As fans, how much do we root for the laundry?

@justgladtobehere made an observation that deserves to not mess up the trivia thread: "Loyalty towards a sports team is more than just a season to season interest in the local 9 beating some different local 9. Good luck selling tickets when each year every team is being rebuilt.:

I've often wondered about that statement and whether it holds true across levels, regions and pursuits.

What percentage do you root for the laundry and what percentage for the name? That's definitely worthy of a doctoral thesis, because I can see varying amounts at the pro and college level, and varying amounts based on regions of the country.

If you switched the uniforms of the Auburn and Alabama teams for one game, how many people in Sylacauga would even notice? Or for that matter, UF-FSU in Lake City, or UGa-Tech in Macon (OK, nobody roots for Georgia Tech, but ....)?

However, the experiment is way different in a Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Or Steelers-Browns.

But the NBA is proving that you can have ridiculous amounts of player movement and fans will still flock to see those teams and their favorites.

 

By definition, I'm a laundry guy. I'm old enough to be a grandfather to anyone playing in a Gators uniform, so logically I should like Georgia or Florida State just as much. (Like that's going to happen.) At the same time, as I get older, I have less interest in the actual energy required to care past looking at the score in the next day's .... Twitter feed. I realize that's a minority of alums from my school, let alone the mindless lemmings who can't spell "university" let alone attend one.

Same thing with the Tigers. Mickey Stanley's retirement ended whatever connection I had to the 1968 world's champions. But going on five decades, I've wasted much of my adult life staring at box scores and yelling at well-paid professional baseball players who don't even know I exist.

Maybe I just like the logo. I sure haven't enjoyed watching the actual games, even during their recent run of success. However, I love the sport more than ever. Go figure.

 

I view it as rooting for the fans - I want the locals to be happy, so I want the local team to win.

 

While a Knicks fan, I tend to root more for players than “my” team. In a sport like football, where there are so many players, that’s less true

 

Root for individuals to do well, but always cheer for the team above all else.

 

Laundry all the way. The names change through the generations, but the laundry remains the same.

Of course I have had some favorite players that I especially wanted to do well, including a certain booger eater and the Wainwright/Yadi combo. Mahomes and Kelce are climbing that list.

 

That rinse cycle is just the best!

 

Very much the laundry with a few exceptions. There are a few players I'd never want to play for my local team. Just too much bad blood. Puig going to the Giants, for example. I'd hate him every day until he was cut.

And the laundry attitude goes both ways. Doesn't matter who is on the team, never rooting for anyone playing south of Bakersfield and north of Escondido

 

I'm a laundry guy in most sports, though the Steelers and Penguins are the only teams I truly care about. The rest, I'm done caring five minutes after the game is over.

Baseball is my exception. I was a devoted Pirates fan as a kid, but the combination of baseball's financial system and incompetent ownership that doesn't care about winning got me to the point that I can't bring myself to care even on the rare occasions that they are good. The playing field is better, but still not level, but ownership has actually gotten worse. When I look at MLB, it's all about my fantasy teams. Does that count as laundry?

 

I guess you can say it’s about the laundry, but for me, it’s also about family. I grew up rooting for teams with my father. I rooted for the teams he rooted for. So the tradition continues.

 

It’s all about the laundry. Rooted for and defended Bryce Harper for his entire Nats career. Now it’s ‘ fuck that guy’ hope he fails everyday. I’ll check b-r to see how guys I used to root for are doing with their new teams but I don’t change teams. Except when the Giants traded Tarkenton back to the Vikings. I became a Vikes fan only while Fran played there. That was 40 years ago.

 

Laundry ....

But if your most-disliked player - Tom Wilson, Vontaz Burfict - suddenly becomes a member of your team?