Teams You Became A Fan of Based on Logo / Uniforms

[tBBP]

Being a native-born Floridian, naturally I'm attracted to bright colors--and garnet, so the fact that I had blood ties to both Florida State and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only reinforced my fandom.  That is, until Greg Schiano began to torpedo what remaining fandom I had in Tampa Bay, which completely 86'd when they trotted out the alarm clocks. So I guess like OSV, I have a full-circle story of my own. Now, if Tampa ever a/ reclaims the creamsicle or b/ gets back to the '97-'15 look, I MIGHT reclaim my home state team A. As for my Seminoles, I'll always be garnet-and-gold to the core. (So Woo Pig Sooie also being garnet is an added bonus for me. )

 

Won't go through the whole skate and dance, but the Jacksonville Jaguars were my team B a/ because I loved the color scheme and uniforms up until 2009, and b/ because again, they were my home state team. The difference is that I have no direct attachment to Jacksonville other than it being in my home state, so I don't see that one coming back. And speaking of full circles...

 

... Jacksonville excepted, I've now lived in, either permanently or part time, in the territory of all four AFC South teams (as well as Pittsburgh--but they never did convert me to Steelerism). I swapped the Jaguars for the Colts as my team B rather easily while living in Indy, because they were just an easy team to like--and the blue and white became a bit more attractive. It took some doing, but eventually the two-tone blue grew on me during the 4 1/2 years I lived in Nashville (despite having never cared for the city itself)--and then they went and effed that up this past season. Houston I was then and still remain completely indifferent to--you'll never catch me rocking anything Texans, at all.

 

Now those may not be the best examples of the point of this thread, but I'll tell you what is: the 1990s/early 2000s Washington Capitals. I've mentioned many times around these parts how that particular era was my absolute favorite uniform and logo set of all time--in any sport, and it ain't even close. (I'm talking about the Petr Bondra/Sergei Gonchar/Mike Eagles/Olaf Kolzig/Joey Juneau/young rookie Alex Ovechkin days--yes, sir.) So yeah, I was a big fan of them then--and that only strengthened when the Capitals signed Glen Metropolit, who played, for a little while alongside Wayne Gretzky's brother Brent interestingly enough, for my hometown's ECHL team.

 

[DTConcepts]

I've always been an Isles fan first and foremost, but when I was *really* little, I was watching the Avs in the Sakic/Forsberg era, and fell in love with the OG mountain jerseys. I remember my parents buying one of those and I wore it all the time just because of how awesome it is and how cool I thought I looked. It didn't hurt that the Avs were my hometown team, either. It's no coincidence that I started watching the Avs again once they reintroduced the mountain striping in their Adidas jerseys.

[VikWings]

 **Points to username**

 

Vikings fan because I loved their helmets as a kid.

 

Red Wings fan because I loved their logo and the white jerseys, those jersey are probably still my favorites in all of sports. Also probably has something to do with Shanahan and Yzerman being my two favorite players growing up.

 

Florida State football fan because of the spear helmets.

[mmajeski06]

Another thing I remember from when I was a kid was watching Sports Center and hoping the home team either won or lost based off their floor design. Remember finding the Lakers and Knicks to be boring, and loving the Boston Garden, the Nets at CAA, and of course the original Raptors court. 

[oldschoolvikings]

 

 

I was 13.

[Raptorman415]

When I first started really getting into Canadian football, I chose the Edmonton Eskimos. I am somewhat of a Packer fan (I push farther and farther away from the ridiculously obnoxious fan base and how terribly the front office is running the team. I mean 2 generational quarterbacks in the the last 25 years and 2 Super Bowls. I mean build around them.) and chose the Eskimos because of their similar color schemes. Although every once in a while a do get a, ”nice packer jersey.” compliment here and there when wearing my Eskimos jersey.

 

I become a Devils and hockey fan after seeing the 1980s Green and Red Devils jersey during the stadium series. My old man was also a fan of the Devils and Martin Brodeur back in the 90s so I kind of picked up from him. And who says a color blind man can’t love the red and green look of teams even though he can’t tell them apart most of the time.

[imawalkingcorpse]

The Buccaneers in 1979 and the Pirates in 1979.

[kroywen]

Part of the reason I chose the Yankees over the Mets as a 7 year old (or so) kid was that I preferred their navy blue colors to the Mets' royal blue and orange.

 

I think the Jets debuting new (well, fauxbacks, really) duds back in 1998 while the Giants were still in their old, very 80's get-up also helped with choosing the Jets over the Giants. If only I knew how much I'd rue that decision someday...

[B-mer]

Definitely the sharks and Avalanche for me.  When I was young my older brother was getting a Bruins hat and I wanted one too, but he wouldn’t let me. So we picked out a Sharks one. Must have been early in their existence, so early 90s. They were my first jersey too. Then the Avalanche came to be and were the coolest thing. It was probably my most favorite jersey for a long time. 

[MCM0313]

I developed a sudden and intense interest in football near the end of the 1993 NFL season. I started collecting the gumball-machine helmets that you put together yourself (this was right before the ones that came preassembled became a thing), and one night close to Christmas my dad brought home the new silver Patriots helmet from a machine at the grocery store, and I remember thinking how awesome it looked (even though we were ignorant enough to put the plain white stripe down the middle, which I'd come to regret soon). We even glued it back together after one of us stepped on it, and it's somewhere around my parents' place to this day. That also coincided with the Pats, in the first year under Bill Parcells, the first year of the new logo, and the first year of #1 overall pick Drew Bledsoe, going on a four-game winning streak to end the season. So, they had a famous coach, cool new threads, an awesome helmet, and a promising young QB, and they'd built momentum going into the offseason, leading to the perception of being a young team on the rise, and a trendy 1994 playoff pick.

 

I rooted for the Pats throughout the '94 season and was irritated when they lost to their future head coach in the first round of the playoffs, but having ADD I quickly moved on. It took me a long time to consider the Bengals my favorite team, even though my dad has always liked them and they're the closest to my hometown.

[MCM0313]

39 minutes ago, B-mer said:

Definitely the sharks and Avalanche for me.  When I was young my older brother was getting a Bruins hat and I wanted one too, but he wouldn’t let me. So we picked out a Sharks one. Must have been early in their existence, so early 90s. They were my first jersey too. Then the Avalanche came to be and were the coolest thing. It was probably my most favorite jersey for a long time. 

Until the Blue Jackets came to the NHL, I barely followed hockey at all. Now at least I generally know who's in the playoffs. My favorite teams as a kid were the Islanders and the Penguins, just because of their names.

[MilSox]

I was a North Stars fan because I thought that was the coolest name for a team that I'd ever heard, and their colors were pretty close to the Packers. Then they moved to Dallas and were no longer "North."

 

So I became a Nordiques fan because I loved that shade of blue and thought the fleur de lis looked cool.

 

Suffice to say, I haven't been able to have a solid NHL allegiance since the mid-90s.

[leopard88]

9 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

 

I was 13.

 

Man, you are old.  I was only 7. 

[wildwing64]

23 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

I've got a full circle story for this one. In the mid-70's, I was a little kid visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time and saw a picture of the helmets for two new teams about to enter the NFL, the Seahawks and the Buccaneers. That Seattle helmet was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen ... Great logo and amazing color scheme. Green and blue together?  Seemed almost illegal. They instantly became my second team, made easier since they were initially an AFC team. Much later, when they switched to that sad blue get up, they lost something to me and became just another team. When they went full time monochrome, they started to become an annoyance to me, and when they switched to the current look (compounded by the fact that they seemed to be overstocked with chest pounding jackasses) I went to full-on hating them. It would be interesting to me to see if my feelings about that team would change if they went back to some version of their first look.  Of course, they'll need to fire that gum chewing smarm bucket, too.

 

While I haven't exactly gone full circle with the Ducks, I can relate. My frustrations with their identity are already well-documented on these boards, but here I go again.

 

When they rebranded, I felt like part of my soul had just died. The duck mask logo and the uniforms that drew me to the team were gone and in their place was almost a completely different everything. The real kicker was them doing this before I could ever watch them live - on TV and in person - and before apparel became easier for international fans like myself to get. I could have walked away, but I'm a stubborn git, so I stuck with them despite the overhaul. There were elements of the old identity that were still there like the angled stripes, mascot Wild Wing, the same players, the Ducks TV thing they did on the website (which sadly no longer exists in that format) and most importantly of all they were still the Ducks. And then they went and won the Cup. A bit of a bittersweet victory considering they weren't even a year removed from their original look, but I'll take it!

 

Really, it's the years since the Cup when stuff started bugging me. The tiny, pathetic script logo, stripes that didn't even go all the way around, and the thin orange strips on the Edge jersey. Compared to the rest of the league they looked about as plain and generic as you could get. Then the 2010 third came along, and at the time felt like a much-needed injection of life. But that had its own glaring flaws, namely the huge, garish side panels. Then they made a matching white version of that which is somehow even worse. They brought back the mask on the shoulders, so that was a plus at least. Then they threw me a bone a couple of times times with Mighty Ducks Throwback Night (which I did get to watch on TV!), and then the 2015-17 orange third - but the general lack of fanfare and the team's blatant refusal to wear that in the playoffs despite their #PaintItOrange shtick rubbed me the wrong way. So then I took a step back, only following casually for a year when they retired that for the Adidas switcheroo, and then I came right back for the 25th Anniversary third - and watching them in that felt like a breath of fresh air.

 

It's no secret of mine that I want them to revert to the Mighty Ducks logo, even though they probably won't. And I'll admit I've been overly defensive about it in my time here (which I'm sure @Ice_Cap can attest to). But that thing is my badge of honour, damn it. As for the D-foot? I don't hate it, but it took a long time to grow on me. I appreciate the thought behind it and I think it has potential, but the crappy uniforms it's been on have dragged it down somewhat.

[Wade Heidt]

When it comes to sports in North America, it is really not applicable for me.  I love the teams I love based on where I grew up and where I live.

 

When it comes to sports that I do not follow really close and where I have no allegiance in other parts of the world, I realize I am fans of teams based on uniforms/logo.

 

St. Pauli FC has a cool fan culture and look.  I appreciate the few teams in sports that wear brown.  They wear the uncommon colour scheme of brown and red with pride.

 

 

[CaliforniaGlowin]

19 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 When they went full time monochrome, they started to become an annoyance to me, and when they switched to the current look (compounded by the fact that they seemed to be overstocked with chest pounding jackasses) I went to full-on hating them. 

See, this is what's great about us: different views.  I think the old look is boring (sad seahawk) and the new look is great, it helped make me a fan.

[kolob]

On 5/19/2019 at 8:43 AM, wildwing64 said:

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

 

If not for that stupid TV show about hockey playing superhero ducks from outer space, I probably wouldn't be a sports fan at all.

 

Same. 

[WBeltz]

I always had a strong connection to a team if they had the same colors as my high school which was Columbia/Carolina Blue & Black, or one of those two colors. Otherwise I always had a love for teams with birds or bears. Particularly these ones:

 

[mafiaman]

Gus Williams and the 1979 Sonics uniforms...love at first sight.  

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

On 5/19/2019 at 5:59 PM, oldschoolvikings said:

I was a little kid visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time and saw a picture of the helmets for two new teams about to enter the NFL, the Seahawks and the Buccaneers. That Seattle helmet was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen ... Great logo and amazing color scheme. Green and blue together?  Seemed almost illegal. They instantly became my second team, made easier since they were initially an AFC team. Much later, when they switched to that sad blue get up, they lost something to me and became just another team. When they went full time monochrome, they started to become an annoyance to me, and when they switched to the current look ... I went to full-on hating them.

 

I can understand this. My interest in the Nets has been severely damaged by their terrible uniforms.  (And also by the team's decision to name itself not after my City, but after a particular part of the City with which I emphatically do not identify. But, if the team had kept its previous uniforms, or if it had returned to its classic set, I think I could have overlooked this transgression.) 

 

I am struggling to avoid falling into a total dislike of the team, and am currently just holding at a state of indifference tinged with discontent.