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

[JC]

@maumann in his OP makes good points about the origin of loyalty being different across sports and levels. I like the Celtics because I was born at St. E's in Brighton, but I like ND football because they are the Fighting Irish.
However, I think he mistakes my comment for an either/or scenario. Yes, for must of us, the teams we root for are determined by our parents and/or place of birth. But why people ultimately care about the local 9 is because there is some continuity. Rooting for the Red Sox is special because Ted/Yaz/Rice, just like Ruth/Gehrig/DiMaggio/Mantle is special to Yankees fans. Continuity and a history are what make rooting for the local 9 special. If those things weren't there, the pashion wouldn't be as great.

Hey, Dustin Pedroia just won Rookie of the Year and the Red Sox swept the World Series. Is Pedroia going to be back with the Red Sox? fork that ship.

I think @Michael_Gee was getting at it. It's local, but there is some greater connection to a history or narrative.

Can you tell me the last time a rookie of the year was a free agent the following year.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

I don't get fandom beyond a certain age. (For me it was my 30s)
I'm not mocking it; I've privately mourned that I don't feel the same way about my teams.
I came to understand that I was probably more interested in building memories than living and dying with the teams.

I'm actually in the same place. My sports tree of who I root for is at a point where not even Charlie Brown would want it.

I credit it to not being in a newsroom and not covering teams. It's tough to want to follow this ship when it means nothing. Part of the reason I still hang out around this place (and enjoy it) is because there is some knowledge and understanding of sports outside of what is shoveled out there right now.

My "fork it" moment was at a Christmas party at my house three years ago. We were talking football, no one really knew what I used to do for a living, and four out of the five "football" fans had never heard of Bobby Hebert. We were in metro Atlanta.

My wife, god bless her, doesn't care about sports,which makes my not caring easier. Though, she laughs at parties when I start talking sports because I never watch anything at the house. My response is "well, we get a daily paper at our house every morning and I read it." Oh where was I? #getoffmylawn

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Cycling-
I would rather talk about the Hebert-era Saints than anything that's going on in the league right now.
It's not all a function of middle age. I still love the books and movies I loved as a kid.
I just don't give a darn who wins or loses the games.
It's like falling out of love with somebody, it doesn't happen overnight.
I suppose I could get reinvested in it if somebody would point out where the fun in this stuff is anymore. Pick any league.

I want to see the game played, governed, officiated, analyzed and written about well.
That's where I'm at with fandom right now.

 

[DanOregon]

It's funny - I see this thread as "A's fans...." and if you are an A's fan you absolutely root for the laundry. If you like an A's player, wait a season and he'll be on another team.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Nothing will ever compare to how much I (we?) rooted for teams as kids when we first discovered sports through our early 20s.

Working in this business definitely changed me. Oh, I still root for teams I grew up with and adopted later. But the combination of getting older, wiser and seeing the sausage made changes things a lot.

I still love going to a game as a fan. It's the only non-scripted drama we have in person and on TV.

Still love my laundry, my teams.

But as long as I'm still in the biz, now I root for the best story. Be great. Be awful.

Just don't be boring!

 

[HanSenSE]

Laundry. Born in Bay Area, so root for most Bay area teams. When I felt it was time to drop a baseball team (too much time trying to keep track of both), I dropped the A's. The Raiders dropped themselves off my list with the LA move, were slowly working their way back on, then, Viva, Las Vegas.

One exception: During my time in Arizona, felt I should start following at least one team there. No way it was going to be the Diamondbacks and the Cardinals and the Coyotes were hot messes at the time. So I rooted for the Suns in the midst of the Nash-D'Antoni era. Was easy to let them go when I moved AND Sarver started gutting the team.

 

[playthrough]

Laundry. Have rooted for the Reds and Bengals most of my life, though I think my Reds fandom will somewhat diminish after this year when Marty Brennaman retires. And I just want to see the Bengals in one more Super Bowl before I die ... yeah, I know.

I root for my alma mater and have season basketball tickets, but I can't tell you who the starting five are. It's solely about feeling like I'm 20 again.

 

[BTExpress]

My wife, god bless her, doesn't care about sports,which makes my not caring easier.

My wife can name 1 (former) football player, 0 baseball players, 0 basketball players, 1 (former) golfer --- because there's a tea named after him in the grocery store --- and perhaps a dozen tennis players.

 

[DanOregon]

The worst thing about working as a sportswriter is losing your ability to hate a team. The Broncos are about the only team I really loathe, going back to their gift win against the Raiders in the playoffs some 40 years ago.

 

[ChrisLong]

Laundry. Born in Bay Area, so root for most Bay area teams. When I felt it was time to drop a baseball team (too much time trying to keep track of both), I dropped the A's. The Raiders dropped themselves off my list with the LA move, were slowly working their way back on, then, Viva, Las Vegas.

One exception: During my time in Arizona, felt I should start following at least one team there. No way it was going to be the Diamondbacks and the Cardinals and the Coyotes were hot messes at the time. So I rooted for the Suns in the midst of the Nash-D'Antoni era. Was easy to let them go when I moved AND Sarver started gutting the team.

Similar story here, except it's L.A.
There was no bigger Dodgers fan than me. Then I started covering them and they lost a lot of luster. Then, the Frank McCourt era, and they lost all of their luster. And I moved to Orange County.
Loved the Rams, and they moved. Covered a few games. Saw Georgia in person treat people like crap. People here are so excited about them now. I watch, but I'm not a Rams fan. They moved, fork 'em.
For me now, it's Ducks, Angels and Trojans.
As to the question, it's the laundry.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Cycling-
I would rather talk about the Hebert-era Saints than anything that's going on in the league right now.

Talk to me sometime then. There was a team before the Carolina Panthers came into existence. Problem is, it was the Saints' treatment of Sam that changed things a lot.

Pat Swilling wanted out ... different story there. And why was it that Eric Martin could make all the difficult catches, yet whiffed a couple too many that Hebert put right into the breadbasket. And Dalton Hilliard ...

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

It was a problem of economics for that team at that moment in time, same for the Fouts Chargers (and to some extent the Warner-led Rams).
There was a recession going on. Free agency was coming in 1993. Defense meant something back then.
You can put half a team together (superbly) and have a real shot to contend, or take your chances and try to be better than good on both sides of the ball.
The Saints kept that defense together as long as they could. And then when they were busy fixing the offense, the defense fell apart - as so often happens.
There are no superteams in the NFL.

I am far more interested in the really good teams that for whatever reason couldn't get it done than the over-and-out champion, like the Eagles.
The 90s were full of really good teams that failed after sustained runs.