[Philosophy] WHY do you support YOUR team?

ranked from most to least passionate about

Clemson
both of my parent are professors at Clemson. I go to Clemson Football, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer and Tennis games. In my opinion if your a fan of one sport of a college than you are a fan of all their sports.

Braves
Been to games, local team

West Bromwich Albion
My cousin lives in the Birmingham area in England. Also West Bromwich was the first team I controlled in a manager mode on FIFA games. I would be a way bigger fan if I could actually go to games as opposed to just looking at their scores on the internet.

Seahawks
I love the NFL, but thei is no team that I really support. I began to like the Seahawks in the year of the realignment after they changed conferences and changed uniforms. Before them I had a barage of favorite teams (Vikings,Rams,Panthers,Cardinals,Bengals) but the Seahawks will be my favorite NFL team.

 

Yeah, the Canucks are the closest, which is why I specified non-US teams. It wasn't until I moved to Seattle that I got to watch Hockey Night in Canada.

I probably would just be a one team girl if I hadn't moved around so much growing up...and if I ever lived in an NHL city. Hey, at least I don't root for every team with a player I have a crush on.

 

I assume the Sharks (1991) were out of the question because they their first few years.

 

In my opinion if your a fan of one sport of a college than you are a fan of all their sports.

Generally, yes.

I don't tend to care much about Duke sports beyond basketball (though I will cheer for Duke's women's team as well as the men, especially now that one of their players is from my HS) but I probably would if I went there, which is a possibility for next year. But with South Carolina, this definitely applies. That said, the only ones I really follow are football, basketball, and baseball, going to pretty much every game for the first two and however many I can make for baseball.

 

I support my teams because i live in the phoenix area. I'm a big Phoenix Suns fan, and have been since about 1990, when i was 8 or so. My first memories of actively watching sports were of the Suns in the playoffs that spring, when they beat the Jazz and Lakers and lost a series they should have won against Portland (crushed the Blazers in their two wins and lost two of the other games by a total of about three points, and never lost by more than maybe 8 or so). Now we get to watch Steve Nash for 82 games a year, as he leads the best Suns team in franchise history.

I'm a paper-bag-over-head fan of the Arizona Cardinals, and have been for about the same time as the Suns. I was out of town for the biggest wins of their lone bright spot season of 1998, which bothers me still. Aeneas Williams was a hell of a player, and one of the best cornerbacks ever to play the game of football. Larry Centers was a great player as well, and i saw his unbelievable move over Cowboys safety Brock Marion in person. Arguably the best fullback in NFL history. Jake Plummer owned this area in 1998, after his stellar college career and bright beginning to his pro career (the only quarterback to take the cardinals to the playoffs in the last 30 plus years). Right now, we have the privilege of watching Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, two receivers who are simply amazing. Each cardinals game is worth watching if only to witness their brilliance.

I'm indifferent to the Coyotes, who were on the verge of becoming a big thing in the late 1990s, and then blew a three games to one lead against St. Louis in 1999 and pretty much became an also-ran in this sports-rich area after that.

Then there are the Diamondbacks, which i followed closely from 1998 through part of 2004. They gave us our first pro championship, and watching Schilling and Johnson back to back for about three years was a rare privilege as a sports fan. The 1999-2002 team was a great one, and in 2001 and 2002 was this area's one sports bright spot. On the day of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, all four of our pro teams had regular season or playoff games (an extraordinarily rare event, and i'm not sure that's ever happened before or since). Our teams went 1-3, but the Diamondbacks won the only game that really mattered. Sincen then, the diamondbacks have kicked out jerry colangelo, changed ownership to a bunch of morons and changed the uniforms into something hideous. i have all but disowned them now.

I'm a Sun Devils fan, and one with bittersweet memories of the 1996 football season, which broke so many hearts in the valley at its dramatic conclusion. The Sun Devils have dramatically underachieved in the years since then, unfortunately. The baseball team has had two memorable postseason runs in the past decade, including its runner-up finish in 1998. The basketball team is just embarassing, but hopefully that will change with the new coach.

Last but not least are my Westwood Warriors, which is my high school alma mater. I've attended all but a couple home football games in 2004-06, and my best moment as a fan came in a classic rivalry match against a crosstown rival.


I take pride in all my teams, and i watch them because they represent me and this area in some meaningful way.

 

I hope the Sun Devils do well again soon. They are in my top 5 favorite college football teams

 

n00bs!

Actually, I started following hockey just before they were awarded the team.

 

Becuase I was born an raised in Miami, Florida. And Florida sports is all I've grown up with. Plus these are teams that are representing me and my home state. There is a lot of pride that goes into it as fan seeing your team go out there and compete for you. So why wouldn't I root for my Florida teams? There playing for my home state and the fans...I owe them that much. Plus when they win a Superbowl, World Series, Natinal Championship, NBA Championship; or any other championships: it brings great feelings and memories...that you never forget, and are glad to be a apart of in someway. It's a great accomplishment for the state and the the fans...an even greater accompishment for the athletes that worked so hard to get there, and win the big one. When something like that happens it lifts the spirts of the fans and the state, and makes you feel great inside. There's no greater feeling then seeing your team do good, and then seeing the players go on an become great in there own right...it's pride in see both come out on top. And that's why I root for my Florida teams.

 

For me it's a combination of geographical proximity and inheritance. My favourite hockey team Leksand was the closest elite league club and one of their star players lived next door to us. Also my father has always been a hockey fan and he passed it on to me. After 17 years I can't imagine switching teams. In fact, it has in a way extended to the NHL because I take an interest in Montreal since Michael Ryder played for Leksand during the 04/05 season.

You know, I'm like this too. I follow the world championchips in hockey and football, rooting for Sweden. But the real passion is reserved for Leksand. Only their success or losses affect me on a profound, emotional level.

 

I support the Pens and the Pirates because they are the local team, and I went to their games as a kid. I support the Steelers because I grew up with them (literally - I used to play with Randy Grossman's son and they would come to our Christmas parties).

 

You have to draw a line somewhere JOHNNY-B. Considering you're from Miami, is the U your favorite school to root for?

 

There is a stereotype that Los Angeles sports fans aren't as passionate about their teams as fans elsewhere in the country (especially compared to East Coast fans), personally I think that is just a load of nonsense. Because there are many teams in the L.A. area to root for, there were plenty of options for me to go to as I was growing up, and because of who my family rooted for, I attached myself to the Lakers & Dodgers. I have great pride in the fact that both the Lakers & Dodgers are very storied franchises in their respective sports, and that each team has/had legendary announcers (Chick Hearn & Vin Scully), who've announced for the teams for decades, and thus cumulating historic careers. I was born in 1986, so I missed out on seeing the Showtime Lakers, although of course I was treated to see the Shaq & Kobe era, with the culmination of that (once Phil Jackson arrived in town) being the threepeat from 2000-2002. It's been a tough road for the Lakers ever since the '04 Finals, but unlike the bandwagoners, I've stuck with them, and will continue to do so long after that day comes when Kobe retires. Although I root & care for the Lakers, the Dodgers are my team. I like the sport of baseball more than I do basketball, and I've gone to far many more Dodger games at Dodger Stadium, then I've gone to Laker games at the Fourm/Staples. It bothers me that the Dodgers haven't had the same success as the Lakers have had in my lifetime, especially since I was only a baby in during the 1988 season, so I missed out on the Dodgers last championship. Despite that, one of the greatest moments in their history ocurred on my birthday that year: Kirk Gibson's come from behind home run off of Dennis Eckersley, in game one of the World Series. My family has told me that they had the game on during my birthday party, and that 2 of our family friends had actually gone to the game. Every year on my birthday (10/15), I watch a tape of that home run, and I can get chills just thinking about. It would be a great moment in Dodgers history regardless, but the fact that it happend on my birthday is beyond words. Although I've seen/experienced the joy of the Lakers winning titles, I'm still waiting on the Dodgers, and when (hopefully) that day comes, it will be one of the happiest in my life.

 

Tunick, paragraphs are your friend. Invite one over sometime.

 

It was late, and I had only been off from work for three hours.

 

I support my home teams. I support teams from both California and Massachusetts, as I have lived in both states. I support the Patriots and Niners (Football), Giants and Red Sox (Baseball), Warriors (Basketball), Sharks (Hockey), and the USC Trojans (NCAA, Football and Baseball). I don't follow basketball or hockey too closely, though.

 

I was born around the same time that Liverpool FC were dominating european football, so when I was old enough to understand it all, I followed them and still do to this day, despite my Dad supporting Manchester United and my Mum Aston Villa. So you can just imagine the kind of conversations we have each year

As for other teams, I kinda jumped between a few NBA teams when I was younger before following Orlando during the Shaq days. I stuck with them mainly because I have a soft spot for Orlando itself, I just love the place, and the fact that my one and only experience at an actual game came when I was 15, at the formerly known as Orlando Arena (I think).

I support a few other teams, mainly local clubs here in Australia, but that's about it. I'm not a big enough fan of any other sports to really follow any other teams closely.

 

I root for the University of Michigan. Secondarily, I root for the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings.

I root for Michigan becaue a) I was born and raised in Michigan, b) Michigan football has tradition, history, and it's not the losing kind, and c) most of my family graduated from the University of Michigan and I'm looking to do graduate degree stuff there. I root for the Tigers and Red Wings out of the fact they are my hometown teams, but their combined history helps as well. It's hard not to like the Red Wings when we had the Captain, or the Tigers with such years as '68 and '84.

I end up disliking people and teams due to their opposition to Michigan or Detroit or certain legendary players. College-wise, I can not stand Ohio State (obvious), Tennessee (their fans are beyond annoying, their pitiful attempt at stealing Michigan's nearly century-long attendance record pissed me off, and they are home to Fat Phil Fulmer and Peyton Manning), or USC (their So-Cal fanbase doesn't deserve the team this school puts out nor the history they've had, they get the Manning-overhype treatment). I H-A-T-E Peyton Manning, more for his (and his family's) moaning, whining, and complaining over Charles Woodson's Heisman win than anything else. His overhypedness and having been a Tennessee Volunteer help fuel my hate as well. And yes, this is beyond dislike. I hate him. Such is sports. By association, I dislike anything in Indiana or Tennessee whatsoever (the Colts, Notre Dame, although Vince Young has saved the Titans in my eyes) and support anything that routinely goes against him (Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots ESPECIALLY with Michigan man Tom Brady at the helm, Pittsburgh Steelers).