OT fans who don't root for their home teams
 

It seems I've seen a lot of this on the forum recently (mostly in the context of Yankee fans, but not all). So who here lives in or in close proximity to a city with a major league team, but roots for a different team, and why?

Was gutted when the Hartford Whalers left town years ago. Couldn't even get the slightest bit excited when they won a Stanley Cup while in Carolina. I still go to AHL Hockey Games on occasion, but couldn't ever bring myself to be interested in the NHL any longer, or switch over to one of the New York or Boston teams.

I grew up in South Florida, long before the Marlins existed, so they weren't really an option. I watched TWIB and Kiner's Corner - how could I NOT be a Mets fan? So, when the Marlins came into town, they weren't my hometown team.

When I was old enough to decide for myself, I moved to a place where I could watch SNY and enjoy my laughable losers everyday...

Still a Mets fan!

I live in Twins and Vikings territory. I tell people my favorite 2 baseball teams are the Yankees and whoever id playing the Twins. Same with football. My favorite 2 teams are the Cowboys and whoever is playing the Vikings.

Been a fan of the Yankees since Wade Boggs played there. I defected from the Red Sox but could not bring myself to become a Devil Rays fan. I have always been a Cowboys fan.

Use the second favorite team term to annoy my friends.:D

Live in New York and although I am a Giants fan, my NFL allegiance is really with the Packers. My dad is a Packer nut even though he's from NY too and it's been passed down. He's a huge Celtics fan too and they're the only team I follow. Although you can't really blame anyone for not wanting anything to do with the Knicks.

I grew up in New England, and moved to Virginia for work. Zero interest in the Redskins/Panthers/Ravens or Nationals, and I can't stand Peter Angelos. Besides, winning championships is kind of nice :D.

I root for the Miami Dolphins. I have my whole life, loved Larry Csonka. I live about a mile from Metlife Stadium and go every year when they play the Jets and whenever they play the Giants.

I grew up in Texas. Closest MLB teams were in St Louis (later Kansas City) so I fell in love with the Boys of Summer. Still a Dodger fan.

Born, raised and currently live in DC, but I have been a Denver Broncos fan my whole life. I decided I liked the Broncos when I was very young, and then they got Elway, and then they turned into a consistently winning frranchise that gets on TV all the time. The rest is history.

Today, I would never root for the Redskins. I will not support any team or organization owned/run by, or affiliated with, Dan Snyder.

I am also a huge Wisconsin Badgers fan, but that is because I went to college there and it is objectively, factually, and unquestionably the greatest college in the world

I will root for the Nats, Wizards, and Caps, but I am a football fan first

I grew up in the DC area and the Redskins were HUGE. The wait list for tickets was years, although we were fortunate enough to have them because my Dad knew Ed Williams. I stayed a fan through my first decade in Boston, but drifted towards the Kraft/Parcells/Bledsoe Patriots beginning in 1992. From a distance it seems Snyder is just awful.

I've lived in Seattle for over 20 years, and live about 15 minutes from the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums (which are right next to each other, if you didn't know), and root for my native Wisconsin's teams.

Being only 30 kms away from Toronto and not really being into the Expos, I have been a Jays fan for many years now. But that has already changed as I don't like the current management in Atkins or Shapiro nor how they are treating their future prospects like Bo, Tellez, Biggio, Alford and of course Guerrero Jr.

Much can also be said how they treated Donaldson and Tulowitzki and some of their other veterans as well. Those 2 guys couldn't wait to get out of there and they were pretty vocal about it is well once they did. That is normally something you don't hear players talk about after a trade or whatever but these 2 guys, imo, were glad to talk about the situation in Toronto, and it wasn't pretty!

The writing was on the wall, imo, when Alex Anthopoulos left the team a few years ago stating he also didn't like/get along with Shapiro and his agenda. I was really hoping that was just a personal conflict, but now, due to what I listed above, he certainly knew what was coming.

I'm not sure who I am going to root for this season but if I had to make up my mind right now then I'd choose the Indians or Yankees? :confused:

I was born in Boston... but grew up in Orange County, CA
 

but still find time to root for the local teams when I live in those cities (Philly / Carolinas).... when I lived in NYC, I could not bring myself to root for the Yankees.... could not cross that line....

Yea, in the 70’s- early 90’s when Jack Kent Cook owned the team, The Redskins were good, there was a serious waitlist for tickets, and DC loved their Skins (I was still a Broncos fan). Snyder bought the team, and the whole organization has gone into the tubes- they can’t give tickets away. You reap what you sow.

I've moved around a lot. I've been living in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale area for the past 12 years, but I grew up in New Orleans and lived there about 15 years, so my NFL team (the Saints) isn't too surprising.

We'd go to games at the Astrodome every few years when I was a kid since there wasn't anyone else within a day's drive, but I was a Giants fan then and always rooted against the 'stros until, many years later, as a grad student in Albuquerque I started dating a Houston girl and going to games at Enron Minute Maid Park with her. They've been my team since then, and I've been married to that girl for 15 years now.

I became a sports fan in general at around the time Mario Lemieux was first making a name for himself and, mainly because of him, and because there weren't any remotely local teams anyway, I decided the Penguins would be my hockey team. They remain so.

The NBA story is longer, and this is a bit prolix as it is, but when I was in Albuquerque the Fox Sports affiliate carried the games of the only team in our time zone, the Denver Nuggets, and I adopted them as my team at that time. For a solid year I had myself convinced that Carmelo was better than LeBron.

In the past decade now I've seen the Saints win their first Super Bowl, the Astros win their first World Series, and, well, the Penguins win the Stanley Cup every few years. I don't want to count my chickens prematurely, but the Nuggets (the Nuggets!) are neck and neck with the Warriors in the West for the #1 seed.

I was born in Baltimore but grew up in Brooklyn and North Jersey. In the late 50s when I was old enough to follow sports I wanted to have my own teams and not just follow along with my father and his Yankees and fb Giants. I made the easy choices...my 'hometown' teams, the Orioles and Colts. Been a devoted Orioles fan ever since even though I moved to Houston in the late 60s. When the Colts bailed I couldn't bring myself to root for any other team until the Texans were born.

The only team I 'shared' with my father was our mutual 'first love', the NY Rangers.

Grew up in Billings, Montana, home of a Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliate. Hometown team was the Colorado Rockies. Moved, now the close team is the Mariners. Reds come to town every once in a blue moon, and I go watch them. And they are in town this year!

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I grew up in the Bronx, about a mile from Yankee Stadium, so I will always be a Yankee and (gulp) Giants fan. However, having lived in Connecticut for many years I also root for the Pats and, with a passion, for the UCONN woman’s basketball team. I have continued these allegiances even though I now live in Southern California. My younger son was a Badger so I root for Wisconsin in football and basketball. My only concession to SoCal is being a fan of the WNBA L.A. Sparks.

When I was in the army one of my best buddies was a huge cardinals fan, at this time I barely cared about baseball. Anyways, everyone was out at a sports bar and a cardinals/phillies game was on. We made a friendly better on it, and since then I've just stuck with cheering for them. Now they're my 2md favorite sports franchise behind my local (at the time) lakers.
Lindsey started liking the nationals because she thought Jayson Werth was cute.

I grew up in LA/Orange counties, but at the time Roberto Clemente was the best player in the game, so I became a Pirates fan. The only local team that I ever liked was the Lakers because of Jerry West.

Chicago in the Mountains
 

I’m a Cubs/Blackhawks/Bears fan in Denver, since I grew up an Illinois boy, and saw no reason to change. That being said, I like when the Broncos are good, and in the playoffs, because then I can ski on the weekends without the crowd.

I'll take an asterisk on this one.


My wife is from near DC, and early on we reached a compromise where I should also root for the Orioles and Redskins (and maybe a bit for the Caps and Bullets too) As well as the Red Sox and Patriots, except for when the two teams play each other. So far it's worked out well.


And yes, I know the Bullets are something else now.

Born and raised in northern NJ...dad was a big NY yankees fan...I've lived in Baltimore...now MN going on 20 years. I bleed pinstripes and the yankees will always be MY TEAM!!!!!

I do root for the twins as long as the yankees aren't in town or if it would hurt the yankees if the twins win!

Steve, please inform your wife that DC once again has a MLB team and then encourage her to permit you to now root for the Nationals instead of the Orioles! :D

She's too young to remember DC having a team. But I can probably get a special allowance for adding the Nationals instead of a swap for the Orioles, which I don't think I'm brave enough to ask for. :D


Edited to ad that the Redskins were easy, since they were originally a Boston team.

My dad had season tickets for the Dodgers, but my brother was a Pirate fan for the same reason, and I was a Reds fan because I liked the makeup of the team so much. But was always a Laker fan, at least until Kobe took over.

These days I still have Dodgers tickets and am a Dodgers fan just because I want the season to last longer at home.

My first few years following the game in DC the Senators were still there. I never really made the transition to the Orioles despite going to a lot of games, so it was easy enough to become a Sox fan when I came to Boston for law school. Of course pretty much the first thing I did when I got here was go to Fenway, and that helped.

I grew up in New Orleans as a Saints and Jazz fan. The Jazz left in 1979, and I have never latched onto another NBA team. I started pulling for the Red Sox when Rice and Lynn were rookies, and I still do. I have lived in North Carolina since 2000, so I began going to NHL games and became a Carolina Hurricanes fan. I can't pull for the Panthers, because they are the Saints rival (although, I am boycotting the NFL until Goodell leaves), and the Hornets are just too boring to get me watching. Maybe someday.

I'm from north of the San Francisco / Oakland area. All of my friends were Giants and A's fans. I probably was too.

In the spring of 1974 there was a story about Steve Garvey in Sports Illustrated, 11 year old me decided that he was my favorite player, which meant that the Dodgers had to be my favorite team.

Later that year, he was named a starter to the All-Star team as a write-in, the only time it has ever happened. Obviously helping my case to my friends about how great he was. Then he was name MVP of the game, which made him THE best player in baseball.

Then came October. Dodgers vs A's. My dad somehow got nosebleed seats to game 5 of the World Series, and after having taken my mom the previous year, took me that year.

My friends who had harassed me all year, tortured me even more as the WS approached (and by that point they were ALL A's fans). Then "my" team was defeated, the last game being the one I was at, and there was no going back. Dodger fan for life.

When I got old enough to drive, I got my thrills from wearing my Dodger jacket to Candlestick for many a game, with no issues.

Later in life, Dodger Stadium security would gave me shit for wearing a "Pitch to Barry" shirt under my Dodgers Hawaiian shirt.

Doug

I have divided loyalties
 

Seahawks fan born and raised in Indiana. Jim Zorn was a lefty, so was I. Actually got to see a lot of their games back then. CBS always carried the Bears at 1:00, which meant we usually got an AFC West game on NBC at 4PM.

Try getting a Seahawks shirt in rural Indiana in 1977...

Grew up in Hillside, NJ and in the early 1970's (like most in our neighborhood) I was a devoted NY Jets fan. Seats at Shea Stadium were always sold out.
So, we drove up to Foxboro (Mass), or down to Baltimore to see the Jets play. Sept 24th, 1972 in Baltimore, an NFL game I'll never forget, Joe threw for
493 yards and Johnny Unitas threw for 376 yards. Jets 44 / Colts 34, an unbelievable passing contest by both these HOFer's. Including a 67-yard scoring
pass to my hero John Riggins.


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...SvsBALTx50.jpg



I became a big Redskins fan in 1976, since the foolish Jets management would not renew John Riggins contract. The rest is history, as "free-spirited" Big John
went on to have some great HOF seasons.

And, the Jets have not achieved much ever since they let Big John go.....you can call it the "Riggins Hex" :)


TED Z

T206 Reference
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Grew up in Howard County, Maryland, the battleground for Baltimore/D.C. loyalties. I chose Baltimore. I gleefully cheer against D.C. sports teams (including the University of Maryland).

He was the heart and soul of the Redskins for a few years. Underappreciated running back, IMO.

Growing up in NJ, I couldnt care less for the Yankees, Mets and Phillies my team was the Reds since the 60's

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I've long been an A's fan. But my least favorite team, next to the dreaded Yankees, is the Giants. That's mostly because they've gone to great lengths to stop the A's from building a new stadium in San Jose, which is the most logical place for them to put it — and it's even farther away from SF than Oakland.

Hi Peter
….."underappreciated running back"..... I don't think so !

During the early 1980's I had a lot of business trips to D.C. (my new time-shared Data Communications system was undergoing field trials at the Navy Annex).
And, I was amazed at the attention John Riggins enjoyed. Especially after their Jan 1983 Super Bowl victory. In which, John Riggins was awarded the MVP.
Furthermore, when the Navy guys I was working with realized I was a Redskins fan, they treated me like a "king". Taking me to some great restaurants in D.C.

Actually, to be truthful, I favored the Redskins before John Riggins joined them in 1976, for I was always a great Sonny Jurgensen fan.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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Ted sure he was appreciated in DC, but I think if you google lists of greatest all time running backs you aren't going to find him on many, but IMO you should.

Jurgensen, similar story. People in DC knew how great he was (except George Allen who stupidly started Billy Kilmer over him, unimaginable), but again you won't find his name mentioned now on those all time great lists. A great pure passer IMO.

PS my dad sat next to Sonny on a cross country flight once during said George Allen era. Sonny was several sheets to the wind, and what he had to say about not starting was unprintable. In public, though, to his credit, he kept quiet, and if I recall he and Kilmer actually got along quite well personally.

Peter

I wish I had the luck of your Dad. Sitting with Sonny Jurgensen for 6 hours on a flight would be a great experience. Sonny was a "free-spirit" just like John Riggins.

I'm sure you know, on many occasions Sonny would come in to the latter part of a game in which Bill Kilmer was losing, and turn the game around with his precise
screen passes, etc.

Jurgensen is recognized as the finest pure passer of his day. He earned three NFL individual passing titles. He exceeded 400 yards passing in a single game 5 times,
and threw 5 TD passes in a game twice. His stats include 2,433 completions for 32,224 yards and 255 TD's. Also, Sonny rushed for 493 yards and 15 TD's. His 82.6
career passer rating is the highest for any player in the NFL (prior to 1978).


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Technically, I wasn't born in Georgia, but have lived here almost my entire life...and have rooted for the Braves' through very bad and very good times.

I have NEVER sided with the opposition...and never will.

I have more difficulty putting up with slip carey- of course, I use the mute button liberally and usually enjoy the radio broadcasts.

.

If there was an underrated running back for that team during that era, it was Larry Brown.

Reading through these responses I sadly understand why people don't root for their "home" teams. How many of the players or coaches are actually from the hometown? I don't think the Twins have anyone from Minnesota on the staff any longer. They fired or retired all the Minnesotans from last year and a few of the coaches who had ties within the organization were all let go.

And it seems a lot of these guys don't stick around anyway after their career is over. Then there's all the trades and end of year player rentals. Add the expansion of cable and streaming through the years.

No wonder the "home" team is kind of getting lost a bit.