Changing allegiances

Freak · 05-02-2006, 06:07 AM

Has your "favourite team" in any sport ever shifted allegiances with any real magnitude? That is, I'm not talking about when you were just a squirt and you cheered for the Cowboys or 49ers because they were holding the trophy -- I mean, has there ever been a time when you went from being passionate about one team, to being passionate about the other? Was there a reason, like if your previous favourite team choked in the World Series AGAIN, or passed on Reggie Bush with the first pick?

Me, I can only think of one. And that was the slow shift I made from being a Maple Leafs fan, to being a Canucks fan. I lived in or near Toronto from age 6-12, and I first fell in love with guys like Doug Gilmour, Felix Potvin and Wendel Clark. I moved out here to BC when I was 12, and while I still cheered for the Leafs for a couple years, I've slowly become much, much more of a Canucks fan.

Spinoff360 · 05-02-2006, 07:29 PM

Recently in the NFL I have bounced around a lot. I was a huge Titans fan in the days of George, McNair, Mason, Kearse and Rolle but now they fucked up that team so much that it just isn't the team I loved anymore. So I started to cheer for both the Cowboys (George)(Who were my favorite team as a kid so it was the second time I was a Cowboy fan) and Eagles (Kearse) but with Geroge struggling with the Cowboys and in the end not playing much I started to only cheer for the Eagles more since I also like Owens even if I am in the minority. But with all the BS in Eagles land last year I started to cheer for the Bengals.... Kearse is still my favorite player though. And now this upcoming season will either be my third wave of being a Cowboys fan, sticking with the Bengals or hoping the Ravens can turn things around since they have two of the players from my Titans days.

I guess going from like the Lakers to hating the NBA would be a pretty big change too :lick:

Brandon · 05-02-2006, 08:27 PM

I've always been a Braves, Niners, and Pens fan but my alligence to NBA teams has been different.. I wouldn't say it's changed, I've just liked lots of teams..

I loved the Bulls when I was a kid, and then the Suns and Hornets, then the Trail Blazers and Sixers, then the Celtics and Kings, and now I'm back on the Bulls..

I think it has to do more with players that I like to watch then specific teams in the NBA, but I am in love with the Bulls and their young team.. They are very exciting and I was a huge fan of both Hinrich and Ben Gordon while they were in college.. I'm from Connecticut and still live here so I always root for UCONN players such as Gordon.. and also Butler, Ray Allen, Okafor, etc..

I'm a little down on Rudy Gay though.. He should have stayed in college.

Dr. Giganto · 05-02-2006, 11:43 PM

Nope...not as an adult at least. I was a Mets fan growing up, when they were good, but then my cousins took me to a Yankee game when I was 12 (1992...they still sucked back then) and taught me about all the old time Yankees like Ruth, DiMaggio, Gehrig, Mantle, etc. and I started to get int othem.

Freak · 05-04-2006, 02:25 AM

Blitz, do you have any hometown-ish allegiance to any of your favourite teams (except UConn)? All your favourites just seem like franchises that were really dominant in the early 1990s.

Brandon · 05-04-2006, 04:37 AM

Freak,

I will explain them all to you.. I was about 5 or 6-years old so say 1989-ish when I 1st started watching sports. I would become interested in all the "Big Four" sports around the same time because I had an older brother, and a few uncles who were insane sports fanatics..

Atlanta Braves - I started watching baseball during the 1989 season but of course, didn't know much of the rules or anything and all I knew were the Oakland A's were the class of the league. For a while Jose Canseco would be one of my favorite players, but that title ended up going to Barry Bonds while he was still a Pirate.. I marveled at his abilities during the heated Pirates/Braves rivalry of the early 90's.. So long story short, most of my family were Red Sox fans and the rest Yankee fans, couple Mets thrown in.. My older brother was a huge Braves fan, and the only unique one of the lot so I sided with him.. We'd watch the Braves together on TBS and it became our thing.. Guys like Deion Sanders, David Justice, Ron Gant, Terry Pendleton, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Steve Avery, Fred McGriff... these would become my heroes from then on... Just my luck they went worst to first in the 1991 season and have won the division every year since.. Of course, they were in the West there before expansion, however. Only one world championship but a plethora of classic series against the likes of the Pirates, Blue Jays, Twins, Mets, etc.. I'm happy with what they've accomplished.

Brandon · 05-04-2006, 04:51 AM

Shit, I almost lost that first post, I'll hurry up with the rest.

-Pittsburgh Penguins. Again, I wasn't into the Bruins.. It's funny, I just didn't like their uniform if that makes sense. I thought it was hideous. So I was watching hockey without a team during the 1990 season, and of coure The Great One was at the top of his popularity, so I didn't want to side with him. Too many Gretzky dick riders.. So I'm watching Sportscenter and Super Mario comes on, and I decided that I liked him instead. This coupled with their uniform (I was big into Penguins when I was younger) brought me to be a fan of the team.. Just my luck again, they went on to win two Stanley Cups and were pretty solid throughout the decade. I'm still a fan even though this past season I didn't get to see all that many games.

-San Francisco 49ers. This one is a lot easier. The 1st football game I ever watched was on Monday night and if I'm not mistaken it was the Niners against the Saints. I'm watching with my Uncle Bill and I cn tell that he's rooting hard against them. I believe it was the 1989 season, could have been earlier.. I didn't no crap about football, but I knew he didn't like what was going on.. I was a little bastard and took pleasure in his misfortune so I rooted for the team, which was the Niners and they ended up winning the game. A couple months later I would learn that his favorite team was the New York Giants and he despised the Niners.. So without knowing much about Rice, Montana, John Taylor, or anyone.. I started to root for them as kinda a running joke and they turned into my team again to this day... This also came in handy as my father was and still is a big Cowboys fan so we spent many days sitting in front of the television yelling at the screen during the annual Cowboy/Niners meetings.

airr233 · 05-04-2006, 09:22 AM

I became a Bulls fan during the Michael Jordan era and then when he left, I stayed a Bulls fan but I live in New England and even though the Celtics sucked, they were drawing me in and I watched them in what was one of their worst seasons, I watched every game, it was not last season but the season before (Year before Doc Rivers). I think they won 15 games but I knew I could be a Celtics fan and when they sucked, I knew it was the only time I could make the switch.

Dr. Giganto · 05-04-2006, 10:17 AM

I have a friend who's a Dallas Cowboys, fan because when he was like 6 years old his parents (not knowing anything about football at all) bought him a Cowboys bookbag for school.

The rest is history

Abel · 05-07-2006, 03:50 AM

I hated the Phoenix Suns back in the Barkley days. Back when Houston and Phoenix had a big rivalary. But in recent years I've started to like them. I was going ape today when they beat the snot out of the Lakers. I hope they go all the way.

I loved the Oilers but then, like most Houstonians, hated them a year our two before they left for Tenn. Now I still hate the Titans and love the Texans. And yes I do believe that they made the right choice in going for Mario Williams and not Reggie Bush... but that's another rant for another thread.

I've always hated the Cowboys and I probably always will. If that ever changes, slap me with my "Offical Houstonian Badge of Honor."

Changing allegiances

This is a discussion on Changing allegiances within the North American Sports forums, part of the Sports Forums category; Has your "favourite team" in any sport ever shifted allegiances with any real magnitude? That is, I'm not talking about ...