What's the story behind what teams you root for?

[BobbyMac]

If ND fans are anything, they're diverse. I am amazed by the variety of pro teams...and other college teams that are represented in the member's info.

What really surprises me are members who are Laker, Red Wings, Colts and StL Cardinal fans... or something eclectic like that.

It would be interesting to hear the reasons you chose to follow the teams you did.

I don't have any logos up but I'm a pretty typical southside Chicago pro sports guy.....grew up across the border in the Region so it was ND football / basketball & IU basketball starting in the glory days of the 70's (though the Hooisers have faded for me as the years passed)...... and last but not least, the mighty Valpo Crusaders.

The only oddity in my fan career was an affair I had with the Celtics during Bird's career where I actually rooted for them over the Bulls but when Larry retired, I was back in the Bulls camp.

If you guys have already covered this, I apologize.

.

.

 

[GATTACA!]

Notre Dame: Not entirely clear where this one came from. To my knowledge it was my great grandfather on my dads side that was the first to root for ND. Having it handed down through the family + being catholic + being surrounded by OSU fans made rooting for Notre Dame very easy.

Browns: I live in Cleveland

Indians: I live in Cleveland

Cavs I live in Cleveland

Devils: Grew up playing hockey in those days the Devils where the best in the NHL. Also i was always a "goon" on the ice, so Scott Stevens quickly became my favorite player.

 

[BobbyMac]

Notre Dame: Not entirely clear where this one came from. To my knowledge it was my great grandfather on my dads side that was the first to root for ND. Having it handed down through the family + being catholic + being surrounded by OSU fans made rooting for Notre Dame very easy.

Browns: I live in Cleveland

Indians: I live in Cleveland

Devils: Grew up playing hockey in those days the Devils where the best in the NFL. Also i was always a "goon" on the ice, so Scott Stevens quickly became my favorite player.

Like the Devils choice.... Next to the Hawks, I've watched more Devils games than any other team. Doc Emrick is my favorite announcer in any sport...and he's a fellow Miami Redskin.

.

 

[Irishbounty28]

When I was first introduced to football in the late 80's I lived in Mishawaka, Indiana and my mother worked as a personal banker in South Bend. Coincidentally, my mother was working on some things at the bank for Lou Holtz, and told him that she had some sons that may enjoy watching a game at Notre Dame. I was old enough to remember, but too young to understand. But that was the first and only time I have been to Notre Dame to see a football game. From that point on it is history, and I became a lifelong Notre Dame fan.

All of the other teams I root for are based on proximity as my family later moved back to Iowa, and I spent my Sundays rooting for the Chiefs, and have been a Royals fan as well.

 

[BobbyMac]

When I was first introduced to football in the late 80's I lived in Mishawaka, Indiana and my mother worked as a personal banker in South Bend. Coincidentally, my mother was working on some things at the bank for Lou Holtz, and told him that she had some sons that may enjoy watching a game at Notre Dame. I was old enough to remember, but too young to understand. But that was the first and only time I have been to Notre Dame to see a football game. From that point on it is history, and I became a lifelong Notre Dame fan.

All of the other teams I root for are based on proximity as my family later moved back to Iowa, and I spent my Sundays rooting for the Chiefs, and have been a Royals fan as well.

Gotta ask.... Hawkeyes or Cyclones?

 

[Irishbounty28]

Gotta ask.... Hawkeyes or Cyclones?

Hawkeyes for me. I know a lot of people that graduated from Iowa State, and have been there on multiple occasions. It just isn't for me...

 

[stlnd01]

Pretty straightforward for me: I was raised a Notre Dame fan. My dad went there and so did I. My other serious team is the Red Sox. Grew up in Boston, so it's sort of a birthright.

Beyond that, I root for the Celtics and the Bruins, and BU hockey (went to a lot of their games in high school). No strong allegiances in the NFL, but generally like the Steelers and Packers for their tradition and the way they carry themselves as organizations. Only started rooting for the Patriots when I moved away from Boston and everyone hated them so much, but I don't take them as seriously as the other Boston teams.

I've lived all over since I left home for college but when you've grown up rooting some of the greatest franchises in sports there's no real reason to change.

 

[GBdomer]

I was born and raised a Notre Dame fan. Runs extremely deep in my family. To the point where I missed fall fest photos because of a Notre Dame game going into OT.

Pretty much an Irish Catholic from the North Side of Chicago. Fucking hate the Cubs and the delusional fan base. Just a bunch of Looney Tunes.

Die hard Chicago Black hawks fan
Was a huge Bulls fan with Jordan
Chicago White Soxs mean I root for them but I don't watch any of there games

LSU probably just my favorite SEC school, just love the way Death Valley looks and those unis.

Manchester United because one of my best friends is a huge Man U fan. Don't know shit about them

 

[blueNDgold44]

Basically all of my teams are because my grandfather/father rooted for them.

Grandfather played at ND so that was a given.

Grew up adoring the Cubs during Dusty Baker's stint in Chicago.

Fell in love w/ the Blackhawks when I had a buddy whose father played on the team.

Bears and Bulls because they are the hometown team.

Pretty generic, only team that isn't hometown or because of family is the O's. I was a huge Ripken fan and now am a big Machado fan, plus they have sweet uniforms.

 

[arndtjc]

Well, my ND fandom started a bit on the different side. Growing up in Omaha, everyone around here are Nebraska fans. My uncle is included in this, and he so happened to have a deep hatred for Notre Dame. So at the ripe old age of four, I began my long career of trolling people by cheering hard for Notre Dame just to piss my uncle off. Long story short, it grew on me, and eighteen years later, here I am, as diehard as you can get!

As for my Tampa fandom, my pops moved there when I was six so naturally I became a Rays, Bolts, and Bucs fan!

 

[dang227]

I am from Northeast Ohio and started rooting for ND when my Dad took me to my first game in '87 and I saw Tim Brown vs Michigan State. My sister ended up attending ND and I spent quite a bit of time there visiting her and fell in love with the place.

Other than ND it's the Browns and Indians for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NDinL.A.]

ND - We were Catholic, and they were on TV every Saturday, so I became a ND fan. Then I met my friends (twins who later became the best men in my wedding) and they were die-hard ND fans, and my "fandom" went over-the-top from there.

Angels, Lakers, Kings, Galaxy, Rams - I remember when I was about 6 or 7, I loved the Chargers bc of Air Corryel, Dan Fouts, Kellen Winslow et al, and one of my older brothers said in our family (ND aside), we only root for L.A./OC teams. That was that lol, and the above teams became my teams.

Barcelona/Spanish National Team - My dad is Spaniard, so we grew up with those teams.

 

[ulukinatme]

Grew up and hour from Cleveland, so if I have an affinity for Pro teams it's the Browns and the Indians. I don't follow the NFL and MLB very much these days though. I've spent the last 15 years in the Dayton area and it's difficult to get Cleveland games down here.

I've been an ND fan as long as I can remember. My uncle and aunt met on campus and got married, she was a former cheerleader. Grandfather is a big fan, donates money and is part of the Gold Seat blue hairs, so I get to enjoy those perks a few times a year. My first game on campus happened to be the '93 BC game....talk about a kick to the nuts as a fan, you feel cursed after something like that. I've seen a lot of great games and comebacks though to make up for it, like '06 UCLA, '12 Pitt, and a slew of others.

 

[Irish#1]

IRISH - Not sure how I got hooked. Just remember rooting for them around 59-61. Remember watching Lyndsy Nelson rebroadcast the games every Sunday morning before church.

Pacers - Since the franchise came into existence back in the 60's. Those ABA days were great. I remember when the merge happened with the NBA. Was in a debate with a Bulls fan who thought the ABA teams and players were second rate. I told him to take a look at the top scorers in the NBA. They were pretty much ABA players, Iceman, Dr. J. Moses Malone, George McGinnis, McAdoo.

Colts - Since they moved here. Not sure if we'll see another run like Manning gave us, but Luck is going to give it one hell of a try. Was a huge Cowboys fan until Jones fired Landry. That's when I told them to kiss my ass. Love to see them lose.

Butler Basketball - Love seeing the little guys conquer the world.

Boilermakers - Four kids with Purdue degrees so I root for them except when they play the Irish.

 

[Black Irish]

Catholic, mainly of the Irish variety. It was just the way it always was, and I never even questioned it. ND football on fall Saturdays, every Saturday with all the men of the family watching and rooting. I still have a tiny ND snow cap that I wore as a little kid, saving it to plop on my own kid's head(s). No serious interest in pro sports of any variety. I'll watch pro football here and there, but no real interest in the outcome. I enjoy watching boxing just to evaluate the techniques on display.

 

[ResLife Hero]

Notre Dame - when I was in 3rd grade, my uncle was a priest in LA, and the Cardinal offered him his tickets to the USC-ND game in South Bend. Sat in the gold seats on the 50 and watched us win. Blew my little mind at the time. Fanhood slowly grew after that, and by the time I enrolled at ND, I was a full blown fanatic.

Lakers - born and raised.

Cubs - This is the one people raise an eyebrow on for me. Basically, I loved the movie Rookie of the Year so much and wanted to be a major league pitcher that I spurned my Dodger family and declared myself a Cubs fan. 15 years later, I'm still stuck with the consequences of that decision lol.

 

[fightingirish26]

Notre dame- starting with my grandad, my dad, and then me, we are all die hard notre dame fans.

Penn state- sister went there, I'm 99% sure ill be going there, the school spirit on campus is unreal, stadium atmosphere is unreal.

I like all the philly area sports teams, although I'm not diehard.

Love Manchester city, started following them as a kid just because I absolutely hated united.

Also root for st joes basketball, sometimes Villanova (when jay wright isn't being a baby), and I love Drexel, although they don't really ever have much athletic success apart from their lax team this year.

 

[NDohio]

ND - I grew up in a tiny little town on the OH/IN border. Back before cable, the TV channels we received were from Dayton, OH and Ft. Wayne, IN. The Fort Wayne stations played a lot of Irish games and did specials on Notre Dame. Notre Dame was the first sports team I followed.

Cincinnati Reds - Big Reds Machine! Nothing more needs to be said.

Denver Broncos - The two Ohio teams didn't do anything for me. The Browns were from Cleveland and the Bengals were just blah. Loved the allure of the rockies and the Broncos helmets were awesome. Became a fan. My first replica uniform was of Craig Morton.

Tottenham Hotspur - I started following the EPL in the eighties. Back then you followed the European leagues through soccer magazines. Tottenham was consistently in the battle for both the FA and UEFA cups. Steve Perryman was one of their stars and I followed him.

Growing up in a small town that wasn't really "attached" to any one city - Indianapolis, Columbus, and Cincinnati were all about the same distance from us - I never felt the tug of cheering for a hometown team. As a result, my fandom is pretty random.

 

[FLDomer]

Notre Dame: Raised Catholic about 45-50 from South Bend. Many of my Uncles and cousins attended the University but my Grandfather was also a huge ND fan. Our family business used to get season tickets, so at least once I year I went to an ND game. Now my sister is a professor there and come to find out my wife's great grandfather played for the Irish. GO IRISH!

Bears: Because most of my family are Polacks from Chicago and its DA Bears! BEAR DOWN!

Cubs: Family ties to Chicago and my Grandfather loved em and used to take my brother and I to games. GO CUBBIES!

Red Wings: because growing up in Michigan my best friend was a wings fan. GO WINGS!

Miami Dolphins: My Grandfather owned a home in Miami and kinda rooted for em. When I was kid I loved Marino but realized, when I moved to S. FL, he is a douche. Now my wife is a native to S. FL so we root for them together. FINS UP!

 

[IrishLion]

ND - I was 11 or 12 years old and looking for something to watch at my grandma's house on a Saturday afternoon. I played football, but I didn't have an appreciation for sitting down and watching football yet. I came across a game on one channel and decided to see what it was about. I watched this team in awesome gold helmets score on a nice TD pass against a team in green, and I have been hooked ever since. (It was ND vs MSU in 2002, the first play I saw was Holiday to Stovall in the corner just before half). I always tried to watch after that, and then realized that this was the team my stepdad and his friends watched every Saturday.

I went to a Catholic high school in the Cincinnati area a few years later and realized what a presence ND had in the population. My two best friends on the football team were also ND fans, so I became a true die-hard then.


UC - My grandparents have had season tickets to UC football and basketball for a loooooooooong time. I pretty much grew up in their house, and they were always taking me to games, so I was kind of raised for it. ND will always be my number one because of how passionate I am about football, but UC will forever be a close second. The same year I discovered ND, UC nearly upset Ohio State at Paul Brown stadium. I didn't have an appreciation yet really, but that one still stings.

Bengals/Reds - Gotta support the local teams

Baylor - I saw RGIII's first highlight moment while at a friend's house. Later that season, at the same friend's house, ESPN showed some Baylor highlights and it was mentioned that RGIII was one of the last remaining QBs without an INT on the year. I told my friends that he was going to win a Heisman some day if he was really that smart with the ball while being able to make the physical plays as well. He made me look really smart at the end of 2011.

 

[Grahambo]

Notre Dame: My dad said his dad liked Boston teams 2nd because of the Irish connection which in turn led him to ND. So from my grandfather to my dad to me to my son.

Mets: Because I hate winning. (My dad said his dad was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and was pissed they left. Picked the Mets.)

Rangers: Mike Richter/Brian Leetch

Knicks: Because I love dysfunction. (Huge Michael Jordan fan though)

Giants: If I can survive the Dave Brown/Rodney Hampton/Tito Wooten era then I can survive anything.

Jeff Gordon: When I started watching, he was winning and everyone hated him.

Metrostars/Red Bulls: Got hooked because of Tony Meola.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Alabama Football: "I've always liked how they can compete for and win titles without top flight talent. They only recruit high character kids, and I appreciate that"

North Carolina Basketball: "I like how the players are held to high academic standards"

Yankees: "Classy organization that is always an underdog worth rooting for. Been 5 years without a title. Talk about being against all odds!"

Los Angeles Lakers: "I almost switched to being a Heat fan last season, but Lebron left."

Detroit Red Wings: "Grew up a DIE HARD Canadiens fan, but found myself rooting for the Wings more and more in the late 90s."

Dallas Cowboys: "America's Team!!!!!! NUFF SAID"

 

[NCND]

Notre Dame: I grew up in NC, had no cable, watched NBC for the ND games and fell in love with all the tradition.

Others: Don't kill me but I love the traditional teams In cfb. I grew up when Michigan, OSU, Penn State, Miami, FSU, Florida played all those high noon #2 vs #4 or whatever match ups with Keith jackson and Big Game Brent calling those games. I loved it.

 

[Rack Em]

ND - We were Catholic, and they were on TV every Saturday, so I became a ND fan. Then I met my friends (twins who later became the best men in my wedding) and they were die-hard ND fans, and my "fandom" went over-the-top from there.

Angels, Lakers, Kings, Galaxy, Rams - I remember when I was about 6 or 7, I loved the Chargers bc of Air Corryel, Dan Fouts, Kellen Winslow et al, and one of my older brothers said in our family (ND aside), we only root for L.A./OC teams. That was that lol, and the above teams became my teams.

Barcelona/Spanish National Team - My dad is Spaniard, so we grew up with those teams.

So was Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator based on your dad?

 

[IrishLion]

So was Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator based on your dad?

Ha, whenever I see/hear "Spaniard," the first thing I think is Maximus from Gladiator. Reps.

 

[yankeeND]

This is a great topic by the way. Here goes...

ND - I watched them beat FSU and Charlie Ward in 1993 as it was the first college football game I ever watched. Pretty easy to see where the love comes from here. It's been a rough road ever since, but the closest I have ever come to feeling like that about sports again was in 2005 against USC in defeat. No team brings out the emotion in me like ND.

Atlanta - always on TBS when I was a kid even in Toledo, OH. Watched Chipper, Maddux, Smoltz, and Andrew Jones literally almost every night. Plus now I can get to several games a year living in GA.

New England - I remember getting a Drew Bledsoe rookie card as a kid and the rest is history. Apparently when I moved to Alabama as a teen, I found out that the high school I transferred to was the high school of hall of famer John Hannah. I always thought that was great.

Cavs - being from OH, I never really had much to root for until LeBron got drafted. I loved them so much and then he left. I literally hated the NBA after he left and rooted basically against the Heat for 4 years. I know I shouldn't have been mad, but it just seems like James understood how everyone in that state felt when he left after reading that genious letter he wrote. I honestly do not care if they win a championship or not. Obviously I would love for it to happen, but what he is doing is so much bigger than that. The hope, the jobs, and the excitement he is bringing trumps W's and L's for me. I am literally proud of LeBron for what he is doing. Just in awe right now.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Notre Dame (football): Grew up just west of South Bend. Everyone I know from back home is fan. Loved campus ever since the first time I set foot on it for a class field trip in elementary school.

IU (basketball): Yes, I'm one of "those people." My entire family are die hard IU fans. It just gets passed down.

Chicago Bears: Again, growing up in northwestern Indiana, I spent more time in Chicago than I did anywhere else.

MLB Baseball: Gets tricky. Admittedly, I'm a wishy washy "fan" of certain teams based on era. I grew up a huge Oakland As fan because I loved Ricky Henderson. My dad took me to see Pete Rose play once, so I didn't exactly hate the Reds. I later cheered for the Mariners because Ken Griffey Jr became my favorite player (and still is all time). The Braves became my favorite team for a short time during their stretch of dominance. But I eventually grew to cheer for the Chicago teams: Initially the Sox because my school gave me free tickets to Sox games for getting on the Honor Roll and they were the "cool" team to cheer for. Later I became a Cubs fan mostly because all of my friends were and there isn't anything quite like a party in the Bleachers during a day game. Nowadays, I still consider myself a Cubs fan, but mainly because of loyalty and for fear that one day they win the WS and I'll look like a jackass if I abandoned them. Haha.

Chicago Bulls: Geography and Michael Jordan made this the easy choice. Nowadays I follow the Bulls, but I live in Indy so I also follow the Pacers. And since Lebron is my favorite player, I follow his career as well.

NHL: Never been a huge fan of hockey, but gun-to-my-head, it's the Blackhawks based on my loyalty to Chicago teams.

Soccer: Not a big enough fan to have a favorite team. Although I do enjoy watching the World Cup.

 

[tussin]

ND - Grew up watching ND games with my grandfather every weekend, was a fan ever since I was a kid during the Powlus days (who went to HS near me). I also went to a college that didn't have a major football team, so there has never been a temptation to switch allegiances.

Sixers / Flyers - Grew up in PA and currently live in Philly.

Yankees - My dad is a diehard Yanks fan and watches the games basically every night. Have cheered for them ever since.

TB Bucs - Not really a big NFL fan but when I was growing up I loved the Creamsicle jerseys. Have pulled for them ever since.

In terms of diehardness:
1. ND
2. Sixers
3. Yanks
4. Flyers
5. Bucs

 

[Kingbish01]

Notre Dame-- My Dad graduated from ND and every Saturday it was a party at my house. I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't watching ND during the fall and winter.

Steelers--Grew up in Pittsburgh best organization and fan base!

Penguins-- Grew up in Pittsburgh..lol Super Mario made us fall in love a long time ago.

Braves-- Moved to Atlanta in '05 after 7/8 years of watching the Pirates give away decent talent, I flat out stopped pulling for them. Even now that they have turned it around, I haven't jumped back on the band wagon like everyone else in the Burgh.

UGA-- Only other college football team I pull for. (Can't stand Pitt.) I got sucked in over the years in Atlanta so if the games don't interfere I watch them every Saturday too. Great game day experience, great fans, usually field a great team. Plus it helps that I can't stand UF, Bama, LSU, and Tenn.

 

[Ndaccountant]

All Cleveland Teams and ND.......I enjoy constant disappointment.