The teams I root for

[Onceuponalife]

There seems to be some interest lately on what teams I root for, what teams I SHOULD root for and what teams I should be ALLOWED to root for. I have posted on this before and didn't intend to revisit it, but on the chance that my previous post was missed due to it being part of a subforum that was deleted (thanks to all the poison posts surrounding it), I will try to clarify things once more. I guess I should be flattered that some of you are interested enough in me to pay so much attention.

First, a little geographical info.

Contrary to what some may have assumed, I am not FROM L.A. I WAS born there but have never LIVED there. I did live until the age of 16 in Southern California and so we got all the L.A. TV stations. My early sports affiliations came naturally enough, I suppose. Up until about age 12 I was too busy actually playing sports in the street (mostly baseball)to pay attention to the sports being played on TV. As we lived about 100 miles from any major sports stadium, my early exposure to pro teams was limited to 3 or 4 trips to Dodger Stadium and twice to Anaheim Stadium where the Angels play. I was lucky enough to be able to watch the Dodgers go to the World Series the first two years I actually began following them. So that relationship was cemented. I didn't have quite the same feelings for the Angels although I remember watching plenty of their games on television (I still remember the hokey theme song they used to play before the broadcasts began!). I'm not exactly sure why that is although I certainly admired players like Rod Carew, Bobby Grich, Don Baylor and Bobby Bonds. For whatever reason I definitely felt more at home in the National League where pitchers hit for themselves and preferably play on real grass.

I also got into hockey and the L.A. Kings big time, although, sadly, never got to see them play at the "Fabulous Forum", as it was then called. I also wanted to play hockey badly, but alas, my parents wouldn't spring for the expensive gear I would need.

Then my parents broke up and I went to live with my Mom in San Jose starting in 1981. Then moved to nearby Fremont in 1984, while starting my employment career in San Jose and, later, neighboring Campbell. As a hockey fan, naturally I was thrilled when the NHL granted San Jose a franchise. This was a big deal financially for SJ as it was expected to bring in big revenue for the struggling downtown area. I was an early supporter for the ballot measure to raise funds for the stadium (which turned out to be built VERY close to where I worked at Taylor and Miller Streets!). We even had tee shirts printed up, which I believe were distributed at City Hall which was down the street from where I worked. There was a contest to pick a name for the new franchise and I am very glad they chose Sharks from the resultant short list. I can't remember all the dodgy names that were on the list but I do remember there was a faction that wanted the name tied into the Silicon chip industry somehow. Glad we dodged that bullet! The San Jose Circuit Boards somehow just wouldn't have done it for me. But the upshot is I remained a Kings fan for they were my first love but it was pretty awesome to (for the first time in my life) have a chance to follow a team from the beginning of their existence. Cboy would like to believe I ignored the Sharks for 10 years and then suddenly jumped on a bandwagon when they "got good." But you see, they were always good in my eyes even when their play was amateurish (they weren't privy to the same favorable expansion draft rules that allowed the Florida Panthers, who came into the league a few years after the Sharks, to have a much more talented pool of existing players to draft), because I was just happy to have a home town team that I could actually go see, that wasn't 100 miles away from me. And if you try to tell me that they're not my home team because I was raised in Southern California, consider that I only lived in that area for four years after I started following pro sports, while I have lived in the SF Bay Area for 26 years before having to move further north this past June due to economic reasons. Believe me, I love the city of San Francisco more than any other city in the world, but I just couldn't afford to live in that high priced area of the country anymore in these bad economic times.

I know this goes against the rules that Cboy has decreed for everybody in his fiefdom (aka the DU board) but I think it would have been crazy to ignore a new franchise starting in my town because I already had a hockey team to root for. And I'm still a Kings fan, make no mistake, but they haven't exactly lit up the hockey world with their prowess. I have never abandoned any of my teams and I never will. That's not how I roll no matter what some may assume about me. When I was a kid there was nobody I loved more than Marcel Dionne and the Triple Crown Line (Dionne, Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer). I'm not going to throw away those memories just because there's a new more exciting team in town. It is possible to root for more than one team in a sport. It happened naturally and I make no apologies for it. Nor should I have to. Especially to someone who doesn't even know me or make any attempt to. That makes about as much sense as the people in Baltimore ignoring the new football franchise (Ravens) that started there because the Colts had already moved to Indianapolis (what would be Cboy's rule for that...stick with the Colts because they were your home team no matter where or how often they move or switch to the Ravens and dump the Colts because they no longer are your "home" team? If it was me, I'd root for both, but that's just me). One thing I never have done nor never will do is jump off or on any bandwagons.

After moving to Fremont I found myself a short BART ride away from Oakland A's stadium, which unfortunately, was built for football only (Raiders) and was coverted to allow baseball also. It was great for the first time in my life to be able to go to a pro baseball stadium on my own whenever I wanted. I started going to games in 1985 when they were still a terrible team. I was just happy to attend, not expecting much. Of course, when they started winning a couple years later, I was as happy as anybody. But I guess to Cboy I jumped on the bandwagon 3 years ahead of when they went to the World Series because, obviously, I was psychic and knew ahead of time they would be great.

My story is similar with the Rams (always a fan and stuck with them through 20 years of horrific play, to finally getting rewarded for my loyalty by seeing them win the Super Bowl). And I didn't dump them just because they moved to St. Louis. With them playing in far off L.A. they may as well have lived in St. Louis the whole time. The same is true for the NBA and the Lakers, although my enthusiasm for basketball in general dipped WAY down after that player's strike a while back. I still watch the Lakers when they get to the playoffs but I can't bring myself to care whether they win or not. They won so many championships it just kind of got boring and stale after a while if that makes any sense. I dunno, I just can't get excited about basketball anymore. Period.

In college sports, I'm a USC football fan since childhood which included more bad years than good. I also like the Cal Bears mostly because I just can't stand Stanford and Berkeley is an awesome city! I also enjoy watching the Oregon Ducks play but I don't consider them "my team" of course. I actually watch a lot of college football these days.

So, anyway, sorry to bore you with a long post, but i felt like I was being misrepresented so I thought I'd tell my story, for whatever it was worth. I know it won't sway Cboy but then again he's always right and we're always wrong, right? And he'll decide what he wants to believe about people he has never met and never will.

Cheers.

[cboy4]

1. Hey I'm willing to discuss this without insulting you....you took

the time to finally explain what's going on.

Your argument for rooting for the Sharks is you've lived here since the early 80's, and that you only rooted for LA sports for four years compared to living in the Bay Area for 26. and all of a sudden San Jose gets an NHL team, so why not cheer for them since they play where you live.

But here's the problem I have: If you started rooting for the Sharks, why did hadn't you long since started rooting for the A's or Giants, or the Raiders or 49ers or the Warriors? All teams playing where you live ..

Especially since you said you didn't have any real allegiance to the Dodgers or Angels living 100 miles from Anaheim and Chavez Ravine?

I mean, you write an interesting story about how you've gotten to where you are, but there's a lot of flip-flopping and bandwagon jumping. You hadn't even been to the Forum to watch the LA Kings.

"I'm still a (LA) Kings fan, make no mistake, but they haven't exactly lit up the hockey world with their prowess.

That sounds to me like if they start playing better than San Jose in the years to come, there's a good chance we'll see you with a Kings' avatar.

You are all over the board with the teams you supposedly cheer for and you're the kind of fan that makes my head explode.

If you've lived in the Bay Area since the early 1980's, and by your own admission didn't follow the LA teams when you lived down there, there's no reason you should be a fan of those teams...except for the fact that you like being a front-runner.

So I'm not calling you names and I'm not being disrespectful.

I'm explaining how your explanation is hogwash.

The bottom line is fine, I will concede that if all of what you said is accurate .. you were a teenager living in SoCal...you didn't really follow the teams, you didn't really care about them...and you moved away to the South Bay for an overwhelming majority of your adult life --- you can start following the Sharks.

But the problem I have isn't primarily with the Sharks. That at least makes sense. You have a hockey team in your town. BUT YOU CHEER FOR ALL OF THE OTHER LA TEAMS.

WHY? You just said you didn't pay attention to them while you were in SOCAL.

It must be because by and large, they're successful (Lakers, Dodgers (used to be good), and now the Sharks). Also suspiciously, you claim the St. Louis Rams' success and championship.

I won't even bother with the conflict of the hated USC-CAL rivalry.

In sports terms, you're not from LA. You're from the Bay Area. (Since 1981).

The Sharks I get. But you discard the other By Area teams.

Tell me why you should get a pass when you wrote an essay about how you're not really from LA and you, as a teen, barely followed them?

[madinmaryland]

13. Kiddoe! You have just shown your true colors! This is the sports fan you are....

:sheesh:

[Onceuponalife]

14. OK I'll answer your questions

1. I do root for some Bay Area teams besides the Sharks. I'm a big A's fan (see my OP). I do get on them sometimes when they play lousy and call them the Z's. I'm still a fan I just believe in tough love. I was interested in the Warriors for a while during their Run TMC days. I remember one season in particular they were 55-27, pretty damn good. But as I explained above I have pretty much lost interest in basketball altogether.

2. You might see a Kings avatar on my posts. So what? I already explained they are both my teams. I think it's only natural when you have two teams you lean more towards the one that is getting the job done. Not that you dump the other team but it can be painful watching them struggle, so you lean on the good team to help you through. You might understand that if you had two teams to root for. But your circumstances are different then mine. It sounds like you have lived in the same place all your life so you were never confronted with this situation. Lucky you, you weren't forced to move to a different geographical area by your parents when you were a kid. Be grateful but don't judge me because my experience is different than yours. How come I never went to the Forum to see the Kings? They were 100 miles away and I was a kid with no money or car. Hello? Besides I still watched as many games as I could and listened to all the other games on radio. No one else in my family liked hockey. We weren't going to go to LA to see hockey for a family vacation (but we did go to Dodger stadium a few times; my Dad liked baseball).

3. You said I said I didn't care for the LA teams while I was living in SoCal. NOT TRUE. Read my OP again. I became fans of theirs as a kid while living there (Santa Barbara) and I NEVER STOPPED BEING A FAN OF THEIRS. Not one did I dump. The Kings, Lakers, Dodgers, Rams, Trojans. Still fans of theirs. I just happen to ALSO be a Sharks and A's fan for the reasons I have already explained above. What bandwagon did I hop on? I started following the A's when they were lousy (remember Mike Heath and Joaquin Andujar?) and I was with the Sharks from the beginning and suffered through every lousy season they had.

4. There is no USC/Cal rivalry. Where did you get that from? Cal's main rival is Stanford (why do you think they call it the Big Game?). USC's big rival is Notre Dame who they play every year. Their regional Pac 10 rival would be UCLA.

[cboy4]

28. Right, so what you're saying is you like having a large selection

of teams to root for so you can hopefully have one of them playing well.

Sorry, but I don't respect that. You can obviously do what you want, but what you're doing is called being a front-runner. That's why there's such a term in sports.

I didn't suddenly start rooting for the Sacramento Kings once this city got an NBA team in the late 80's. I didn't root against them, but I didn't just adopt them, or decide to have two teams.

No, I root for my NBA Golden State Warriors team always. And it's frustrating to say the least.

You said you used to like the Warriors until they got bad. :eyes:

What kind of position is that?

And who roots for more than one team in the same division .. especially if they're rivals?

In case you don't know, there's a big North-South sports rivalry in California.

That's why it's easy to question how you can root for rivals in the PAC 10 and the NHL West.

USC and Cal may not be bitter rivals, but they are certainly rivals .. at least from the standpoint in Berekeley.

[Onceuponalife]

30. Right, I already knew

you wouldn't change your story no matter what I said. That was an easy call to make. You're about as untractably ignorant in the face of facts as George Bush. Some company you keep.

Let's see...by your tortured logic (which even Jack Bauer wouldn't go near) since you're from Sacramento since at least the early 80's, how convenient that you're suddenly a Sharks fan since they didn't exist until some 10 years after you left the Bay Area (I was there the whole time). I'm sure you wouldn't have anything to do with them until they "suddenly got good" (as you mistakenly put it). I doubt you even know the first thing about hockey. Come to think of it...shouldn't you be a San Francisco Seals fan? What, you abandoned your team just because they folded? What kind of fan are you?

And you're still wrong about the rivalries. The Sharks rival in their division is the Anaheim Ducks. You would know that if you actually followed the Sharks instead of just collecting photos of them. There is no rivalry whatsoever between USC and Cal. I can't believe you can even make that claim with a straight face. Right now USC's main rival in the Pac 10 is Oregon, based on competitive levels, and of course their historic rival has always been Stanford. You sure you ever lived in the Bay Area? Because you seem to have no knowledge of anything there.

[cboy4]

32. The fact that you don't understand why I'm a Sharks fans because

I've lived in Sacramento since the early 80's is an indication you still don't grasp the concept of cheering for teams where you're from.

I'm from San Rafael .. so I root for the Bay Area teams and am there often to see 49er, Giants, Warrior and Sharks games.

Why wouldn't I root for San Jose? They are a Bay Area team and the only NHL team in Northern California.

What? I'm not supposed to root for a hockey team because there isn't one in Sacramento proper?

That's ridiculous. The Bay Area fan base stretches all the way to Reno to the East, to Southern Oregon to the North, to Fresno and the Central Coast to the South and Hawaii to the West.

Everyone in those areas are perfectly eligible to root for the Sharks, or any Bay Area team.

Just like people in Iowa, who don't have pro teams, are perfectly eligible to root for the Chicago teams.

The San Francisco Seals reference is dumb of course, since I wasn't even alive.

I'm not ignorant bud. I'm frighteningly smart most of the time.

You, however refuse to concede that you like having a huge pool of teams to cheer for.

And I don't care if you root for the Sharks. It's the picking and choosing of L.A. and Bay Area teams that irritates me.
========================

Now then, you are even confused about what constitutes a rivalry.

Obviously CAL's natural rival is Stanford .. but YOU CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE RIVAL. :eyes:

And CAL fans hate USC. It doesn't matter if Oregon and USC have a fiercer rivalry or not. There is still a rivalry between CAL and USC, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

As for your final question about whether I've ever lived in the Bay Area .. that's easy.

Wanna know how you can tell I have? Because I faithfully support the San Francisco teams.

We can't tell where you're from because you're all over the map with who you "root" for.

Checkmate.


on edit: typo.

[nickgutierrez]

2. The teams you root for are your own business.

Never mind what a few in these parts might say.

[cboy4]

3. Yea, of course it's up to him, but the reason we talk sports is

to debate differences.

You didn't even read what he and I wrote.

[nickgutierrez]

4. I've seen you pile on people in other threads about this.

I guess the most direct way to get at what I'm trying to say is this: why do you care? Why is this your business?

[cboy4]

5. Because it irritates me.....I suffer with my shitty ass teams,

and then have to put up with people whose "teams" are suspiciously in the finals every year.

Not only that, I have to hear, "so where did your team finish?" and "so how many championships does your team have?" from assholes who don't even begin to know the meaning of loyalty.

So it pisses me off and I choose to talk about it, and blast these bandwagon fans.

Hope that answers your question.

[nickgutierrez]

6. I see where you're coming from...

...but I disagree.

Of course the bandwagon thing is silly, but you seem to want to attach it to anything that isn't within a certain geographic radius to where the person "is from", and that the definition of where a person is from is pretty much whatever you want it to be in the current case. It ends up looking more like another way for you to say things that irritate people - "attract attention", as you call it - rather than a serious anti-bandwagon position.

[cboy4]

7. Everyone who is criticizing my policy is making it far more

difficult than I laid out.

I didn't lay out a calculus formula.

You cheer for the teams where you're from (born and raised), but if you moved away while you were too young, you cheer for the teams where you grew up.

Obviously there are exceptions ... military kids who move all over the place .. people from Montana.

But those are exceptions, and exceptions are generally rare.

There's no excuse for someone from Ohio to be a Dallas Cowboys fan.

None.

[nickgutierrez]

8. You don't get to make that decision.

I don't care what you think the rules are, you have absolutely no standing to make that decision for somebody else.

[cboy4]

9. I just did.

Now give me 20 push-ups.

[madinmaryland]

16. Thanks for the laughs tonight, cboy.

You continue to keep the Sports Forum amusing for all of us here. I appreciate your recognition of me in your last sentence!

I'm glad you enjoyed your train ride and made it safely back and forth!

[madinmaryland]

15. Bookmarked!

Dude. You've been a niner fan all of what.....



ten years!!

[cboy4]

33. Oh please. I would have been kicked out of the house had

I not grown up rooting for the best NFL franchise in history.

Tell us all again how an interloper like you picked Dallas as your team.

Where are you from again?

[Forkboy]

17. So basically it's bitterness.

[cboy4]

34. No it's irritation. There's a difference.

I'm far from bitter.

[trotsky]

10. I like your post, but I am saddened that you felt it was necessary.

Anyone can cheer for any team they want. It is ridiculous that anyone feels there should be rules or restrictions on what teams a particular individual can root for. When the NFL Europe was going on, I pulled for the Frankfurt Galaxy. Know why? Because they had purple uniforms, and my favorite color is purple!

[cboy4]

11. Oh brother.

Purple is your favorite color.

[Upton]

23. I'm sorry

but you can't be considered a REAL sports fan if you cheer for a team because you like the color of their uniforms...seriously.

[trotsky]

25. Well fortunately for the other 6 billion people who inhabit this planet,

YOU don't get to decide what a "REAL" sports fan is!

[Iggo]

12. And who are you again?

Just messin' with ya.

:hi:

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Whew!

I think you're spending WAY too much thinking about this.

Root for whatever team you wish! Ignore anyone who says otherwise.

And this is coming from a parochial sports fan from Chicagoland. All of my fave teams are local, but i just don't agree that geography is the most critical element in being a fan. Convenient, yes. Critical, no.
GAC

[trumad]

19. Agree Professor...

This is my first post into one of these---"who I root for" threads...simply because the ass wipe who started this shit----is simply full of shit--- and I don't want to waist my time debating the douche on his childish thesis.

[Condem]

20. I'll second that, Trumad.

End of discussion.

[cboy4]

21. Trumad, you are known as many things.

Scholar is not one of them.

[trumad]

22. Well---you're known as one thing and one thing only.

A Douche Bag.

[trotsky]

24. ...

:thumbsup:

[Onceuponalife]

26. You're probably right, Professor

I just take umbrage with someone calling me a bandwagon hopper based on an assumption with no real facts to back it up. And i didn't really want this thread to turn into a flaming war but it seems to happen with just about every thread in the Sports forum....Can we have a separate Sports forum for peops with manners and good sportsmanship and want to have serious discussions about sports?

[cboy4]

27. Give me a break. I had answered your OP in a very civil

and respectful manner.

You simply don't like what I said.

One thing is clear.

I stand behind my comments to you and my overall position.

yes INDEED.


on edit...typo

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Did You Work In the Bush Administration?

Sure seems like their type of thinking.
GAC

[cboy4]

31. How does believing sports fans should not be a bandwagon

jumpers (such as someone from Ohio deciding to just out of the blue root for Dallas) equate to working for the Bush Administration?

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Somehow I Knew You Wouldn't Understand

I'll type slowly, so you can keep up.

Your stand is rooted in opinion, not fact. You find that there are reasons beyond bandwagon jumping that explain the behavior you bemoan. You refuse to modify your position and refuse to admit being wrong.

Just like the Bushites. You're wrong about this, and instead of letting it go, you get louder and more insulting and take pride in being wrong. Just like the Bushites.


GAC

[cboy4]

36. LOL....why is it that you can say I sound like a Bushite for refusing

to admit being wrong, but I can't say that about you?

I believe you're wrong. Can I call you a Bushite?

And the last time I checked, there is no "fact" involved in choosing teams.

It's an opinion. My opinion. One that says you root for the teams where you're from .. you just don't pick and choose teams all over the country because you feel like it.

Now you may disagree with that, but it doesn't make me wrong, since there's no statute involved here.

Sorry. Not a Bushite. It's a fair opinion.

[KamaAina]

37. Native Bawlmerian here

my rule: Dump the Dolts into the eighth circle of hell because of their perfidious actions that snowy March night. (The ninth, of course, is reserved for Rush Limbaugh and his ilk.)



:grr: :banghead: