how did you come to support the team that you don't live in the city/country of?

Football:

(Club)

Manchester United: started following football in Australia in the early 90's and Manchester United obviously stood out as the team to barrack for. they were the biggest team at the time and the likes of Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Cantona, etc, convinced me this was the team for me. one is not a glory hunter unless you CHANGE teams!!!

(National)

England: before i started living here, i followed them because New Zealand football is non-existent and i refuse to support any Australian national team.

Basketball:

Chicago Bulls: Jordan. was voted the most popular sportsman in the world at one point in the 90's, more so than any other Australian sportsman. he was (obviously) huge. was never going to support any other team - tho the Celtics were my 2nd team because of Bird.

American Football:

Dallas Cowboys: Emmett Smith and Troy Aikman. again, 90's stuff. still not a huge follower of American Football but will take more notice if i see the Cowboys playing and will watch the Superbowl every year.

Baseball

Boston Red Sox: i like Boston because of Bird and there's no way i could support the yankees. although i watch less baseball than i do NFL, which isn't much to begin with.

 

I respect and even follow and enjoy other teams in respective sports, but I'm a total homer when it comes to my personal favs. It's all about the Cowboys/Stars/Mavericks/Rangers(I know!) for me.

 

NFL

Green Bay Packers: My friends are basically responsible for this. I hated GB, especially when they were owning the Niners in the late 90s. But a few years back, I started joining friends at a local Packers bar every Sunday, mostly for the social aspect. After following the team over the course of that first season, I became a fan.


NHL

New Jersey Devils: I lived in Portland when I started getting into hockey. There was obviously no local NHL team and the closest US based one (at the time) was the LA Kings, so I didn't really have a favorite for awhile. A few years later, I started dating a Rangers fan, who hated the Devils. It started out as a joke, but I started rooting for them to irritate my bf. It wasn't until the Rangers and Devils series in the '94 playoffs that I really fell in love with them. Most of the credit there goes to Claude Lemieux, who really got under their skin, and to Scott Stevens.

Detroit Red Wings: Pretty much the same reason I started supporting the Packers, though I had always liked the Wings, but had never considered myself a fan until a few years ago.


MLB

Chicago Cubs: When I lived in Portland, the only teams that were shown with any regularity were the Cubbies and the Braves. And I sure as hell wasn't going to root for the latter.


EDIT:

Football

Chelsea: Two words: Michael Ballack

 

Well, I'm basically Boston- Celtics/Patriots/Red Sox (Not the Bruins- I boycotted Hockey after the Whalers left), but I have a particular soft spot in my heart for the Detroit Pistons because of Rip Hamilton, basically. He's been my favorite since his UConn days.


Oh, and I try off and on to follow Reading in English Club Football because Bobby Convey is in the man, but I'm not very good at it. I do follow the US men's national team pretty well, I've got to a game a year for the last few years, they keep playing near me which is cool.

 

Well, I supported the Houston Rockets back in the mid-90s, mostly because of the influence of several family members that lived in Houston at the time (some still do). But while I still like the Rockets, its no more than a variety of other NBA teams that I pull for because I like the players, often former Duke players, but by no means limited to them.

Duke is definitely the team I support the most thats not where I'm from, and that is because I started watching them years and years ago and liked Krzyzewski and the players and have been a fan ever since.

As for the Atlanta Braves... I'm not from Atlanta, though I do have family there... but it is the closest MLB team to where I'm from, so it is logical in that respect. Though its really because I roomed 3 years with a friend who is a diehard Braves fan (as big as they come) and I started following baseball because of him initially.

 

NFL:

I lived in Wisconsin where NFL ball is almost as important as highschool football in TX and everyone supported the Packers. It seemed to me that it was no fun to support the same team as everyone else around me so I picked a different one, based on the name since I'm a horse person I picked the Colts. Then I fell in love with Manning so I continue to support them.

NHL:

I used to be a St. Louis Blue fan, but I basically was a fan of them because of Bret Hull. So when he moved to the Stars I followed him. I stayed with the Stars after that because of a few other hotties on the team, and it works out because I'm in TX now.

College Sports:

I'm attending A&M and have been brainwashed so that's a support from living around here kind of thing. I'll continue to cheer for them when I leave though. WHOOP!

Other country sports:

I'll cheer for Brazil in anything now cuz I've been hanging out with a bunch of Brazilians and they're so lovable that you just gotta cheer along with them. So that goes for football, I'd cheer for Brazil.

 

NFL: Dallas- the only team I'd heard of in the early 90s. (Well except for Buffalo, but they were the losers. )

I don't have any other 'out of town' teams. I don't care about the EPL except to LOL@Arsenal and barracking for the smaller teams over the big ones. And teams that have Aussies in them.

 

I'd almost forgotten that Ballack plays for us.


Football

Club - Chelsea. While in London in 1980 my dad took my brother and me to see Chelsea vs Oldham Athletic at Stamford Bridge. They had been his club when he lived there. They wore blue. My favourite colour was/is blue. Love at first sight. They were also in the second division at the time (now called the Championship).

In short, me >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> epic


Country - England. I used to read a lot of my dad's old football books when I was a kid. Couldn't really get anything in Canada at that time so that's all I had. Loooooooved Stanley Matthews. Loved the old baggy England uniforms with the dress shirt tops and the England caps. I wasn't even aware Canada had a national team until later on. And they suck so I'd need a team to support in the WC anyways.

 

only teams I support that aren't in the same state as me are the Green Bay Packers and the Sacramento Kings.


I started following basketball while I still lived in Fresno, California and the Kings were the closest team to me. I couldn't root for the Lakers because my older brother was a Laker fan.

Fresno has no pro sports teams so I didn't have a football team either. I couldn't like the Niners because my brother was a Niners fan, and by the time I started to like football, I also began to dislike everything about the state I lived in. I chose the Packers because that was the team my older brother hated.(On account of Steve Young never being able to beat Brett Favre) Of course the first year I started to follow them is when Young completed the pass to Owens and I've been getting crap for that ever since. Anyway, it was kind of a stupid way to pick a team, but I've stuck by them while they've been doing nothing but crap since I started cheering for them.

When I moved to Phoenix in march of 1998, the Kings(who I cheered for in Fresno but was never a diehard fan of) quickly became a distant second favorite to the Suns. The Cardinals became my second favorite football team to the Packers.(who I was a diehard fan of) And I started to watch baseball that year too. So how perfect is it that just as I move to Phoenix, a new baseball team has their first season in the desert.

There are other teams I root for, but more for the reason that they have a player that I like. I'm a Peyton Manning, LT, Pujols, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen fan, so I like to see their teams do well.(as long as it doesn't get in the way of my teams doing well) And it helps that KG and Ray Allen are on the same team now. It's easier to check the box score for their stats.

 

^^Hey a fellow Kings fan!

NFL

Oakland Raiders. Most of my family liked the team, but I liked them because Marcus Allen was the best all around player I have ever watched in person. They aren't so good now, but still have a long and great history.

MLB

Oakland A's. Big surprise I know! But I fell in love with this team when I went to my first baseball game. It was a night game in Oakland, and I went with my dad.

NBA

Mitch Richmond is my favorite player. The Webbber led team was the most exciting team to come around in a long time. The Suns, Mavericks, and Warriors have emulated their style of play.

College

FB-CAL-I started following this team when players from my home town went there.

BB-UCLA-I will never forget Tyus Edney and the 95 team. Edney's game winning shot and drive is still played during Tournament time.

I live in No Cal, but not in any of these cities. I think my family, and some memorable events helped shape my choice of teams.

 

Clemson- well I live 15 mins from Clemson.

West Bromwich- In FIFA 2005 I wanted to go to the English Premier league and was sent a coaching request from West Bromwich and excepted. Plus one of my favorte cousins lives around West brom and he's a Birmingham fan and dislikes West brom. He says that if I ever visit him he'll get tickets to a Birmingham and West Brom match.

 

EDIT: nevermind. I missed the bit about it being a video game.

 

MLB- St. Louis Cardinals. I was born there but have lived in Nashville, TN most of my life. Always have been and will always be a CARDS fan.

NFL- San Diego Chargers. I've always liked the lightning bolts on the helmet and my dad owned a Dodge Charger.

NBA- Boston Celtics. Larry Bird, nuff said.

 

Wow, the bandwagon thread.

 

No bandwagon here.

 

College Football:

-The Alabama Crimson Tide. I live about 2 hours from Tuscaloosa, and have lived here my whole life, so I've always been a Bama fan since I was little.

-The Ohio State Buckeyes. My dad, and grandpa graduated from OSU. Also, 90% of my extended family lives in Ohio. So, being around it all my life, I'm almost as big of Buckeye fan as the people who actually live there.

 

how is it a bandwagon thread?

anyone who supports an out of state team is automatically a bandwagoner?

 

Yep. Why cheer on a team that does not represent your city?

 

Chelsea

When I was a lad, I was a goalkeeper, and Dave Beasant became my idol after he saved a penalty in the 1988 FA Cup Final. Very soon after that he joined Chelsea (in the year they were promoted from the (then) 2nd division. So I supported Chelsea (the first team I supported). Years later when he moved on, I stuck with Chelsea.

I met him once at a charity match. He was a great friendly bloke. He played in goal for the first half, then as a striker for the second lol.

 

Because you may not have a team that is there to represent your city?

 

yeah like in soccer

 

So if you're a fan of a sport that doesn't have a team where you live, you can't be a fan at all?

 

because your family moved to a new city and therefore your father is a big fan of the team from his home town, and you were raised in a household cheering for that team and not the hometown team?

For example, my dad grew up in Youngstown, he moved to Cleveland, but raised us as Steelers fans. Nothing bandwagon about being a Steelers fan in Cleveland in the 80's.

 

Why cheer on a team that does not represent your city?

Answer: Read all the responses given here, and there are your reasons. Doesn't make everybody a bandwagon fan by any means.

 

You cats don't get it. My family is from Tallahassee, so I always follow FSU. I'm talking about idiots from Tampa who wear Yankee jerseys, because they win.

You can replace any city or team.