OT: Have you ever given up on a team?

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:24 am

The only two teams i really consider myself a fan of is the L.A. Kings (number 1) and the L.A. Dodgers (kind of distant #2). I'll root for other L.A. teams but i hesitate to call myself a fan, because i wouldn't want some guy who has only casually (if that) followed the Kings until they all of a sudden claim to be a fan if the Kings were to win the cup or something. I root for the Lakers because they are L.A.'s original NBA team, but i'm not going to go as far as to say i'm a true fan. WHen i was growing up my dad and some of his friends had clipper tickets. I went to many games. We even had seats when they made the playoffs with Larry Brown as the coach. However, it became obvious that Sterling was never going to put a remotely competitive team on the court so my dad and his friends gave up and eventually pitched in for Laker seats. I guess i still have a soft spot for the Clippers somewhere deep down, but overall i could care less and i would much rather root for the tradition oriented Lakers.

I don't know if i could ever give up on the Kings and Dodgers. I started watching hockey in 93 when the kings went to the finals. After that brief honeymoon it was bad hockey for 4 years, a first round sweep, another year of no playoffs, another first round sweep, then they FINALLY won a playoff series. Now it's back to two years in a row no playoffs (although the team could have made it if it weren't for the damn unjuries). I'm still with them. Even though i was a new hockey fan, i didn't lose faith in the team during that horrid 4 year playoff drought. It would have to get seriously ugly before i even considered giving up. I just don't think a TRUE fan knows how to give up.

I guess i could see that it would be easier to give up on a team that you don't have any regional connection to. BUt when you love the teams that represent YOUR hometown or city, i just don't see how you can root for any other team. It's like rooting against your self in some strange way.

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:42 am

sf_z wrote:
LAking wrote:
ScoopBrady wrote:I will never give up on the Blackhawks and they have the worst owner in sports. Go ahead, try and name someone worse than Dollar Bill Wirtz.
That's too easy. Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers. Absolutely does not care if the team wins or not. .
Say what you will about Sterling and Wirtz but I don't think you can join the pantheon of bad owners unless you move your team, or at least threaten to do so. I don't give full credit for the Clippers move from San Diego to LA. I'd nominate Bill Bidwell and George Shinn but they have some competition.

I second the nomination for Bill Bidwill. I will always have a soft spot for the football Cardinals as I was a big fan when they were in St. Louis. But the Cardinals are arguably the worst franchise in North American professional sports because their pathetic performance goes all the way back to the 1950's or so ever since they left Chicago.

Only once have the Cardinals advanced past the first playoff round in the last 50 years. Can you name any other franchise that has existed for at least 50 years that can match that? That's sad.

laurenskye · Post by **laurenskye** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:02 am

I am a Lions fan. 1 playoff win in the last 50 years.

I am a Redwings fan. Prior to '97 they went 42 years without a cup.

Always been a fan, always will be a fan. That is what "fan" means.

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:21 am

laurenskye wrote:I am a Lions fan. 1 playoff win in the last 50 years.

Lions were NFL Champions in 1957.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:21 am

37-year-old diehard Cleveland fan.

Last championship in this town? 40 years ago ('64 Browns).

Ive been putting up with this crap for 37 years, why would I give up now?

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:36 am

I think the Expos would be next, they haven't been past the first round of the playoffs in their existence (40 years?)

Parker · Post by **Parker** » Mon May 24, 2004 1:12 pm

Yep, but they soon may be the Las Vegas Expos (I think they might keep the name, it sort of makes sense with this city). It's kind of strange that no team from the big 4 American sports have had a team there. I would guess it's because the executives in the past have not viewed Las Vegas as a family-friendly place, but that has changed in the last few decades. Still, I don't know if they can build a stable fan base there. Their best bet would be to build a stadium with tons of gimmicks and promotions to attract tourists.

laurenskye · Post by **laurenskye** » Mon May 24, 2004 1:41 pm

RiverRat wrote:
laurenskye wrote:I am a Lions fan. 1 playoff win in the last 50 years.
Lions were NFL Champions in 1957.

I was rounding off, sorry.
47 years. It doesn't sound so bad now.

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:05 pm

Yeah, 47 years is still a heck of a long time. But at least you had Barry Sanders for a while so there was a little excitement.

The most memorable moment in Cardinals history in the last 50 years is probably Pat Tillman dying in Afghanistan. How sad is that?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:11 pm

Oh come on.

Winning a playoff game in Texas Stadium as big underdogs to the Cowboys has to rate somewhere.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:13 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:Man, you guys are pathetic...you should never 'give up' on your team no matter what. That's the beauty of sports...some teams are good, some are bad. I'm a damn Suns fan...they won freakin' 29 games. That doesn't mean I'm going to switch over to the Lakers just because I live in LA and they are good. Same thing goes with my 22 win Coyotes.

You live and die with your team...good or bad.

Yep, DB nailed it!!!

Coming from a die hard Cubs fan, I can safely say that part of the fun and excitement is watching a bad team try and improve. Honestly, I actually had a difficult time last year accepting that the Cubs might make it to the World Series. I almost felt like, 'well, what's next?' Don't get me wrong, I would love the Cubs to go all the way, but there is something to be said for sticking with a struggling team.

I have a much harder time sticking with dynasty type teams than I do with mediocre to bad ones. I mean, knowing your team is pretty much guaranteed to make the playoffs year after year after year gets kind of boring in a way...

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:18 pm

I find myself having a harder time being a fan during times of great success. Its not that I feel any less towards the team itself, but I just don't like being grouped in with the bandwagoners. The underdog is something I always attach more to as well. For instance, I'm not a big NBA fan, but if I was a Laker fan, I'd be slow to admit it right now. They have so much talent that the main thing slowing them down is their own work ethic because success has made them a bit sloppy. Kind of hard to get behind that and root for it. Kind of an oximoron right now to be a fan of anybody vs. Yankees and also be a Laker fan... then you have the fact that when you admit to being a Laker fan, you automatically get grouped as a "bandwagoner".

I'm from So Cal, and the Dodgers just never really did it for me. I couldn't help but pull for them during that 88 series... but that was just as much spite for the A's of the time. I was pretty much a bandwagon fan because I was just getting into the sport. I started watching the Braves quite a bit after that and they grew on me much quicker than the Dodgers. Lemke and Pendleton (I know, he's a Cardinal transplant) hooked me... then when they had that run in 92 it was just amazing. Now they have had several years of success, and there for awhile in the mid-to-late 90's... it was quite popular to be a braves fan. I was in college in Pensacola, FL at the time, and braves "fans" were springing up right and left. Just something that makes you feel cheap when you're sitting there watching a game with a big group of guys and there is some bandwagon boy who doesn't even know who Sid Bream is jawing with people on the other side of the room and including you in his conversation.

Basically any fan who reminds me of my brother annoys me. He had a huge propensity for jumping ship during rough times. I'm a Denver Broncos fan... oh its 92 and Elway spent the entire season on his back? I'm suddenly a Cowboys fan who argues endlessly that Emmitt is a better back than Barry... hmm, 1998, I'm a Denver fan again and I always have been.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:20 pm

I have watched Jerry Reinsdorf run the Bulls into the ground for the last six years, yet I will still be watching with great interest as the lottery balls bounce on Wednesday.

I have watched the Bears fumble their way through a whole bunch of dismal seasons for the last decade. Again, I'm still there, and still hopeful each season.

And the Cubs...Spooky pretty much summed it up.

I certainly understand losing interest. I don't watch nearly as many Bulls games as I used to. And, as a former Navy brat, I don't have problems with people adopting teams. I became a bit of a Chargers and Padres fan when I lived in San Diego, and find myself rooting for the Kings because I lived in Sacramento. But total divorce is pretty serious -- I think only if your team does something like relocating.

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Mon May 24, 2004 3:37 pm

Here's what it comes down to, in my opinion ...

If you really are a true fan of your team, it's not possible to truly give up on them because it's in your blood and it beocmes a part of you. Maybe that sounds dumb, but it's true. The St. Louis Cardinals baseball club is my one true favorite sports team. They've been part of my summers for every summer I can ever remember. There are other teams that I like and pull for, but love for the Cardinals is somehow ingrained in me and I can't imagine it ever being any different. I may get mad and frustrated because of lack of success or some questionable moves, but in the long run, I'm still there because it's in my blood.

If that's the way you are about your favorite team, I don't think it's emotionally possible to ever really give up on them. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon May 24, 2004 3:41 pm

RiverRat wrote:If you really are a true fan of your team, it's not possible to truly give up on them because it's in your blood and it beocmes a part of you.

And that is exactly how it should be.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon May 24, 2004 4:39 pm

I know an Oilers fan who is still a diehard Titans fan. I don't even think moving is an excuse. You're either a fan or you're not. Hell, if the Bears moved I would probably follow them, if my wife moved...well........

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon May 24, 2004 4:48 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:I know an Oilers fan who is still a diehard Titans fan. I don't even think moving is an excuse. You're either a fan or you're not. Hell, if the Bears moved I would probably follow them, if my wife moved...well........

Was your friend a Houston area native? It's probably easier to handle a move if you aren't following the local team. I have a friend that stayed with the Rams with their move from LA, but that's easy to do since he's lived his whole life in PA.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:11 pm

RiverRat wrote:Here's what it comes down to, in my opinion ...

If you really are a true fan of your team, it's not possible to truly give up on them because it's in your blood and it beocmes a part of you. Maybe that sounds dumb, but it's true. .

Nicely put, RiverRat.

For some of us it literally is in our blood. My grandfather and father were both diehard Tribe and Browns fans, it's how I was brought up, it's all I've ever known. It's as much a part of my personal makeup as any physical traits they passed down to me.

There's no giving that up.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:43 pm

Do you find that the teams that you follow have 'personality traits' (real or assumed) that you have sympathy with ? That you feel that their values are the same ones you appreciate ?

EG - Man City...loyalty, an ability not to take oneself too seriously, gallows humour, local pride.

All these are the key elements of following City..if you didn't laugh while following them, you'd be crying.

Some US franchises seem to have this, and some don't, it seems to me from a distance.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:49 pm

Dave:

Just curious: What are the perceived traits of Newcastle United fans in England?

Thanks,
PK

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:02 pm

lexbur wrote: For some of us it literally is in our blood. My grandfather and father were both diehard Tribe and Browns fans, it's how I was brought up, it's all I've ever known. It's as much a part of my personal makeup as any physical traits they passed down to me.

There's no giving that up.

How is it *literally* in your blood...lol. What the hell is in the water up there?

I agree with your sentiments, but it's too bad that the owners and players don't feel that way anymore.

BBReBozo · Post by **BBReBozo** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:05 pm

pk500 wrote: Just curious: What are the perceived traits of Newcastle United fans in England?

They all like to pretend they're American.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:40 pm

Leebo33 wrote:
lexbur wrote: For some of us it literally is in our blood. My grandfather and father were both diehard Tribe and Browns fans, it's how I was brought up, it's all I've ever known. It's as much a part of my personal makeup as any physical traits they passed down to me.

There's no giving that up.
How is it *literally* in your blood...lol. What the hell is in the water up there?

I agree with your sentiments, but it's too bad that the owners and players don't feel that way anymore.

Ha! I guess that did sound kinda hokey, but what I meant was it's passed down from generation to generation, like something that's in your blood.

Gimme a break, it was a rough weekend, we got swept by the Devil Rays.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:59 pm

PK

Newcastle fans - mental, but not as loyal as they would like to have everyone believe. Like most one-team towns, their highs and lows seem more extreme than other peoples (cf Leeds, Sunderland), and their memories are very short. I went there in the early 90's and there was 20,000 in on a Wednesday night - felt like peas rattling around in a dustbin.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Tue May 25, 2004 12:11 am

lexbur wrote: Ha! I guess that did sound kinda hokey, but what I meant was it's passed down from generation to generation, like something that's in your blood.

Gimme a break, it was a rough weekend, we got swept by the Devil Rays.

Lexbur,

I know what you mean. It is the same way in Western PA and that is probably why the Browns/Steelers rivalry is one of the best in sports. I was totally disgusted when Modell moved the Browns and I truly felt sorry for all the fans of Cleveland. I'm glad you guys got a team back quickly and I'm glad they suck