WHY Do You Follow The Teams You Follow?

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

What makes you like the teams that you like? High school, college, professional....any of 'em.

[UKMustangFan]

Grew up a UK fan. Never known anything else when it comes to college basketball.

 

Reds - From the area.

 

Red Sox - Always hated the Yankees growing up. The Red Sox were the rivals, so I gravitated towards them. Went up and visited Fenway in the summer of 04. Fell in love with it.

 

Patriots - Huge Tom Brady fan, thus big Patriots fan.

 

Tom Brady - Michigan fan, thus a big Tom Brady fan.

 

Michigan - When I was little and first started watching college football, Charles Woodson was the best player and he played at Michigan. Thought the helmets were awesome (I was like 9 or 10 I think), and I was obsessed with the X-Men at the time, and thought the nickname "Wolverines" was the coolest thing in the world at the time.

[Justafan2]

UK/Reds/Bengals - grew up in Northern KY and they are the "home" teams.

 

Notre Dame football - Dad was a Notre Dame fan (don't know why), so I followed them also.

 

High School - spent 20 years in the military and rooted for what ever school my kids went to. When they were in grade school/middle school, I rooted for the high school they would be going to if they were older.

 

Now live in Elizabethtown and my kids go to John Hardin, thus I'm a John Hardin fan. I also still root for all of the Northern KY schools since that's where I grew up.

 

Pro basketball - I root for any team that has a ex-UK player on the roster.

[MJAlltheWay24]

My enjoyment for teams started:

 

Kentucky Basketball - 100% my dad

 

Bengals - Dad

 

Reds - Mostly Grandpa and partially Dad

 

Eagles - Loved playing as Donovan McNabb on Madden when he started his career. Always knew all the players and just continued to follow them.

 

Team USA in everything - Cause I love America!

[PurplePride92]

Bowling Green High-graduated from BGHS in 1992. Once a Purple, always a Purple.

 

Boyle County High-live in Boyle County. Kids attend Boyle County

 

Duke-grew up in KY despising UK fans and latched on when Laettner broke hearts in KY. Been a fan since.

 

Florida State-went to a football game there when I was 15. Amazing experience. Been a fan since.

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers-always seemed to have FSU players like Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn. Loved Warren Sapp even though he is a Hurricane. Been a fan since.

 

Green Bay Packers-I love Aaron Rodgers. Been a fan since.

 

Los Angeles Lakers-loved Magic and Showtime. Hated the Celtics. Been a fan since.

 

UK football and baseball-known multiple people who played for UK including lifelong pal, Leman Boyd. Been a fan since.

[Getslow]

High School - Trinity:

"In her halls we find God's truth; His wisdom echoes clear

'Neath the roof of Trinity, our alma mater dear.

 

NCAA - Louisville: I was raised in house where we watched UofL games. My dad used to take me to Cardinals football games when I was kid. Watched some good Schnellenbeger games and some really bad Cooper games in Old Cardinal.

 

NCAA - Dayton: I follow the Flyers because the University of Dayton is everything Disneyland claims it is... the happiest place on Earth.

 

MLB - Minnesota Twins: my dad's family is all from Minnesota and when I was a kid, I thought it was the most magical place on Earth where everyone lived on a lake and went tubing and fished and then waited until it froze... then fished some more or played hockey on it. Also loved Kirby Puckett as a kid.

 

NFL - Minnesota Vikings: see above.

 

NHL - Philadelphia Flyers: I really liked the Minnesota North Stars when I was young... then that buffoon Norm Green somehow decided it was easier to make money on hockey in Dallas than in Minneapolis, so he moved the team. As I looked for a new team as a kid, I discovered a magical group known as the Legion of Doom in Philadelphia: a line comprised of Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg. I was fascinated. I don't wholeheartedly root for them, but they're the team I most closely follow in the league.

 

NBA - Golden State Warriors: fell in love with them during the 2006-07 season and through the 2007 playoffs. They played a fast-paced style that resulted in an insane number of points. Like the Philadelphia Flyers above, I watch them with my reserved right of uncoupled fandom. I have no emotional attachment to them and the day they start playing like the 2004 Pistons, I'm gone.

[Randy Parker]

UK & Reds because of my Dad. He watched them so I watched with him.

[uselessinfo]

*Notre Dame because my dad always rooted for them in a good Catholic household.

*Louisville (please UK fans no comments :jump:) because I worked Coach Pitino's basketball camps at UK.

*Reds because my grandfather and dad were fanatical and went to many games as a kid watching post Big Red Machine Teams.

*St. Louis Blues because my dad was a hockey fan and we could get KMOX on the radio at night. Plus Mike Liut was the former Cincinnati goal tender who ended up with the Blues when the WHA folded.

[born2reign]

Pro Teams- I follow all the New York teams because I grew up in New York City. My dad also raised us to follow all the teams (Yankees and Mets, Jets and Giants, Rangers and Islanders). He was an immigrant to the US in the 1960's and, in order to make conversation with people he worked with, he would watch all the games. This way he could always strike up a conversation with anyone around sports.

 

College- UK, I am an alum; Notre Dame, I am catholic, I went to catholic schools growing up- it is the norm to root for the Irish; Michigan, I grew up rooting for them, but as I have gotten older, this has waned. I loved the Fab 5 and Desmond Howard.

 

High School- Lex Cath, I taught there and coached there- othwrwise, I root for the teams I am on the sideline for on Friday nights

[nkypete]

Ditto on what has been said about teams such as the Reds, Bengals and Team USA. I grew up in Cincinnati before moving to NKY when I got married. Over the years, I have warmed up to the idea of following UK (my youngest son going there helped a lot). I am not a big NBA or NHL team fan because of the lack of local teams. I'd rather follow players, not teams, in pro basketball and hockey. In the English Premier League, I follow Arsenal. Why? Many in my group at work follow soccer. They each have their favorite teams. In order to feel part of the gang, I took about 5 minutes, looked at an EPL table for a team that was not one of the other favorites. I picked Arsenal, because I like their Gunners logo. I have no clue who is on the team. At least I know the coach now. I am just glad that I can trash talk with my colleagues at work! Isn't that what it is all about?

[woodsrider]

Henderson County - Graduated in 93 from there. Didn't really get into high school sports until about 10 or 12 years ago, had a friend that was an assistant coach for the football team. Got to know alot of the other coaches, started going to games and fell in love with it.

 

UK - Pretty much my entire family went there so I grew up watching their sports. Been a fan ever since.

 

Cardinals - My dad use to watch back in the 80's, loved watching Ozzie Smith and those 80's teams.

 

Green Bay - Was a huge Farve fan, turned into a huge Green Bay fan.

[Getslow]

Team USA in everything - Cause I love America!

 

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

[rjs4470]

Phillies, Eagles, 76ers, Flyers--Grew up an hour and a half from Philly, went to college 40 minutes from Philly. And Philly sports in the Late 70's through the 80's were top notch, and had teams filled with superstars--The Phillies had Schmidt, Carlton, Luzinski, and even Pete Rose came aboard. The 76ers had Doc, Cheeks, Moses, and later Barkely.

 

College Football--Penn State. They were the only somewhat close D1 program that was any good. Plus Mike Meade went to my high school and went there before spending a few years in the NFL

 

College Basketball--Wasn't a big fan (NBA was king in that area), but became a Villanova fan after 1985. Now a Louisville fan because my daughter goes there, and for the life of me, I can't understand why more love isn't shown for Cardinals in state. Plus when I hear UK fans insult Louisville students with some pretty mean statements, I now take it personally.

[uselessinfo]

Ditto on what has been said about teams such as the Reds, Bengals and Team USA. I grew up in Cincinnati before moving to NKY when I got married. Over the years, I have warmed up to the idea of following UK (my youngest son going there helped a lot). I am not a big NBA or NHL team fan because of the lack of local teams. I'd rather follow players, not teams, in pro basketball and hockey. In the English Premier League, I follow Arsenal. Why? Many in my group at work follow soccer. They each have their favorite teams. In order to feel part of the gang, I took about 5 minutes, looked at an EPL table for a team that was not one of the other favorites. I picked Arsenal, because I like their Gunners logo. I have no clue who is on the team. At least I know the coach now. I am just glad that I can trash talk with my colleagues at work! Isn't that what it is all about?

 

Funny about the Arsenal thing. When I was in college and ESPN was really using a lot of Premier League Soccer games as fillers I kind of started following Queens Park Rangers........And boy they are bad.

[bballguy]

Patriots. Sustained excellence for over a decade despite personnel turnover, low draft choices and difficult scheduling. Belichek has won with Brady and without Brady (Cassell). He has won with 3/4 of his roster turning over. Only the 49ers have a comparable record of sustained excellence.