Proper fan loyalty

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by fitantitans, Jul 22, 2007.

?
  1. Loyalty stays with roots, in Pittsburgh

    6 vote(s)
    33.3%
  2. Loyalty is your home team

    2 vote(s)
    11.1%
  3. Depends on the person

    10 vote(s)
    55.6%
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  1. SEC 330 BIPOLAR

    SEC 330 BIPOLAR jive turkey

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    Alex, your story isn't too much unlike mine. It's different when a team moves to you or near you and becomes your own. I liked the Falcons growing up and it was hard to like them because they were terrible. It sure didn't help that they played in the same division as the 49ers. My family had ties to Atlanta so I tried to be a fan of theirs. To this day I still like Atlanta ok.

    Do realize though that Steelers fans are extremely hardcore not too much unlike the Packers fans. No true Steelers fan is going to make the switch.

    I have a problem with this:
    nor do I... but I once was as were you. Sorry, but if you were a hardcore Bears fan you wouldn't favor the Titans over them. Your story is nearly identical to mine so I really do understand it. Also, Super Bowl XX was the first one I can remember clearly looking back.
     
  2. fitantitans

    fitantitans This space For Rent

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    It's hard to follow the Titans during the off season. Try following another states team during the same period.
    I guess the answer to the situation is how a person looks at the team he's following. I used to follow my old team because they represented the City at which I used to live. Community pride. Team pride. I stuck by my home town and its pro teams. But when I moved and called a new city home, I kept my same outlook about Community Pride and Team Pride. I stuck to the team that represented the city, state and area that I now call home.
    Same can be said about that old team. I grew up with them, there has to be some roots someplace.
     
  3. Alex1939

    Alex1939 Space Invaders Champion

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    In your original post, you said if a person was capable of switching loyalty (favorite teams) than he/she could only be a casual NFL observer not a true hard-core NFL fan.

    I have switched favorite teams, but I cannot at any point, consider myself only a casual NFL observer. I did used to watch most of the Bears games through childhood (we had one of those old-school giant satelite's that picked up CBS chicago and such crazy channels).

    I still try to catch as many Bears games as I can, when they aren't conflicting with the Titans.

    Maybe hard-core is just a relative term, but I certainly considered myself a hard-core Bears fan. Buy their merchandise, spend big :greedy: to make trips to Chicago and go to games. Follow their news, player signings, likely draft picks, etc. If that doesn't make me hardcore, what are the requirements to get me there?

    I think in the end this is how it worked for me:

    Love of Nashville > Love of da Bears.


    I'm sure my story has to be similar, lots of NFL lovers that had "old" favorite teams before the Titans moved to town. Some may have been hard-core with their old team, some maybe just rooted for them because they didn't have a team. Guess it all depends on how you define a "hard-core" fan.


    I imagine it had to be hard to be a Falcons fan back then, but at least you got to root for them in one superbowl (granted far down the line), I was rooting for the dirty birds in that game as well.
     
  4. SEC 330 BIPOLAR

    SEC 330 BIPOLAR jive turkey

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    No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. :wink2:
     
  5. CRUDS

    CRUDS Moderator Staff

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    Unless you were already an Oilers fan or simply too young to be a fan prior to TN landing the Titans you would have cheered another team. That's a huge % of football fans that had to either drop allegiences or follow two teams..
    I personally have far too many suffering years invested in being a Bengals fan to bail on them now..
    That said, when I moved here it was already decided that we would follow The Titans as well. A few seriously enjoyable football seasons later we genuinley love The Titans. Now I get double the fun on Sundays.. I'm not complaining..
     
  6. Broken Record

    Broken Record Biscuit Eater Staff

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    Gotta agree with you on that one. I already drive 3+ hours each way to see home games. I'm not driving any more than that. If I moved, I'd probably still follow the Titans, but I'd get more involved with the local team. There are a few teams, though, that even if I lived a block from their stadium I'd have trouble rooting for... ::cough:: jacksonville ::cough::

    :ha:
     
  7. Broken Record

    Broken Record Biscuit Eater Staff

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    ... and THAT is where loyalty and reality mix. hahahahahahaha.
     
  8. GoTitans3801

    GoTitans3801 Forward Progress!

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    It's a difficult thing, since so many people have such different experiences. I firmly believe in supporting local sports teams, but if I moved somewhere else I'd still follow the Titans heavily, and consider them my favorite team. It's what I did while I lived in New Orleans for four years, and now while I'm in Knoxville for 9 months out of the year. Time changes many things. I can see someone becoming closer to, and developing a history with a new, local team. It's hard to beat rooting for a team in your town, especially if you are someone who identifies heavily with the city you live in. I believe that someone who was a "real" or "serious" fan of an NFL team can grow to love another team, but cannot give up their previous team, or at least not for many, many years. I'm sure it's difficult for such people, who have multiple loyalties, when their teams collide. I know I'm almost going to feel guilty in September when I go into the Superdome, because I loved the Saints and always enjoy watching their games, but I'm there for the Titans, and that's who I'll be cheering for. It's a bittersweet experience, but I think loyalties have to be chosen, and no one can have two "favorite" teams.

    What I REALLY REALLY hate is the people who have a favorite team, but when they lose, they then claim loyalty to another team, as if it were theirs. I'll cheer for teams I like once my team is out, but I certainly don't claim that they're my team. I know someone from boston, who's an incredibly annoying pats fan, and then when the Steelers went to the superbowl year before last, she claimed that her dad was a steelers fan, and she'd always loved them too. She then claimed this year, after the Colts beat HER PATRIOTS(!!!), that she was going to cheer for the colts in the superbowl because she was in School at UT, and loved Manning. There are several levels of hypocrisy in this, but my main point is that I don't think you can claim hard core loyalty to more than one team.
     
  9. Riverman

    Riverman That may be.... Tip Jar Donor

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    I grew up cheering for the Broncos. I went to my first Titans (and NFL) game about 7 or 8 years ago. (When Del Greco couldn't find his helmet and the Titans lost the game) I've had PSL's since the end of that season.

    I'll dot the i's of anybody who downs my Titans. But I still like to see the Bronco's do well if it doesn't effect the Titans chances of winning or advancing to or in the play-offs.
     
  10. MJTitans

    MJTitans Chris Whitley look him up

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    I grew up in DC during the good years for the Redskins... so I'm a pretty big Skins fan, but after Gibbs left and I went away to college it was hard to follow them as much. I'll always be a fan, but just not like I used to.

    Lived in Denver and tried to get into the Broncos while I was there. But then we moved to TN, and started watching the Titans. My wife returned some birthday gifts and bought playoff tickets with the money, which happened to be the Bills game - so we've been hooked ever since. I started wondering with Eddie George gone and McNair gone if we'd start to lose interest... live in NY now so we don't get to see many games and don't get the news reports. But then VY comes in and hooks us, so I'm in for at least another 10 years I guess. I just love football - I can see having my favorite team change every so often, but I'll always be a Titans and Skins fan, I guess.
     
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