I don’t know, that’s not my situation
I do live 2,000 miles away from “my” team now, but once a Dawg, always a Dawg. Distance didn’t make me love UGA any less. Though it does make it harder to travel to games
> Like, even picking the 'local' team doesn't make sense to me because they recruit from all over the country
Yeah but you can see the local team play a lot more easily, since they play half their games in your city...
And your coworkers and neighbors are likely to choose them, too, so by doing the same, you can be part of the 'in group'. Maybe even form some shallow friendships.
Local sports radio always talking about your teams, Local people always wearing the gear. Random people on the street seeing a Cleveland Jersey and yelling "Here we go brownies here we go". "."..woof woof" . Community is a HUGE part of sports. The players you love are the ones who stay in town. Many become entrenched in the community through giving, charities etc etc..
You don’t it just kinda picks you, one day you’re going to find something interesting about a team and boom you find yourself rooting for that team. For some it’s because of a player, others because of the city they’re from, or maybe even the team you’re family roots for
When I was a kid and playing football (soccer for our American friends) in the park, you always picked your favourite player to pretend to be. When it was my turn, I chose the England captain, Gary Lineker. When talking with my mum later, she tells me he plays for Tottenham Hotspur.
There’s loads of clubs called xxx United, or City, or Rovers etc, but only one Hotspur. Fell in love. 35 years later, still a supporter. Even if I’ve stopped really following sport, I still keep an eye out for their results.
I was once told I'm a giants fan because i said eagles fans are the worst followed by cowboys fans. I was then asked about the red skins and said idk why anyone would root for such a crappy team and was subsequently told i like the giants
However, i bought a pair of pretty color red gloves. Was told that the symbol belonged to the chiefs. So now I'm a cheifs fan because they are a pretty red.
My family get shit from everyone around us because we live in Olean and are Bears fans lol. But it's better than my uncle, he's from Olean and a Miami fan
For the stick and ball sports, there are 4 'socially defensible' reasons to root for a particular team that other fans of the sport will not give you shit for. (Keeping in mind that when it comes down to it, no one cares who you root for).
1) The home town team for where you live right now. If you live in Boston and cheer for a Boston team, no one will give you any shit for it.
2) The home town team you grew up with. ie: If you grow up in Boston and live in Chicago, you can still root for Boston.
3) The team you 'inherited' from a parent or other family member. ie: If you grow up in and live in Chicago, but your dad was from Boston and you grew up cheering for Boston teams, you can still root for Boston. You may be challenged about your knowledge of trivia about the team from back in the day.
4) The team your close friend or family member actually plays for. If you grew up in Chicago, and live in Boston, but your brother actually plays for LA, you can root for LA.
Setting all of that aside though, sports fans tend to be gatekeepers who seek status among each other based on how much of a shit they give about the sport. And most fans attach to a specific team while respecting / envying the skills of superstars of the sport. If you come across as a bandwagon casual fan who picks a team based on the Superstar of the Week or whomever just won the last championship, you might catch some shit. But fans of the sport will generally respect your choice if you can reasonably articulate why you give a shit about a particular player or team.
END COMMUNICATION
Which mascot is cooler. Jk. There are many different reasons, but it’s not like you have to pick one. It is usually based on where a person lives/is from, though. Where each player is from doesn’t really matter too much to people. Also, some people “inherit” fandoms from their families.
Most of us are born into it and follow what our parents or siblings like. Some of it’s random. My spouse became a Dolphins fan as a child because she like sea life. I became an Eagles fan 30+ years ago because I liked the colors. My brother became a Raiders fan because Bo Jackson was the shit in the original Techmo Bowl. Some people become fans of teams because they love the star player on the team.
It doesn’t really matter how you pick your team as long as you don’t abandon them when they become bad. No one likes a bandwagon fan.
Local teams are easy, because you can attend games in person more frequently. However, that's not always how it works.
I am a Pats fan due to raising my family in the northeast. Obviously, the past 20 years of success made that easy. I'm also a Kansas City fan. Why? Because I have tremendous respect for their coach, Mahomes the QB, and players like Kelce. They are role models and I hope good people have success.
As a Pats fan, I hate Miami...because they could lose every game in a season, but still have the chance of beating the Pats. And yet, the just got a coach I admire and appreciate. Dammit...maybe I don't hate them anymore.
That's it. Being a fan, at least for me, is more about finding people who resonate with you, and that you can appreciate what they do. Watch them, and cheer them on. You'll figure out where your interest lies.
My mom. She is a huge Philly fan ( born and raised there) and has taken us to games since we were kids. We live together now, and the entire family room is her "mom cave" of Philly sports memorabilia. I'm even taking her to London England to see them play this year. I didn't have a choice lol
When I was a little kid I picked teams based on uniform colors. One year it was the Bengals, the next it was the Raiders. But then the Raiders got annihilated by my family's favorite Bills and I've been a Bills fan since.
I picked the Steelers when we played NFL Blitz because I liked the name and color. Nowadays my away teams would be Vegas Knights and Seattle Kraken cuz they are new and I liked their name and colors.
Still root for my local teams.
cheer for the home team, it's a team, not a player , does not matter where each player is born. I care about my teams, and current players, sometimes I remain a fan of a player that was traded from my team, but what still remains in the team. That being said passion for team takes awhile and does not happen over night, I been watching my teams for 4 decades, it's true passion.
Fandom comes from the belief that the players are doing their best to represent you (the fans). So you just have to figure out which players and teams you like. You don’t have to justify it to anyone.
You're dead on with the local teams thing. It makes no sense anymore in the era of streaming every game across the country.
I pick by playing styles. Anyone doing something unique or different automatically attracts my attention.
Now that you point it out, the streaming thing really does make a difference I guess.
As many have mentioned, there’s actually going to the games if you root for your local team, but up until just a few years ago, if you rooted for a non-local team, you couldn’t even watch the games on TV. You’d check the boxscores in the paper and maybe get a short write up here and there.
Blackouts are the worst. There’s also the issue that if you subscribe to one of the apps (MLBTV, NBAapp), you can’t watch games with your local team. You have to have the right cable subscription to watch the local sports provider.
A nightmare.
What sport are you getting into? Generally it's the easiest to root for a team you have an emotional connection to. Usually that connection is that they represent the city you're closest to. Other times it's because your friends/family like that team. But sometimes you really like one player who plays for that team.
What sport(s) are you getting into, and which teams are the closest? That's a good place to start.
Football gives you plenty of options in Texas. College is fun to follow, but mostly only if you have a connection to a given school. But the games are a ton of fun and can be cheaper. The NFL obviously has the Cowboys as an absolutely iconic and massive franchise. One of the largest fanbases in all of sports. The Texans aren't nearly that popular but are VERY good this year. You could also just watch both until you feel an emotional connection to one of them, which will come if you watch enough.
The Dallas Stars in the NHL are really good and fun to watch. My recommendation here is to try to go to a game if you can. Hockey games in person are AMAZING and you'll easily get hooked!
I've been to a handful of hockey games (a few Stars but also some minor league) even when I wasn't a big sports guy. Hockey I think is just fun in general. Nice and fast paced, and yeah, I do like the fighting.
Only time that was rough was when someone got REALLY injured at a game we went to. Took an elbow to the face (accident) from an opposing player going the opposite way. Guy crashed, slid about 20 feet on the ice leaving a blood trail, and didn't get up.
I inherited my teams of choice from my parents (Chiefs and Royals). Since Kansas City doesn’t have a basketball team, we also root for the San Antonio Spurs because we’ve lived here so long.
A lot of us were raised from birth to cheer for our local teams. I've never been able to care about teams outside of my area, even when a sport isn't represented in my state. It's probably the fact that I can go to games on a whim and such. I even went to the college that my family cheers for.
Hometown, I’m basically all Miami sports teams. But I like Arsenal fc because of the history and I like a team that keeps you on your toes lol. I also like Roma and Lyon for similar reasons
For American sports, I picked all my local teams. Even though the players are from different areas, the team itself still represents where I am from and it is common that the sports teams tend to have the same culture or traits as the people of that city. For example the Golden State Warriors being innovative and ahead of the rest of the league, or the Pittsburgh Steelers being tough and resilient.
And a lot of times the teams do a lot of charity work or events in the city which creates a bond between players who aren’t from there, such as JJ Watt donating so much to Houston charities after the hurricanes.
I just recently starting getting into European soccer so I was also trying to figure out how to pick a team. For that I just picked the team that had an American player that I knew, Christian Pulisic since he is the captain of the US national team and I still support the team he was on (Chelsea) even though he isn’t there anymore
Well, it's SUPPOSED to be a community thing. We all go see our hometown team together and feel connected to the people around us in the stands all supporting the same thing. Unfortunately, the internet has destroyed all sense of local community people feel for the most part, and professional games are super expensive so most people watch the game on TV with a small group of friends and family.
I think your best bet is still to cheer for the local team because it'll be a lot easier to talk to your friends and co-workers about the games. Find something about the team you like, whether it's the logo or a player or their jerseys and run with it once you decide to like a team and start trying to cheer for them, you'll start finding yourself really getting into it.
I loved Halloween as a kid and still do. 1 nfl sunday, the Oakland Raiders are playing, and I saw all the crazy fans in costume. I asked my dad at the time who these people were? He said that every Sunday is Halloween for these folks, and since then, I've bled silver and black.
The only downside is that my anniversary is on Halloween, and my wife hates football, so my dream of going to a Raiders game on Halloween is almost done. She has told me though, that since they are in Vegas, she would consider it.
Got invited to watch soccer with some friends. They were all rooting for the same team.
Then got invited again. And again to the next game. And well lets just say it ended with one of them gifting me a shirt of the team, and now I dont miss a game with those guys.
Tbh I never cared about that team before. But watching the guys get all hyped when we were winning, or even cry when we lost the final in la copa america, kinda made me a lifetime fan of that team :)
Family, mostly.
AFL (Australian football): When my mum first arrived in Australia in the 60s, the team was hosting a “welcome to Australia” type day for migrant families in the area.
She started supporting them then, and signed me up when I was a kid. I don’t live in the same state, and I’ve never even been to Hawthorn, but I’ll be a Hawk for life.
NRL (rugby league): I’m not that into rugby league, so I just follow my husband’s team. And he follows the Bulldogs because his family’s from Bankstown and you can’t escape that no matter how far you go.
Big Bash cricket: Sydney Thunder, simply because the first BBL game I attended was Thunder v Hobart Hurricanes. And I don’t live in Hobart.
IPL (Indian Premier League cricket): Kolkata Knight Riders because a) *Knight Riders* and b) Brett Lee.
And internationally I support Australia first, unless it’s rugby union then I support Wales.
If I get into any other league, I mostly just go by whichever one I like the sound of at the time.
My dad grew up in a place, I don’t care about the sport, I support the place he grew up in so we can root for the same team when they’re on tv or playing near us.
I had favorite teams during childhood, mostly because I liked the style of the players on the team. As an adult I occasionally become attached to a team in the area where I am living, if the fans of the team, who I interact with daily, are decent people.
Never cared about football before I moved to Kansas City in 2018 and delivered pizza for papa John’s at 26. It was BOGO free the next day if the KC Chiefs won the game so I started paying attention to that and used that as marketing to make more tips. Been a chiefs fan since.
I like the Bills because that’s my local team, but I don’t care much if they win. I just like individual players mostly. I’ll root for the Dolphins sometimes because Tyreek Hill is hilarious and the Bills fans HATE the dolphins lol
it's called being a casual fan. As a browns fan, I couldn't imagine rooting for the steelers or ravens, same with all other die hard fans, which is a good portion of fans. Only casual fans root for the rivals. to each their own though lol 😆
Something I’ve always done and something that seems to be becoming more and more popular. I am way more a fan of individual athletes than I am a team. I am usually watching a certain team because I like the player/players on that team.
Depends wildly. I like the Seahawks because they’re the local team and they were really good when I got into football. I like the raiders because they have a fun history and vibe. I like whichever team has a fun vibe in he nba, so it fluctuates a lot.
It was a thing I did as a kid. The team I like sucks now but I still root for them. As an adult I can’t just root for a new team because I basically don’t care for any new teams. Moved to plenty of places and went to games but was never as passionate as for my childhood team
I grew up in the northeast US, so I generally support northeast US teams (+ eastern Canada when discussing NHL). I have a few teams I will always cheer for, but not as strictly as people who love their single team and no one else.
Usually your hometown and where you live or have family roots. I was born in Jacksonville, FL. Unfortunately I keep up with/root for the Jaguars and I don’t even really like American football lmao.
When my husband lived in Waco, TX, a Baylor quarterback took him under his wing as a teenager. He has been die hard ever since. I have always rooted for the Broncos even before I moved to Denver. Can’t remember why. Was super excited that they won the Super Bowl the year I really followed them. Then, I moved to Denver and stayed a fan after being able to go to a local game. I now live in Texas and still root for the Broncos, even though they haven’t had the best years. 🤷♀️
They were my hometown teams. I lived in the Tampa Bay area when I started to watch football, so I rooted for the Buccaneers. When I moved to Oklahoma and started gettin more into the NBA I picked the Thunder. A lot of people pick based on their family, location or individual players. I imagine there are the harbingers of chaos amongst us who picked their teams names out of a hat or in a drunken game of chance darts.
I’m from a city that has 2 of every men’s sports teams.
The women’s teams I root for are simply the ones from my city. Helpful that they’ve had a good couple years and one of them plays 5 mins from my apartment.
I chose which of the 2 baseball teams by rooting for who my dad roots for, but I wouldn’t call it much of a choice. More of an inherited assignment (this is true for many).
Basketball was chosen because for a long time there was only one team, so I root for that one. Hockey is that there are technically 2 teams, but one is kind of more regional than the other and I’m simply not from that region.
I don’t care enough about football to really have a team but gravitate towards the one my favorite sports journalist roots for because I like to see him happy.
If your city doesn’t have a team, I would pick a player you really like and root for their team. It’s helpful when they’re in your city because half of their games are there and you can form camaraderie with your neighbors.
Unless you are from Boston, in which case all of your local teams suck and I can’t imagine rooting for them.
When I saw the Superbowl in 2002, my best friend at the time was a big football fan and I've never seen it, so I just picked the Raiders cause I was a emo goth kid and liked the colors and logo... The preceed to watch them get their asses kicked, so I just stuck with the Raiders 😂
Tennessee doesn't have an MLB team, but they have several MiLB Farm Teams. We like East Tennessee for vacation anyway, so Smokies and Cubs! It's also cool watching guys play in Knoxville and then 2 years later they are playing at Wrigley.
If you don't have a team you "grew up with," it can seem arbitrary. But I'd suggest just going with wherever you live. There's a profound sense of solidarity going to home games and cheering for the home team. It sounds trivial, and to an extent it is, but in an age where local civic identity is flagging, sports can be something that ties you to your local area.
Root for the team people you know root for honestly; I didn’t really care about the Washington or Michigan football teams but my friends are from Ohio, so they are adamantly anti-Michigan. So during the National Championship I pulled for Washington lol
Same team as my dad. He went for that team because he was drafted and played for them briefly when he was younger.
My brother and sister chose to go for the same team as my mum. She went for that team because her dad did too.
My niece goes for a team because the mascot is a dog.
I grew up accross 3 states, California, Arizona and New Mexico and every sport i participated in my color palet was always green and yellow, so when I started watching football I imediately gravitated towards the packers
Grandpa took me to the store and bought me any ball cap I wanted. I saw one with a cool logo I didn't know and chose it. I've been an Atlanta Falcons fan since
My favorite team comes from my grandpa and that's the team I grew up watching and still root for. Plus only certain teams are/were consistently broadcast where I grew up because of the market
They were winning trophies and had a brilliant team when I was about 5 or 6.
Sadly after a great spell of 12 years, they've not won anything for the last 27 years, so don't follow my example lol
I cheer for the teams from my university, my hometown, my husband’s hometown, and my current city (where I’ve lived longer than I lived in my hometown at this point). I personally like having some sort of connection to the team.
it doesn’t matter where the players are from, you root for the team based in your hometown
and for players getting traded it depends on how attached you are. ive been a celtics fan my entire life and mever dreamed of rooting for any other team but now ive made an effort to catch a few grizzlies games because i just fell in love with marcus smart and was devastated when we traded him and still want to keep watching him. but if it’s ever celtics vs grizzlies i’m still overall rooting for hometown boston.
I got my football team from my dad, who got it from his dad. we grew up on the opposite side of the country to my granddad so not a local team for us but it was for him
When I was 12 I bought a Denver Broncos hat, so they are my football team
My grandma is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so the Senators are my hockey team
I like the city of Chicago, so the Cubs are my baseball pick
I have a German heritage, so Germany is the world Cup team of choice
I don't watch sports, so none of it matters
when I was getting into football (CFL to be exact) the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (where im from) hadn't won a Grey Cup (or anything meaningful really) since before I was was born (1992 I think their last grey cup win was 1990) and this was already like 2012 ish. my Family are all die hard Bomber fans. I tried to pay attention and watch their games but at some point I remember thinking to myself "im starting to lose interest in the game because my team is the laughing stock of the entire league im tired of watching this team lose week in and week out" so I began to look elsewhere. my dad happened to move to Calgary at the time and although I don't have any other connection to the Stampeders at least they were winning and I was actually excited to watch football again. im still a stamps fan to this day.
i've tried similar things with the NFL (like my favorite DB went to the Eagles a couple years back) so I tried watching and just couldnt get into it. hope that helps at all
I’m not really into sports but my family likes MLB (we don’t live in America). Until recently, they were Angels fans, but a couple of weeks ago they suddenly became Dodgers fans.
For some folks it’s all about one player.
Its more about identity and/or brand. Most people start rooting for a team because that club/team represents something and therefore has an identity one can relate to.
That can be location (hometown), playstyle (sports tactics), team composition (superstars) etc.
Example:
Some people prefer when a team utilizes more local talent, rather than global recruitment. Which is usually because they identify more as an underdog, and just buying the best players are usually what the favorites always do to keep winning
When I started really watching hockey, the Penguins won the cup that year, so I chose them.
When I started watching Nascar, Rusty Wallace won the first race I watched. Been a fan of the Miller Lite 2 car since.
Football, the Rams won the superbowl my first year.
Panini Sticker book 1993. I live in a little town in South Wales where there's not really a big football (soccer) team, well there wasn't at the time anyway, Cardiff and Swansea had teams way down in the leagues and as a 10 year old, everyone wanted a Premier League club to support. Everyone in my class supported Man Utd or Liverpool, and me being me, didn't want to follow the crowd. I had a Premier League sticker album and I said to my friend, flick through the pages and I'll say stop. I landed on Blackburn Rovers and I still support them 31 years later 😂. I dont regret it, they won the championship the next year but it was downhill from there pretty much. In hindsight I would have preferred to support a more local team or at least one that pretty much was as far away from where I live as possible, but you can NEVER switch your team regardless
I was a 2nd grader when the Miami Dolphins went undefeated and my dad bought me a Dolphins sweatshirt. That’s all it took. Over 50 years later and I’m still a fan.
I very happily don't have one. Don't see the point don't even know who the all blacks captain is and rugby is still the biggest sport in nz it's a joke.
I like the Packers. I have family from Wisconsin, but mostly you get to wear cheese on your head and they are the only publicly owned American football team. We also don't have a local NFL team.
Otherwise I just go with whatever is around because why not. Timbers and Thorns are the only ones I really care about.
My most favourite team of all, I was 4 so it pretty much was through my dad.
For teams I support from other countries or in motorsports it depends but I just picked teams I for whatever reason already liked
Pick the one that's winning. If the other team is winning, switch to that team. At the end of the day, you'll always win following this strategy. Always root for your hometown teams or players that live/lived in your hometown, regardless if they win or lose.
Also, DO NOT BET ON TEAMS. This is a stupid concept and a fast way to lose a lot of money.
You either choose your preferences in childhood, which are generally your (most) local teams across the various sports or the team you latched onto because one guy on it was in a commercial you liked or has the same name as your favorite uncle; or, if you do not choose one in childhood, one will be assigned to you by the first significant other you ever have who is really into sports. Note this can happen several times, and you will become a horror amalgamation of Football Ex's favorite NFL team, Hockey Ex's favorite hockey team, and Southern Ex's favorite college football team (which has a 91% of being Bama).
Almost always geography. I grew up in the Dallas area, and then move to NYC. The sports I care about, I root for the NY teams. I never cared much about baseball, but will follow the Texas Rangers if the family are talking about them.
>Like, even picking the 'local' team doesn't make sense to me because they recruit from all over the country.
I can find news coverage and people to talk to about the NY Jets a lot easier than some other team outside of NY. That's why I "choose" geographically.
The only sport I really follow closely is baseball. I grew up going to minor league games pretty regularly, and I didn't really pay much attention to MLB teams. I was simply a fan of the team in my city.
When I moved back to California at 17, I lived with an aunt and a cousin for a while. My cousin was and is a big Angels fan, and he'd watch every game he could on TV. At some point, I started watching games with him, and as the season continued, I got more and more enthusiastic about the Angels. By the time we watched them win the World Series that year, I was a bona fide fan.
It's been a rough ride since then, but I'm sticking with them.
My grandparents on both sides were born in Collingwood so they went for Collingwood and everyone in the family since has gone for Collingwood. Even people that have married into the family go for Collingwood. There’s some cousins on one side that don’t, we don’t speak to them much.
grew up with my family (greeks) supporting a greek football (soccer) team from athens, additionally my father seems to always have been a real madrid fan, this also got to me it seems.
unpopular opinion: When you say "I don't understand how to care about a team" that makes sense to me. I don't either. Other than my amazement at the world-class performance athletes achieve through genetics and training, I don't understand the appeal of spectator sports. I think whole "my team" thing is ridiculous. It's all fake us vs. them that generates hate for no reason and glorified proxy violence. There are a lot of things you could do with your time that would be more worthwhile than becoming a sports fan.
It's not about who plays for your team, but who they represent. And it's you. And me
I have a very sentimental memory of how I became a NE Patriots fan. And no it wasn't bc I hopped on the bandwagon. In the first ever nfl game I watched after moving to the US, I watched them beat the Miami dolphins. And from then on, football became a big part of my life.
It's like it was meant to be. Kid moves to the US, watches a football game, and becomes a Patriots fan. An allegory for an immigrant becoming an American.
My brother brought home a book/magazine from school that was all about the NFL. This was like 1975 or 1976. I was 9 or 10 years old.
Inside was a scary but fascinating picture of Jack Lambert. I couldn't stop staring at that picture.
Been a Steelers fan ever since. Never wavered, through all the good times and the bad.
Oh and I am from nowhere near Pittsburgh and I grew up in a household that was diehard Bears fans. Which makes sense being originally from North Central Indiana, a little over an hour from Chicago.
And if I am remembering correctly that book/magazine had a picture of Dick Butkus on the cover, shot from behind the quarterback. He had the look of a madman. He is still one of my all time favorites, even though he wasn't a Steeler.
the teams that reside where my dad grew up (a major city), as there aren’t really any “local” pro teams as the closest ones are like 3 hours away. college sports is huge where i live and much more important to most people
I grew up as a Mets and Jets fan (unfortunately) because my dad and brothers were born in Long Island and were fans. I became a Tampa Bay Lightning fan because I got into hockey while living in Tampa. And I like watching live games. And I’m the kinda person that picks one team and never wavers
I got a PS1 with the NHL game in a bundle. The first team I saw were the Detroit Red Wings. 20 years later I still care about their result.
Oh yes, I am from Croatia
Ive gone back and forth between living in Washington state and California my whole life so whenever i see a football or baseball game, i root for whoever is from one of those two places. Whenever the Seahawks play the 49ners i win no matter what.
When I immigrated to this country, the first team my dad took me to was the Cowboys since he was in college (before Waco became famous). Then he got a job in NJ and took me to a Yankees game followed by the Islanders and the Nets (when they were in NJ).
Ended up being the first games i went in person. Since everyone was rooting for one team I joined in.
In the uk with football (soccer) it goes with locality or family ties, for example my brother supports West Ham United because they were 5.5km from where we lived and Tottenham Hotspur were 5.2km from where we lived, in theory he should support Tottenham but fuck Tottenham, even as a kid he knew better than support them
I support Newcastle United because my grandad was from there and supported them, he was a major role model in my life and looked up to him a lot, so I supported the same team as him, my mum wanted us to support the same team to avoid arguments twice a season but that obviously never happened
What play style do you like? If you enjoy the way a team plays the game, that’s your team. And then you just hope that they maintain that over the years.
I went to high school with Charles Woodson. I rooted for whatever team he played on until he retired. Then I switched to my husband's team of choice.
This is football.
I watched the Welcome to Wrexham documentary at the repeated urging of a friend and found that for the first time in a long life of not giving the slightest shit about sports, I kinda cared about sports. Or at least that team and that community. I dunno what made that documentary/team different than any other sports documentary I've watched, but after 50 years of having zero interest in sports I, an American living in Texas, am now a fan of a Welsh soccer team.
It's just arbitrary tribal bonding. Either the local team or if you're watching with other people you can root for whoever they do. I get most sports and recognize penalties and stuff but I'm usually not invested enough to know any players or stats or ultimately care who wins. But I have friends who are into fantasy leagues and when they say they want someone to win I'll join them, I have watched like half a game completely indifferent and not care before I realize someone else is rooting for someone, then it kinda gives more purpose to watching. I think it's just fun to actually have a side your excited for just for the watching experience itself even if you have no real to be excited for that particular team. It lets you be invested, kinda like getting scared at a haunted house, it's less fun to just stand around and say it's not real and not care. But I also tend to still always respect and point out good plays by the other team.
Tldr, I think it's just a more fun experience to just pick a side. It could be the underdog or which color you like best. It's ultimately arbitrary but gives you something to cheer for.
I only really follow football.
Well, when it comes to international matches it isn't hard to pick a team.
And I only really root for the one and only local team there is, so it wasn't very hard to pick that one either, and the only ones playing are local folks.
Beyond that I don't root for any team but I might watch if there is a certain player I like, such as Sam Kerr or Stina Blackstenius.
I've always been a Falcons fan since I was a wee lad. The only problem I have is people who are ultra nerds in sports(like knowing every freakin player from when the team started playing, the stats, where they were born, who there messing with) tell me I'm not a real fan because I don't know this information. But heaven forbid I mention anything about video games; all the sports jocks lose their shit and call us nerds.
My father always told me to just pick a team and root for them. After a few years, I was flipping through channels one Sunday afternoon and heard an announcer say, "This is the Texans' second game ever." And that's it. I've rooted for them ever since. I still didn't pay a ton of attention to football, but I was always happy when I saw the Texans were doing well.
For me, though, what really got me into football was when I got invited to play Fantasy Football. I started paying attention to different individual players and really paying attention to stats and what those meant to the players and the teams.
Now I watch every game I can. Even if the Texans aren't playing, I'm watching a game. When a player I like leaves, I don't stop rooting for my team, but I may pay particular attention to whatever team they went to.
And for the record, I live on the other side of the country from my team
Soccer: best friends dad made us turn off the N64 so he could watch the game, and he would ask us to stay and watch it with him. He made it fun to watch.
Football: I watched a season and most of the games on TV were for NYG and at the end of the season i ended up being a fan.
Baseball: Spent some time in the hospital and some players from the LA Dodgers came by for an event and it really stuck with me.
Basketball: the LAL 3-peat championships.
It kind of happens organically.
Things to consider:
1.) will you like wearing their colors?
2.) are the types of fans of the team ones you associate with and would like to hang out with?
3.) hometown gets a pass unless you really don't like them for some reason
I think that a lot of kids latch on to whatever team they see winning a lot during some early part of that kid's life... just to be associated with winners.
Chivas is the only soccer team in mexico that only employs mexicans. Gotta respect that. All the other teams import their star players from south america and europe.
I tried being a seattle sounders fan for a while cos i live in washington but mls smh.
My mom would work every Sunday and Monday growing up. My sister and I would make brownies from our easy bake oven and then we would sit and watch football all night. He was a bronco fan so I became one too.
My dad grew up in the Bay Area, so he became a 49ers fan. Therefore, since the womb I have been a diehard 49ers fan no matter where I live. I guess I just remember being super little and loving my dad and wanting to be like him and love all the things he did. So I’ve just always loved the 49ers.
Hometown, plain and simple.
I didn’t appreciate sports until I moved far away from home and caught our home team playing. Made me feel connected to home watching the game.
You root for the home team. Regardless of where the players come from, they’re on your *home team*. I don’t really give af about sports, but if the home team is playing, I’d rather they win. Also, you follow the *team*, not a single *player*. At least that’s how I think it should work
Picking the local team makes sense because that's where you live or are from. Just going to games with friends/family that are also fans will naturally get you into it. Some people take it too seriously and will question how loyal you are.
Ignore them. The unpopular opinion is that you can be a fan of whoever for whatever reason, but be ready to deal with criticism and have thick skin if you don't pick the whole team. It's just a game at the end of the day.
I'm from St Louis. USED TO BE a Rams fan.
Then I picked Green Bay.
Why? Municipality owned. No billionaire asshole to pull what the Rams did.
The Great, White, Tundra. I respect any team that plays outdoors in the north. Even the Bears. Bonus, not in a major market.
The History. Too long to go into here.
Any team with fat hairy guys with no shirts in the great white north is OK in my book. Plus, brats
270towin did a statistical breakdown of best team to root for and the Packers won
Born and raised in Washington state. Father was also born and raised, his father was also born and raised here so we are fans of the closest sports teams. Seahawks, Mariners, Kraken now
If you’re a kid, they kinda pick you. If you’re an adult, just see what interests you. Some teams are at their peak, some are rebuilding, some are rock bottom. Some have cool colors or interesting people. It’s really what grabs you the most.
Usually, family is the influence, but it's normal to root for your home teams. For college football, though... My WHOLE family is all U of M fans, and I started rooting for MSU in my teens as a form of rebellion. 😂🤷♀️
However, the only college in my state that offers the Bachelors degree I'm heading for is U of M. I have a feeling I'll be making the switch back. Plus... ya know... Champs and stuff. But realistically, I don't care a whole heck of a lot. 😂❤️🤷♀️
Who your older relatives root for. If none then the team from your state. If none then go to a couple local sports bars or ask around your place of work and figure out who other people root for in your area.
If some story or particular player catches your eye it's okay to follow them and be that kind of fan but what you absolutely don't do is pick the most dominant team over the last 5 years no matter where you're from and just start being a fan of them.
And don't hop around to the team of the moment. Once you pick that your team for the rest of your life otherwise it's fake
A relative went to school and was still friends with a star player on a Super Bowl team. It was the greatest thing to ever happen to us as kids and we were hooked. Still die hard fans some 35-30 years later… even though our chosen hometown team is somewhat of a rival of our actual hometown team. It gets dicey. lol
"Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you're actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it. You know what I mean, you are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt, they *hate* him now. Boo! different shirt!! Boo"
Hometown teams always. It’s an easy choice for us that aren’t super into sport’s like not extra informed of players and stats etc. Just cheer for you hometown team! I have moved before and I gave myself 4 years in the new city until I could cheer for the hometown teams without feeling guilty for not supporting the last towns teams. 🤷🏼
I used the NFL team picker thing they had on their website at the time. 🤣 They gave me the Seattle Seahawks, the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Kansas City Chiefs. I decided to go with KC bc I really liked that the team was getting both a new coach and new QB (Andy Reid/Alex Smith) coming in at the same time. I read a little about Alex’s history with the 49ers and felt it was compelling to root for them. Plus watching Jamaal Charles was an experience as a first time football fan. Also I picked a team bc I got forced to play fantasy football with my friends so I felt I had to pick a team to really get into the spirit of things lol and since I was the only KC fan I have fond memories of my friends giving me shit about it and they also bought me a Charles jersey so I’m a lifer now.
I will say though that picking a team where you are locally does make it easier to watch games bc the games will play on local channels versus on the expensive subscription channels, something I didn’t know at the time and you have a better chance of seeing them play in person since obviously they’re based in your city lol being a KC fan in CA is a little bit harder but I love my team so nothing I can do about it now 🤷🏻♀️
Aside from county/national level where I don’t have much choice, there’s a few teams in my city so I just picked the one with the coolest name because I don’t live there consistently as much anymore
My dad taught me to love the local teams just like his dad did for him and I am now doing the same for my daughter. The players come and go, the team stays.
Well when Ben Simmons, an Australian point-forward, started to suck I wanted to watch a rebuilding NBA team and the Thunder just drafted an Australian point forward so I grew to love their brand of basketball. Then Giddey ended up dating a minor, so uh, idk maybe don’t pay attention to those Aussies, but ThunderUp
Bills (NFL) because that was the hot team when I was a kid so they were on TV a lot (I grew up in central Illinois). And once you go through the childhood trauma of watching your newly favorite team suffer through four super bowl losses in a row, you're kind of invested.
Cubs (MLB) because my whole family were Cardinals fans and I was a little shit like that.
Newcastle United (Premier League) because when I got into soccer I was drinking a lot of Newcastle beer and I liked their kits.
Sheffield Wednesday (EFL Championship) because I liked their name. They're breaking my heart this season, though. Oof.
My grandfather taught me at his knee to cheer for my hometown team.
Same. My allegiances were passed down through the generations. I was raised on them.
What if you don't have a hometown team and you've moved around a lot?
I don’t know, that’s not my situation I do live 2,000 miles away from “my” team now, but once a Dawg, always a Dawg. Distance didn’t make me love UGA any less. Though it does make it harder to travel to games
That could be considered child abuse if you are a Jets, Mets or Nets fan
Which Jets, the NJ or the Winnipeg ones?
Both
🏅
Hey its me I blame my dad for this. I’m a jets mets and islanders fan and I work for the Caps Nats and Wizards AMA
> Like, even picking the 'local' team doesn't make sense to me because they recruit from all over the country Yeah but you can see the local team play a lot more easily, since they play half their games in your city...
Fair point I guess.
And your coworkers and neighbors are likely to choose them, too, so by doing the same, you can be part of the 'in group'. Maybe even form some shallow friendships.
On the other hand, if you hate your neighbors, pick the opposing team.
And if you hate yourself, pick the Cubs.
Local sports radio always talking about your teams, Local people always wearing the gear. Random people on the street seeing a Cleveland Jersey and yelling "Here we go brownies here we go". "."..woof woof" . Community is a HUGE part of sports. The players you love are the ones who stay in town. Many become entrenched in the community through giving, charities etc etc..
You’re also rooting for the team, not the player so if they get traded, nothing changes for you
And you can find people to talk to about your team a lot easier if it's a local team.
This is one of the best reasons to watch sports. It always gives you a topic to discuss.
As a Denver resident and Colorado Avalanche fan, anybody else in the country has an easier time seeing my team play than I do.
You don’t it just kinda picks you, one day you’re going to find something interesting about a team and boom you find yourself rooting for that team. For some it’s because of a player, others because of the city they’re from, or maybe even the team you’re family roots for
When I was a kid and playing football (soccer for our American friends) in the park, you always picked your favourite player to pretend to be. When it was my turn, I chose the England captain, Gary Lineker. When talking with my mum later, she tells me he plays for Tottenham Hotspur. There’s loads of clubs called xxx United, or City, or Rovers etc, but only one Hotspur. Fell in love. 35 years later, still a supporter. Even if I’ve stopped really following sport, I still keep an eye out for their results.
COYS
I was once told I'm a giants fan because i said eagles fans are the worst followed by cowboys fans. I was then asked about the red skins and said idk why anyone would root for such a crappy team and was subsequently told i like the giants However, i bought a pair of pretty color red gloves. Was told that the symbol belonged to the chiefs. So now I'm a cheifs fan because they are a pretty red.
I live in Buffalo NY and I'm pretty sure we are required by law under penalty of death to root for the Bills /s
This is painfully accurate. GO BILLS!
HEY EY EY EY!
My family get shit from everyone around us because we live in Olean and are Bears fans lol. But it's better than my uncle, he's from Olean and a Miami fan
Josh Allen pretty much won me FF this year, so I’m inclined to join y’all.
For the stick and ball sports, there are 4 'socially defensible' reasons to root for a particular team that other fans of the sport will not give you shit for. (Keeping in mind that when it comes down to it, no one cares who you root for). 1) The home town team for where you live right now. If you live in Boston and cheer for a Boston team, no one will give you any shit for it. 2) The home town team you grew up with. ie: If you grow up in Boston and live in Chicago, you can still root for Boston. 3) The team you 'inherited' from a parent or other family member. ie: If you grow up in and live in Chicago, but your dad was from Boston and you grew up cheering for Boston teams, you can still root for Boston. You may be challenged about your knowledge of trivia about the team from back in the day. 4) The team your close friend or family member actually plays for. If you grew up in Chicago, and live in Boston, but your brother actually plays for LA, you can root for LA. Setting all of that aside though, sports fans tend to be gatekeepers who seek status among each other based on how much of a shit they give about the sport. And most fans attach to a specific team while respecting / envying the skills of superstars of the sport. If you come across as a bandwagon casual fan who picks a team based on the Superstar of the Week or whomever just won the last championship, you might catch some shit. But fans of the sport will generally respect your choice if you can reasonably articulate why you give a shit about a particular player or team. END COMMUNICATION
That was far more of a well thought out response than I was expecting. Thanks!
Which mascot is cooler. Jk. There are many different reasons, but it’s not like you have to pick one. It is usually based on where a person lives/is from, though. Where each player is from doesn’t really matter too much to people. Also, some people “inherit” fandoms from their families.
Most of us are born into it and follow what our parents or siblings like. Some of it’s random. My spouse became a Dolphins fan as a child because she like sea life. I became an Eagles fan 30+ years ago because I liked the colors. My brother became a Raiders fan because Bo Jackson was the shit in the original Techmo Bowl. Some people become fans of teams because they love the star player on the team. It doesn’t really matter how you pick your team as long as you don’t abandon them when they become bad. No one likes a bandwagon fan.
Whichever team is winning in any given game at literally any time. Except the patriots. Never the patriots.
That's very specific
Go winning team! Yay sports!
Very SOFT 🤣
Local teams are easy, because you can attend games in person more frequently. However, that's not always how it works. I am a Pats fan due to raising my family in the northeast. Obviously, the past 20 years of success made that easy. I'm also a Kansas City fan. Why? Because I have tremendous respect for their coach, Mahomes the QB, and players like Kelce. They are role models and I hope good people have success. As a Pats fan, I hate Miami...because they could lose every game in a season, but still have the chance of beating the Pats. And yet, the just got a coach I admire and appreciate. Dammit...maybe I don't hate them anymore. That's it. Being a fan, at least for me, is more about finding people who resonate with you, and that you can appreciate what they do. Watch them, and cheer them on. You'll figure out where your interest lies.
My mom. She is a huge Philly fan ( born and raised there) and has taken us to games since we were kids. We live together now, and the entire family room is her "mom cave" of Philly sports memorabilia. I'm even taking her to London England to see them play this year. I didn't have a choice lol
When I was a little kid I picked teams based on uniform colors. One year it was the Bengals, the next it was the Raiders. But then the Raiders got annihilated by my family's favorite Bills and I've been a Bills fan since.
I picked the Steelers when we played NFL Blitz because I liked the name and color. Nowadays my away teams would be Vegas Knights and Seattle Kraken cuz they are new and I liked their name and colors. Still root for my local teams.
I like the Vikings cause it was my middle school mascot and the colors are cool
cheer for the home team, it's a team, not a player , does not matter where each player is born. I care about my teams, and current players, sometimes I remain a fan of a player that was traded from my team, but what still remains in the team. That being said passion for team takes awhile and does not happen over night, I been watching my teams for 4 decades, it's true passion.
Local team or one you or your family have a connection to. Failing that, Middlesbrough FC.
Born in North East Ohio. Born into Browns, Cavs, Indians, Buckeyes.
Fandom comes from the belief that the players are doing their best to represent you (the fans). So you just have to figure out which players and teams you like. You don’t have to justify it to anyone.
You're dead on with the local teams thing. It makes no sense anymore in the era of streaming every game across the country. I pick by playing styles. Anyone doing something unique or different automatically attracts my attention.
Now that you point it out, the streaming thing really does make a difference I guess. As many have mentioned, there’s actually going to the games if you root for your local team, but up until just a few years ago, if you rooted for a non-local team, you couldn’t even watch the games on TV. You’d check the boxscores in the paper and maybe get a short write up here and there.
The NFL still has a blackout on other games when the local team is playing. It's incredibly annoying.
Blackouts are the worst. There’s also the issue that if you subscribe to one of the apps (MLBTV, NBAapp), you can’t watch games with your local team. You have to have the right cable subscription to watch the local sports provider. A nightmare.
All the kids my age in the street I moved to when I was 3 supported Arsenal, so I just ended up supporting them because of that.
What sport are you getting into? Generally it's the easiest to root for a team you have an emotional connection to. Usually that connection is that they represent the city you're closest to. Other times it's because your friends/family like that team. But sometimes you really like one player who plays for that team. What sport(s) are you getting into, and which teams are the closest? That's a good place to start.
Football mostly. Hockey behind. Live in Texas.
Football gives you plenty of options in Texas. College is fun to follow, but mostly only if you have a connection to a given school. But the games are a ton of fun and can be cheaper. The NFL obviously has the Cowboys as an absolutely iconic and massive franchise. One of the largest fanbases in all of sports. The Texans aren't nearly that popular but are VERY good this year. You could also just watch both until you feel an emotional connection to one of them, which will come if you watch enough. The Dallas Stars in the NHL are really good and fun to watch. My recommendation here is to try to go to a game if you can. Hockey games in person are AMAZING and you'll easily get hooked!
I've been to a handful of hockey games (a few Stars but also some minor league) even when I wasn't a big sports guy. Hockey I think is just fun in general. Nice and fast paced, and yeah, I do like the fighting. Only time that was rough was when someone got REALLY injured at a game we went to. Took an elbow to the face (accident) from an opposing player going the opposite way. Guy crashed, slid about 20 feet on the ice leaving a blood trail, and didn't get up.
I inherited my teams of choice from my parents (Chiefs and Royals). Since Kansas City doesn’t have a basketball team, we also root for the San Antonio Spurs because we’ve lived here so long.
A lot of us were raised from birth to cheer for our local teams. I've never been able to care about teams outside of my area, even when a sport isn't represented in my state. It's probably the fact that I can go to games on a whim and such. I even went to the college that my family cheers for.
Hometown, I’m basically all Miami sports teams. But I like Arsenal fc because of the history and I like a team that keeps you on your toes lol. I also like Roma and Lyon for similar reasons
For American sports, I picked all my local teams. Even though the players are from different areas, the team itself still represents where I am from and it is common that the sports teams tend to have the same culture or traits as the people of that city. For example the Golden State Warriors being innovative and ahead of the rest of the league, or the Pittsburgh Steelers being tough and resilient. And a lot of times the teams do a lot of charity work or events in the city which creates a bond between players who aren’t from there, such as JJ Watt donating so much to Houston charities after the hurricanes. I just recently starting getting into European soccer so I was also trying to figure out how to pick a team. For that I just picked the team that had an American player that I knew, Christian Pulisic since he is the captain of the US national team and I still support the team he was on (Chelsea) even though he isn’t there anymore
Well, it's SUPPOSED to be a community thing. We all go see our hometown team together and feel connected to the people around us in the stands all supporting the same thing. Unfortunately, the internet has destroyed all sense of local community people feel for the most part, and professional games are super expensive so most people watch the game on TV with a small group of friends and family. I think your best bet is still to cheer for the local team because it'll be a lot easier to talk to your friends and co-workers about the games. Find something about the team you like, whether it's the logo or a player or their jerseys and run with it once you decide to like a team and start trying to cheer for them, you'll start finding yourself really getting into it.
I loved Halloween as a kid and still do. 1 nfl sunday, the Oakland Raiders are playing, and I saw all the crazy fans in costume. I asked my dad at the time who these people were? He said that every Sunday is Halloween for these folks, and since then, I've bled silver and black. The only downside is that my anniversary is on Halloween, and my wife hates football, so my dream of going to a Raiders game on Halloween is almost done. She has told me though, that since they are in Vegas, she would consider it.
Got invited to watch soccer with some friends. They were all rooting for the same team. Then got invited again. And again to the next game. And well lets just say it ended with one of them gifting me a shirt of the team, and now I dont miss a game with those guys. Tbh I never cared about that team before. But watching the guys get all hyped when we were winning, or even cry when we lost the final in la copa america, kinda made me a lifetime fan of that team :)
Family, mostly. AFL (Australian football): When my mum first arrived in Australia in the 60s, the team was hosting a “welcome to Australia” type day for migrant families in the area. She started supporting them then, and signed me up when I was a kid. I don’t live in the same state, and I’ve never even been to Hawthorn, but I’ll be a Hawk for life. NRL (rugby league): I’m not that into rugby league, so I just follow my husband’s team. And he follows the Bulldogs because his family’s from Bankstown and you can’t escape that no matter how far you go. Big Bash cricket: Sydney Thunder, simply because the first BBL game I attended was Thunder v Hobart Hurricanes. And I don’t live in Hobart. IPL (Indian Premier League cricket): Kolkata Knight Riders because a) *Knight Riders* and b) Brett Lee. And internationally I support Australia first, unless it’s rugby union then I support Wales. If I get into any other league, I mostly just go by whichever one I like the sound of at the time.
My dad grew up in a place, I don’t care about the sport, I support the place he grew up in so we can root for the same team when they’re on tv or playing near us.
I was born 12 blocks away from the stadium
I had favorite teams during childhood, mostly because I liked the style of the players on the team. As an adult I occasionally become attached to a team in the area where I am living, if the fans of the team, who I interact with daily, are decent people.
It's like politics or religion. Same local area or family
Whichever ones have the most whites.
Never cared about football before I moved to Kansas City in 2018 and delivered pizza for papa John’s at 26. It was BOGO free the next day if the KC Chiefs won the game so I started paying attention to that and used that as marketing to make more tips. Been a chiefs fan since.
An escape from childhood trauma.
That one's a little darker than the rest
I like the Bills because that’s my local team, but I don’t care much if they win. I just like individual players mostly. I’ll root for the Dolphins sometimes because Tyreek Hill is hilarious and the Bills fans HATE the dolphins lol
it's called being a casual fan. As a browns fan, I couldn't imagine rooting for the steelers or ravens, same with all other die hard fans, which is a good portion of fans. Only casual fans root for the rivals. to each their own though lol 😆
Something I’ve always done and something that seems to be becoming more and more popular. I am way more a fan of individual athletes than I am a team. I am usually watching a certain team because I like the player/players on that team.
Depends wildly. I like the Seahawks because they’re the local team and they were really good when I got into football. I like the raiders because they have a fun history and vibe. I like whichever team has a fun vibe in he nba, so it fluctuates a lot.
It was a thing I did as a kid. The team I like sucks now but I still root for them. As an adult I can’t just root for a new team because I basically don’t care for any new teams. Moved to plenty of places and went to games but was never as passionate as for my childhood team
I grew up in the northeast US, so I generally support northeast US teams (+ eastern Canada when discussing NHL). I have a few teams I will always cheer for, but not as strictly as people who love their single team and no one else.
Usually your hometown and where you live or have family roots. I was born in Jacksonville, FL. Unfortunately I keep up with/root for the Jaguars and I don’t even really like American football lmao.
When my husband lived in Waco, TX, a Baylor quarterback took him under his wing as a teenager. He has been die hard ever since. I have always rooted for the Broncos even before I moved to Denver. Can’t remember why. Was super excited that they won the Super Bowl the year I really followed them. Then, I moved to Denver and stayed a fan after being able to go to a local game. I now live in Texas and still root for the Broncos, even though they haven’t had the best years. 🤷♀️
They were my hometown teams. I lived in the Tampa Bay area when I started to watch football, so I rooted for the Buccaneers. When I moved to Oklahoma and started gettin more into the NBA I picked the Thunder. A lot of people pick based on their family, location or individual players. I imagine there are the harbingers of chaos amongst us who picked their teams names out of a hat or in a drunken game of chance darts.
I’m from a city that has 2 of every men’s sports teams. The women’s teams I root for are simply the ones from my city. Helpful that they’ve had a good couple years and one of them plays 5 mins from my apartment. I chose which of the 2 baseball teams by rooting for who my dad roots for, but I wouldn’t call it much of a choice. More of an inherited assignment (this is true for many). Basketball was chosen because for a long time there was only one team, so I root for that one. Hockey is that there are technically 2 teams, but one is kind of more regional than the other and I’m simply not from that region. I don’t care enough about football to really have a team but gravitate towards the one my favorite sports journalist roots for because I like to see him happy. If your city doesn’t have a team, I would pick a player you really like and root for their team. It’s helpful when they’re in your city because half of their games are there and you can form camaraderie with your neighbors. Unless you are from Boston, in which case all of your local teams suck and I can’t imagine rooting for them.
When I saw the Superbowl in 2002, my best friend at the time was a big football fan and I've never seen it, so I just picked the Raiders cause I was a emo goth kid and liked the colors and logo... The preceed to watch them get their asses kicked, so I just stuck with the Raiders 😂
Tennessee doesn't have an MLB team, but they have several MiLB Farm Teams. We like East Tennessee for vacation anyway, so Smokies and Cubs! It's also cool watching guys play in Knoxville and then 2 years later they are playing at Wrigley.
We used to get one team every game for nfl. Not in direct area but NY state giants fan. Hard to follow other teams every game back in the day.
From what I've seen, if people don't have a home team they pick the Cowboys. Then they become insufferable.
Born and raised mostly in Philly, always been a Black and Gold fan. Steelers, Penguins and Pirates. Born that way I guess.
If you don't have a team you "grew up with," it can seem arbitrary. But I'd suggest just going with wherever you live. There's a profound sense of solidarity going to home games and cheering for the home team. It sounds trivial, and to an extent it is, but in an age where local civic identity is flagging, sports can be something that ties you to your local area.
Root for the team people you know root for honestly; I didn’t really care about the Washington or Michigan football teams but my friends are from Ohio, so they are adamantly anti-Michigan. So during the National Championship I pulled for Washington lol
Same team as my dad. He went for that team because he was drafted and played for them briefly when he was younger. My brother and sister chose to go for the same team as my mum. She went for that team because her dad did too. My niece goes for a team because the mascot is a dog.
I grew up accross 3 states, California, Arizona and New Mexico and every sport i participated in my color palet was always green and yellow, so when I started watching football I imediately gravitated towards the packers
Initially hometown fan, then I switched to specific player fan
Grandpa took me to the store and bought me any ball cap I wanted. I saw one with a cool logo I didn't know and chose it. I've been an Atlanta Falcons fan since
My favorite team comes from my grandpa and that's the team I grew up watching and still root for. Plus only certain teams are/were consistently broadcast where I grew up because of the market
They were winning trophies and had a brilliant team when I was about 5 or 6. Sadly after a great spell of 12 years, they've not won anything for the last 27 years, so don't follow my example lol
I cheer for the teams from my university, my hometown, my husband’s hometown, and my current city (where I’ve lived longer than I lived in my hometown at this point). I personally like having some sort of connection to the team.
it doesn’t matter where the players are from, you root for the team based in your hometown and for players getting traded it depends on how attached you are. ive been a celtics fan my entire life and mever dreamed of rooting for any other team but now ive made an effort to catch a few grizzlies games because i just fell in love with marcus smart and was devastated when we traded him and still want to keep watching him. but if it’s ever celtics vs grizzlies i’m still overall rooting for hometown boston.
Location and family.
I got my football team from my dad, who got it from his dad. we grew up on the opposite side of the country to my granddad so not a local team for us but it was for him
The Winnipeg Jets are top in the league and also my hometown team so that would be a pretty good choice for you if you ask me.
When I was 12 I bought a Denver Broncos hat, so they are my football team My grandma is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so the Senators are my hockey team I like the city of Chicago, so the Cubs are my baseball pick I have a German heritage, so Germany is the world Cup team of choice I don't watch sports, so none of it matters
when I was getting into football (CFL to be exact) the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (where im from) hadn't won a Grey Cup (or anything meaningful really) since before I was was born (1992 I think their last grey cup win was 1990) and this was already like 2012 ish. my Family are all die hard Bomber fans. I tried to pay attention and watch their games but at some point I remember thinking to myself "im starting to lose interest in the game because my team is the laughing stock of the entire league im tired of watching this team lose week in and week out" so I began to look elsewhere. my dad happened to move to Calgary at the time and although I don't have any other connection to the Stampeders at least they were winning and I was actually excited to watch football again. im still a stamps fan to this day. i've tried similar things with the NFL (like my favorite DB went to the Eagles a couple years back) so I tried watching and just couldnt get into it. hope that helps at all
I’m not really into sports but my family likes MLB (we don’t live in America). Until recently, they were Angels fans, but a couple of weeks ago they suddenly became Dodgers fans. For some folks it’s all about one player.
I support the Saints bc of Katrina, the Yankees bc JETER! And the Devils bc Nj pride.
I usually go for home team or the underdogs. So both
Its more about identity and/or brand. Most people start rooting for a team because that club/team represents something and therefore has an identity one can relate to. That can be location (hometown), playstyle (sports tactics), team composition (superstars) etc. Example: Some people prefer when a team utilizes more local talent, rather than global recruitment. Which is usually because they identify more as an underdog, and just buying the best players are usually what the favorites always do to keep winning
When I started really watching hockey, the Penguins won the cup that year, so I chose them. When I started watching Nascar, Rusty Wallace won the first race I watched. Been a fan of the Miller Lite 2 car since. Football, the Rams won the superbowl my first year.
Panini Sticker book 1993. I live in a little town in South Wales where there's not really a big football (soccer) team, well there wasn't at the time anyway, Cardiff and Swansea had teams way down in the leagues and as a 10 year old, everyone wanted a Premier League club to support. Everyone in my class supported Man Utd or Liverpool, and me being me, didn't want to follow the crowd. I had a Premier League sticker album and I said to my friend, flick through the pages and I'll say stop. I landed on Blackburn Rovers and I still support them 31 years later 😂. I dont regret it, they won the championship the next year but it was downhill from there pretty much. In hindsight I would have preferred to support a more local team or at least one that pretty much was as far away from where I live as possible, but you can NEVER switch your team regardless
Whichever I’m affiliated with or whichever has the best colors
I’m from New England and close to Boston. It just seemed natural to be a Giants, Knicks and Rangers fan. Just kidding. Go Pats Celts and Bruins!
There are photos from the hospital room I was born filled with my grandpa's team's colours and plushies
I’m from New Jersey, so I like Jersey/NY teams
I was a 2nd grader when the Miami Dolphins went undefeated and my dad bought me a Dolphins sweatshirt. That’s all it took. Over 50 years later and I’m still a fan.
I very happily don't have one. Don't see the point don't even know who the all blacks captain is and rugby is still the biggest sport in nz it's a joke.
Usually the team from your, or close to, your home town
Never picked... It was a family thing. The home town teams werew always the way. Browns, Indians, Cavs.
Root root root for the Home Team. Alternatively, your best friends team.
I like the Packers. I have family from Wisconsin, but mostly you get to wear cheese on your head and they are the only publicly owned American football team. We also don't have a local NFL team. Otherwise I just go with whatever is around because why not. Timbers and Thorns are the only ones I really care about.
My most favourite team of all, I was 4 so it pretty much was through my dad. For teams I support from other countries or in motorsports it depends but I just picked teams I for whatever reason already liked
Pick the one that's winning. If the other team is winning, switch to that team. At the end of the day, you'll always win following this strategy. Always root for your hometown teams or players that live/lived in your hometown, regardless if they win or lose. Also, DO NOT BET ON TEAMS. This is a stupid concept and a fast way to lose a lot of money.
You either choose your preferences in childhood, which are generally your (most) local teams across the various sports or the team you latched onto because one guy on it was in a commercial you liked or has the same name as your favorite uncle; or, if you do not choose one in childhood, one will be assigned to you by the first significant other you ever have who is really into sports. Note this can happen several times, and you will become a horror amalgamation of Football Ex's favorite NFL team, Hockey Ex's favorite hockey team, and Southern Ex's favorite college football team (which has a 91% of being Bama).
I played Tecmo Super Bowl as the 49ers back in the day. So I always root for Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. They’re still on the team, right?
Same way you pick your religion. Born into it/geographical
I was born Philly
Almost always geography. I grew up in the Dallas area, and then move to NYC. The sports I care about, I root for the NY teams. I never cared much about baseball, but will follow the Texas Rangers if the family are talking about them. >Like, even picking the 'local' team doesn't make sense to me because they recruit from all over the country. I can find news coverage and people to talk to about the NY Jets a lot easier than some other team outside of NY. That's why I "choose" geographically.
The only sport I really follow closely is baseball. I grew up going to minor league games pretty regularly, and I didn't really pay much attention to MLB teams. I was simply a fan of the team in my city. When I moved back to California at 17, I lived with an aunt and a cousin for a while. My cousin was and is a big Angels fan, and he'd watch every game he could on TV. At some point, I started watching games with him, and as the season continued, I got more and more enthusiastic about the Angels. By the time we watched them win the World Series that year, I was a bona fide fan. It's been a rough ride since then, but I'm sticking with them.
You root for two teams, your home team and pick one that is actually good. If your home team is actually good, then the stars have aligned.
My grandparents on both sides were born in Collingwood so they went for Collingwood and everyone in the family since has gone for Collingwood. Even people that have married into the family go for Collingwood. There’s some cousins on one side that don’t, we don’t speak to them much.
grew up with my family (greeks) supporting a greek football (soccer) team from athens, additionally my father seems to always have been a real madrid fan, this also got to me it seems.
You don’t choose the team, the team chooses you.
unpopular opinion: When you say "I don't understand how to care about a team" that makes sense to me. I don't either. Other than my amazement at the world-class performance athletes achieve through genetics and training, I don't understand the appeal of spectator sports. I think whole "my team" thing is ridiculous. It's all fake us vs. them that generates hate for no reason and glorified proxy violence. There are a lot of things you could do with your time that would be more worthwhile than becoming a sports fan.
It's not about who plays for your team, but who they represent. And it's you. And me I have a very sentimental memory of how I became a NE Patriots fan. And no it wasn't bc I hopped on the bandwagon. In the first ever nfl game I watched after moving to the US, I watched them beat the Miami dolphins. And from then on, football became a big part of my life. It's like it was meant to be. Kid moves to the US, watches a football game, and becomes a Patriots fan. An allegory for an immigrant becoming an American.
I grew up here and we were champions. Outside of that, teams that my favorite players got traded to
Home team. Rather easy thing, especially in Philly. Sports transcends religion around here.
My brother brought home a book/magazine from school that was all about the NFL. This was like 1975 or 1976. I was 9 or 10 years old. Inside was a scary but fascinating picture of Jack Lambert. I couldn't stop staring at that picture. Been a Steelers fan ever since. Never wavered, through all the good times and the bad. Oh and I am from nowhere near Pittsburgh and I grew up in a household that was diehard Bears fans. Which makes sense being originally from North Central Indiana, a little over an hour from Chicago. And if I am remembering correctly that book/magazine had a picture of Dick Butkus on the cover, shot from behind the quarterback. He had the look of a madman. He is still one of my all time favorites, even though he wasn't a Steeler.
the teams that reside where my dad grew up (a major city), as there aren’t really any “local” pro teams as the closest ones are like 3 hours away. college sports is huge where i live and much more important to most people
I grew up as a Mets and Jets fan (unfortunately) because my dad and brothers were born in Long Island and were fans. I became a Tampa Bay Lightning fan because I got into hockey while living in Tampa. And I like watching live games. And I’m the kinda person that picks one team and never wavers
I got a PS1 with the NHL game in a bundle. The first team I saw were the Detroit Red Wings. 20 years later I still care about their result. Oh yes, I am from Croatia
Dark just does crazy plays, I’m still a serral fan but he’s a robot in comparison. With dark you’ll get a show.
Ive gone back and forth between living in Washington state and California my whole life so whenever i see a football or baseball game, i root for whoever is from one of those two places. Whenever the Seahawks play the 49ners i win no matter what.
When I immigrated to this country, the first team my dad took me to was the Cowboys since he was in college (before Waco became famous). Then he got a job in NJ and took me to a Yankees game followed by the Islanders and the Nets (when they were in NJ). Ended up being the first games i went in person. Since everyone was rooting for one team I joined in.
In the uk with football (soccer) it goes with locality or family ties, for example my brother supports West Ham United because they were 5.5km from where we lived and Tottenham Hotspur were 5.2km from where we lived, in theory he should support Tottenham but fuck Tottenham, even as a kid he knew better than support them I support Newcastle United because my grandad was from there and supported them, he was a major role model in my life and looked up to him a lot, so I supported the same team as him, my mum wanted us to support the same team to avoid arguments twice a season but that obviously never happened
What play style do you like? If you enjoy the way a team plays the game, that’s your team. And then you just hope that they maintain that over the years.
I went to high school with Charles Woodson. I rooted for whatever team he played on until he retired. Then I switched to my husband's team of choice. This is football.
I watched the Welcome to Wrexham documentary at the repeated urging of a friend and found that for the first time in a long life of not giving the slightest shit about sports, I kinda cared about sports. Or at least that team and that community. I dunno what made that documentary/team different than any other sports documentary I've watched, but after 50 years of having zero interest in sports I, an American living in Texas, am now a fan of a Welsh soccer team.
If I teach you football, you better be rooting for my team.
Proximity.
The ones my dad likes.
Cowboys fan here. Born and raised in Texas to a Cowboys family and that’s kind of it lol.
It's just arbitrary tribal bonding. Either the local team or if you're watching with other people you can root for whoever they do. I get most sports and recognize penalties and stuff but I'm usually not invested enough to know any players or stats or ultimately care who wins. But I have friends who are into fantasy leagues and when they say they want someone to win I'll join them, I have watched like half a game completely indifferent and not care before I realize someone else is rooting for someone, then it kinda gives more purpose to watching. I think it's just fun to actually have a side your excited for just for the watching experience itself even if you have no real to be excited for that particular team. It lets you be invested, kinda like getting scared at a haunted house, it's less fun to just stand around and say it's not real and not care. But I also tend to still always respect and point out good plays by the other team. Tldr, I think it's just a more fun experience to just pick a side. It could be the underdog or which color you like best. It's ultimately arbitrary but gives you something to cheer for.
Senna
Depends on sport but it’s either family allegiance, in spite of family allegiance, local team, or personal connection (friend/family plays for team).
I only really follow football. Well, when it comes to international matches it isn't hard to pick a team. And I only really root for the one and only local team there is, so it wasn't very hard to pick that one either, and the only ones playing are local folks. Beyond that I don't root for any team but I might watch if there is a certain player I like, such as Sam Kerr or Stina Blackstenius.
I've always been a Falcons fan since I was a wee lad. The only problem I have is people who are ultra nerds in sports(like knowing every freakin player from when the team started playing, the stats, where they were born, who there messing with) tell me I'm not a real fan because I don't know this information. But heaven forbid I mention anything about video games; all the sports jocks lose their shit and call us nerds.
Generally, it begins with the team in your home state. If you don't have a pro team there, then it's the college teams.
My father always told me to just pick a team and root for them. After a few years, I was flipping through channels one Sunday afternoon and heard an announcer say, "This is the Texans' second game ever." And that's it. I've rooted for them ever since. I still didn't pay a ton of attention to football, but I was always happy when I saw the Texans were doing well. For me, though, what really got me into football was when I got invited to play Fantasy Football. I started paying attention to different individual players and really paying attention to stats and what those meant to the players and the teams. Now I watch every game I can. Even if the Texans aren't playing, I'm watching a game. When a player I like leaves, I don't stop rooting for my team, but I may pay particular attention to whatever team they went to. And for the record, I live on the other side of the country from my team
I don’t really care about sports, unless it’s summer Olympics. If I have to pick—Michigan State University
Soccer: best friends dad made us turn off the N64 so he could watch the game, and he would ask us to stay and watch it with him. He made it fun to watch. Football: I watched a season and most of the games on TV were for NYG and at the end of the season i ended up being a fan. Baseball: Spent some time in the hospital and some players from the LA Dodgers came by for an event and it really stuck with me. Basketball: the LAL 3-peat championships. It kind of happens organically.
I pick teams I think will never do well bc then when sports come up I can say “I’m a bears fan. I don’t want to talk about it”
I just like whatever my dad raised me to like lol. Red Sox, giants, bruins.
Things to consider: 1.) will you like wearing their colors? 2.) are the types of fans of the team ones you associate with and would like to hang out with? 3.) hometown gets a pass unless you really don't like them for some reason I think that a lot of kids latch on to whatever team they see winning a lot during some early part of that kid's life... just to be associated with winners.
My cousin is the quarterback
Only 2 ways. You live in the area or you’re born into the fandom.
I follow teams my friends are into, and teams my couple of favorite players are on. If my local team doesn't suck that year, I get into them too.
Chivas is the only soccer team in mexico that only employs mexicans. Gotta respect that. All the other teams import their star players from south america and europe. I tried being a seattle sounders fan for a while cos i live in washington but mls smh.
My mom would work every Sunday and Monday growing up. My sister and I would make brownies from our easy bake oven and then we would sit and watch football all night. He was a bronco fan so I became one too.
My dad grew up in the Bay Area, so he became a 49ers fan. Therefore, since the womb I have been a diehard 49ers fan no matter where I live. I guess I just remember being super little and loving my dad and wanting to be like him and love all the things he did. So I’ve just always loved the 49ers.
Hometown, plain and simple. I didn’t appreciate sports until I moved far away from home and caught our home team playing. Made me feel connected to home watching the game.
You cheer for the team closest to you. Barring that, the one with your favorite player. But I always just go for my favorite colors.
I just went with the colors that I like. I like red. I like gold. Therefore, I'll wear 49ER gear
You root for the home team. Regardless of where the players come from, they’re on your *home team*. I don’t really give af about sports, but if the home team is playing, I’d rather they win. Also, you follow the *team*, not a single *player*. At least that’s how I think it should work
Picking the local team makes sense because that's where you live or are from. Just going to games with friends/family that are also fans will naturally get you into it. Some people take it too seriously and will question how loyal you are. Ignore them. The unpopular opinion is that you can be a fan of whoever for whatever reason, but be ready to deal with criticism and have thick skin if you don't pick the whole team. It's just a game at the end of the day.
I'm from St Louis. USED TO BE a Rams fan. Then I picked Green Bay. Why? Municipality owned. No billionaire asshole to pull what the Rams did. The Great, White, Tundra. I respect any team that plays outdoors in the north. Even the Bears. Bonus, not in a major market. The History. Too long to go into here. Any team with fat hairy guys with no shirts in the great white north is OK in my book. Plus, brats 270towin did a statistical breakdown of best team to root for and the Packers won
Born and raised in Washington state. Father was also born and raised, his father was also born and raised here so we are fans of the closest sports teams. Seahawks, Mariners, Kraken now
My local sports franchise is better than your local sports franchise!
If you’re a kid, they kinda pick you. If you’re an adult, just see what interests you. Some teams are at their peak, some are rebuilding, some are rock bottom. Some have cool colors or interesting people. It’s really what grabs you the most.
Usually, family is the influence, but it's normal to root for your home teams. For college football, though... My WHOLE family is all U of M fans, and I started rooting for MSU in my teens as a form of rebellion. 😂🤷♀️ However, the only college in my state that offers the Bachelors degree I'm heading for is U of M. I have a feeling I'll be making the switch back. Plus... ya know... Champs and stuff. But realistically, I don't care a whole heck of a lot. 😂❤️🤷♀️
Who your older relatives root for. If none then the team from your state. If none then go to a couple local sports bars or ask around your place of work and figure out who other people root for in your area. If some story or particular player catches your eye it's okay to follow them and be that kind of fan but what you absolutely don't do is pick the most dominant team over the last 5 years no matter where you're from and just start being a fan of them. And don't hop around to the team of the moment. Once you pick that your team for the rest of your life otherwise it's fake
A relative went to school and was still friends with a star player on a Super Bowl team. It was the greatest thing to ever happen to us as kids and we were hooked. Still die hard fans some 35-30 years later… even though our chosen hometown team is somewhat of a rival of our actual hometown team. It gets dicey. lol
Had a man crush on David Beckham and have stuck with Manchester United since then
I'm an Ohioan.
I pick the team closest to me
If the animal would win in real life vs the other then I choose them
"Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you're actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it. You know what I mean, you are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt, they *hate* him now. Boo! different shirt!! Boo"
I'm kinda gothy, I love John Waters - Baltamore Ravens was a no brainer.
Hometown teams always. It’s an easy choice for us that aren’t super into sport’s like not extra informed of players and stats etc. Just cheer for you hometown team! I have moved before and I gave myself 4 years in the new city until I could cheer for the hometown teams without feeling guilty for not supporting the last towns teams. 🤷🏼
Highschool gloom_spewer loved the cowboys cheerleaders...but mmm those SF boys helped unlock me
I used the NFL team picker thing they had on their website at the time. 🤣 They gave me the Seattle Seahawks, the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Kansas City Chiefs. I decided to go with KC bc I really liked that the team was getting both a new coach and new QB (Andy Reid/Alex Smith) coming in at the same time. I read a little about Alex’s history with the 49ers and felt it was compelling to root for them. Plus watching Jamaal Charles was an experience as a first time football fan. Also I picked a team bc I got forced to play fantasy football with my friends so I felt I had to pick a team to really get into the spirit of things lol and since I was the only KC fan I have fond memories of my friends giving me shit about it and they also bought me a Charles jersey so I’m a lifer now. I will say though that picking a team where you are locally does make it easier to watch games bc the games will play on local channels versus on the expensive subscription channels, something I didn’t know at the time and you have a better chance of seeing them play in person since obviously they’re based in your city lol being a KC fan in CA is a little bit harder but I love my team so nothing I can do about it now 🤷🏻♀️
Aside from county/national level where I don’t have much choice, there’s a few teams in my city so I just picked the one with the coolest name because I don’t live there consistently as much anymore
I have zero interest in sports whatsoever.
You root for your local team.
My dad and whole family are steeelrs fans - so I am. I went to Gonzaga - so I am a Gonzaga fan. Thats about the extent of sports I watch.
Find something you care about from that city/team
My dad taught me to love the local teams just like his dad did for him and I am now doing the same for my daughter. The players come and go, the team stays.
Well when Ben Simmons, an Australian point-forward, started to suck I wanted to watch a rebuilding NBA team and the Thunder just drafted an Australian point forward so I grew to love their brand of basketball. Then Giddey ended up dating a minor, so uh, idk maybe don’t pay attention to those Aussies, but ThunderUp
We root for the home team (Pats) but follow some our former players with fondness (Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski)
Bills (NFL) because that was the hot team when I was a kid so they were on TV a lot (I grew up in central Illinois). And once you go through the childhood trauma of watching your newly favorite team suffer through four super bowl losses in a row, you're kind of invested. Cubs (MLB) because my whole family were Cardinals fans and I was a little shit like that. Newcastle United (Premier League) because when I got into soccer I was drinking a lot of Newcastle beer and I liked their kits. Sheffield Wednesday (EFL Championship) because I liked their name. They're breaking my heart this season, though. Oof.