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Have you ever switched your sports allegiance? OT THREAD

Yep just to the Canes though, still pull for same professional teams all my life sans the bulls, once they drafted Duke player after Duke player I was done with them.
 
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CFLCane said:
I'm having a midlife fan crisis and debating switching allegiances for the first time in decades on two sports at the same time. Is this even legal?

NFL- Dolphin since birth, i've been pretty checked out since the Jags buried Marino in the playoffs. I really want to see how the QB position works out in next years draft, but **** i really like what the Browns are building with Highsmith and the rest of them Canes.

NBA- Started a Magic fan - Switched to Lakers the day they drafted/traded for kobe. Hate lebron, lonzo, ty lue. Really think i'm just going to roll with whoever drafts Zion.

CFB-Cane since birth. Death before Dishonor.
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No, unless the team itself moved, you can never do this. You can start pulling for a 1b under certain circumstances, but abandoning your original team is a serious Man Card violation.
 
As a young kid, I was a Brooklynn Dodger fan. When they moved to LA, I had to find another team. I chose my Dad's team, the Washington Senators (the original ones). That taught me how to suffer as a fan.
 
Poptimus said:
Seriously, there are very, very limited instances whereby a team switch is OK.

1. Your team up and moves to a new town. If this happens, it's not like you're switching teams, but your team switched on you. I was a Houston Oilers fan back in the day and then they moved to Tennessee where I had no attachment. I simply was not going to root for a team based in Tennessee (I was born in Houston). Living in South FL, I became a Dolphins fan for the same rationale as why I originally became an Oilers fan. The Oilers switched on me, but I'll still rock a throwback Warren Moon jersey.

2. Your team drafts a dude like Jameis Winston #1 overall. I get it. As a Miami Hurricanes fan, that may be too much to bear. I don't even want to think of what that'd be like for Canes fans who had to deal with that.

3. You're gambling on a game between two teams and for 3 hours you root for where your $ is.

Other than that, I just think it's a bandwagon, frontrunner move. No one ever just stops being a fan when **** was good and jumps to a crappy team. Nah, they run to the Patriots or whatever the hot team is like fan mercenaries.
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Football - born in St. Louis, rooted for the St. Louis football Cardinals early. Moved to Orlando in the early 1970s when there were only 3 TV networks and 2-3 minutes of sports coverage at the end of the local news. Started rooting for the Dolphins. Started rooting for the Bucs when we got an expansion franchise. Dropped the Cardinals forever when Bill Bidwill moved the team to Arizona. Dropped the Bucs forever when they drafted Jameis Winston. Still with the Dolphins unless Orlando gets a team.

Baseball - Cardinals since birth. I pay attention to the Baltimore Orioles because they were formerly the St. Louis Browns.

Hockey - Blues since birth.

Basketball - rooted for the Celtics before Orlando got a team. Would have rooted for the Hawks if they had stayed in St. Louis.

Soccer - Orlando City.
 
My family moved to Miami from New Jersey in the 70's before I was born but the only NY/NJ team they care about is the Yankees so I was raised a Yankee fan and still enjoy Yankee baseball today. I'm not really passionate about any other teams besides the Hurricanes. I'm kind of a default fan of the local teams. Although I admit to loving Michael Jordan when I was a kid. He got me into basketball.
 
NCAA Football - I was rooting for Michigan originally before I switched to Miami. I do not think I will ever switch to any teams again.
NFL: I was originally Vikings fan before I switched to Washington Redskins. Again, I will not switch to another team.
NHL: Montreal Canadiens - Very diehard fan!
MLB: I was Montreal Expos fan until the team was moved to Washington. I had to root the Toronto Bluejays until the baseball returns to Montreal.
 
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Grew up an Orioles fan (mom's family from Balitmore, lived there briefly when I was about 5 years old), but have lived mostly in northern Virginia ever since. While at Miami, Expos moved to DC and became the Nationals, so I decided to make the switch to being a Nat's fan. My first Nat's game was actually against the Marlins in Miami.

Where I live now, Nat's stadium is 15 minutes away, Camden Yards is about an 1hr and half, or more with traffic.

Helps that the Orioles owner is hated by their fans as much as it sounds like Fin's fans hate Ross, and that they aren't in same league. Both teams have had about the same post-season success since then (ie - None).

But the reasons OP stated for switching allegiances are just fair weather fan BS.
 
TemplarCane said:
Came close. I grew up in Tampa and a Bucs fan. Move to SoCal in 1984 but still followed the team. There were strong rumors the team was going to be purchased by the Orioles' ownership and moved to Baltimore. This was before the Browns moved and turned into the Ravens. I would have dropped the NFL.

Today, maybe. I no longer have any ties to Tampa (mother passed away this past January). If Bruce Arians proves to yet another bad hire I may just take my football and go home.

Rams or Chargers?
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Sorry to hear of your Mother’s passing mate. Those make for difficult times. As to Rams or Chargers, I’m partial to the Powder Blue over the horns but again, getting a future son-in-law who is a huge Chargers fan so there’s that. As to loyalty of teams, I’ve stuck with my Jaguars through thick and thin, the Canes of course, and my beloved BoSox as well. Times were lean there for awhile but with Boston winning so many titles lately it’s been a Godsend. I remember being on the phone with my Dad who grew up in Boston and not uttering a word in 2004. Just absolute shock and stun that the Red Sox had won the World Series. Thought for sure they would blow it against the hated Yankees in the ALCS. The huge momentum swing put thee. Up against St. Louis who couldn’t handle the groundswell and the rest is history. I think part of enjoying a championship is being there through the lean times, when only despair is the hope one can cling to. But I’m old school and get the younger generation’s love fest with players and no teams. Here’s hoping after 15+ years of futility that our Canes can arise from the ashes anew, and go on a winning streak the likes of what we haven’t seen since the early 2000’s.
 
CFLCane said:
I'm having a midlife fan crisis and debating switching allegiances for the first time in decades on two sports at the same time. Is this even legal?

NFL- Dolphin since birth, i've been pretty checked out since the Jags buried Marino in the playoffs. I really want to see how the QB position works out in next years draft, but **** i really like what the Browns are building with Highsmith and the rest of them Canes.

NBA- Started a Magic fan - Switched to Lakers the day they drafted/traded for kobe. Hate lebron, lonzo, ty lue. Really think i'm just going to roll with whoever drafts Zion.

CFB-Cane since birth. Death before Dishonor.
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Yes...grew up a tampa bay bucs fan and got tired of them doing **** in the draft, year in an year out and when they drafted crab legs is when I stopped. Tried cheering for the dolphins but I couldnt do it. I definitely cheer for the browns because of all the canes players but it's not the same passion as any of my other teams
 
My friends and I used to joke that if you wanted to switch squads, you had to take a year off from watching the sport, like an NCAA transfer student sitting out a year.

That said, it was a joke and none of us ever did it.

I think its acceptable to have rooting interests in other teams besides your own, especially as a gambler. If I spot an underdog team early in the season that I like, and they then start winning me money, I become a little bit of a fan, rooting for them each week. But I don't read their message boards daily like I do here.

I also tend to root for Canes in the NFL. I like the dawg pound this year for that reason, but also just because it is a young, talented team that should be fun to watch.

As a guy thats been gambling for 25 years or so, I have no vested interest in any team but the Canes and, to a lesser extent, the Sixers. Every week I have a new favorite team. That makes it easier to root for a different underdog/cusp team in the NFL each year.
 
Generally unacceptable unless you physically move to a new city/state and remain there for a period time.

Even then, whole sale allegiance switching is iffy. You certainly can root for the new home team in question.
 
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IMO, there are a lot of legitimate reasons to change teams. Franchise relocation is one of them. A new team in your area might be another.

I followed baseball since 1951. But, I stopped following baseball for almost 30 years around 1985. When my wife and I were visiting Seattle two years in a row, we went to some Mariner games. It reminded me of how much I loved and missed baseball. So, after not following for almost 30 years I had to find a new team to follow. My wife laughed at the reasons I gave for not being able to follow certain teams. Anyway, I decided to follow the Pirates (small market, low expectations, and I never hated them). I am a committed Pirate fan and watch almost every game on MLB.TV, win or lose.

I'm enjoying baseball more than I ever did.


College football has always been MIami
Basketball has always been the Celtics
Hockey has always been the Bruins
I don't follow any NFL team anymore.
 
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ajkreider said:
I adopt the team I live near. So

Boston College, then Tennessee, then Miami.

Two very happy moments for me, that I now look back on with disgust, were the Flutie pass, and the '86 Sugar Bowl.
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I was at the Flutie game and most of the fans thought the Canes won as many started to leave before the play. I told those around me, Flutie just won the Heisman.
 
I dated this girl with a giant head that was too big for her body. She was an Alabama grad, and threw a fit because I refused to adopt them as my, “Second team.” What a little skeeze.
 
I switched from being a Lakers fan to a Heat fan as a kid but I grew up in a city without an NBA team and loved Magic Johnson and hated Kobe. I'd be hard-pressed to think of an instance where it's okay to switch allegiances as an adult though.

I remember hearing that a large part of Jason Taylor's family still rooted for the Steelers when they played the Dolphins so having a relative or kid playing for another team might not even be an exception!
 
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