Posted by GKFv2:

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by Allanfan20:

A relationship is nothing like your allegiances with a sports team. A relationship is with one person, so if there's a particular pattern going on in a relationship, chances are it doesn't change, or it's very hard to change.

With a sports team, things change all the time, such as management, ownership, players, the way the economy and fanbase effects the team and the finances.

So no, I would never switch allegiances. I do love the Knicks, Yankees and Giants too much. And one day, the Knicks will be contenders again, and I'll be a fan for when those days occur. This is whether the Nets have LeBron or not.

a person can change. a team can change but the knicks haven't really changed since 2001. that's 8 years. the clippers have never changed.

If being a fan was only for winning teams, then most of the major sports leagues would only have about 10 teams. There are diehards out there for every team in every sports, good or bad. If the team means a lot to you, you root for them through thick and thin. If it doesn't, you try and find and new one to get that winning spirit.

so you understand why someone can cheer for another team? do you look at that in a negative light?

Posted by djsunyc:

for the knicks, i grew up during the big time run from 1991 on. those were my developmental years. so anything short of title contention made it easy for me to dislike the team. but what made me actually dislike the team more was becoming a season ticket holder during this recent stretch of ridiculousness. and that's the straw that broke the camel's back.

Why switch to the Raptors then? Are you a Canuck or living up there now?

I lived in England for a year in North London near Tottenham. Arsenal & Tottenham are the big North London rivals. I chose to become a 'Tottenham' fan because I lived there and because they were the underdog compared to Arsenal, so as a Mets fan seemed like a good fit. But actually, that part of town was miserable, and I'm already a fan of three hard luck teams -- Mets, Knicks and the Trinidad & Tobago national soccer team. That's enough. I'll just watch EPL when it's on. Same with football: didn't really watch it until recently, and don't favor Giants or Jets either way, so to pick one seems inauthentic at this point.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by eViL:

Posted by djsunyc:

i think a bigger question is whether you would ever switch sports teams. i have but if your answer is no, can you elaborate why you wouldn't switch...

i'm not the type to switch because sports, to me, have that sort of blind allegiance type of spirit. it's the one thing in life that i choose to bind myself to. if i don't like my living situation, i'll move. if i don't like my job, i'll get a new one. if i don't like my career, i'll change it. but my teams always stay the same.

as a long-time giants fan, i suffered through some tough years. the dave brown era. the danny kannel era. even kerry collins time was up and down (mostly down). but when my team finally won a superbowl i got to laugh at all those eras and now i realize it was worth suffering. mostly, because i never suffer that much. afterall, it is just sports. so when my team is bad, sure, it's not as fun as when their good, but really, how bad can it be. it's just sports. so the knicks have sucked for the last 10 years. big deal. all in all, i've still managed to find ways to have fun being a knicks fan. this team has been comedic gold for many years now. ultimately, cheering for a bad team can be fun. you just can't tie your emotional well-being to the outcome of a game. at the end of the day, the rooster could care less if i can't pay my loans. so while i'd like the kid to be successful, if his back explodes -- my life doesn't change for better or worse.

if i just changed teams on a whim, i'd lose that sense of history, that sense of artificial sports fan struggle. when the knicks finally win a title, it's gonna be euphoric. i can't say i'd feel the same if they were some newly adopted team i picked up for the sake of abandoning my old suck ass squad.

what if you just didn't change teams on a whim. what if you consciously made a choice to change b/c you no longer cared for them? would you ever consider it possible to just stop caring about a team? you ever watch a tv show that you were into then it became crap and you stopped watching? what is the difference between that and switching a sports team? both are entertainment vehicles. both require you to become invested in it emotionally.

i believe there are developmental years as a fan. and that creates the type of fan you are today. also, how you became a fan of a team plays into it as well.

i've noticed many fans of the yankees that grew up in those developmental years during the mid to late 90's often get upset quickly if the yanks don't win it all nowadays. it's b/c they are used to the winning. i grew up my developmental years when the yanks were bad...and then when they won in 96...it was euphoric. and it gives me a perspective on the team today and how difficult it is to win it all $200 mil payroll or not.

for the knicks, i grew up during the big time run from 1991 on. those were my developmental years. so anything short of title contention made it easy for me to dislike the team. but what made me actually dislike the team more was becoming a season ticket holder during this recent stretch of ridiculousness. and that's the straw that broke the camel's back.

sorry dude. didn't mean to imply you switched on a whim. the major difference between sports and scripted entertainment is the script. there is no script in sports. we as fans we crave the story, but it really is just a game. if LOST became garbage i'd stop watching it. that's pretty simple. but with sports, there is always the chance that your team is gonna luck out, or some positive change will make this year better. and every year you start 0-0. LOST doesn't reset every season. if season 5 is terrible, season 6 is going to be heavily impacted. sure, the NBA is kinda similar, but since there is no script, you just never quite know.

I was at the last ABA game where the Nets came back from like 25 pts to beat Larry Browns Nuggetts with the great David Thompson. The 74-75-76 net teams won 2 champoionships and were a blast to watch.

My first pro game was with Lou Carnasecca as coach with Rick Barry in the old Island Garden. I was like 8 years old then.

Nets moveed to the new building in 72' about the same time We moved to Long Island.

We used to go and watch the Virgina Squires team with some guy named "Erving" and he was not jewish! WHen he got to NY we were big fans.

All the while my uncle got season tix to the Knicks and we used to go about 3-4 games a year, the same for the nets.

I was too young to fully appreciate the 70' team but 71' on went to alot of games.

In Knicks won in 73, nets in 74', and 76'. Three championships in 4 years. NY hoops ruled!

So my Net roots are not New Jersey, but the ABA. The ABA was cool. IT was cheap to go see a game and we would often as kids sneak down and sit courtside. In warm ups they used to let us shoot a few shots on the court. NOw you would get shot for even asking!!!

So Nets in Brooklyn, where Im from has a warm fuzzy. In the day we loved our knicks first as that was the class of the league, but the ABA Nets was "funky" league. High Afros, dudes with crazy sideburns, and all the antics they did.

I suppose I can support both teams providing I have respect for them. While not winning I can respect the direction the knicks are going in. Nets I think are building for the future and can very well be respectful with lowering the cap and a good core of young players. Thorn is a crafty trader and Drafter and did a very nice job with Nets.

Their situation in Jersey sucks. They need to move!


[Edited by - nalod on 24-09-2009 4:17 PM]

I was rooting for teams much worth that Knicks (Is it possible - yes it is!!!)
LeBron is just one player, very good player, but so what, there was, are, and will be a bunch of others.

Posted by TMS:

i root for the logo on the front of the jersey, not the names on the back of it.

it matters to me who's playing for the team...it's a major reason why i like a particular team.

I love three sports teams. The Yanks, Giants and Knicks in order of which I started loving them. The only other team I ever root for or would call myself a casual fan of is the Jets, but there is no passion for them.

I dont remember why I chose each team, but I do remember the first players or teams I loved. I loved Reggie, Nettles, Guidry teams of the late 70s and my love for the Yanks was born and never faded.

My neighborhood was full of Giant fans and grew up loving Pepper Johnson, LT, Bart Oates, Bavaro, Meggett, Ingram and the Parcells/Belicheck coaching duo. It never faded.

I started following basketball late. There was a point where if you asked me to name 10 pro BB players I might not be able to. Then I watched Ewing, Oak, Newman, Gerard Wilkins and Mark Jackson beat the Celtics (I knew Larry Bird) and I was hooked.

There is no logic in my passion. I think because I was young when I started rooting my love for those teams is engrained in my being like some kind of learned behavior during early development.

I am not above apathy however, which the Knicks in recent years has bred in me. I just cant be bothered watching a lousy team or get excited for one. Maybe football, but they only play 16 times so you watch regardless.

^^^always the politician in your responses seb. lol. you bring a certain flava and i like it my man!

Posted by jimimou:

^^^always the politician in your responses seb. lol. you bring a certain flava and i like it my man!

Haha. Thats whats up. Good looks Jimmy.

AT LEAST SOMEBODY AROUND HERE APPRECIATES ME, COTDAMMIT!

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by djsunyc:

i think a bigger question is whether you would ever switch sports teams. i have but if your answer is no, can you elaborate why you wouldn't switch...

I think a bigger question is: After we get Lebron how long (as in how many seconds) will it take for DJ to come crawling back?!

Yep.

I mean, thats the point. How satisfying is it to stick with a team through all their nonsense and then get to experience the good once they get their act straight. There is no better feeling as a sports fan. Hell, thats life in a nutshell. Like New Edition said, "can you stand the rain"?

I can only imagine how many tears I'll shed if the Knicks and the Jets finally pull one out after all the years of heartache and incompetence. Neither has won a chip since I've been alive and if I go before they do... Thats, that!

My NY teams are like family. I can disagree, even hate at times, but I'll never stop loving or being there for them. Thats just the way it is for any true fan.

i voted for option two.