re playing the Lions or if a loss can help Detroit. So I rooted against them in favor of the Lions in the last NFC Championship, of course, but after that was over, I did want to see if they could beat Kansas City (they couldn’t).
The Patriots ended up taking over my “non-hometown favorite” spot in the NFL when they started their run, since it also happened to coincide with the Lions’ Dark Times – the Matt Millen regime. And it helped that they had a Michigan QB in Tom Brady. Admittedly, my interest in the Pats has waned since Brady’s departure, and I’ve actually kind of switched over to the Bills, in part because of a friend of mine from Albany, plus there’s a bit of a historical link between the Lions and the Bills (Ralph Wilson had a minority stake in the Lions in the 50s, but sold his stake to join the AFL).
With the NHL, I began following the Wings in the 80s, with the emergence of Steve Yzerman and the team’s return to contention under Jacques Demers, challenging the Oilers dynasty (though falling short both times in the Campbell Conference Championships). But then, the Pittsburgh Penguins emerged, and I became a fan of Mario Lemieux and his crew. I’ve continued to root for the Pens, and became friends with an online group of Pens fans, whom I still keep in touch with over on Facebook. Naturally, this put me in an awkward spot in 2008 and 2009, and I took some ribbing from family for being a Pens fan even though I wanted the Wings to win both those series.
Born and raised in the Netherlands it was soccer (we call it voetbal) first and foremost. I grew up in Amsterdam, about 500 yards from the old Ajax stadium called De Meer (our area was named De Watergraafsmeer, the stadium name was an abbreviation of this). My father was an avid Ajax fan, this was the early 70s, the club were European Champions three times in a row. So I was an Ajax fan.
Then one day in 1973 my neighbor, who worked in advertising and was a total Americana fan, gave me an issue of Sports Illustrated: I could not believe my eyes. These were sports I knew vaguely (baseball and basketball), quite well (hockey, the local team played next to De Meer) and not at all (football) The teams in that issue became my favorites: New York Mets, New York Giants, New York Rangers and Milwaukee Bucks. They are still my teams. I have only seen the Rangers once (losing to the Pens in 1990 in MSG). To say that SI was very NYC centric in those days is not overstating it.
Notre Dame became my favorite college team in 1986 (a great year to be a Mets fan, ofcourse) because of my buddy Chris who visited the campus while studying at Maryland. He introduced me to all the stuff Irish fans love and the rest of the world loves to hate about the institution and its teams. We sent coach Holtz a picture of us posing on old bicycles in 1987 and got a yearbook with a personal letter from him to The Two Bicycle Men who might be used in a game if we would show up one day. That sealed the deal for me, even when coach Holtz fell out of favor with me decades later because of his political views. I will always be grateful for the attention he gave us as silly Dutch fans. And ofcourse we never made it to South Bend together, but there is always hope.
I switched voetbal teams in 1991, which is more or less an unspeakable thing to do. But I was so fed up with Ajax behaving like they owned the world and being arrogant and feeling entitled to win it all every year, that when I was taken to a game of perennial underdogs Sparta Rotterdam I was completely struck by the charm of this old club (est. 1888) with its quaint traditions, beautiful club song, approachability and fans from all walks of life with a huge love for the club that introduced goal netting and international friendlies to the Netherlands. I have been an ardent Spartaan since 1991.
A too long ramble, but I hope to express that fandom can happen in a very random way: by means of an old issue of SI being given (the issue which I sadly do not own anymore) and by being introduced to the perfect voetbalclub when I was about to give up on soccer fandom. Sparta, naar vooooorren!
I submitted a long ramble which somehow disappeared when I hit the publish button. Summary: soccer fan first, being born and raised in the Netherlands. First Ajax, coming form Amsterdam, switched to Sparta Rotterdam because I saw why everybody else hated Ajax: arrogant, conceited, feeling entitled to win the title every year and blaming teams who beat them of being unsportsmanlike. Horrible club. Sparta is the opposite: quaint, traditional, approachabel and with fans from all walks of life. My team since 1991.
As for US Sports: blame my neighbor who gave me an issue of SI in 1973: henceforth my favorite teams are the NY Mets, NY Rangers, NY Giants and… the Milwaukee Bucks. They were all featured in this issue which I sadly lost. College favorite is from 1986 when my friend Chris introduced me to Notre Dame fandom. We love the Irish exactly for the reasons the rest of the world hates them.
I can’t wait to read the stories starting to pile up here. Interesting how loyalties develop. I grew up 30 miles south of Green Bay in the 1960s, which explains all the green and gold in my closet, but have a feeling for the Cubs because my childhood covered the Braves/Brewers gap in Milwaukee. And I like to watch hockey but don’t really have a favorite pro team.
I’m from Waukegan, IL, a north suburb of Chicago. Everyone, my family and friends included, roots for the Chicago teams but I’ve always been a hater who likes to be different. I can’t stand the Chicago teams (Sox are cool, though). My fandom:
Brewers: Fan since 2004. Grew up going to Milwaukee for games (it was cheaper and easier to drive to than Chicago). Liked the logo and stadium, and Bernie Brewer and Uecker and all that.
Bucks: Fan since the EC Finals run in 2001. Underdog, cool uniforms. NO ONE was a Bucks fan back then. Them being mainstream now is still surreal.
Lions: Fan since 2001. They started 0-11 and were getting clowned by Jay Leno. They finally won, and Johnny Morton told Leno to kiss his ass… as an 11 year old I thought this was the baddest thing ever done. (I also always liked Barry and the Thanksgiving tradition).
LA Kings: Fan since 2021. Was never a hockey guy, but wanted to finally get into the sport and dedicate myself to a team. My logic was, I want to watch as many games as I can, and a 9:30 puck drop (for me) is the most convenient time. The Kings fit the bill. Plus, good unis, and Kopitar is Slovenian, like me and my family.
Totally recognize the ho hum we get right now for being Bucks fans. As if we are newbies and bandwagoneers! No, we have been supporting this sometimes up but mostly down team since 2001 (you) and 1973 (me).
Until 2017, it always felt like the Bucks fell between 33 wins on the low end and an 8th playoff seed on the high end. Nothing to be excited about.
I went to the Nike store on Michigan Ave in Chicago last winter. There was more Bucks stuff for sale than Bulls stuff. Absolutely mindblowing.
Native Long Islander here, been living in Chicagoland since 1987. My first – and still current – allegiances are to the Mets and Jets. My grandfather grew up in Flatbush and swore off the Dodgers when they moved away a year before I was born. When the Mets were birthed into existence, our entire family became Mets fans – no rooting for The Evil Empire. The Jets fandom was borne out of the fact that the Giants were starting a slow decline into mediocrity and non-relevance, and the fac that in order to get tickets for a Giants game someone you knew had to give them to you or die. Hockey and basketball hit my radar in the late 60’s – rooting for the Rangers (Hadfield! Gilbert! Ratelle!) and the Knicks (Reed! Frazier! DeBusschere!) until…..the Rangers traded away Eddie Giacomin (they were and are dead to me), and the Nets moved to LI (Island Gardens, anyone? Commack Arena?). Once the Islanders were born, 13 year old me latched onto them with a passion that continues to this day. Since landing in the Chicago area, I have expanded my allegiances to the following teams: Chicago White Sox (deep-seated dislike for the Cubbies made this an easy choice), Green Bay Packers (moving here post-SB XX hysteria drove me in that direction, and once you visit the Packer HOF and Lambeau you are hooked), Chicago Bulls (Jordan era only – these days the NBA interests me far less than NCAA basketball), and Chicago Blackhawks (just in time for them to start to get good – these days not so much). Needless to say, wearing Mets and Jets gear around here generates some interesting conversations in the City of Big Shoulders and Half-Empty Championship Trophy Shelves :-)
GTGFTS – 1986 World Series, Game 3
I grew up in suburban Chicago and I could never imagine cheering for any other team besides the hometown teams (Sox over Cubs, never the Cubs.) Parents also cheered for Notre Dame football and that’s spread to following ND hoops (mainly women’s) and other sports.
Before the Chicago Sky existed, the Indiana Fever were the closest W team, so I cheered for them loosely, but that ended once the Sky became a team.
I now live in Richmond, VA and my closest major city of teams is DC or Cary, NC (Courage) and we had season tix to they Mystics last summer, I referred to them as my B team but never really cheered for them at those games.
The only team I cheer for that I picked at random (based of EPL discussions on a Sox fan forum) are Tottenham Hotspur. I’ve even gone over to London to catch a match. Spurs and White Sox fandoms are pretty similar and it seems only fitting.
Both Spurs and White Sox are apt at dissapointing even the most loyal fans. That makes you a genuine fan.
It’s been a miserable experience. I wouldn’t change it for anything.
I grew up in deep southern Illinois, about an hour-and-a-half from St. Louis. As you can probably guess, fandom for the (baseball) Cardinals and the Blues was ingrained in me from the time I could understand what sports were! To this day some of my favorite memories are of watching Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, and all the ’80s World Series runs; I also remember the “Hull and Oates” Blues of the early ’90s fondly.
As far as other sports, I was a (football) Cardinals fan until they moved in ’87, which devastated me. After a season or two of mourning I started following the Bears, since I technically lived in the same state. This fandom was fully solidified in the early 2000s, when I lived in Chicago for a few years. Basketball-wise I never really found a specific team to root for, though I’ve experimented with the Grizzlies (Memphis games were broadcast in St. Louis for a while), the Bulls (because Illinois), and the Pacers (geographically closer to home than Chicago). In soccer I follow Liverpool because my great-grandfather grew up in the same neighborhood as what’s now Anfield Stadium, and St. Louis City SC as I’ve lived in StL proper now for over 20 years.
I do have secondary teams in baseball and football: the White Sox due to my aforementioned Chicago stint and the Twins and Vikings because my wife is originally from Minnesota. In hockey I don’t have a backup, though I always cheer for a first-time Stanley Cup winner or for a Canadian team to finally win the Cup.
I’ll add that college-wise, my whole family are die-hard University of Illinois fans.
Born in Boston lived near there until I was 25. Then moved to South Jersey near Philly-still there 40 years later. Baseball-Red Sox and Phillies equally until Boston traded Mookie Betts for a bag of balls. Done with them. Football-Pats even though my fiancée bleeds Green. Eagles are number 2. Hockey-Flyers since 1984. Not a Bruins fan. Basketball-Celtics when Bird was there. Then switched to the enemy when Iverson arrived (Sorry Mom hope she enjoyed this past season up in heaven. College Basketball-Villanova. College Football-It was Penn State but the scandal and a divorce for my PSU ex-wife ended that. No real rooting interest now although I love CFB.
My guess for the picture: Preston Pearson rushes against the St. Louis Cardinals; December 7, 1975, at St. Louis. Cardinals won, 31-17.
Although growing up in north Texas all my life and being a Texas Rangers fan, I became a San Diego Padres fan in 1974 for (get this, Uni-Watch group) being drawn to their unusual colors, brown and gold, and uniforms as pictured on Topps baseball cards. Topps always pictured players on that year’s cards with the previous year’s uniforms AFTER Topps quit producing sets by series throughout the season, so in 1974, the Padres were depicted with their 1973 all gold (home and road) uniforms. The 1975 Topps cards, of course, showed the Padres in their 1974 uniforms, which became more traditional (white at home and gray on the road). I always thought the gold sanitary socks (other than Oakland) to be quite cool – a tradition the Padres would continue through 1984. Plus, they wore very cool “mission bell” gold front panel caps, which were distinctly different from any other team that had a different color front two panels on their cap. I also thought it cool that the Padres batting helmets had an abbreviated front gold panel that never matched the caps (which all their throwback uniform games have gotten wrong). My favorite Padres uniforms were from the 1978 season, in which the Padres began using their “official” typeface (as shown on programs, media guides, and yearbooks) on their uniforms, and also using the complete team name of “San Diego Padres” on all three (yes three!) jerseys, white, brown, and the rarely worn gold jerseys. They also wore at times gold pants, generally matched with the brown jerseys or gold jerseys, but at least in one homestand, they wore the gold pants with the home white jerseys (program cover evidence exists). It was incredibly nice to see the team FINALLY go back to brown and gold colors in 2020 and bring back the original swinging Padres logo. The Padres actually LOOK like the Padres again, after years of insufferable navy and orange, navy and sand, and just plain (ugh) navy.
I’m from the Boston area, so I’ve always rooted for the Patriots and the Red Sox. But when I was a kid (late 80s – early 90s), the Sox were mediocre and the Patriots were awful. Because we had TBS on cable, I watched a lot of Br***s games and became a particular fan of Deion Sanders, so I also rooted for his two teams, which didn’t often conflict with my Boston fandom.
These days, I stick to the Patriots and Red Sox, but it’s hard to watch a game and not pick a rooting interest, so there are a few NFL teams that I sort of favor and will root for when the Patriots aren’t playing. (I don’t watch much baseball any more, and only the Red Sox.
Another thing to consider is anti-fandom. Sometimes I choose my rooting interest in a game specifically because I don’t like one of the teams. Sometime this is strategic (if one team losing helps the Patriots’ playoff chances, for example, back when that was a concern); other times it’s just that I don’t like certain teams. I dislike the Steelers. I disliked the Ray-Lewis-era Ravens. I dislike the Chiefs, just because I know I’ll never hear the end of any of their success from my boss. And I absolutely hate the Jets. So if the Jets are playing, I don’t know, the Titans (a team I have no feeling for in either direction), I’ll root for the Titans. It’s sort of the sports equivalent of negative partisanship in politics, where people vote against a candidate rather than for one.
Right back at you! I root for anyone playing the Patriots or Red Sox! I’d add Notre Dame to that as well. If the Russians had a football team, I’d root for then against ND football. Yes, I know that’s silly and extreme, but I just can’t stand them.
That exists, actually! (Or existed at least, i can’t find any mentions since 2022.) Thought this would be funny to bring up. Not Notre Dame, but they did play UCF in 1992.
the football game was Sept 2 1979
Hey Rich, this game was December 7, 1975, in 1979 Dallas were wearing heat pressed numbers and moved the side numbers to the top of the shoulders. And yes, Dallas lost in their bad luck jerseys in 1975, 31-7.
Bandwagoning is morally abhorrent and should be punished with blackouts. If one likes a sport and does not have a local team the team chosen cannot be a serious contender at the time of choosing.
The only means of acquiring new rooting interests are to A: attend a particular school. B: Marrying into it. Moving to a new region can allow for a secondary interest but not supplant a primary. Caveat: the primary can be supplanted if the primary team ceases to exist. For example a San Diegan who moved to Seattle can become a Seahawks fan but not a Mariners fan. In families where the parents are carrying a primary team out of their region the the kids do not have a strong claim on the parents team.
Cheering exclusively for players is baffling but so long as it isn’t associated with gambling it is tolerable.
This is a really fun question to dive into, especially considering the generational differences in how we consume sports! I’m a millennial, and growing up in central New York, my primary rooting interest was Syracuse basketball and Syracuse football. Despite my parents being casual Buffalo Bills fans, I didn’t really become a Bills fan until I went to college in western New York.
I’m also a Red Sox fan, which was mainly a contrarian choice in high school to antagonize my Yankee fan friends (and little brother)–it just so happens that I moved to Boston after college and that fandom really codified. As a kid who watched Sportscenter as often as possible, I rooted for the Seattle Mariners, due to both the cool uniforms and the Ken Griffey Jr. (I still pay attention to them and will occasionally wear an M’s hat.)
Finally, I’m a Tottenham Hotspur fan–I discovered the Premier League about ten years ago when Harry Kane was an up and comer and figured I might as well root for a team who has a star I could claim as a distant relative (maybe)–I’ve stuck with Spurs even though Harry has moved on.
I was born in Fort Lauderdale in 1985 and was lucky to get to grow up with three major pro sports teams as we got them – the Heat, Marlins, and Panthers – and especially lucky when they all had good runs (and a title in the Marlins’ case) early on. My parents move to the area in the early 80s, and when the Colts stole away from Baltimore to Indy, my dad adopted the Dolphins (getting Marino and still being a major force in the NFL at that time didn’t hurt). So I always rooted (and continue to root) for my local teams, even though they aren’t local to me anymore as I’ve moved away.
I became a MASSIVE soccer fan in 2011 with the revival of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the NASL 2.0, to the point of it becoming my absolute favorite sport. But the shambolic nature of the American soccer pyramid helped them disappear (for the fourth separate time in history) in 2016. I did not adopt Miami FC of NASL/USL when that happened, and I DESPISE Inter Miami CF of MLS, who actually play in Fort Lauderdale (like their 1998-2001 MLS predecessors the “Miami” Fusion), in part because they razed the historic stadium of the Strikers instead of renovating it. But as of two weeks ago, FTL has a new pro outfit, the women’s division 1 Fort Lauderdale United FC of the USL Super League, which is very exciting!
Grew up in Wisconsin, so by default I root for the Packers, Brewers, and Bucks (although I don’t really care for basketball). Since I didn’t have a hockey team, I didn’t even get into hockey until I was a teenager, when I met an online friend whose main sport was hockey. This was also as the Golden Knights were expanding, so it felt natural to follow a brand new team in a sport I was just starting to watch
I’m a lifelong resident of NE Ohio and have always followed the Cleveland sports teams. One of the first games I remember watching was the 1964 NFL championship game when I was six years old. The Browns always interested me because they were one of the few teams to wear white at home in the 1960’s. Always made sure to watch road games at Dallas and Los Angeles just to see the brown uniforms make a rare appearance.
I was 12 when the Cavs played their first season. Perfect age to become a fan.
My favorite hockey teams are the Canadiens and Maple Leafs. An aunt got me a rod hockey game for Christmas one year. I knew nothing about hockey, but those were the two teams. I have followed both ever since.
Born and raised in southeastern PA about 20 miles outside of Philly, so I’ve always supported the Philly teams, always will.
The only exception is that I’ve become a Carolina Hurricanes fan, since I’ve lived in Raleigh since 1995. Although I still pull for the Flyers when they come to town…
To me my sports rooting interest is solely based first in where I grew up, then in what would make the people I care about happy.
Grew up in pittsburgh, so steelers, pirates, pens, and Pitt are the first rooting interests.
Then moved to michigan in my teens (and always had cousins and grandparents there) so lions, pistons, UM, MSU, tigers, and wings (in that order)
Now I live in chicago, so cubs, bears, bulls, bhawks, and white sox (also in that order).
With that being said, any competition between two of those teams goes to the longest tenured fandom.
To me this feels like a pretty natural way to be a fan. I’m just rooting for the people I know to have good sports teams.
Born a Tottenham Hotspur fan.
My american football team – the Rams. Due to the fact that when I was born, the film Heaven Can Wait was out. My parents watched it and decided the Rams were the team for me. Even though my dad supports the Packers and my mum supports the Dolphins. In keeping with tradition, I have decided that my kids will support 2 different teams again, that being the Steelers and the Broncos!
Deciding for the kids who they will root for? Ok, I did not see that coming. I could never do that.
I will say this: I fell in love with the Rams’ uniforms because of that movie!
Born and raised in San Diego, so…
MLB: Padres
NFL: Chargers (until they left, now I’m a free agent fan)
NHL: Sharks (Didn’t start watching hockey until in college, and my roommate was from the Bay Area
NBA: not a fan of any team or the sport in general
NCAA: Fresno State (my Alma mater) and UCLA (my dad’s Alma mater)
And as the resident lacrosse expert
PLL: California Redwoods
NLL: San Diego Seals
My dad was in the Air Force so I was never anywhere at one place long enough to get into the local team. My dad grew up a Minnesota fan so I just kind of inherited that. My dad retired in Albuquerque and by that time I was already ingrained in being a Minnesota fan rather then what most locals here cheer for which is usually Dallas or Denver teams.
Growing up in Maine, we were definitely not near any major metropolitan area. Still, most (not all) adopted Boston teams, except for a few Yankees, Cowboys and (ugh) Canadiens fans. I think most of their rooting interests were in being contrarian. However, once minor league baseball came to town we finally had “our own” team to root for, and I continue to. Go Sea Dogs.
Forgot to beat a dead horse: those Cowboys and Cardinals uniforms are glorious, and should be their current sets!
I grew up in Rochester, NY and quickly gravitated to the Orioles, as the Red Wings were Baltimore’s top farm team during my youth. Saw too many future stars to count in Rochester, Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, Mike Flanagan, Cal Ripken, Al Bumbry…to name just a few. When I left Rochester almost 40 years ago to move to the DC area, I of course stuck with the O’s as they were the “local” team until the Nats arrived in 2005. I loved that we finally had a DC area team and figured if Frank Robinson could wear a Nats hat, so could I. I continue to like the Nats, but the O’s will always be number one. I still get asked why I’m not a Yankee fan, being from New York…
In the NFL, I started liking the Raiders because of the Mad Bomber, Daryle Lamonica, the Raiders always seemed to be on TV and I liked the AFL wide-open style of play. I then became a Vikings fan for a few years, because of Fran Tarkenton, they too seemed to be always on TV, and I liked watching the cold, snow-filled games at the Met in Minnesota. In 1973, I went to my first pro game in Orchard Park and have been a Bills fan ever since…sigh…
In the NHL, I loved Bobby Orr and the Bruins, and when he went to Chicago, I became a Sabres fan.
Never really had a favorite NBA team, although I rooted for the Showtime Lakers in the playoffs.
Anyone else have this happen? There are lots of mentions of folks adopting a particular team because their parent(s) rooted for them, but I’ve had the opposite situation. My children mock my favorite teams regularly (except the NY Rangers for some reason). Ha!
Additionally I have favorite soccer teams in most European countries plus Argentina and Brazil, based on traditions, uniforms, club songs, great visits and I do not know what:
Belgium: Cercle Brugge and Beerschot. Germany: Tennis Borussia Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt. France: Saint Etienne and RC Lens. Italy: Internazionale and Parma. Spain: FC Barcelona and Levante. Portugal: Benfica. Turkey: Besiktas. Austria: Austria Wien. Switzerland: Grasshopper Zurich. England: West Ham United and Queens’s Park Rangers. Scotland: the mighty Celtic. Sweden: Djurgarden. Argentina: San Lorenzo. Brazil: Botafogo and Corinthians. I am a club omnivore, I know…
What a fantastic question today. I’m looking forward to reading all the comments when I have time.
I grew up in very rural Nevada in the 80’s – 90’s so local teams didn’t exist. My rooting interests:
NFL: Broncos. My dad’s team plus the heart of the Elway years. Easy choice.
NBA: Jazz. As close to local as we got, plus I lived in SLC until I was 5.
MLB: A’s. My dad was a Yankee fan so that’s who I was rooting for too until that fateful day in 6th grade when Rickey Henderson returned to Oakland. I followed him to the A’s and remained an A’s fan since.
NHL: I discovered hockey in high school. No hockey fans in my family and no local teams so I had to choose one. My name is Brett, the Blues had Brett Hull. Still a Blues fan today.
When I was much younger, I didn’t really have a favorite NFL or NBA team as much as I had a favorite NFL and NBA player, and whichever team they were on at the moment was my favorite team. In the NFL, it was former FSU QB Christian Ponder (I was 5 when he was drafted, and he had been my favorite player at FSU), and in the NBA, it was Dwight Howard.
When Ponder ended up basically out of the NFL just a few years later, I became a Buccaneers fan because they had drafted Jameis Winston (another FSU QB, but admittedly MUCH better than Ponder) with the first pick in the draft. Eventually, I just decided that I cared much more about the Bucs than I did about Jameis, and decided I would stick with the Bucs. A few years later, the Bucs got Tom Brady and won a Super Bowl, and my allegiance has been unshaken since then.
In the NBA, I eventually fell out of the sport and just defaulted to being a Magic fan, because they were the team closest to me, and because I had been a Magic fan in the past when Dwight Howard was on the team. I’ve since gotten back into the NBA, and have remained a Magic fan.
In the MLB, I was born into cheering for the Braves, but then out of nowhere, and for reasons I don’t actually remember anymore (probably just thinking the name was awesome), I decided my favorite team was the Diamondbacks about 7 years ago. I’ve stuck with them ever since.
I was never really into the NHL for most of my life, and sort of just defaulted into being a Lightning fan because they were in my home state, and the other Florida team was the Panthers, and I don’t really like teams from Miami that much.
I grew up in Michigan, so I cheer for all the Detroit sports teams (Red Wings, Tigers, Lions, Pistons). I didn’t attend the University of Michigan, but my best friend’s dad played there in the 80s and 90s, so I’m a big Michigan athletics fan as well as a big fan of my D2 alma mater Grand Valley State. I am a big fan of the Utah Jazz as well, despite never living in Utah (I loved the Rudy Gobert Joe Ingles Donavan Mitchell Jazz teams and have continued following after those players left). I lived in Tennessee for 5 years and have maintained a soft spot for the Predators and Titans as my “#2 teams.” Now I live in Minnesota, and have picked up a soft spot for the Timberwolves (tied for #2 NBA team with the Jazz) and Golden Gophers (#2 Big Ten team). Finally, my fiancee is from Colorado, so I’ve picked up the Rockies as my #2 MLB team, Colorado State as my G5 NCAA team, and while I’m not an active fan, do have a soft spot for the Broncos as well. All Michigan teams come first for rooting though.
Almost forgot, I also root for Minnesota United and Nashville SC for MLS and Everton for Premier League.
Something not touched on here is rivalry between sports. Being born in Leicester, my dad took me to football (soccer games) to watch Leicester City and rugby games to watch Leicester Tigers – as his old man had done for him, with the philosophy had been one team or another would be doing well and they were both representing the City.
However, culturally, the sports can be very different and have been historically. Very rough generalisations, but football is more the working mans’ inner city type crowd and rugby is more the well to do country based folk. As a result, there is actually quite a lot of friction between the two sets of fans, and can even be some fans taking enjoyment when the other team loses.
I’ve always had a foot in both camps (and was at primary school with Emile Heskey and secondary school with Lewis Moody) so have been proud of Leicester, but just shows the tribalness works in different ways for different people.
I have moved around a bit, and have come to really appreciate having grown up with a top football club on my doorstep (and an unusual one at that – I’m often the only Leicester fan in a workplace or social group), but when I grew up in the 1980s, Liverpool were winning everything, so there are so many people my age that are Liverpool fans – it gets so boring (and ridiculous when they use the word “We” to describe the club’s games). But then Man Utd took over in the 1990s, and its just annoying how many Manchester City shirts you see out and about now. But I guess people everywhere like to associate with winners.
As far as US sports go, I worked in a Summer Camp near Santa Cruz for a couple of summers, so its 49ers, Giants, Sharks (and Warriors) all the way! Again, lucky to have ended up somewhere with local teams across all sports.
Some of my fandom has stayed the same since I was a kid, and some has evolved:
My two ride-or-die since I was 8 years old: Detroit Lions and Detroit Red Wings – I grew up a couple of hours from Detroit and we got the Detroit Free Press at home, so these became my teams, along with the Tigers and Pistons. But…
After college I got an internship with the San Antonio Spurs working in media relations. I eventually landed in SA for about 10 years, so the Spurs became my NBA team and have remained so ever since.
I moved to St. Louis in the 2000s, and over time adopted the St. Louis Cardinals as my MLB team (or at least my NL team). This is more a function of convenience than anything else. Baseball is by far my least favorite of the four major sports, and I hadn’t put much effort into following the Tigers since high school (unlike the Lions and Red Wings), so when I moved to a huge “baseball” city I found it much easier to pay whatever attention I devoted to baseball to be about how the Cards were doing. But honestly I’m more of a casual observer and their winning or losing doesn’t affect me much either way.
As for college, I grew up a Michigan fan, but attended and graduated from Penn State, so from the day I set foot on campus I was PSU all the way and will be so until the day I die.
Baseball: Originally a Brooklyn Dodger fan. They left a vacuum and as an 11 year old I started following the Yankees. A Yankee fan to this day!
NFL: Giants….always
NHL: Rangers….always
NBA: Always followed the Nets because of DR. J. And now they’re in Booklyn!!!!
NCAAF: Notre Dame, Army, LSU (always loved their unis) and of course, my alma mater, the Long Island University Sharks.
NCAAB: The aforementioned LIU Sharks.
I grew up in Queens, but I became a Mets, Jets and Knicks fan because they all won championships when I was 9 or 10 years old and just becoming aware of sports (“Oh, they won? I like them then”). I became a Rangers fan because it was still another two years or so until there was an alternative. Even though I no longer live in NY, these are still my teams, as they have been almost all my life.
I found Phil’s comment that people from locations that have only one team root for them hard to be absolutely true – coming from an area like NY with so many teams to choose from, nobody looked at you sideways if you decided to wear a hat from an out of town team because you thought it looked good. I found often, when traveling for business, people in other cities thought you came from the city on the hat you were wearing. I got tired pretty fast of saying “no, I just like the hat” and stuck to hats of teams I actually rooted for when I traveled.
Love reading these! Majority of mine is region locked – Dallas Stars, Dallas Mavs and Wings, Dallas Cowboys, and Texas Rangers (yes I did cry last year thank you for asking). All college sports I inherited from my dad who is from Michigan (yes I did cry last year than you for asking again AND BUILD THE STALIONS STATUE).
Internationally I kinda just picked West Ham for no reason other than the colors but stuck with it. Otherwise I just enjoy watching other sports to be watching other sports like F1, rugby, and cricket. Gotta love those overseas sports being on in the early weekend mornings while the rest of the house is asleep.
My NFL and MLB fandom is based on who was good when I was six and colors. I grew up in Nebraska, so I was a Cornhusker and loved the color red. There were no big league professional franchises anywhere near me, so there were no geographical ties to any team. When I became more sports conscious at age 6 in 1972, the Reds played the A’s in the World Series. Red was my favorite color so I became a Reds fan for life. Near that same time, the Vikings were good and played the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. The Vikings wore the same colors as my small town’s high school team, so I went with them and have been a dedicated fan ever since.
Grew up in so cal. As a 7 yr old Saw the bengals in 82 superbowl against niners and was instantly a fan because of that helmet. Had the rams and later the raiders, but bengals already had me as at that age i didnt care about hometown.
As an adult moved to NC and was there for 10 years. Became a panthers fan as i got to watch them every week.
Had the opportunity to move back home to so cal and my move coincided with the rams return. My first day back was same day as their first preseason game at the coliseum vs dallas.
Saw it as kismet ; i am now a Rams fan
Grew up 2 miles from the coliseum so I WAS an Oakland Sports fan. Pretty much just a sports watcher now.
Grew up in LA in the 80s and I rooted for both baseball teams, both basketball teams, but for some reason only the Raiders. The Rams never connected to me for some unknown reason. When I got into my teen years I found I had to choose sides, liking both teams in the same sport just didn’t seem right. I chose the Angels because around that time Fox bought the Dodgers from the O’ Malley family and that bothered me, didn’t seem right. My love for the Clippers developed naturally as well. They’ve always been a mess but in those years they had a decent team and my favorite player was Ron Harper. Plus I realized I wasn’t a Laker fan, I came to realize I was a Magic Johnson fan. When he retired I lost my interest in the team. I think deep down I wasn’t one to go with the majority, Dodger fans and Laker fans rule out here. They’re very obnoxious about their teams, and I get it, those teams have great history. But it wasn’t for me. Now I can honestly say I hate those teams and their fans (my wife is a Dodger fan lol, ugh). As far as the Raiders, they’re my true love, number one team of all my teams. I don’t care where they go, they could be the Mars Raiders and I wouldn’t care. When they left to Oakland I was mad, even tried being a Pats fan (liked Drew Bledsoe). Didn’t stick, couldn’t do it, it lasted like half a season. Raider love won out. For college I always was a fan of USC, grew up in South Central, and the school was blocks from my elementary and Jr high. Accomplished my dream of going there, met my wife there, and graduated from SC. Interesting note, my daughter starts at the hated UCLA next month, should make things interesting.
I grew up in Connecticut but the part of CT that sticks down into NY. We were a NYC bedroom community, my dad commuted to Manhattan every day, and we were firmly in Yankees country about a half hour-40 mins from Yankee Stadium. That said, my father’s whole family is from northern CT and Massachusetts, and since I was born, the Red Sox have been the glue that has held my extended family together. The Red Sox are practically our religion, the team feels like part of our family, and Fenway Park, our family summer retreat. I now live in NJ, 15 miles from Manhattan now but still wear my Red Sox merch proudly, and make the annual summer pilgrimage to Fenway.
For hockey, I grew up a Whalers fan until 1997 when they broke our hearts. I stopped liking hockey for years, and eventually came back to it. I chose the Bruins, which seemed like a logical fit with the Red Sox, but my father chose the Rangers.
For football, I am not a huge football fan at all, but I spent my entire 20s and early 30s living across from a bar that was about 90% Giants fans, so I’ll root for the Giants if they are good, but usually football season ends for me before Columbus Day because it’s just not a sport I can watch unless my team is really good. I haven’t even watched the Super Bowl in like 5 years.
Not a basketball fan at all. When I was in elementary school in the early 90s I took a liking to the Charlotte Hornets because of the cool colors and Muggsy Bogues. I watched a bit of the NBA Finals this past spring and rooted for the Celtics just because I like to see New England happy but I really just don’t care about basketball.
Lastly, my English sports. I went to school for a year in London in 2008/2009 and fell in love with the city the country, and English sports culture. I lived closest to Stamford Bridge, about 15 minutes on foot, so I adopted Chelsea as my home team. This followed with west London side Harlequins for rugby, which to be honest I probably prefer to soccer, and Surrey for cricket after a visit to The Oval.
I was born and still live in Germany.
I never visited New York, but it’s my favorite City in the World.
So i’m an Mets, Knicks and Giants Fan.
I used to play NHL on the Playstation and my favorite Player was Jarome Iginla, so i’m also an Calgary Flames Fan.
I grew up (and still live) in Arizona, and as a child of the 70s and 80s, the only local team we had to root for was the Suns. I started paying attention to sports when I was 9 or 10 years old, and became a fan of the Dodgers and Rams. They were both on national television a lot back then, and were the closest teams to Arizona, geographically speaking. I’ve continued to root for the Rams through their moves from LA to St. Louis and back to LA (I just couldn’t root for the Cardinals when they moved to Arizona). However, when the Diamondbacks came into existence, I started rooting for them instead of the Dodgers. I know it’s weird that I could change team allegiances in one sport and not another, but that’s how it is.
So, I’m 48 years old, born, raised, and still live in Denver, CO. I’m a huge University of Denvet hockey fan, follow the Colorado Rapids, and, of course, the Broncos. All those are related to being a Denver native. Over the years, I’ve developed a few anomalies in my sports fandom.
Baseball has always been one one of my favorite sports. Back in 1986 at the age of 11, I got hooked on the New York Mets after watching them win the World Series. I’ve been a die hard Mets fan ever since. Most fans understand where I’m coming from but, over the years, of few Rockies fans have told me it’s “wrong” being a Mets fan. I even had one Mets fan tell me I’m not a “real” Mets fan because I’m not from New York. It is what it is but I love my Metsies.
1991 led to one of my more odd team choices. I had transfered high school and one of my friends I met at the new school was from Omaha, NE. Obviously, he was a huge Cornhuskers fan. I used to go over to his house on Saturdays and we’d watch or listen to the Nebraska football games. Today, I remain a huge Nebraska fan despite being a Colorado native. It’s a choice I’ve never regretted even though most people in Colorado give me a funny look when they hear the story. Nebraskans tend to love the story and understand why I’d choose Nebraska.
While I’ve been a college hockey fan since 2002, the NHL I was a late bloomer in. I never really got into the Avalanche for whatever reason. They just didn’t click with me. However, in 2019, I took a trip to Vegas and went to a Golden Knights game. I was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere, passion, and excitement surrounding the Knights and was hooked from that point. I left Vegas with a Golden Knights hat and jersey and have been a Vegas fan ever since.
I’ll admit I only skimmed the comments briefly before typing this, but I’ve yet to see anyone mention something that I believe is very influential on fandom for people of my generation – video games. When I enjoyed football, I was a Falcons fan primarily because I loved playing with Michael Vick in Madden. I loved using Dwyane Wade in NBA Live, so I was a Heat fan. Video games made pro sports so much more accessible – we didn’t have to beg our parents to pay for an expensive subscription to sports channel(s), nor did we have to wait for the weekend to come. We could jump in and play whenever we wanted.
I’ve grown more fond of Toronto teams as an adult, but that certainly wasn’t the case when I was a kid. I was obsessed with all things Colorado, starting with the Avalanche, and later the Rockies. Peter Forsberg is still my favourite non-soccer player athlete of all time, and I don’t even really like hockey all that much.
As for my one true love, Arsenal, there were a few factors at play. My dad never pushed it on me, but I later found out he was quite pleased with my choice to support Arsenal as he used to live across the street from Holloway Road tube station, which is around the corner from Arsenal’s current and former homes, Emirates Stadium and Highbury. He wasn’t an Arsenal fan per se, but he went to many matches when he lived there in the 70s.
The first soccer game I ever played was FIFA 99 on PC, and none other than my favourite player of all time, Dennis Bergkamp, was on the cover. I was 4 at the time, so it was right around the time when I started watching games on TV with my dad. Lastly, I was 1 when Arsene Wenger took over and kickstarted the club’s golden era, and while I don’t consider myself a glory hunter in any sense, that certainly didn’t hurt the attraction.
About fifteen years ago I played Madden over at a friend’s house. He became a fan of any team Joey Harrington played for, because that was his quarterback when he’d mercilessly defeat me.
I was a bit of a Towson football fan before we played the college version, but I like them even more now, since that was the team I chose in my lone victory against him.
I used to play FIFA 2002 on my PS1 (still have it), and became a fan of the San Marino national team because I tried to get them to qualify for the World Cup. No easy feat. I also became a fan of Wisla Krakow and Ipswich Town from that.
I am from West Central IL (born and raised), so being kind of in the middle of everything, we have multiple “local” teams, Cubs, Cardinals, and to a lesser extent White Sox and Royals in baseball. Bears and Chiefs, a some Packers and formerly Cardinals and Rams in football. Blues and Blackhawks in hockey. Just the Bulls in basketball though.
My fandoms, for football and baseball really, started a lot with who was winning (as a kid in the 70’s/80’s that was pretty important and my parents were pretty sports ambivalent). The exception being football. I was over at my best friend’s house and he had all of the mini-helmets and the Steelers immediately just struck a cord with me. I was soon reading every book about the Steelers at the local library and finding out everything I could. Been a fan ever since (I think it had to be somewhere around Superbowl XIII), with the added “bonus” that my friend and his family were Cowboys fans, so I remember having that bit of bragging rites. While the Gridbirds weren’t too bad at the time, I didn’t really take to them and even with Walter Payton, the Bears weren’t really on my radar. They are probably my “#1” team.
With baseball, I wasn’t really a fan of a team until 1982, with the help of my fifth grade teacher and the World Series, I’ve been a Cardinals fan ever since. I just remember none of the “local” teams being very good until then, I just collected baseball cards but just for the players, not anything team specific.
Basketball, I don’t mind playing, but I’m not good but I don’t really like watching it. But I guess the closest team I have any rooting interest for is the Lakers, going back to the Magic/Bird rivalry.
Hockey was not big in my area, but starting with a combination of helping My (different) friend and his dad selling sports cards in the late 80’s/early 90’s and Brett Hull, I became a Blues fan. He got me interested during his run of 50 goals in 50 games and “Hull and Oates” was always fun.
Born and raised Oregonian, Portland-metro area. So, in short chronological order:
NBA – grew up in a Trail Blazers family, still with them to this day.
NCAA – went to University of Oregon, so all Ducks.
MLS – Portland Timbers (got into soccer around the same time I went to college).
EPL – Chelsea (took German language classes in college, some classmates and I hung out to watch ’06 World Cup for Germany, so I followed Michael Ballack to Chelsea).
Bundesliga – 1. FC Koln (I studied abroad in Cologne, Germany for three months. My third home).
NFL & MLB – never really had “a” team. Here, I either mildly root for NFL teams that have former Ducks (like Herbert & Chargers), or like the teams from where my brother lives or has lived. At first it was Philadelphia, so mildly the Eagles and Phillies. Now he lives in Alameda, CA. So, mildly the A’s, Giants, or 49ers.
Mine is actually Uni related. I grew up in Michigan in the 90s playing and adoring hockey (still do). My cousins and I collected hockey cards. The Red Wings were top dogs in those days, and obviously we were huge fans, but there was something about the gold spoked B and the yellow and black jerseys that drew me into being a Bruins fan. Still one to this day.
Born raised Jersey (Shore/south Jersey) and all Philly since birth!
I grew up in an area with a lot of transplants so my first opinions on teams were more personal: like my friend liked a team so I liked them too or the mean kid liked a team so I liked their rival. This was helped by a mix of movies (I’ll always be sympathetic to the Mighty Ducks), stars, and logos (that purple raptors jersey lol) along with rooting for the underdog or less popular team (Clippers over Lakers, although it’s impossible to hate the lakers).
But I also moved a lot so I never grew any long term attachment. Really my fandoms are some weird mix of how much I like their logos and uniforms mixed with how accessible they are, how their fans act, and how much I like their players or style. That leads to having a bunch of teams I kinda like, but am not really crazy about, but I also feel that since owners aren’t exactly loyal to their fans I have no reason to be loyal to the team and I can and will change based on anything from a uniform redesign to bad ownership to relocation.
Except my alma mater lol that’s locked in for life.
Also forgot to note that in terms of contemporary fandom is how that fandom is present online, if their spaces are all dead then I’m not really interested, but if they’re out there making memes about everything then that’s a huge draw.
I’ll stick to baseball and football. Grew up in a small town in central Ohio. Boomer, became sports-aware mid-1960s. Was a Reds fan in baseball because my parents and everyone around me were, and they got all the coverage in the local papers, radio and TV. Never even considered any other team.
Then in the mid-70s I went to college in St. Louis – my first time living in a big city – and fell in love with the city and everything about it, including the Cardinals. Still loved the Reds (this was the peak Big Red Machine years), but added the Cardinals (who were in the other division at the time).
After college I moved to Austin, TX for a few years. This was long before the internet and even much cable TV. The only way to really follow a non-local team was radio, and the mighty KMOX came in loud and clear out of St. Louis most nights, so that completed my switch. It certainly didn’t hurt that in the next few years the Cards won 3 pennants under Whitey Herzog while the Reds fell into the clutches of Marge Schott. I’ve lived near Denver since the late 90s and I pull for the Rockies, but am a Cardinals fan first and foremost.
In football I grew up a Browns fan, since they were the only Ohio team and were on TV every week. And they were good — just about my first sports memory is their 1964 NFL title win over the Colts. Also my dad thought Paul Brown walked on water and was always telling me stories about how he basically invented the game.
When the AFL added Cincinnati as an expansion team in 1968 that gave me another team to root for. No conflict with the Browns, of course, since the two leagues were completely separate, but my major interest switched to the Bengals — they were new, I came in on the ground floor, the AFL was much cooler than the NFL, I was already a Reds fan so rooting for two Cincy teams made sense. And they were run by Paul Brown!
After the merger in 1970, when they were placed in the same division, I suppose I should have made some decision, but I really didn’t. I mildly root for both of them still, as well as my local Broncos, but I don’t really care about football much anymore.
Okay, I’ll add soccer. Didn’t follow it until the 2006 World Cup, when I was already 50+ years old. After the WC ended I wanted more, and it was the first year of blanket Premier League coverage in the US on NBC, so I started watching Prem games every week, without having a team. Within 3 months Arsenal had captured me — it was Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger who did it — and I’ve been a committed Arsenal fan since. They’re my #2 sports allegiance, behind only the baseball Cardinals.
My partner is English, her parents live in London and we visit every year, so I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few games at the Emirates Stadium. They weren’t much into football when I met them, but they became big Arsenal fans too, through me! They go to several games a year now, and never miss one on radio or TV.
I live in Toronto and I became a Padres and Rams fan through family vacations to CA in the summers. For basketball, I wasn’t a big fan before, and picked the Kings because they were perennial losers and also located in CA (although I’ve never visited NorCal). For hockey, I’m an Islanders fan, as a family friend is a coach for the team.
However, I’ll always root for the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, and Raptors unless they’re playing my teams, and often go to Toronto sports games (especially the Jays). The Bills are my local NFL team, and I don’t overly care for them. My second team is probably the Jaguars because my family is from the UK and they play a London game or two every year.
I’m 30 (so either a late millennial or early Gen z depending on when your cutoff is) who was raised in Tampa but has lived her entire adult life in DC, plus has actually (briefly) WORKED as a designer in the front office of a few teams, so…
Another note: like many people my generation, I don’t have tv and only ever stream games online, which means I almost never just put a game on in the background – I have to decide “alright I’m watching this today,” which honestly is kinda rare.
Hockey: My dad is a huge hockey fan and he imparted that onto all of his kids: I’m a ride or die Lightning fan. I always try to see them when they’re playing the Caps, and they’re the only team I’ll regularly watch games of. I do have a soft spot for the Caps, though – I was thrilled when they finally got Ovi his Cup.
Football: While I was raised a Bucs fan, I’ve always found it hard to care for a team that, quite frankly, sucks most of the time. Also I’ve lost interest in football in adulthood, so while I’ll tune in occasionally, it’s rare. I don’t follow the Commies at all, though I really hope they can rebuild their local reputation now that Snyder is gone.
Baseball: My relationship with the Rays is similar to that of the Bucs, complicated by the fact that….I just dont really enjoy baseball. I kinda support them in theory: I want them to do well, I have a Rays hat, but that’s mostly it. I do enjoy the occasional day at the park for a Nats game, but much like the Commies, I don’t particularly have strong feelings about my new hometown team.
Basketball and Soccer: Tampa doesn’t have an NBA team, and the Mutiny were short lived, so I never got into either sport and don’t follow them at all. Sorry Wizards, Mystics, United, and Spirit… I’ve been to a couple of your games and I had a good time, but that’s kinda it. Honestly I cheer for Forward Madison FC more than any other team here because they’ve got the best mascot and jerseys in sports, and again: it’s just an “I hope they do well” thing.
College: I was raised on Florida State football (that’s where my mom went) before I went to college myself, and I attended the basketball school of Georgetown. However, Hoyas basketball has not been good for a long time, so I stopped caring after graduation, and I don’t see much reason to cheer for FSU when I didn’t attend, so if I watch college sports at all these days, I’m just cheering for the upset or an entertaining finish.
And when it comes to the Olympics or World Cup, I honestly am mostly cheering for a good, entertaining display of sport: I celebrated Japan’s men’s gymnastics team pulling off the comeback to win gold over China, I loved watching the French men’s rugby team upset Fiji at home, and I was rooting hard for Algeria’s Imane Khalif to win despite the hatr she was dealing with. I feel like at the end of the day, I care less about My Team Winning and more about Having A Good Time.
I feel like at the end of the day, I care less about My Team Winning and more about Having A Good Time.
I like this.
While I do root for certain teams, I root for a good game even more. Sports are supposed to be fun!
My rooting interests are a mix of geography and players.
As a born and raised Utah boy, I of course root for the Utah Jazz, Utah Royals, and Real Salt Lake (and I’m looking forward now to cheering on the Utah Hockey Club) but never had a rooting interest in the NFL or MLB because there wasn’t a local team. My college team was my parents’ alma mater, BYU, and that’s what ended up shaping the NFL teams I root for—the teams that drafted or signed BYU alumni were the teams that I cheered for. Eventually that solidified into a few teams that I enjoy rooting for—the Packers, the Chiefs, the 49er’s, the Saints, and the Ravens.
The other thing that shaped my NFL allegiances was teams I rooted against. In high school the most obnoxious fans were Patriots, Seahawks, and Cowboys fans. I had nothing against the teams in particular, but I did enjoy the schadenfreude of watching them lose.
When it comes to baseball, the only major league game I’ve been to was a Minnesota Twins game (It helps that I love their primary Twin Cities logo) so I root for them as well as the Angels, a fandom I inherited from my wife’s family.
One thing I’ve noticed through reading a lot of these, is how many people’s fandom has shifted over their lives. One thing you realize as an adult sports fan, is that the whole, I root for Team A, just like my father and his father etc, is a bit of a romanticized ideal of sports fandom that only sometimes reflects most people’s reality.
As I mentioned in my post, I love the Red Sox and Bruins but in my mid-20s when I first had money and back then had time, living in NJ, I tried to get into the Mets and Devils since I could go to games. I just couldn’t really do it though. Despite living here, I hate NJ, I think NYC is super overrated, and my heart has always been in New England so it just didn’t work.
But, I completely get that. It’s also different in the NYC area because at least half the people you meet grew up somewhere else so you get so many different fandoms, plus NYC itself has 2 teams for everything. So not a ton of civic or regional unity. I do think if I moved to a smaller city like Pittsburgh, or Cincinnati, which only has 1 team in the sports it has, and the whole city is united behind them, I’d end up adopting that region’s teams.
The NYC area just doesn’t really lend itself well to sentimentality.
I’m from Alaska, so obviously no local teams to root for. You’d think this would largely be Seattle team country (and there is a sizable contingent of that), but with so many out-of-state transplants team interests are often pre-formed. Makes it a big melting pot.
As a kid I gravitated towards the three places I had grandparents/extended family — the Bay Area, Seattle, and Denver. I rooted for multiple teams early on — Rockies, Giants, and M’s in baseball, Broncos and Seahawks in football, Sharks and Avs in hockey, and Sonics and Nuggets in basketball. Through a various number of factors, that slate was whittled down to:
1. M’s (my most beloved team, due to my grandfather)
2. Broncos (the Elway Super Bowl teams got me)
3. Sharks (my family lived abroad in the early 2000’s and you could listen to Sharks games via radio on the internet, which felt very novel)
4. Sonics (cool uniforms/branding, and the Nuggets were terrible)
With the theft of the Sonics I dabbled with the Blazers, but fell out of the NBA around 2015.
So, I’m left with the M’s, Broncos, and Sharks. It has been a pretty dark fandom the last 6-7 years, but I enjoy being a part of three different city’s sports cultures.
I mostly got my approach to sports fandom from my dad. Between kindergarten and third grade, my family moved a few times. Iowa to Philly to Minnesota, following my dad’s career. We moved to Philly just after Schmidt, Carlton, Tug, and co won the 1980 World Series, and dad’s new job was broadcasting with the local radio home of both the Phillies and Eagles. So signed me up for all the fan clubs and decorated my room with team posters and whatnot, and he brought me and my friends to games at the Vet. While we lived in Philly, dad was a devoted Phillies fan and involved me in his fandom. Couple years later, at the absolute nadir of Twins on-field history, we moved to Minneapolis, and dad threw himself into rooting for the Twins. Which brought me along on the home-team-rooting journey as well, and as I matured from early childhood to adolescence, a big foundation of my relationship with my dad was our shared Twins (and baseball generally) fandom. He often had daytime and nighttime radio shifts, meaning he’d be home for a few hours in the late afternoon when my schoolday ended. If the Twins were playing in the daytime, dad would put the play the game on radio and the TV broadcast, if there was one, on the TV on mute. Or he’d throw a Cubs game on WGN, which was a basic cable station at the time. We’d watch the game, he’d ask about my day, he’d cook supper and get ready to go back to work. Dad really encouraged both of his kids to get behind the home teams.
I’ve taken that ethic with me as an adult; I’ve spent many years in Minnesota, the Washington, D.C. area, and Wisconsin. I root for teams from all three areas in almost every sport, starting with baseball where I’m pretty intense in my devotion to the Twins, Nats, and Brewers. In hockey, I’m a Caps/Wild fan; in MLS, I’m all about both Minnesota United and DC United. In USL, I follow Forward Madison and Loudoun United, the closest team to where we lived in suburban Virginia. I adopted Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket even though that league started play long after I moved away from DC and even though the team doesn’t actually play in DC, or really even in the Mid-Atlantic at all. It has the name of a place where I consider teams to be my “home team,” and that’s good enough for me.
I learned much later that dad was a Cardinals and Yankees fan his whole life. He never once expressed his pro-Cardinals or pro-Yanks preferences to my brother and I as children, and he never talked down the home team. Even when the Twins played the Cards in the ’87 Series, to which dad took us to see Game Six at the Metrodome, dad never made a single pro-St. Louis cheer that I can recall. He did say he hoped for seven games, but he said that about every World Series. Dad grew up in Iowa in the 1940s, and Cardinals and Yankees games were regularly available on the radio, so those where the teams that gained his loyalty in childhood. Dad was a boy at the height of Stan Musial and Joe DiMaggio’s careers. But he felt it was important for kids to find their own fan loyalty, so he adopted whatever home team was closest to us.
As a kid I grew up in Southern California during the 60s and 70s. I lived in Long Beach, which is in LA County on the border with Orange County. I loved both the Dodgers and Angels, though more a Dodgers fan because of their great teams back then. Also, they never played each other, with the NL and AL being separated except for the World Series, which these two teams never played in against each other.
I also loved the Rams, though that go tougher when the Raiders came to LA and the Rams had terrible ownership. The LA Raiders won a Super Bowl with my favorite player of all time, fellow Trojan Marcus Allen. When I moved to Arizona in 1990, shortly after that the Rams and Raiders both moved out of Southern California. The Cardinals were impossible to like, and I felt like a NFL orphan.
My favorite team was the Lakers. Growing up with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, and then as a young adult with Magic and Showtime, it was my favorite team of all the sports.
Growing up my favorite college teams were UCLA basketball, and USC football. So yeah, I was a front runner fan. That changed when I stepped on campus at USC as a student. Now I’m way more of a USC football fan than a NFL fan.
As a transplant for 34 years now in Arizona, I became fans of those teams, though still a fan of my hometown teams I grew up with.
I became a Suns fan first, when Charles Barkley was traded to them and led the Suns to the finals against the Bulls. Magic had retired, and the Lakers were in a down period. It felt really strange rooting for the Suns to beat the Lakers in the playoffs.
When the Diamondbacks started, I followed them and liked them. I was happy when they won the World Series in 2001, but I’ve never loved them like my first loves the Dodgers and Angels.
The Cardinals have been very hard to like. They were in their third year in Arizona when I moved to Arizona in 1990, and their ownership was completely incompetent. I was happy for them when they went to the Super Bowl, but right after that the owner kept up his cheap ways. Living here I follow them, but there is no love for them.
Grew up in Nebraska, so the Huskers are a given.
MLB: Most of my friends were Royals fans, but I hated the AL due to the DH (still hate the DH, but resigned to the fact it’s going nowhere). Back in the 70’s, AM stations could crank up the power at night, so I could listen to Reds games on WLW during the days of The Machine. I was hooked.
NFL: Was kind of an NFL nomad. Again, my friends were Chiefs fans, but they sucked then and I was “meh” toward the Chiefs. Joined the Army and got stationed at what was then Ft. Bragg during the Panthers first year. They finished a decent 7-9 and were fun to watch. Been a fan since.
Bundesliga (ya, you read that right): Spent 3 years in Karlsruhe on US Army assignment and followed Karlsruhe SC when they were in the 1st division and held their own. They’ve fallen on hard times since, but I still follow them.
Growing up in Northern California, we had two baseball teams to choose from, the Giants and the A’s. I flirted with the A’s in middle school, but my grandfather was a passionate Giants fan, and so am I. We also had two football teams, and in this, I split with my grandfather and father. They were both 49ers fans, I’m a Raiders fan. Don’t really care about the NBA, but want the Kings to beat the Warriors. In the early 90s I started getting into hockey and was an LA Kings fan because of Gretzky. When the Sharks started up, I immediately switched to Team Teal. I moved to Texas almost a decade ago, but will never change my loyaties.
GTGFTS: 1986 World Series, Game 3. Mets 7, Sox 1. Oil Can Boyd got lit up for 4 in the 1st inning, yet still managed to pitch through 7.
Grew up in NorCal, so root for all those teams, except the Raiders, whom I “hate” because…
Also had family in San Diego, and went to Padres games and Chargers training camp (and got tons of autographs and a real NFL football, when those weren’t sold everywhere) when I was 6 or 7, so root for them.
Dad’s side of the family comes from north of Pittsburgh, so Pirates and Steelers are literally grandfathered in.
Became an Arsenal fan by the randomest of factors, a reference to the team in the TV show MASH, Dennis Bergkamp, who was one of my favorites in the 94 World Cup, being sold to them in ’95, and then when we started getting more TV coverage and could really watch, they were entering the Wenger era, which created fans worldwide.
Have soft spots for a few teams, Expos and Blue Jays (because of the unis, of course), and the Sixers (Dr. J, the ’77 uni, and the fact that they were the only team that challenged the Lakers-Celtics duopoly for a few years).
I grew up in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, growing up watching the Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada with the family is a tradition that I also have my wife and kids every Saturday night. Also grew up watching Labatt Blue Jays baseball.
But thanks to WGN I discovered the Chicago Cubs and their gorgeous Andre Dawson uniforms and natural grass stadium so I have to say they have a soft spot with me till this day.
Also grew up in SW Ontario but my Dad was a Tigers and Pistons fan so we watched the Detroit TV stations often for our sports. I just naturally became a fan of the Red Wings, Lions and Wolverines.
NHL: Canucks fan because I had family in the BC area, and Ryan Kesler was on the cover of NHL2k11 (first video game I bought with my own money as a kid). I do have a soft spot for the Leafs due to being born in Toronto, as well as the Penguins because of Sidney Crosby.
NBA: Raptors due to being born in Toronto, despite then moving to BC after a year
MLB: Blue Jays because born in Tornoto, but baseball is the sport I follow the least
NFL: Seattle because 12 year old me thought that their uniforms were dope (I still like them, don’t hurt me). The Jags because of a joke in high school that I was a Jags fan due to while I enjoyed watching football, I wasn’t as crazy about one team as the rest of my friends. The meme has kinda stuck, and they are like a 1b team for me
Grew up in the pro sports desert of Tennessee in the 70’s. I only cared about football at that time, and dad was a big Cowboys fan, so I was as well. Then when I was 8 we moved to the Atlanta area and I discovered baseball, basketball and hockey thanks to local channel 17 (TBS now). I immediately became a huge fan of the Braves, Hawks, Flames and Falcons (and even the old NASL Chiefs). Pretty much all of the road games for the home team were on TV, and we regularly went in person to see the Hawks and Braves. That allegiance stuck with me when we moved again to Houston in the early 80’s. I eventually adopted the local teams as my second favorites, but would always pull for Atlanta if they ever met head to head (since the Flames had moved, I was a free agent fan in hockey who still watched games on ESPN with no rooting interest). Eventually the Oilers were my biggest rooting interest, and I was a huge fan when Warren Moon and the run and shoot were choking in playoff games. When they left for Tennessee I became an NFL orphan. These days I don’t really have much rooting interest in any of the big 4 and find my love of sports is fading. These days I tune into a game based on the uniform matchup.
This is a very interesting article! I grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Although Atlanta and Charlotte are about 2-3 hours away as are Clemson University, the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee; getting there in the 70s was no easy task due to few four lane roads or easy access to interstate highways. Major sports were limited to weekends on the local TV networks. The regional newspaper didn’t follow a specific team on a regular basis. Radio consisted of Tennessee football and NASCAR. At night, we maybe could hear the Braves or Cardinals, but the clearest signal was WLW out of Cincinnati.
As for baseball, I hated the Yankees and Reds and grew up a Red Sox and Dodgers fan. In the 80s, we bought a satellite dish and I began to watch the Braves, and the Red Sox more often and remain a big fan of both those teams today. I loved the uniforms of the 76ers with the stars as worn by George McGinnis; so, in my youth they were my favorite NBA team. ACC basketball was always on tv. I liked David Thompson and Monte Towe and NC State up until the age of ten. Soon after, Phil Ford and Dean Smith came into my life through TV and the Tar Heels are really the only team, college or NBA, I have spent much time following. Until the Panthers came along in 1995, I mostly followed football teams playing well and featured often on TV. Honestly, I prefer baseball over other sports, though I do often watch football. If baseball doesn’t involve the Braves or Red Sox I watch good looking games, played outdoors on grass (I am now watching the Cubs and Pirates, in a nice-looking game). As for football, I seldom watch a game played indoors or on turf.
Obviously, TV has played a huge part in the teams I am a fan of. Location does play a part of the teams I follow but isn’t critical as I love the Red Sox but would never pull for the Falcons, even though they are much closer. I have often thought if I relocated, would I become a fan of the team in that area? I just know it would not be the Yankees.
I am sure I have rambled to much, but this has really brought back some great memories.
I’m from the Virginia part of the D.C. suburbs and haven’t moved away. It’s common in a social/work setting to be the only one from here (unless my brother is there) so in this area you could probably have this conversation a thousand times over.
My parents were the ones that moved here and it was at the right time to be a Commanders fan, so that was my starting point even though I was born too late for any success. I steadily added the rest after that: Caps, DCU, and Spirit. I’ve never gotten into baseball or pro basketball; much bigger fan of college basketball.
One of my other soccer clubs, Aberdeen, also has a D.C. connection because they played here in the summer of 1967 as the Washington Whips in the United Soccer Association. (I do not have a good reason for being a Tottenham fan besides that it’s a lot like rooting for D.C. sports.)
In college sports, I grew up/still am an Iowa fan because my dad’s family is from the area and almost all went there. I wasn’t a big Virginia fan before going there. Virginia now takes precedence if I have to pick (the only home MBB loss I attended as a student was actually against Iowa in the 2013 NIT).
I also have an AFL club, Fremantle, purely because I like the uniforms and one of my favorite bands is from Perth. (It’s also like rooting for a D.C. sports team.)
In non-team sports, I’m a lifelong motorsports fan but without having more than a few actual rooting interests (Chase Elliott in NASCAR, Jaguar in Formula E, and the Iron Dames in endurance racing). I tell people I watch F1 to root for chaos.
Born and raised in Denver, so I definitely fall into the “homer” category. First the Broncos and Nuggets, and then MLB Rockies and Avalanche. I was too young to understand and appreciate the NHL Rockies at the time before they moved to New Jersey.
My wife, on the other hand, grew up in western Maryland, and her allegiances are with Pittsburgh teams. Her family has ties to Pittsburgh, which explains that as well. She’s a big fan of the Denver teams as long as they’re not playing Pittsburgh. The one thing I always found interesting though is when we would go to visit her hometown, the allegiances, at least for football, were pretty much a 3-way split, Steelers/Ravens/Commanders (or insert your preferred team name here).
~100 comments in, this one will probably get lost but here goes –
1st – that helmet cross stitch is AMAZING,
My teams and my “Why”.
Born on the west edge of Ohio, right in the middle of the western edge. 2 hours from Cincy, 2.25 hours from Indy, 3+ hours to Cleveland.
College – tOSU. Grew up liking them, grew into loving them when my oldest brothers attended, became my passion while I attended. OSU football is my biggest rooting interest outside of high school sports.
NFL – Browns.
My dad was a Browns fan. But three of my older siblings were Bengals fans. And two other older sibs were Browns fans. So I was the tie-breaker. They were recruiting me heavily, making a lot of great points. Then one brother told me the Bengals wear black and orange, which is the same colors as our hometown rivals and that was the deal breaker. I couldn’t wear black and orange.
MLB – Reds
All older siblings liked the Reds (one later switched to the Cubs) and then the 1990 World Series when I was 10 sealed the deal.
Still root for the Guards, it’s nice to see Ohio teams do well.
NHL – Former Pens, now CBJ
Mario and Jagr made me a Pens fan in the early 90s. They were the sole reason I got into hockey. Over time, I watched and cared less. Then around 2000, the Jackets were formed in Columbus. I held loyal to the Pens for a bit. Eventually, I worked briefly as an usher while in college for CBJ and attending games there was crazy fun and my loyalties switched. I still have a soft spot for the Pens but as a Browns and a Reds fan, wearing black and gold and rooting for anything Pittsburgh has gotten harder and harder over the years so I can see that soft spot hardening more and more over the years.
NBA – early Pistons fan during the Bad Boys era but don’t care or watch anymore. I was happy to see Cleveland win a Championship but that’s about it.
I became a Yankees fan growing up in Buffalo cause we never had pro ball here.
When I was in grade school about age 7 or 8 read a book on Yankees greats. Many were Italian, so immediately I took interest being of Italian decent. I said awesome that’s now my favorite team.
Turned out was fantastic choice.
To continue, As stated growing up in Buffalo, Sabres and Bills all the way.
Basketball big Braves fan till they left.
Became a Sixers fan, just as Dr J arrived. Always loved the nickname with him now my favorite player. Uni’s always awesome both in 70’s with racing stars and the red 80’s iconic jerseys.
I grew up in LA in the 80’s/90’s so my teams were Dodgers/Raiders/Lakers/Kings.
I didn’t hate the Clippers but they weren’t my team.
As for the Anaheim teams, Angels I rooted for because my dad had a love for them from their PCL days and Rams I rooted for because that was my dad’s team. When the Mighty Ducks came along, I didn’t hate them but they weren’t my team.
As for college, I root for UCLA first but love USC too because my dad spent 4 years going to UCLA and 3 at USC (no, he’s not a slacker, he got a doctorate degree).
As a born Pittsburgher, who has now lived in New England longer than Pittsburgh, it’s still pretty simple: You root for the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins exclusively, and your least favorite teams are the teams that are their natural rivals. So, I could never root for the Ravens. Pittsburgh fans also tend to dislike all New York teams because of an aversion to “the big city.” Baseball’s interesting, because growing up with two distinct leagues, I always felt it was okay to have an “American League Team” because there was no chance your two favorite teams would ever meet (unless it was the WS). So, the Red Sox became my AL team long before I moved to Boston, then Connecticut. As a Nutmegger for 25+ years, I’ve learned all about the Red Sox/Yankees divide, and I think it’s one of the most interesting split fandoms in the whole country. I also have plenty of Mets fans, and I’ve never figured out any consistent basis for why they join you, Phil, in this doomed pursuit. Oh, one last thing: Growing up with no NBA team, I felt kinda like those young sports fans you write about today…who care about players, not teams. I loved Larry AND Magic AND Dr. J AND The Iceman AND Bernard King all equally. Didn’t care about any of the teams, and now I don’t follow the NBA at all.
Elder Millennial here – I was born and raised in Southeastern VA, where the closest major sports teams are a 3+ hour drive away, and because of the heavy military presence there is a transient population with no set rooting interest. Many of the locals that I know grew up rooting for the DC area teams since they were the closest market with the exception of baseball. They rooted for the Orioles (closest team pre-Nationals), Mets (their triple-A farm team was here for over 30 years) or the Braves (We got TBS in the early cable days and their games were on TV).
While I grew up here, my mom is from the Philly suburbs and my dad is from New Jersey. Dad wasn’t a sports guy except for NASCAR, so I jumped on the Philly sports wagon (Flyers, Eagles, Phillies, Sixers) with my mom’s side of the family. I went to Virginia Tech for college, so I naturally root for the Hokies in all NCAA sports.
I grew up in Northern CA, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. My dad was a Giants and 49ers fan and my mom was an A’s and Raiders fan. Thankfully, I followed in my dad’s footsteps when it came to MLB and I have been a lifelong Giants fan. For the NFL, I idolized Dan Marino as a kid and loved Miami’s colors, so I’ve (unfortunately) been a lifelong Dolphins fan. Neither parent was big on basketball at the time, so I never had a real affiliation either way. I tried rooting for the Kings at one point because a girlfriend at the time was a fan, but I got a job with the Warriors after college (and worked there for 10 years), so they have my allegiance now.
I grew up in Michigan and was a diehard Detroit fan in all four major sports until I moved to Georgia in the early 90’s, when I changed my allegiances to Atlanta teams.
I lived in Georgia for thirty years and recently relocated to northern Virginia for work and switched my allegiances again to the DC area teams.
No matter where I live, I “root, root, root for the home team.”
To this day, I still have a soft spot for the Lions and Tigers because they remind me of my childhood and the people in my life who have passed on. I remain a Lions fans, just because, Damn it, they’re going to win it all at some point and I HAVE to celebrate for the generations of fans who have suffered for the team (just like Cubs and Red Sox fans of the 20th Century). My family were multigenerational Tiger fans and I was always be one too.
I am a Michigan graduate and still root for them, even though my entire family were Michigan State fans and I was the black sheep growing up. I can understand how people hate Michigan and I don’t take it personally.
My adult daughters were born and raised in Georgia and they are strictly Atlanta fans. They have moved to Virginia too, but have not changed their allegiances. Whenever an Atlanta or Detroit team is in town, we always go to a game and support our respective childhood teams.
There are other teams that I have a soft spot for, for various, non-logical reasons.
They are….
1. Colts – I always admired how Johnny Unitas played football and loved the mystique of the old Colts teams.
2. Cubs – We used to watch a lot of WGN games with Harry Carey in the 70’s/80’s. How can you not love the Cubbies and their devoted fanbase?
3. Canadians/Expos/Alouettes – My mother’s family immigrated to Quebec from France in the 1600’s and these teams remind me of her. They came in the USA in 1900 and lived in Rhode Island and Michigan.
I don’t really root against any team and refuse to boo anyone at a ballgame. All players deserve respect.
I grew up in Maine (b 1965). As a kid, my favorite football team was the Cowboys, because I wanted a blue NFL sweatshirt from the Sears Wishbook when I was 7 or so, and the local Sears didn’t have the one I circled (LA Rams). So mom bought me the Cowboys because she knew I had chosen the Rams because they wore blue. Both of our “local” NFL teams (Patriots and Giants) were terrible at the time. I especially hated the Giants because they were always on CBS and blocked me from seeing Cowboys games. Luckily Dallas was good enough to get a lot of 4:00/Monday Night/playoff exposure.
I’m more of a Pats fan now, because Brady. They were always my #2, or even #1A after they got good in the late 1970s. After the Cowboys’ last run in the 1990s I really moved toward the Pats. Now I’m not much of an NFL fan at all.
My favorite CFB team was the Nebraska Cornhuskers, because I saw Johnny Rodgers do some incredible stuff one Saturday afternoon, again about that age.
Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins all because of the New England thing. After we got cable in the mid-70’s we could watch a lot of Sox and Bruins games. Celtics were more of a sometimes thing, though we saw a lot of great playoff baskeball in the Bird years.
For EPL, I like Tottenham Hotspur because I like to say Tottenham Hotspur. :-)
Grew up in the Bay Area…
MLB: Giants…self explanatory
NBA: Celtics…In the early 80s there wasn’t much NBA on TV (not even the Warriors locally), and the Celtics were the team that stood out to me with Larry Bird, the parquet floor, and the leprechaun
NFL: Seahawks… Was kind of a Raiders fan growing up, but went to a Seahawks home game when I moved to the PNW in the early 2000s, and became a fan
NHL: Flames…before the Sharks existed, there were a few preseason games every year in San Francisco or Oakland. First one I went to was the Flames against the Rangers. Bught a souvenir stick and rooted for the Flames that night and it just stuck.
MLS: Earthquakes…self explanatory
Only team I inherited from my Dad is West Bromwich Albion
I am mostly a fan of the teams I grew up with in the Twin Cities metro area. I was a bigger Mariners fan in the 90s (due to Griffey) and because the Twins were unwatchable post strike. I still follow the Ms somewhat and also like the Cubs since they are the closest NL team that’s not the Brewers…
Hockey is weird because I was a die hard Stars fan as a kid and them leaving when I was 11 ruined hockey for me. I have watched the Wild their whole existence but it still feels weird to me, like they are a step dad that seems kinda overly well intentioned. Meanwhile I HATE Dallas and never once considered them as a choice for fandom.
Football is slowly dying for me because the Vikings are snake bit and always will be. Basketball I rooted for players but have always been a Wolves fan since they were playing in the Metrodome.
Ok I’ll throw my two cents in:
I’m almost 40 and grew up in the DC area. One of my first sports memories was being at a Super Bowl party in 1992 and remembering the R*dskins’ last moment of glory. So I’ve been a lifelong Washington football franchise fan…despite the many years of awfulness and name change roller coaster. When the Ravens came to town and I was in middle school, I thought the jerseys were cool but couldn’t bring myself to care about them or the AFC in general. So I’ve never been a Ravens fan, but don’t wish them ill will.
The same thing can kind of be said about my Orioles fandom. Another of my earliest sports memories is going to a game at Memorial Stadium. Then growing up with Cal and Camden Yards got me hooked. And I’ve never lost my loyalty through the many bad years. Then, when the Nats came to town, I wanted to go to RFK to check them out since I’d never actually been to that stadium. But I never latched on, don’t root for them, and never really cared about National League baseball (but read below). And despite growing up just outside of DC, I suppose more identify with the “feeling” of the city of Baltimore instead of the more-transient-feeling Washington DC, even though I’m aware that there are generations of life-long residents. It’s tough to explain, but that’s part of it.
I became a hockey fan in middle school and immediately became a fan of the Capitals because they were the hometown team, a no-brainer. And again, I’ve stuck with them through thick and thin. Hockey is now my favorite sport, so they’re the leader in the local clubhouse.
My last thought is that my Zaide (grandpa on my mom’s side) was from Chicago and moved here before I was born. And I remember his tremendous Chicago fandom so because of that I’ll always have a soft spot for the Cubs and the Bears. But I will forever love my Caps, O’s, and whatever the Washington football franchise is calling themselves.
My parents moved with my brothers from New England to Seattle before there were any professional teams there. Dad was a fan of the Celtics and [gasp] the Yankees because of Joe DiMaggio. After I was born we moved to Long Island, which is how my middle brother came to love the Miracle Mets, while Mom loved the Knicks because of Clyde Frazier. When we returned to the Northwest the Sonics were there, and of course Slick Watts was my first sports crush. But pre-Seahawks and Mariners I loved the Athletics because of their uniforms and facial hair, and the Steelers because of their uniforms and having relatives in Pittsburgh; it really was a coincidence that both were dominant in that era. Now I’m polyamorous, which is only occasionally difficult — the Hawks-Steelers Super Bowl, or the A’s jilting Oakland, where I lived during the Earthquake World Series.
I am a Brooklyn born S.F. Giants fan from a family of baseball Giants fans since the 1920s (because John McGraw was Irish). I became a L.A. Rams fan as a kid in the 60s because they had the best helmet in football but will root for the N.Y. baseball and football teams in the playoffs if my teams are out of contention. I stayed true to my N.Y. roots with the Knicks and Rangers and don’t care if the Nets do well but under no circumstances will I root for the Islanders (but secretly envied fans of the 79-83 teams)
I was born and raised in Dallas in 1988 and for the most part, have stayed attached to my Dallas teams despite having now lived in Seattle since 2017. The only team in Seattle that I have adopted as a fan is Seattle Reign FC of the NWSL. I do have a small attachment to Dallas Trinity FC of the USL Super League but through and through, my allegiance is to the Reign. There was no team to support growing up and as an adult, the nearest team to me was the Houston Dash (which didn’t try to make any inroads to getting support throughout the state). TBF, I didn’t know about the Reign either when I moved here. I found out about the Reign in 2018 but didn’t start attending matches until the year after but even then I was just a fan. It wasn’t until later in 2019 that I met members of the Royal Guard Supporters Group that I started to get attached to the Reign. I planned to become a season ticket holder and attend more matches in 2020 but (as we all know) the Covid pandemic hit. 2021 became my first full season as a Reign supporter AND an STH. The fact that the team and the supporters’ group have been fully supportive of not just general LGBTQ+ issues but of trans issues specifically (and the fact that one of the members of the team is nonbinary) each year has made the Reign the first (and only so far) team that I have bought season tickets for. In fact, last year I went to the NWSL championship in San Diego.
The funny thing is though, despite living in Dallas all of my childhood and my early adult days, I am NOT a fan of the Texas Longhorns. For me, I started as one but once Ricky Williams left UT, I became a fan of all other Texas teams that weren’t the Longhorns as well as a fan of their rivals, Oklahoma. My mom and I continue to tease each other about it and yes now that I live in Seattle I’ve added the Huskies (UW) to my fandom.
Born and raised in Chicago, and although I now live in the American South, I have been a Cubs fan since WGN was just a local channel. (I always say Jack Brickhouse was my babysitter.) My baseball fandom remains National League because I never liked boring station-to-station American League ball.
Bears of course, and Bulls since the Bob Love/Norm Van Lier/Tom Boerwinkle days.
I’m from Baton Rouge so I’m a huge LSU fan. I was lucky to enough to see shaq and Chris Jackson. I saw our football team go from laughing stocks to the most dominant 20 year run in school history. Our baseball is the most dominant in the nation. Also a saints fan went from wearing paper bags to a Super Bowl.
There is exactly one baseball team where I could leave the house at 11:45 today and be seated in time for Paul Skenes’ first pitch at 12:35. (I was still there when the Bucs finished blowing a 10-3 lead.) The ability to see teams live, as well as broadcasts and media, certainly affects my rooting interests.
I spent about a decade living within walking distance of Fenway Park. (I even get the GTGFTS bonus points for having been at Game 3 of the 1986 World Series.) I had no problem becoming a Celtics fan, and since the Pirates and Red Sox hadn’t played a meaningful game since 1903, I could root for the Sox. But I never really warmed to the Bruins or Patriots, because they competed directly with the Penguins and Steelers.
Born and raised in SE Michigan so I’m stuck rooting for the Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, Pistons. In college sports I chose, at a young age, to be a Spartans fan. All my family were Wolverines fans so I just had to be different. I would find it difficult to cheer on a team from another region since I would have no local ties or history but when I was 10 I discovered the (I’m still calling them the) San Diego Chargers unis. I’ve been a fan for over 40 years now. I used to have a co-worker who grew up in Columbus, Ohio and was of course a HUGE Buckeyes fan. I once quizzed her about MLB and NFL allegiances and she was a Browns fan and a Reds fan. Funny how that is.
I moved to Columbus like 2 weeks after the Bengals were in the Super Bowl in 2022. I was always curious when I lived there whether there were more Cincy fans or more Cleveland fans. From my anecdotal evidence from living there for 2.5 years, I would say there are *slightly* more Cleveland sports fans. But I might’ve been the only person who lived there who wasn’t a Buckeyes fan.
I definitely haven’t met someone who splits allegiances like your coworker did though.
I was born in NY and lived on Long Island until I was 14, when my family moved to suburban Atlanta. I am a Braves fan and a Georgia Tech alum so those are my only “homer” picks. I’m also a Philadelphia Eagles fan because I decided to root for them over the Pats SB XXXIX… and then it just kinda stuck. I’ve never lived in or near Philly, but for some reason I’ve just been an Eagles fan for over half of my life.
I don’t really care about hockey, baseball, or soccer, so I end up switching my “allegiances” a lot, honestly, based on how much I like their athletics aesthetics. I have a soft spot for the Flyers because of Gritty though!
I grew up in RI in the late ’60s, and while many Rhode Islanders couldn’t stand the smugness of Massachusetts residents, most of my peers and I were fans of Boston sports… especially the Bruins of Orr and Espo. They have remained my #1 team through thick & thin, and I have been able to follow them while living in hockey deserts from NC to Montana. An aunt who worked for a publisher sent me some sports books when I was 8 or 9, & one was about the first five Super Bowls — which led to becoming a Packers fan. It was easy — Pats in the AFC, Pack in the NFC, regardless of how awful either was. And when I lived in St. Louis, I could easily be a Blues fan because they were in the Campbell Conference. I never got into the Celtics as a kid, or any other NBA team in the years since.
As for baseball, I was among the millions of Red Sox fans who never expected The Curse to end. Ask my wife about how I barely moved during the deciding game of the ’01 Series for fear of jinxing it all. Failing the success of the Sox, I will root for the Orioles or whoever is playing the Yankees.
I was born in Philadelphia, in 1973. So at age 7, in 1980, I was starting to notice the locl sports teams.
I thought our teams were the great ever, because all we did when I was finding out about them was going to championships.
Then I was introduced to the reality of the city’s sporting history, but it was way too late at that point for me.
Mine is a mix of family and location.
I would say I have three core teams and then a few casual ones
Nebraska Cornhuskers: While I was born in Michigan, my family moved back to Nebraska when I was a baby. They were originally from there so I was born into it, right at the peak of their dominance in the 90s.
Minnesota Vikings: I became a Vikings fan because of my uncle. He bought me a Randy Moss jersey when I was 3 or 4 and that was it. My mom will cheer for the Vikings as well, but the rest of my immediate family are all Cowboys fans
Atlanta United: My now wife and I relocated to Atlanta a few years ago and were both really getting more into soccer so we decided to adopt our new local team since we already had allegiances to other sports teams
For the more casual teams:
Los Angeles Lakers: My oldest brother was getting into basketball in the late 90s like a lot of kids his age. He decided he did not want to be a Bulls fan like everyone else was so he picked the Lakers since he liked a young Kobe. He was a child and did not realize that was a loathed team by many. I adopted them as well as I got older. With how late the games start on the east coast and just other commitments, I don’t follow them as closely so they would be a more casual team to me. Living in Atlanta, I have gotten to go to a couple Hawks games. I enjoy when they have success as well, but don’t get too invested.
Detroit Red Wings: Since my family lived in Michigan for a few years, we all kinda adopted Detroit as a hockey team. I would barely say I am a fan at this point as I have not watched them play a game in multiple years. If Atlanta got a third NHL team, I would probably switch my allegiance to them.
Atlanta Braves/Kansas City Royals: I don’t care for baseball much. The Royals were fun to root for, especially when I was in college at Northwest Missouri State during their 2014 and 2015 runs and living in Leavenworth, Kansas after college. They were fun to follow casually. Moving to Atlanta has been the same with the Braves. I like it when they do well. I own some Braves merch, but it is very casual.
I will also cheer for the Carolina Panthers when they are not playing the Vikings for my wife and will obviously cheer for my alma mater in Northwest Missouri State, it is just not as easy to catch their games in Atlanta outside of the D2 playoffs.
I’m a born and bred native of the Peach State, so to say I’ve been disappointed by the local teams is an understatement. Most of my team support comes from the influence of my late father, who was a kid when the Braves moved to Atlanta. His first game was when the Braves played the Los Angeles Dodgers, so he took a small notebook to get autographs. In addition to the usual names of Hank Aaron, Joe Torre, Clete Boyer, he also got Don Drysdale, Orlando Cepada and a young Don Sutton. He kept the notebook alongside his twin brother’s notebook in a drawer at home, until he came home from his first quarter at Georgia Tech. When he got home, he found his nieces and nephews coloring on the pages. Apparently my grandmother had been volunteered to look after the four grandchildren and she grabbed the notebooks. She wasn’t a sports fan, so she didn’t understand the importance of why they kept them.
Baseball: The Braves have been a major part of my fandom since my childhood, which meant growing up in the 1980s was lots of bad baseball. But they turned the corner when I turned ten, making the 90s a lot more enjoyable as a fan. Have they ever disappointed me in the postseason? Yes, but compared to the other local teams, I’ve at least seen them win two championships, which is more than I can say for the other state teams.
Basketball: The Atlanta Hawks have never been great, mostly bad. But I remember seeing them play an expansion era Charlotte Hornets (don’t remember who won)at the old Omni. It was a father-son event my dad and some of the guys he grew up with decided to take a group of seven and eight year olds to watch their favorite team live in the big city.
Football: Now it’s the Falcons but as a kid it was the Miami Dolphins. Mainly because of Dan Marino, but also I liked the uniforms and the Falcons were trash. My senior year of high school the Dirty Birds went to the Super Bowl and I jumped on the bandwagon and never left. The less said about the game in Houston versus Brady and the Patriots, the better. Incidentally, my father was always a Dallas Cowboys fan, when Captain America was under center and Coach Tom Landry prowled the sidelines. That ended permanently when the oilman from Arkansas bought the team and fired Coach Landry.
Hockey: We had a pond on the farm but it never froze over during the winter, so we never played pond hockey. I’ve gone to a few minor league games, but I want the Macon Mayhem to change their name back to the Whoopee.
College football: I grew up a Georgia Tech because my dad went there. The 80s were tough but then 1990 happened, so I got to be the fan of the team with the most recent national championship. Then the dwags went and hired the next football guru. Anyway, I still don’t pull for that team in Athens and I’ll never wear red and black.
I graduated from Georgia Southern when they were still a FCS school, so I could have dual loyalty to Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech.
Born and grew up in downstate NY (Hudson Valley).
For the major sports- Dad was a Jets fan so my whole family was the same. My neighbor and BFF was in a Mets family so by osmosis I became a fan. Knicks were the NY team so naturally I went with them.
For secondary sports- Not really a hockey guy but somehow ended up a Rangers fan. When soccer came to NY MetroStars/RBNY was the only game in town.
My weirdest ones were college- In basketball I started watching about 89-90 and I loved UNC’s uniforms. Football I became a Nebraska fan because honestly in the northeast there weren’t many good football programs and only a handful of games were televised every Saturday. The Huskers being a quality team often were shown on the NYC feeds.
NFL – Cowboys. I owe this to my mom. She was born in Texas and moved to California with her father. My grandpa was also a Cowboys fan. So, I’m a third generation Cowboys fan.
MLB – Dodgers. This is a combo of my mom and dad as well as my great grandpa on my dad’s side. He loved to listen to Vin Scully on the radio. I picked up that same habit until Vin retired.
NHL – Kings. Once again a combo of my mom and dad. So, all my teams were a generational passing of the torch.
Jaguars: born there, moved shortly before team was announced.
Fulham: first game I ever attended in EPL in 2009 (yes, was Jags and Fulham before the Khans and will be both after the Khans)
Cubs: Dad and his whole side of family from there, kept their fandom.
D.C. Utd: lived in District for ten years, bought season tickets before I hit the DMV
Jazz: first NBA game I attended as a kid on a ski/Spring Break trip with my family
Capitals: adopted through friends
Seattle born, Oregon raised:
NFL: Raiders fan since: 1966 – Got seriously pissed at so called
Raiders fans who bailed when the shehags arrived.
NL – Pirates Fan since: 1966
AL – Mariners Fan since 1976
Grew up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in the 1990’s.
NFL- Cowboys
MLB- Rangers
NHL- Stars
NBA- Mavericks and Lakers
Here is gets murky. I was a Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls fan because Jordan was great, and the Mavs were so bad in the 90’s. Didn’t really have a team after Jordan retired, until I realized my Dad and his brothers were all Lakers fans during their 3-peat in 2000-2002, (they grew up in the 60’s and 70’s before the Mavs existed). By this time the Mavs became good again, and I have been a fan of the Lakers and Mavs ever since.
I was born and raised in the New York area so it’s Rangers, Yankees, Giants and Knicks. I’ll pull (not as hard) for the other New York teams, except the Islanders who I grew to despise during their dynasty years. Having lived in Arizona the last five years, I find myself also rooting for the local teams to a certain extent. But while I pull for them, I don’t lose any sleep over an Arizona loss like I do for the Rangers, Yankees and Giants. Make sense?
Lifelong Detroiter here. Fan of the Tigers and Lions forever. Don’t really care about basketball, but I’m happy if the Pistons win. However, when the Devils moved to NJ from Colorado in 82, this 11 year old loved their jerseys, color scheme, name…you name it, and became a Devils fan living in Detroit. That grew over the years, to where even before I could drive, my dad would make a point of taking me to one Devils game a year, even if that game was 5 hours away in Toronto, Pittsburgh, or Chicago. It kept growing and growing to where in 95, I was wearing my red and black PROUDLY for games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Joe Louis Arena in my hometown. And now it’s grown even further into an almost hatred of the Red Wings as much as the Devils natural rivals, the Rangers. All because an 11 year old loved a teams original ‘Christmas tree’ uniforms.
I grew up in the Philly suburbs, but my dad is from North Jersey, and he impressed upon me from a young age his New York fandoms. It certainly helps that the Yankees and Giants had some major successes in my early life, in fact Super Bowl 42 is the first Super Bowl that I fully remember watching.
And despite a LOT of ribbing from my Philly-fan classmates, I’ve stuck with my Giants, Yankees, Rangers, and Knicks. I will say that because of the AL/NL divide, and the fact that I don’t really care much for the NBA, I have pretty favorable views towards the Phillies and Sixers. I rooted for the Phils the last two years in the playoffs, and will again (until they meet my Yankees in the World Series ofc).
I would rather bathe in the Schuylkill River than ever root for the Eagles or Flyers.
Grew up in north Monterey County, CA. Just south of San Jose and the Bay Area proper. Strictly all Bay Area sports fan, always have been, always will be and will never ever change. San Francisco and San Jose based to be exact. Though I do have (some) love for Oakland’s defunct (and soon-to-be defunct) teams, as well as general love for all Northern Californian teams, including Sacramento. Generally dislike all So Cal sports, with a particular disdain for LA based teams, except for perhaps the Chargers. My dad was the same way, and yes, I got a lot of my rooting tendencies from him. My mom and sister were and are big sports fans as well, so my whole immediate family were and are Bay Area fans. My kids and their mother also are the same, largely because of me, so I’m glad to have passed it on. I now live in Los Angeles of all places, (lol) and still rep my teams proudly down here.
I grew up in Atlanta in the 70s & 80s. Not only was I an unshakable fan of our four teams (#4 being the Flames), Atlanta even more than now was a pan-Deep South sports city with no competing teams within even a whole day’s drive. So not only didn’t I root for any other teams, I wasn’t raised with the concept that that could even be DONE.
And I suppose that molded me unchangeably. I’ve lived in Charleston for 17 yeaars now, but feel no rooting interest towards–or even interest in–the professsional Carolina teams. (Not even the Hurricanes! After the Thrashers left town, it didn’t occur to me to transfer my hockey loyalties; the NHL simply became dead to me, is all, and will be unless Atlanta one day gets another franchise.)
I was born and raised on the north side of Chicago, so when I first got into sports at 12, I became a huge Cubs fan, and over time I added the Bears and Blackhawks as my football and hockey teams
For basketball it’s complicated, I used to be kinda into the Bulls until I realized how awful their fans are, so a friend of mine on Discord from Austin suggested the Spurs, so I root for them
I moved to LA a year ago but the only LA team I do like is the Dodgers (and maybe the Chargers a bit, but I also like the Dolphins)
College sports wise, I’m a diehard UCLA fan
So here’s a rundown of all my teams
– MLB: Cubs, Dodgers
– NBA: Spurs
– NFL: Bears, Dolphins
– NHL: Blackhawks
– College sports: UCLA
If you’re not rooting for your home team, you’re not doing it right. I can understand rooting for your mom or dad’s team though. Bandwagon and front running fans just grind my gears. I’m a 50 year old life long Texas Rangers fan, and I was annoyed at all the bandwagons that came out of nowhere last fall. But I’ll tell you what, I’ve seen the Cowboys,Stars and Mavs win it all, but nothing was sweeter than last fall. A bandwagon fan can never feel that. You must first feel the agony of losing.
Indianapolis Colts: Grew up in Indy with season tickets.
Cincinnati Reds: Dad was a fan and no hometown team so I’m a fan.
Phoenix Suns: Didn’t care about the Pacers after Reggie Miller retired when I was 6, but loved watching Nash/Stoudemire/Marion on TV so started cheering for them.
Minnesota Wild: Rooted for them out of spite because they were playing the Blackhawks in the playoffs and the bandwagon Hawks fans at school were annoying. Then it just stuck.
Georgia Bulldogs: Went to UGA.
Grew up in Atlanta so fan of all Atl teams. Went to UGA so go Dawgs!
Dad was from Ohio and went to Ohio State so the Browns and OSU are my second teams.
Mom was a Falcons fan but she loved Joe Montana so I also have a sweet spot for the 49ers.
My high school team was the Chargers so I like them as well plus one of our alumni played for them in the nfl. Lastly any team with the most UGA players so I kinda like the Philadelphia Eagles…kinda. lol!