Why do you root for a non-local team?

[chuckymack]

I was thinking about this the other day, when discussing the NFL draft with some co-workers during lunch. (Full Disclosure: I work in Louisville, KY) There were seven of us at the table, and we each liked different teams, which I thought was bizarre. The teams were:

Bengals

Browns

Colts

Packers

Steelers

Titans

Vikings

And then I thought of my high school buddies (Southern Indiana), and realized WE all liked different teams, too. DOUBLE-WHAMMY!

Bears

Bengals

Bills

Buccaneers

Colts

49ers

Packers

Rams

I'm sure some of it's bandwagoning, as everybody loves a winner, but what are the other influences? Family ties to a certain team? Uniforms? Color scheme? And at what point does a bandwagoner hop off and find a new team?

This question may have been discussed before, but I was just hoping to have an open-minded discussion as to why people chose to like the teams they like.

[melsereno]

I was born in NYC and have been rooting for the Dolphins my entire life. They were the first pro football team I knew. My dad was not a football fan, but my grandmother had a friend who would come over with her son, who always wore something Dolphins. I started following the season Miami made it to the Super Bowl with David Woodly and rolled over by the Skins. I was hooked ever since. Then knowing they were undefeated the year I was born, that was the icing on the cake.

[crashcarson15]

I was born in Youngstown, Ohio, hence why this Hoosier's a Cleveland / Columbus sports fan.

[Digby]

I generally root for the Boston teams because I grew up there, but in MLS I root for Portland Timbers. The Revolution never quite grabbed me, due to front office incompetence/cavernous impossible-to-get-to stadium/snooze-worthy atmosphere. Went to a Timbers game while on vacation in Portland and adopted them as my soccer team ever since. Worth the $50 MLS Live subscription, especially this season.

[IceCap]

I root for the Chargers because my dad does, though the team's doing their damnedest to get rid of me as a fan.

I cheer for Auburn in the NCAA because family attended the school.

[charger77]

I grew up on Hockey Night in Canada so Go Leafs Go!

[AlexWilson]

There isn't a NFL team in Toronto, but my friend's dad enjoyed the Seahawks, so I followed them.

[Mac the Knife]

Fixed to apply to me:

I was born in Youngstown, Ohio, hence why this Hoosier's Carolinian's a Cleveland / Columbus Pittsburgh sports fan.

[Conrad.]

I cheer on the Pistons, Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings because both of my parents are from the Detroit area (we moved down to TN before I turned 1 year old).

Since then, I've adopted the Titans as an equally important NFL team (and we know they'll never both get to the Super Bowl together!). I also have a small affinity to the Hawks and Grizz, as they are on the local TV stations here, but I still prefer the Pistons to them. I don't care enough about baseball to cheer for a "local" team, so I'm Tigers all the way there. The Preds are a conference rival of the Wings, so I'd rather they not do well, but if the Wings are out of the debate, then the Preds are 2nd favorite for me.

For soccer, there isn't a local team for many many miles, so I go across the pond and support Barcelona, whom I respect as an organization and a group of skillful, mostly-humble individuals. In that same vein, I cheer for Sounders FC because of the respectable way their team is run and the loyal fans they have.

In terms of collegiate sports, I support my alma mater (UT) first and my dad's alma mater second (Michigan).

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

I graduated from WVU so obviously I root for them even though I live amongst Terps and Hoyas. There are a ton of Mountaineer fans in the area though.

I also root for PSG, mainly because Zlatan Ibrahimovic is my favorite player and because I've been to Paris and (surprise surprise) it was an amazing city.

Other than that, I'm a homer.

[marble21]

I support Tottenham despite being from (close to) Liverpool. My entire family (mum, dad, aunties, uncles, cousins etc.) are Everton fans with a large number of them season ticket holder. My dad even followed them around Europe in the 70s and 80s.

When I was 6, I lived in Germany in an army base town (Rheindahlen). My best friend was a Tottenham fan and his dad was my football (soccer) team's coach. So whenever I was at my friends or at practise, Tottenham and football were almost synonymous.

I went home one day proudly declaring to my dad that I was a Tottenham fan. He just laughed it off not thinking I was serious. When my uncles and cousins heard they all laughed at me in the same way, but I got stubborn and stuck with it.

I eventually got too far in to turn back so for the past 16 years, since I first saw Tottenham on TV getting beat 4-3 by West Ham I have followed them through the relative highs and lows. I will forever be a Spurs fan.

In the NFL: Chargers. They had a WR called Keenan McCardell (my surname is McArdle) which caught my attention when I first started watching the NFL. I got hooked by LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates talent. I feel similar to Ice Cap though, they are doing their damn best to lose my support.

[Gothamite]

Personally, I just can't do it.

I can't support a team that I don't have a specific geographical connection to. I follow the Packers and Brewers since I grew up partly in Wisconsin, and the Yankees since I spent the rest of my childhood in New York City, and live here as an adult.

If the sport doesn't have a team in my town, I guess I just won't support any team in particular. Not a problem that New Yorkers usually have, but still.

For the longest time, I wanted to get into MLS, but my opinion of the local(ish) team was so low I refused to support them. So I looked around at other teams, and tried on a couple for varying reasons: the Union because of their strong supporter culture and the logo; the Timbers because I used to live in Oregon and went to their predecessors' matches. But it felt really forced and unnatural, and so I gave up. Now I'm a Cosmos fan through and through, even though they haven't played a single game, and it feels right. I can stick with that one. So no MLS for me at all (yet, and possibly never).

Not to say that everybody has to have this rule, but it's what works for me.

[C-Squared]

Me and my little cousin became huge Titans fans because we both loved their new logo/uniforms in 1999... I think I always liked to be a little different as a kid, too. Nothing bothered me more than a deep Sabres playoff run ruined by girls decked out in Sabres gear who couldn't tell you one thing about the game.

I've always been an individual player fan, too... I was a big Giants fan, but only for as long as Kerry Collins and Jason Sehorn played.

[shaydre1019]

Was born in Houston, hav grown up about 5 hours south so Houston teams are my number one for any sport.

For football however, I honestly can say I was ever an oilers fan, I was just too young to remember them when they were in Houston, so I grew up a cowboys fan an still support them. Bu when the texans came along I mean yeah they're my team. So I still support them both, although I treat the texans like my new born and the cowboys like my oldest who's in college and doesn't need my love as much right now.

I'm a dynamo fan, and I'm also a spurs fan because of Clint Dempsey, I was super excited when he went to them!

[lost_limey]

Shouldn't this be in "Sports in General?"

The only non-local team I support is the Orlando Magic. And the reason for that is when I was growing up over in England, they used to show NBA highlights on Channel 4 on weekend mornings starting around 1995 or 1996. I wanted a team to root for and didn't want to leap on the same Jordan/ Bulls bandwagon all the other NBA fans in my school were on.

I had relatives in Florida, so I decided to support a Florida team. They were from the Tampa area, but there was no Tampa team, just Miami and Orlando. On November 11 1995, the Heat and the Magic played each other, and I decided I would support the team that won that. It finished 94 to 93 in Orlando's favor, with Penny Hardaway scoring 33.

I've been a Magic fan ever since. I guess if that game had gone the other way I'd be a fan of a team with a couple championships and the best player in the world right now.

[themightyspitz]

Born and raised in LA and Singapore, but I was homeschooled through a program based in Baltimore when I was younger, so I was all about the Ravens. Super Bowl Champs, baby!

[AgentColon]

I root for all local teams except for the NFL. I root for the Cowboys because it was my mom's favorite team. She never liked football, but when she worked for a company based in Dallas during the 70s she caught the Cowboy fever.

[TalktoChuck]

Living in Colorado, I mainly stay true to the local teams. But I've also been an Atlanta Braves fan since I can remember. Being able to watch all their games on TBS, meeting Chipper Jones when I was a kid, their success in the 90's (when I was growing up), and their awesome uniforms were all reason I had gravitated to them. And in the recent years, with the Rockies total ineptitude, I've slowly been abandoning my allegiances to the Rockies and focusing more on the Braves.

[aawagner011]

I am strictly a local supporter. I live in Atlanta and have most of my life so I definitely support the Atlanta teams. If I were to move away from the town, I would likely not adopt the new local teams (and would then be a "non-local" fan). Unless I moved to a town with an MLS team, my support would probably be the same as it currently is.

As for non-local support, I've always considered the Dolphins my #2. My dad grew up in central Florida and the Dolphins were the only team in the state throughout his childhood (Bucs came in 1976). I was also born in Florida and visit there frequently so in a way it's like a second home.

I have no local soccer team to support so I follow club soccer but don't really have a particular team I cheer for (not into the bandwagon aspect). However, I really consider the USA to be my team. I travel across the country to see them play in person, attending matches and parties with the American Outlaws and it's a really rewarding experience. If you don't know about the American Outlaws and support the Yanks, PLEASE look into it. It is genuinely the only way the watch a match. Once you go AO, you'll never want to sit in the normal seats again.

For college support, I cheer for Georgia (also local), who I will be able to call my alma mater in about two weeks!

[oldschoolvikings]

I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and had (the way I saw it) the teams from Cleveland and Cincinnati shoved down my throat by the local media. I never got that... why I should be a fan of the teams from either of those places that I clearly was not from, just due to semi-close proximity? Columbus is basically halfway between those cities, so the coverage was pretty split... maybe if it was more clearly one or the other, I wouldn't have felt that way, but as it was, it always seemed like I was being asked to choose, and I just decided not to. I was a stubborn jackass from a very young age, apparently.

I picked the Vikings off the TV, for no real reason other than my dad was watching the game. But I embedded myself into them with the same OCD, 'til death, pitbull loyalty that I give to everything in my life... wife, kids, favorite soda pop...