Team Loyalty and Locale

**Aksannyi** · 2014-05-09 15:25

So I've been arguing with someone about this today, they say that when you move to an area, you should only support/like/cheer for your local teams. I say that team loyalty knows no zip code and you like who you like.

Which isn't to say you can't start liking a team if you move to the area, I did grow to be a fan of the Rays when I moved here six years ago, and I sort of like the Lightning, but I don't think that your location should dictate what team you cheer for.

Poll incoming, interested to see if people agree with me or think that I'm dirty for going to Lightning games only when my team is in town. XD

**Abandon** · 2014-05-09 15:28

Who the fuck cares?

**Tyrath** · 2014-05-09 15:29

Liking a team just because you move to an area is just as stupid as liking a team just because you were born in the area.

**Aksannyi** · 2014-05-09 15:32

Originally Posted by Tyrath

Liking a team just because you move to an area is just as stupid as liking a team just because you were born in the area.

I'm inclined to agree, I think in my case it's a friends or family influence that caused me to support most all of my favorite teams. Locale has nothing to do with it. But yeah, someone I was talking to today insisted that I'm terrible (because I'm wearing a Pens shirt to work in Florida).

**Abandon** · 2014-05-09 15:34

that's like making all military switch team loyalty every time they PCS. Fucking stupid.

**Melena** · 2014-05-09 15:34

While I am partial to my local teams, like whatever team you like. When I discovered Ice Hockey in 85, I chose the blues as my favorite team at the time since blue was my favorite color. Then it was Pittsburgh due to my love of Lemiux and Jagr. I pretty much bounced till the Sharks came in existence but Pitt is still my east team.

**Dimmauk** · 2014-05-09 15:45

I lived in DFW for 8 years. There was no fucking way I was going to make the Cowboys or the Mavericks my team.

**Chrius** · 2014-05-09 15:55

I don't think liking a team because they're local is a problem. I had 0 cares for Texas teams when I grew up in VA. Turn 14. Move to DFW. Start caring about football. Sorry, now I'm a cowboys fan and a rangers fan. Rangers got lucky in that my grandpa was die hard braves fan so I've followed them from birth and I can have my AL and NL interests.
You live somewhere, you want where you live to be better than where you're not living. Winning is a way to show you're better. Ya it doesn't make your public water taste different, but you're trying to forget about that.
Also, but to a lesser degree now that Internet, you're local media could churn out more news on local teams. You see them more, you like them more.

I have a couple friends who moved to New York for a few years for school. I'd have 2 less buddies if you should start cheering for your local teams

**Wulfgang** · 2014-05-09 16:00

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...Vp7AP-Copy.gif

As long as you're not a blatant frontrunner with zero ties to the regional area of said team, I could not care less. If you are suddenly a huge Hawks fan and have never lived in the area or had parents / grandparents who lived there and carried said Hawks lineage down to you, we are not going to be friends. Same goes for Tide / Yankees / whatever.

I live in DC now; Caps can go fuck themselves.

**Azull** · 2014-05-09 16:00

I only have issues with the people who are fans of the last years champion who were not a fan of them beforehand.

**Cream Soda** · 2014-05-09 16:03

Who gives a shit; you can ride your own team's dick or the team that is winning the current season (seems to be 49% each, and 2% who like a team for a legit reason lol)

**Byrd** · 2014-05-09 16:04

Originally Posted by Aksannyi

I'm inclined to agree, I think in my case it's a friends or family influence that caused me to support most all of my favorite teams. Locale has nothing to do with it. But yeah, someone I was talking to today insisted that I'm terrible (because I'm wearing a Pens shirt to work in Florida).

Fuck that. If you're a fan of a team and you move to a new area, you shouldn't be giving up your old team just to root for a new team. If you move to an area and become a fan of a team naturally, great. But nobody should ask you to give up rooting for the teams you've rooted for all your life. Those people are terrible.

Team-hopping is a terrible thing. A friend of mine (well, acquaintance) was a fan of the Lakers in the mid-00's and is now a "huge" Miami Heat fan and likes to post all over Facebook when the Heat win. Those people are the worst.

**KoalaTrap** · 2014-05-09 16:40

It's a mix for me. I think fandom should happen naturally.. not just bandwagon jumping, but sports are just entertainment and there's no right/wrong way.

As a kid, I loved the New York Rangers first because they were the first team I ever watched growing up in CT.
Then I started watching the Whalers and going to Whalers games (and every Whale/NYR game) and they became 1B.
Now I live in NC and go to 20~ Carolina Hurricanes games a year. So, my old hometown team is my new one and they're 1A now because I see them so much more.
Still love the Rangers, just see them less.

Baseball is Red Sox because they were the first team I watched when I was kid.

**Bregor** · 2014-05-09 18:00

I think liking a team in the city you live in stems from being a kid and being introduced to the sport through the team. Going to games and watching them on local TV is huge. I think once you're old enough to have hair on your nether regions, you can make up your own mind. Early on I realized that the Redskins and Dan Snyder were awful and there was no way I could root for those fuckers.

**BadKarma** · 2014-05-09 18:10

As a Sox fan and someone who comes from a family of cowboys fans, location aint mean shit

**Mythe_Seraph** · 2014-05-09 19:53

I'm from Chicago. I only like Chicago teams. I live in Arizona. I only give money to arizona sporting facilities to see chicago teams play. Along with like 50,000 other people that live here.

**bechyni** · 2014-05-09 20:14

I live in NC but I don't only support NC teams. Die hard Panthers fan, but I also love the Seahawks (not just because they won last year have been a fan for awhile). I don't really care for the Bobcats and call myself more an OKC fan than anything, however with college ball it's UNC all the way. In the end who really gives a shit though, if you like a team for whatever reason, someone is going to call a dumbass for supporting that team.

**Anoat** · 2014-05-09 20:18

I don't think location matters much, other than making it, well, more fun to be a fan of a local team because it is much easier to attend the games live.

Sidenote, I don't get all the people who claim new Miami Heat and Lebron fans are "bandwagon" fans. Yeah, no shit, people enjoy winners. When I was a kid, it was Jordan and the Bulls and EVERYONE fucking loved them and nobody called each other out for being bandwagon fans. Then in the late 90s/2000s it was the same deal with Kobe and the Lakers. It's all cyclical, who cares?

**Moss** · 2014-05-09 20:19

Originally Posted by Anoat

Sidenote, I don't get all the people who claim new Miami Heat and Lebron fans are "bandwagon" fans. Yeah, no shit, people enjoy winners. When I was a kid, it was Jordan and the Bulls and EVERYONE fucking loved them and nobody called each other out for being bandwagon fans. Then in the late 90s/2000s it was the same deal with Kobe and the Lakers. It's all cyclical, who cares?

Yeah that's because you were a kid. Kids can choose whatever they want. It's pretty fucking lame for a grown man be bandwagon hopping and acting like he is #1 Heat fan

**bechyni** · 2014-05-09 20:26

Originally Posted by Moss

Yeah that's because you were a kid. Kids can choose whatever they want. It's pretty fucking lame for a grown man be bandwagon hopping and acting like he is #1 Heat fan

This. When you know someone who changes their "favorite" team every 2-3 years because they started getting better/winning more is just dumb, not to mention when they know literally nothing else about the team.

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