Switching Team Affiliation

[Kinetic 0]

So I've been a Tampa Bay Bucs fan for as long as I've been interested in football. This is mostly due to my Dad being a one-time resident of the Tampa area and a long time Bucs fan and my adolescent desire to male bond with him, albeit with the TV as a wedge between our sometimes conflicting personalities. I've since moved to western North Carolina as an adult and I'm now faced with a dilemma. Last postseason, with the Bucs safely eliminated from contention, I found myself suffering from an acute case of Panther Fever. I haven't been able to shake it. I like Delhomme. I like Stephen Davis. I like the coaching staff and that ferocious defensive line. I can get every Panthers game of the season at home, saving myself the embarrassment and excessive beer or soda consumption that comes with a trip to the sports bar if I just switch over and become a Panthers fan. But there's the threat of being labelled a bandwagon jumper. There's probably even some truth to that, considering Tampa's 7-9 record last season and their pitiful offensive performance today. Is it okay for me to switch teams after the season's already started? Is there some sort of set of standards here?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

There's a commercial that deals with this. Cheer for both teams, and when called on it, simply explain that player X is on your fantasy football team.

[Dogbert 0]

Well, I always bled red, white and blue as a Habs fan above all before this year. Then, the Flames' gutsy play and energy won me over from the Habs' lackadaisical efforts.

[razazteca 0]

You need a flag in your sig.

 

Conformist.

[treble 0]

I can't do it, I can't even find myself a football team to cheer for year after year. I think it's because I don't want to find myself in a situation where I'm talking to another fan of the same team and having them go, 'Oh, remember when this happened, best moment ever to be a (blank) fan!' and my response being 'Uh, yeah, I wasn't really a fan of them back then'.

[starvenger 0]

So I've been a Tampa Bay Bucs fan for as long as I've been interested in football. This is mostly due to my Dad being a one-time resident of the Tampa area and a long time Bucs fan and my adolescent desire to male bond with him, albeit with the TV as a wedge between our sometimes conflicting personalities. I've since moved to western North Carolina as an adult and I'm now faced with a dilemma. Last postseason, with the Bucs safely eliminated from contention, I found myself suffering from an acute case of Panther Fever. I haven't been able to shake it. I like Delhomme. I like Stephen Davis. I like the coaching staff and that ferocious defensive line. I can get every Panthers game of the season at home, saving myself the embarrassment and excessive beer or soda consumption that comes with a trip to the sports bar if I just switch over and become a Panthers fan. But there's the threat of being labelled a bandwagon jumper. There's probably even some truth to that, considering Tampa's 7-9 record last season and their pitiful offensive performance today. Is it okay for me to switch teams after the season's already started? Is there some sort of set of standards here?

I believe the unwritten rules state that it's OK to cheer for the Panthers unless they're playing the Bucs.

 

Of course, if you denounce everything related to the Bucs, you may be in the clear to root for the Panthers, but you might need to consult The Sports Guy, TMQ and MMQB on that one...

[Kinetic 0]

I think the big problem with rooting for both of them is that they're in the same division. Pre-realignment, I could have made a much smoother transition.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I'd jump off the Bucs bandwagon too. I'd be surprised if they won a game all year.

[Kinetic 0]

In their defense, they only lost by six points and they did it with an offense that's had basically no time to gel in the preseason due to injuries and old-age-related lack of playing time. Plus, with Joe Gibbs, the greatest football mind to ever grace a sideline anywhere in the history of the game and beyond, coaching the Redskins, it's a small wonder that Gruden didn't declare a forefeit on the way to D.C.

 

Does it mean anything that I'm defending the Bucs? This is like deciding to break up with a girlfriend who, although she's only brought you home one championship, has been a steady playoff performer for the better part of a decade.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I think by the end of this season, you'd regret buying so much into Panther fever and giving up on the Buccaneers. I think Tampa Bay has itself better set up for the future and even the present, than Carolina does.

 

Makes me wonder when they're going to pull Brad Johnson for Chris Simms... I don't think Johnson's ever been better than just a solid backup or a Trent Dilferish QB.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

The only points Tamp scored today where handed to them by the Skins. Their defense is still pretty damn solid, but their offense? Its laughable. Embarrassing. Tom Brown as a top receiver? he's their number one man now. Charlie Garner? He wasn't even getting playing time on the lowly Raider squad from last year. The O-Line? Haha.

 

Its going to be a loooong yera for Chuckie.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I think Tampa Bay needs a QB shakeup, pronto. They have Galloway now, which gives them a deep threat, and Tim Brown who can still play well as a possession receiver.

 

You could also place the Buccaneers' problems as much on the outstanding play of the revamped Redskin defense (now under Gregg Williams who was a hell of a DC with the Titans) more than just the poor play of the Tampa Bay offense. But it makes you wonder, since the offenses are supposed to jump out the gates at the start of the season and only then around midseason do defenses catch up..

[Damaramu 0]

Well you can slowly become a fan of someone.

Like I was a Chiefs and 49ers fan. And then the 49ers slowly started to suck and they don't seem to care. That pisses me off. I want to stay loyal to them but they don't seem to care! The Chiefs I still like. But then I remember back to my early days of watching football and seeing Randall Cunningham and the Eagles. I was like "yeah i liked those guys." and then when I got back into football and started watching more games I was like "I really like these Eagles...." and then boom I was like "I'm an Eagles fan. I like watching them play and I want them to win everytime I watch them."

And if anyone calls you a bandwagon jumper.......who cares? You like your team.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I think one is a bandwagon jumper until they stick out with their team through the rough times as well. Like the Eagles and their 3-13 season a few years back (Hello Ray Rhodes!) or the 49ers and their 4-12, 6-10, and most recently 7-9 seasons, but stay with them regardless.

 

I have somewhat been subject to this as a Packer fan, but not really since pretty much for as long as I've been a fan of theirs, they have never had a losing season, except for the one year Ray Rhodes was their coach (Hello again! What a coincidence..) and they went 8-8.

 

It's good to have Favre and great coaching (with the exception of Ray Rhodes).

[NoCalMike 0]

Hell, I am a Skins fan living in CA, so you could imagine the shit I have to put up with out here in the middle of 49er/Raider country. I was lucky, todays game was on national TV, but 90% of the games I am parked in a sportsbar with some other Skins fans.

[Kinetic 0]

Makes me wonder when they're going to pull Brad Johnson for Chris Simms... I don't think Johnson's ever been better than just a solid backup or a Trent Dilferish QB.

While I can't vouch for Simms (although I did live in Texas for most of his college run and most people there thought he was an overrated choker and preferred Major Applewhite), Brad Johnson is a hell of a lot more accurate with much better decision-making skills than Trent Dilfer ever was, at least in Tampa.

[The Man in Blak 0]

I think Tampa Bay needs a QB shakeup, pronto. They have Galloway now, which gives them a deep threat, and Tim Brown who can still play well as a possession receiver.

I don't think it would be exaggeration to say that Galloway and Brown are barely half of the players that they were, say, four years ago.

[therealworldschampion 0]

I'm a true fan of the Eagles, for chrissakes I remember the Rich Kotite years and his amazing feats(fucked up a 2-point conversion against Dallas because his playcalling chart got wet.)

[The Czech Republic 0]

I'd jump off the Bucs bandwagon too. I'd be surprised if they won a game all year.

Wouldn't be the first time

[Damaramu 0]

Hey I'm still a 49ers fan and I still care about them. But I find it hard to get up for there games whenever they don't seem to be making any moves to improve themselves.

[Vanhalen 0]

For me, although its a different sport, I could never ever in a trillion years consider supporting a different team, I bleed red and white, I couldnt even contemplate ever changing, my son will be a Southampton supporter as well

[Slayer 0]

I am a big advocate of maintaining loyalty to your main team even in bad times

 

Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with supporting more than one team, after all, Frigidsoul got me to like the Patriots along with my Vikings, but adopting a division rival could be a problem. I know NFC South doesn't feel like a big rivalry division, as opposed to the AFC West or the NFC East, but there's still a principle there...

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Despite the Colts being the home team, I'm more of a Bears fan. How do you all feel about cheering for a non home-team? Also, say you move from New York to Miami and cheer the Jets..that doesn't count.

[sfaJack 0]

I catch a lot of shit for being a die-hard Cubs fan living in Houston, but it doesn't bother me. Same thing with the Cowboys, too.

 

I think rooting for "non-home" team is fine, so long as you aren't one of those losers that changes affiliation every year just because and then claims to have been a fan of the "new" team all along or something. Root for whoever you want, but at least stay consistent for Christ's sake.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Well growing up in Chicago, I was programmed to love the Chicago Bears (and the White Sox), but over the years I've had "secondary favorites", basically teams that I like each year or a team I think would do well that year, however those secondary favorites I establish before the season start so to avoid those "OMG YOU LIKE THAT TEAM BECAUSE IT WON 10 STRAIGHT!".

 

This year, in NFL it's Seattle.

 

MLB: Always used Oakland as my favorite besides White Sox.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Despite the Colts being the home team, I'm more of a Bears fan. How do you all feel about cheering for a non home-team? Also, say you move from New York to Miami and cheer the Jets..that doesn't count.

Well, I grew up in Los Angeles and didn't have a pro football team for a while, and when I did I never liked the Rams or Raiders. It never bothered me, as LA is unique in that its a huge city with an extremely diversified fanbase of NFL teams. Even though there's no pro football team there, I think it's still be a great place for the Super Bowl because it really is a strongly neutral site. The sports bar I went to to watch Packer games had a HUGE group of various groupings. The best banter went on between me and the other cheeseheads against the strong contingent of Tampa Bay fans and a particularly vocal Viking group. Fun stuff.

 

I learned to appreciate the goodness of Jager thanks to that place.

[Damaramu 0]

See what I hate is when a team does good and you enjoy there performance and you say "Yeah I like those guys" and people are like "Bandwagon jumper!"

Like the Pistons. I loved there performance against LA. Enough to where I can say "I like the Pistons." Now I'm not exactly a fan. I mean I'm not going to run out and buy Wallace jerseys and start rooting for them over my teams. But I will root for them when they aren't playing a team of mine b/c I like the collection of guys they have and I like what they did. But people will label me as hopping on the bandwagon.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Of course, I'm very much an avid Cubs fan, but I've grown to like Red Sox almost as much because of their awesome play and compelling personalities. And believe me, I'm not the only Red Sox fan in Illinois...around here, the caps are mostly Cubs, then Red Sox, THEN White Sox, and then Cardinals with a decent amount as well, because downstaters come up to my school, I guess.

 

Anyhow, I'll be rooting for Boston in October, as long as they're not facing the Cubs. Which they obviously won't. But anyway, ditching your hometown team for the flavor of the month or your "adapted" hometown team is not cool. I lived in Wisconsin for a few years, granted it was on the state line, but I never gave into the Packers fandom, even though they won the Super Bowl that year. Even though I was harassed by rednecks with cheese upon their heads, I didn't surrender my Chicago sports fandom.

 

Oh and another thing you can't do: like the White Sox and the Cubs, or even just claim to like both. Slasher Flick, I'ma lookin' atchu.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Whenever I tell someone I'm from the Pittsburgh area usually the first thing out of their mouth is "How 'bout 'dem Stiilers/Pirates/Pens/etc.?" And I f'n HATE that.

 

I don't cheer certain teams 24/7 -- there are organizations that I like, but that's mostly because I like the way they do business. I also like certain players and wish them well. However, to put my loyalty into a team that could give two shits about my well-being? I don't think so. When the Steelers blew their fourth-quarter lead yesterday I was cheering the Raiders for coming back and busting the Black and Gold for playing a crappy conservative second-half offense.

 

Usually, when the playoffs are about to begin, I'll pick a team or two that I like and kinda pull for them to win, but I won't lose any sleep if they get eliminated. For example, I was pulling for the Angles a few years ago, I pulled for the Marlins last year and I'll probably want the Cards to win the World Series this year. However, I'm not about to go out and buy a Rolen jersey.

 

And of course, there are those certain teams managed by certain racists that I want to lose by any means necessary...

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Oh and another thing you can't do: like the White Sox and the Cubs, or even just claim to like both. Slasher Flick, I'ma lookin' atchu.

I explained this to you.

 

I'm an Athletics/White Sox fan.