Is it considered bandwagon/fair weather if....

[Julius Seizure]

Hey fellas,

I'm quite familiar with the philosophies considering one's own loyalty to his/her team. One of the things I've been pondering for the last few years is that your team ought to mirror your own beliefs/personality. i.e. if you have certain ideas about how an organization should run, etc. And if the team is pretty much embodies everything you don't like about the game, then you should probably rethink your commitment to said team. I'll just go ahead and fill you in on my thoughts..

I've been a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan my whole life.

But as I've grown older and developed my own moral code/ideas about how football should be, I've come to despise everything the Cowboys represent.

It's not the 8-8 seasons. That's not a big deal, that happens. My issue is everything else.

Every time I've talked with a Cowboy-hater, the arguments are always the same, and my loyalty leads me to defend them to the death. But deep down, I agree with them 100%.

The reasons I want to leave:

-The whole "America's Team" thing has always bothered me.

Arrogance is not a virtue that I admire. It's easy to point out that the moniker was first suggested for the Steelers by NFL Films, but they at least had the gumption to turn it down. Tex Schramm saw it as a marketing opportunity, which leads me to...

-They're all about show-biz.

The whole "big show Cowboys" thing didn't start with Jerry Jones. Schramm was all about marketing. Jerry just kept the tradition alive. He managed to build the most obnoxious stadium in the league, and plasters his team's namesake on everything that will make him another buck. And when he's not shoving the team down America's throat, he's making sure the team is stuck in salary cap purgatory. See below...

-Jerry will continue to destroy the salary cap on D+ talent.

Dallas is notorious for the dead money that violates their cap on players that underachieved for whatever amount of time they played for. I'm sure Jerry is still paying Marion Barber's salary at this point. Meanwhile, teams like the Patriots get rid of guys when they hit their 30th birthday, and Tom Brady accepts pay cuts just for the good of the team. Not interested in being a Pats fan, just an example of the right way to run a team.

-They play indoors.

In Dallas no less! Where the weather is just fine. Why have a retractable roof if you never open it. That's just not good football.

-No matter what happens, their reputation will always be the league villain, and the media will keep it that way. And they aren't doing anything to change that, either.

When they were winners, everyone hated how confident they were. Every team does this, but when you're America's Team...

It might seem like a double standard, but they brought it on themselves. Now that they're hanging around in the world of mediocrity, they're gutless. Probably because the rare occasions when they show emotion, it's portrayed in the press as a "meltdown". In a time when the players should be unapologetic and get angry when times are tough, they fold over and play nice. As long as the media is up their butts, it will always be that way. And trust me, the Jones's are loving every minute of it. If he didn't, he would have changed the way he does business by now. "Any press is good press!"

In conclusion, This is a big market, loud, obnoxious team that will always do things their way...the shi**y way. They're everything football shouldn't be, and when you don't even want to be associated with other fellow fans anymore, it's time to relocate.

Lend me your thoughts...

[DS729]

I don't see a problem with it as long as you have a good reason and you're not jumping to a team just because they're good and not leaving you're team just because they're bad, and being committed to your new team.

BTW, I don't see a problem with your situation it's hard being a fan of a team as inept and as horribly-run as the Cowboys are. The fact is, I'm considering spurning the Redskins for the Panthers, if the Skins change their name that will really be the clincher for me to switch.

[Norva]

It's just a source of entertainment, who cares why someone roots for a team? In the end it's just a fun game, not like choosing sides in a war or something.

[tj4eck]

I'm curious to which team you would root for?

[Kramerica Industries]

I said this yesterday (or last year; whichever was more recent), but it's my general belief that most people do not have the ability to actually ditch teams that they have long been a fan of; I'm not referring to casual fans OR "bandwagon" fans when I say that - I'm referring to those who watch their team every day/week, keep up with media involving the team, and make a concerted effort to be aware of schematics that their teams use when they play. This is because I have a hard time believing fandom could be loose enough to be broken when there is such a strong stem of passion that underlies it.

Now, this doesn't mean that I am right. Hell, generally, I can be quite off the mark with logic that, to me, sounds infallible. Fair enough. I do know that I was watching the Lightning on a regular basis between, oh, about 1999-2002 when they were routinely losing 50 games a season in an NHL bogged down by the Dead Puck Era and the possibility of tie games still existing. There was a glorious payoff in 2004 that I would never take back for anything, but ever since then, it's generally been a little bit more of the same as what it was before with the Lightning. I could almost take everything I just said and apply it to the Bucs too; fortunately, I was a lucky bastard who narrowly missed the doldrums of the creamsickles and my earliest memories actually are of those dominant defenses that took form in the late '90s. The point remains either way - my fandom has never wavered, because that's just how I grew up as a sports fan. By this point, it's been too many years since those seeds were laid; there's no way to break the roots now.

As such, I have a hard time thinking that other people can make a legitimate break from a team that they have a devoted passion towards. If other people can, then good for them, and that's not meant in any backhanded way at all. It just doesn't jive with me.

[Julius Seizure]

I'm curious to which team you would root for?

To switch a team. I would have to make sure it wouldn't contradict the reasons I left in the first place. I want to go with a small market team. One that plays outdoors is a plus. I've already considered a few teams:

-Tampa Bay

-Chicago

-Buffalo

-Cleveland

-Cincinnati

-Tennessee

-Jacksonville

-San Diego

[Rockstar Matt]

As a fellow Cowboys fan, I understand your frustrations, but I could never leave. No matter what. I don't care how bad it gets or how irritating Jerry Jones is (and believe me he is; I'd love nothing more to have only one story on the Cowboys in the off-season and have it contain only who we drafted and that's it), I'll always be a Cowboys fan, for better or for worse.

[GFB]

Jumping ship is not the same as bandwagoning. Think of it this way: getting out of an abusive relationship via divorce and getting into a healthy relationship is perfectly fine and probably a good thing; but having 5 or 6 relationships at one time while living in a state of denial that you only have one (with the party that is currently performing the best to boot) is sickening.

But just understand that, like divorce, jumping ship should be a permanent move. Should you jump ship and Jerry Jones have a stroke (hopefully of brilliance) and the the team wins 4 Super Bowls in the next decade, you better be prepared to bite the bullet and accept the "bandwagoner" moniker.

[GFB]

I just want to add that I saw a payoff tonight as I got to see MSU win the Rose Bowl for my cousins (the whole family is alumni). Even as a UM fan, I was happy to see them finally get something out of their years and years of emotional investment into the program... It was pretty cool.

[FiddySicks]

I'm curious to which team you would root for?

To switch a team. I would have to make sure it wouldn't contradict the reasons I left in the first place. I want to go with a small market team. One that plays outdoors is a plus. I've already considered a few teams:

-Tampa Bay

NO.

[TheRicSlick]

I'm curious to which team you would root for?

To switch a team. I would have to make sure it wouldn't contradict the reasons I left in the first place. I want to go with a small market team. One that plays outdoors is a plus. I've already considered a few teams:

-Tampa Bay

NO.

What's wrong with the Bucs?

[Kramerica Industries]

You don't just willingly become a Bucs fan. It requires some pre-disposed problems with the mental facilities to allow yourself to root for that team.

[FiddySicks]

^

[Evil Doctor]

Bandwagon/fair weather only really applies to sports that you like but don't actively follow most of the time. The only time you become active in viewing and support is when the team you like is winning.

For example I watch the Hamilton Tiger-Cats regardless of wins and losses and always make a point to try to go to one game a year. The Toronto Blue Jays are a team I only watch when they are winning. So basically I haven't watched the team since '94 (Is Joe Carter still around?).

Since most people root for teams they have no cultural affiliation with, switching rooting interests are not a problem.

For example with hockey when I was younger, I was a fan of the New York Islanders. Years later it slowly changed to that of the Toronto Maple Leafs, mostly because Islander games in our area were rarely shown, while every Leaf game is televised (also the Leafs got nicer uniforms and acquired some great players I really liked.) It had really little to do with wins and losses and more to do with changes in taste. An acceptable evolution.

Now changing rooting interest with a team you have cultural affiliation with simply makes you stinkin' traitor. The only time such a switch is acceptable is when you have moved to a new area with a different local team. Then you have the option of remaining loyal to your old home team or switching to your new home team. Of course there are those that go both-ways and root for both which often leads to the half and half jerseys of those that can't commit....

[BlueSky]

Well, Julius, I have a long answer and a short one. Yes, I think in some circumstances it's okay to change your favorite team. But I'm not sure it's a conscious choice; it just happens.

I was an Army brat who didn't live in a city with an NFL team until I was 8 years old. I had no "home" team to root for but my grandmother lived in Dallas so I adopted the Meredith-era Cowboys as my own. I was a die-hard Cowboys fan. The first game I remember watching on TV was the Ice Bowl and after all the disappointments, one of the best days of my life was attending SB VI and seeing them win their first championship.

Since my family had settled in New Orleans, I started rooting for the sad-sack Saints but still followed the Cowboys with almost as much enthusiasm. Work took me to the DFW area in 1991 and at first that was very cool. But Jerrah had bought the Cowboys and the way he treated Tom Landry left a bad taste in my mouth. Then I had a front row seat for all the hookers and coke and dysfunction that was Valley Ranch in the '90s. Piled on that was the preening egotistical owner who still thinks he's smarter than all those football guys. Over time I, like you, came to despise the Cowboys. The Steelers who had totally p***ed me off by beating Dallas in the SB disappointed me again - but by losing the SB to the Cowboys.

My hate for them has faded but my Cowboys gear is long gone, my SB VI pennants are gathering dust and I'm really pretty indifferent to their fortunes now.

But now and again just the sight of that silver helmet with the big blue star takes me back to some pretty good memories. I mentioned that very fact to my wife Sunday night as we watched Cowboys-Eagles. In a way it's funny because now that this thread made me think it through, I still love Landry's Cowboys but can't stand Jerry's.

So there's my long answer to your short question.

[Evil G]

-They play indoors.

In Dallas no less! Where the weather is just fine. Why have a retractable roof if you never open it. That's just not good football.

Isn't AT&T Stadium retractable? I think all stadiums should be retractable because not only does it sometimes snow, but in incredibly warm areas, it could get waaay too hot.

Also:

-Jacksonville

Let them move to some city that isn't LA (let's reserve that for the two R's, Raiders and Rams) like maybe Toronto, London, San Antonio, Portland, or wherever. Just not Jacksonville.

For all I care, they could move to Tulsa and be in a better condition. /rant

Oh, and if you do choose Jacksonville...prepare to see your team not try to tank at the end of the season.

[bosrs1]

I'm curious to which team you would root for?

To switch a team. I would have to make sure it wouldn't contradict the reasons I left in the first place. I want to go with a small market team. One that plays outdoors is a plus. I've already considered a few teams:

-Tampa Bay

NO.

Wouldn't recommend the Chargers either. Not until the Spanos family sells the team (or they at the very least settle their long standing stadium problem which could potentially see them moving indoors in either SD or LA).

[bosrs1]

To answer the original question, yes it is acceptable to switch allegiances under appropriate circumstances if you're a long time fan whose put in their time and have a long list of acceptable grievances against your team. You do appear to have both. And you seem to have decent reasons for picking the replacement as well which is to your credit (and eliminates the "bandwagon" issue IMO. Bandwagoning is when you simply start rooting for a team because they're good. I have a friend who is a serial bandwagoner with both MLB and NFL who has rooted for the Raiders, Cardinals, Patriots, and God knows who else in the last decade or so in the NFL and the Giants, A's, Diamondbacks and A's again in MLB simply based on what players they have (and now he's living in CT and has people pushing him to become a Sox fan which he'll probably cave and do). That's bandwagoning. Being a dedicated fan over a protracted period and being driven to finally move your flag is not bandwagoning, it's more akin to a divorce from an abusive relationship as someone mentioned earlier.

And the simple fact is I can't knock the idea since I've done it myself. I started following the NBA later in life than the other Big 4 sports and became a Kings fan due to that being the second closet team to where I was from, and the team of the girl who got me interested in the NBA back around 2000. However anyone who knows the Sacramento Kings story knows the last decade or so had been a nightmare under the Maloofs with them running the franchise into the ground (on and off court), selling off their best players and draft picks for cash, sabotaging their own arena plans, and finally threatening to move the team to Mexico City, Las Vegas, Virginia Beach and finally Seattle. I had always had to make an effort to watch the Kings since they were never my "in market" team having grown up and gone to school in Warriors territory and then more recently having lived what is nominally Lakers territory. And I stuck with it despite everything the Maloofs had done over the years, but that last move threat to Seattle (by far the most credible one to be sure) was the last straw. I was just done.

I bought a plane ticket to fly up to Sac, bought a set of tickets for my family, went to Arco Arena to take in one last game to say goodbye, left my old Stojaković jersey in the parking lot as we walked out and have never looked back. I couldn't even tell you who their starting 5 is this year. It was a hard conscious decision, but one that had been a long time coming. And as it happened it coincided with the local Fox Sports Net signing a deal that put the long maligned Clippers on local TV in San Diego. So out of pure convenience I've started following them over the last calendar year or so, and we'll see what happens. I'd hesitate to call myself a fan yet, but they're definitely the only NBA team I give two :censored:s about. Which reminds me that I really do need to change my avatar...

[Julius Seizure]

I'm curious to which team you would root for?

To switch a team. I would have to make sure it wouldn't contradict the reasons I left in the first place. I want to go with a small market team. One that plays outdoors is a plus. I've already considered a few teams:

-Tampa Bay

NO.

Wouldn't recommend the Chargers either. Not until the Spanos family sells the team (or they at the very least settle their long standing stadium problem which could potentially see them moving indoors in either SD or LA).

bosrs1: Good call on the Chargers. The Spanos' are pretty shady. I've just always admired their history, esp. the Air Coryell era. But even Gene Klein was a flip flopper.

Evil G: As far as Jacksonville being bad, I'm prepared for that. I'd rather root for an honestly bad team that's trying their best to rebuild, than a Hollywood soap opera that keeps trying the same horrible experiment year after year.

The idea of them moving is very appealing to me. If I'm going to start a new journey with a new team, It would be cool to go with a team starting a new journey all their own. I dunno how I feel about Los Angeles though. London would be an instant sell for me!

In general, The Jags cloudy future definitely seems like a gamble, but there's a lot of great possibilities there!

Bucfan56 & Kramerica: I don't see much wrong with the Bucs beside the recent slump. That's not permanent. They've always seemed like the scrappy underdog with the cool stadium with the pirate ship:)

[Lights Out]

Trust me, as a Chargers fan, you'd be nuts to switch to us. We're the west-coast version of the Jones-era Cowboys, but without the rings or media circus. Same underachieving and inexplicable losses, though.