new yorkers chosing teams

[IceCap]

ive always wounderd....if u live in nyc or the sourrounding area, how do u decide who to cheer for when it comes to football and baseball? why arn't yankees fans mets fans? and vise versa. why arn't jets fans giants fans?

just asking, because this always bugged me.

[Mings]

probably just comes down to the time they are there. the yankees were there before the mets, so alot of people grew up watching and rooting for them before the mets came. same thing with the giants and jets.

[DEAD!]

Isn't it also location. How many people in Long Island are Rangers fans?

[mjrbaseball]

I'm not sure there is any one real reason why people pick one over the other.

For some, perhaps it is the personality of the players. Some people like Derek Jeter so they become Yankees fans. Others like Mike Piazza so they root for the Mets.

Or it could be the personality of the teams themselves, which change over the years. The Yankees of late have been winners, so they attract new fans. But in the 1980s, they lost a lot, and the Mets were winning then, so people who became new fans at that time maybe became Mets fans.

It's not just about winning and losing, though. In the early 1960s, the Yankees were powerful, but they were boring. The Mets were the worst team ever, but they were so comical in their losing that people adored them.

It could be about being passed through in a family, but probably not. For every family that roots together for one team, there is a family that is divided right down the middle.

Just be sure, though ... Anyone who says they cheer for both the Mets and the Yankees is not being true.

[Waffles]

It's a little different for me, as neither of my families are from New York City, and neither of my parents had New York teams by the time I got into sports. I'll break it down league by league:

MLB - Yankees

I was a Mets fan by default when I was too young to know better, just because my mom got free tickets through her office. My mom was a Dodgers fan from LA, and my dad didn't really have an affiliation. When I was in first grade, this Yankee fan in my class used to ride me relentlessly about being a Mets fan. So, about a year later, when I was able to start reading big kid books, I read a book about Lou Gehrig and asked my parents to take me to a Yankee game. The first game I went to was during the Dark Ages (about 1992) and Melido Perez was the team's ace...and I converted anyway. I still remember the end of the 1993 season so vividly...the last Yankee season that didn't end in a strike or in the playoffs.

NHL - Rangers

Honestly, I can't really explain this one, except to say I'd sooner root for a terrible team closer to my home than a team from Long Island or New Jersey. I really didn't like them that much until I began feeling sorry for them when Messier left for Vancouver.

NBA - Nets

It's a combination of the fact they're (hopefully) moving about 25 blocks from my house and I couldn't justify/tolerate rooting for more than one Charles Dolan-owned team.

NFL - Jets

This is a new one for me. I've always liked Herm Edwards and Chad Pennington, but I wouldn't have considered myself exclusively a Jets fan until this year. I went to a Giants game last year, and I guess you could say I was pulling for them. But I didn't like the Coughlin hiring or the Manning situation. That, and I really like that the Jets management is making a very concerted effort to emphasize the New York part of the Jets (and that they're potentially moving to Manhattan).

[JQK]

I lived right across the river from NYC

Giants and Jets - It's who my pops rooted for, so that's what i grew up with. I have a brother and sister, however, who like the Redskins and Cowboys respectivly.

Devils - I was a jersey kid, they were the jersey team. They moved to Nj when i was 1, so i've been a fan my whole life.

Yankees - Don Mattingly.

[Starchild]

I'll do a breakdown as well... just works better

MLB - My mother is a native New Yorker, as are my grandparents (grandmother from Brooklyn and my grandfather from the Bronx). Anyway, we live in Queens where the Mets play, so proximity played a hand in things of course. Also, my Uncle used to work for Pepsi who sponsored the Mets heavily, so I always used to get company seats. So ever since I was a kid I've grown up at Shea rooting for the Mets. Funny thing though, the first piece of clothing I owned as a child was a Yankees jacket bought by my grandfather.

NBA - Obviously the Knicks. The Nets don't count as a NY team. Whether they're in Brooklyn or not, they'll always be the New Jersey Nets to me. The Knicks are the only real NY basketball team, and always will be. Always been a Knicks fan, always will be. It also helped that both my mother and my uncle grew up as Knicks fans (my mother not really a fan, more of a spectator) and used to go to games during the team's golden years in the 70s. So I guess it's in the blood.

NFL - Neither Jets nor Giants. I guess it helps that noone in my family likes football, so I never grew up with it in my life and to this day I still can't get into the sport.

NHL - I'm neither a Rangers fan, nor an Islanders (or Devils) fan - but if you made me choose out of the teams in the Metro. area, I'll root for the Rangers before either. I hate New Jersey and Long Island with a passion. The Rangers, like the Knicks are NY's hockey franchise so I've got to stick with them.

I'd say the key two issues for NYers is both family influence and proximity to the teams. The rest of the crop just jump on the band wagon, or cheer for a team like the Yankees because they think Derek Jeter has a cute ass (about 99% of female Yankee fans, I'm talkin' to you).

[bosox]

I'll do this too...

MLB - Well, I'm a Sox fan. Living in Connecticut has and had nothing to do with it. When I was little, my cousins would give me all this Red Sox apparel and take me to Fenway, so it kinda stuck. As for a New York team, I picked Mets, mainly, and probably only because, of Bobby Valentine.

NFL - I dunno, maybe because a friend of mine got me into watching the NFL, and he was a Jets fan?

NHL - Rangers.....the Islanders never counted as a team for me.

Other than the Red Sox, I can't say I have any family influence. My mom's a Patriots fan, my dad's a Steelers and Pirates fan, and my sister's a Yankees fan...

[Swiss]

Once I read that some Mets fans were NY Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers.

They passed the alliegance to a NL team to their descendants.

Hardly those old NL fans could be converted as Yankee fans although many of them rooted for the Yankees against the SF Giants in the 1962 WS and against LA Dodgers in the 1963 WS.

[ColeJ]

this has nothing to do with new york, really, but it's still on-topic...

i assume new yorkers pick their team the way everyone else does. you don't have to live in the same city as your favorite team in any given sport, thanks to the wonders of technology and satellite.

i'm a die-hard dallas stars, and a casual mavericks fan, because those are the home-teams that i cheered for when i was in elementary school... but in recent years, i became a fan of the titans (because of jevon kearse, originally), a blackburn rovers fan (because of brad friedel, originally), and a boston red sox fan (because i was born in salem, and had a red sox jersey when i was in 6th grade).

i think team personality probably has a lot to do with it. if i were a brand new sports fan this year, i'd probably be a nashville predators fan (because their personality, and jordin tootoo) or a bengals fan (because they can alway be counted on for entertaining quotes).

my dad was a yankees fan, growing up in brooklyn for a few years, back before they were completely evil but he got onto the red sox bandwaggon when i was a baby in salem... my dad was also a jets fan, but now watches more titans games than anything. my dad was a red wings fan growing up too, then switched to being a bruins fan, then a stars fan, when they relocated to texas... and i'm not sure what team my dad cheered for in basketball. he's always been a big fan of the sport, but i can't remember him cheering for any teams other than the mavericks or celtics. so i'd say, if anything, my taste in sports teams is rubbing off on everyone else, instead of the other way around

[Cyclopsis Joe]

I root for the Jets (ironic eh?), and I chose the Jets just so I could root against the Giants year-round.

[Shmee]

Well, being one of the other New Yorkers on the board, I'll give my breakdown here.

NHL- Rangers. I can't really explain it, because I'm Long Island born and bred, and most of the locals are Islander fans. ::shrug::

MLB- Yankees. The history, the mystique, the fact that I kind of like people hating us. And I do mean us. When you're a Yankee fan, you're a part of the team.

NFL- Giants. This is the one where I feel the least allegiance for one team over the other. I'd prefer to see the Giants win the Super Bowl over the Jets, but unless they're playing against each other, I root for both every Sunday.

NBA- Knickerbockers. I don't really care that much about basketball, and of the four, I know the least about this sport. However, the Knicks are my team.

Now, here's my theory. While it hasn't really been shown by anyone else except for myself, I've found a general pattern among New York sports fans. There seem to be two categories of teams. There's the Rangers, Yankees, Knicks, and Giants, who are the older, more historical franchises of the area, and then the group of the Islanders, Mets, Nets, and Jets. These newer teams form the second group, and I've decided that most people I know around here seem to fit into one of the two groups, with a relatively small number of exceptions.

[budbowl77]

I'll answer this one..

I was born in Bronx New York..Parents are from The Bronx, rasied in The Bronx. being a Yankees fan came natural. My pop was a Yankees fan, so I picked up the torch. I'm a Jets fan because I was a fan of Ken OBrien my dad is a Giants fan, cause when he was a kid he was a program hawker at Yankee Stadium for the Giants. As for Hockey...My grandfather was never a Rangers fan..he was actually a New York Americans fan. and when the Americans folded he stopped watching Hockey, my dad never told me why but they never liked the Rangers...but it was like a 40 year hiatius cause in 1972 they bought season tickets to the New York Islanders, and I've been an Islanders fan since 1984.

[Nate15]

I'm a Yankees-Rangers-Giants-Knicks guy, myself. And that is simply because that's who my dad taught me to like. I think that's the way it is with most people that I know - they root for whomever their parents (usually the father) taught them to like.

[Swiss]

Is any Newyorker here with some grandparents that used to root for the NL's NY Giants or Brooklyn Dodgers?

If yes, I'd like to read some histories. Thanks

[Waffles]

Is any Newyorker here with some grandparents that used to root for the NL's NY Giants or Brooklyn Dodgers?

If yes, I'd like to read some histories. Thanks

My grandpa grew up in Toms River, NJ, but used to drive into Brooklyn from time to time for Dodgers games. After WWII, he settled in Los Angeles, and his favorite team followed him shortly thereafter.

[Swiss]

So your grandpa didn't suffer the Dodgers' move to West Coast...

Thanks for telling me that.

I like familiar histories specially those involving baseball.

[jkrdevil]

For Baseball I root for the Yankees. My father was a Yankees fan and I have always gone to Yankees games. Most people who live in New Jersey are Yankee fans as it is easier to get to Yankee Stadium than Shea Stadium from NJ. Mets fans are usally from Long Island and Queens.

For Hockey I root for the Devils as I am from New Jersey.

It mostly works by geography and sometimes by family. Long Island will root for the team on LI or in Queens. While New Jersey will root for the teams in NJ, Manhattan or in the Yankees case the Bronx. In NJ there are probably more Giants fans since they have played in NJ longer and used to play at Yankee Stadium. The Jets fan base is mostly in Queens and LI because they used to play at Shea.

[UCLAcrew]

i'm not from new york, but this thread got me thinking about why i root for certain teams. i've moved around california quite a bit, and so the norcal vs. socal debate has waged within me for most of my life.

mlb: boston red sox; which is curious as i've never lived in boston. my dad worked out of boston and later pittsfield, massachusetts, so he always brought back red sox hats and shirts for me. as i grew older and had to defend the red sox to just about every one i knew or met, my affinity for the club grew. i think always being under attack for being a sox fan strengthened my resolve for the club and they're now my favorite sports team. all this in spite that i think baseball is the most boring sport to watch. curiously as well, my dad was a dodger fan until he moved to san diego. he follows the padres now.

nfl: variable; i grew up in central/norcal right as the 49ers were hitting their stride, so i followed them. i was in love with the whole team; montana, rice, craig, lott, young later, t.o., and even dion sanders. the team's since imploded and i moved to socal, so i've had difficulty following the team. it was especially rough when the 49ers played the chargers in the super bowl a few years back, as i moved to san diego. since this move, i went to la for college and have subsequently followed the ucla bruins more than any professional team. i enjoy watching the sport, so i usually just root for a team i like more depending on which teams are playing each other. i usually tend to support the more traditional teams, and i hate the oakland raiders. my dad was a dolphins fan -- he spent part of his youth in ft. lauderdale and the dolphins were the only nfl team then. he's now a charger fan.

nhl: the closest is the colorado avalanche, but i only followed the team because of the respect i had for patrick roy. i followed him in montreal and then when he was traded to colorado. i never liked the sharks and could only tolerate the kings in black and silver. hockey is my favorite sport to watch and i was trying to develop a strong team relationship when the lock-out hit. so, it looks like i'll have to follow the german hockey leagues now -- as i'm studying in germany now. my family never followed hockey, and so i've been left on my own to try to establish an identity, which is naturally why i haven't.

nba: anyone playing the la lakers. basketball is this strange sport for me. i played in leagues when i was young, but for some reason never really developed a following. i lived in sacramento and my dad would take me to kings games, but this was back during the spud webb says. my dad was a lakers fan as he lived in la for an extended period, and so i would always root against the lakers. this was compounded with the laker-king rivalry during my college years, but as everyone i knew who liked the kings i thought was stupid, i just wanted both the lakers and kings to lose.

ncaa: ucla bruins; i went to school at ucla and was on the men's rowing team, so i experienced the love of the team and natural hate for usc. i think the athletic program is run by fools now, but it doesn't change the support.

soccer: fc schalke 04; since i've been in germany i've been trying to follow soccer (i'll save the debate over "soccer" or "football") here. after some searching, the team which reminded me most of the red sox was schalke. i'm studying in a small town in the geographic middle of germany, so there isn't a real local team to support. schalke is the perenial losers of the german bundesliga (soccer league) but remain ever in contention -- second place at the time of this writing -- which reminded me of the sox pre-ws.

i'm pretty young now, and also not in the states, so i think my team support will really hinge on what i do and where i go after college. me and my family have always been avid sport followers and participators, but constant moving has made it difficult to establish a real identity. so i would say most of what goes behind choosing a team is where you're located. i've moved a lot, and so havn't had the opportunity to attach myself to teams. i'm sure the same situation relates to new york teams as well.

[winghaz]

I live in North Dakota. Our teams have always been Minnesota teams. But before Minnesota had any major professional teams, folks like my dad had to choose who to root for, especially in major league baseball.

A lot of people around here were Cardinals fans. Some were Cubs fans, some were Indians fans. But mostly, they were fans of one of the three New York teams.

My dad was a Yankees fan. He grew up in the '20s dreaming of going to Yankee Stadium to watch Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play. He didn't get to, of course, but he did get there in the early '60s to see Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris play.

In the 1970s, when the Yankees became the Bronx Zoo, I asked him how he could be a fan of such a team. He said, simply, "Because they're still the Yankees."

Dad was in the hospital with cancer of the esophogus in October of 1982. We didn't realize at the time that he'd be gone by Nov. 2. He didn't either. Anyway, the World Series was going on between the Cardinals and Brewers. He didn't get much of a chance to watch it because he was recovering from a surgery to remove the tumors, and he was tired all the time. I was talking with him during one of those times he was awake, and said it was too bad that he's too tired to watch the World Series. He said, "That's OK. The Yankees aren't in it, anyway."

I have a feeling he's watching Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and Maris play right now in a stadium much better than Yankee Stadium.