So I have this friend who I talk to every week about sports and he was telling me the other day that he thinks people who root for any team besides the home teams have no heart. Why do we feel it necessary to only root for the home team and run down anyone who doesn't conform to that? Does it really matter that much?

http://www.ohiochatter.com/forum/threads/17240-Who-Do-You-Root-For?highlight=root

ernest_t_bass;509120 wrote:http://www.ohiochatter.com/forum/threads/17240-Who-Do-You-Root-For?highlight=root

Ha that doesn't really answer my questions.

bigdaddy2003;509118 wrote:Does it really matter that much?

It doesn't matter in the least.

I assume you mean local team or home-town team, and not home team. I don't think that you're proposing that we should root for a team one night because their the home team, and against them the next night because they're the away team.

I think that you can root for anyone so long as you have a good reason for being a fan. You only "have no heart" if you root for a team simply to be contrarian (for example, someone born and raised in Ohio who roots for Michigan for no other reason than the fact that everyone else roots for Ohio State). People who do that aren't fans, their anti-fans. They don't really love their team, they mostly just hate the other. I mostly root for local teams, but the few that I don't I have reasons for so I feel that it's justifiable. No one else in my immediate family is a big sports fan, but when I was young my uncle who lives in Dallas sent me some Cowboys stuff for Christmas one year. This gave me a connection to that team so I became a fan. No one in my family told me that I should root for the Bengals or Browns growing up (thank God), so I had no reason to root for them, but I did have a reason to root for the Cowboys.

krambman;509601 wrote:I assume you mean local team or home-town team, and not home team. I don't think that you're proposing that we should root for a team one night because their the home team, and against them the next night because they're the away team.

I think that you can root for anyone so long as you have a good reason for being a fan. You only "have no heart" if you root for a team simply to be contrarian (for example, someone born and raised in Ohio who roots for Michigan for no other reason than the fact that everyone else roots for Ohio State). People who do that aren't fans, their anti-fans. They don't really love their team, they mostly just hate the other. I mostly root for local teams, but the few that I don't I have reasons for so I feel that it's justifiable. No one else in my immediate family is a big sports fan, but when I was young my uncle who lives in Dallas sent me some Cowboys stuff for Christmas one year. This gave me a connection to that team so I became a fan. No one in my family told me that I should root for the Bengals or Browns growing up (thank God), so I had no reason to root for them, but I did have a reason to root for the Cowboys.

My apologies I meant home town team. Like for instance I am a Baltimore Ravens fan and my friend is a Browns fan. He told me the other day that I had no heart which to me makes little sense. I think he thinks that I picked the Ravens because the Browns weren't that good which is untrue.

Shortly after Lebron left I made a thread about this in the pro sports forum and got pretty fun.

Here it is, the thread is locked now but some pretty good reading I'm sure:
http://www.ohiochatter.com/forum/threads/13975-Worst-fan-bases-in-sports-are-bandwagon-fans..and-just-love-for-us-Cleveland-fans!?highlight=bandwagon+fans

I don't really have a problem rooting for a team other than one's home team so long as you don't actively hate the home team. For instance, Pittsburgh fans in N Ohio or .....ughhh, Michigan fans from Ohio (I don't give a shit if Toledo is closer to AA than Columbus). In those cases I liken the fan to goth kids from high school who want to be different and go against the norm. Basically they want attention.

In the end no matter how terrible the home team might be (Browns), you stand by your team.

Fab1b;509621 wrote:Shortly after Lebron left I made a thread about this in the pro sports forum and got pretty fun.

See, when it comes to pro basketball, I've never had a favorite team. I was a fan of Shaq as a kid, so I was a Magic fan when he was in Orlando, a Laker's fan when he was in LA, and a Heat fan when he was in Miami. When he went to Phoenix his career was in decline and LeBron had just come onto the scene, so I became a Cavs fan because I liked LeBron. I wasn't a Cavs fan before LeBron, and I won't be a Cavs fan now that he's left. Since he took his talents to South Beach I've become a Heat fan again.

I was born and raised in NE, Ohio and I attend OSU. I have been Browns, Cavs, Indians and Buckeyes my entire life. I dont have a problem with people pulling for other teams, as long as they have a good reason. I sometimes wonder how people can pull for a different team in every sport. My neighbor last year pulled for the Cavs, Cubs, Cowboys, UNC basketball and OSU football. Thats a little too random for me.

I can understand why some people would follow the career of one guy and attach themselves to whatever team he is on......I could never do it though.

krambman;509987 wrote:See, when it comes to pro basketball, I've never had a favorite team. I was a fan of Shaq as a kid, so I was a Magic fan when he was in Orlando, a Laker's fan when he was in LA, and a Heat fan when he was in Miami. When he went to Phoenix his career was in decline and LeBron had just come onto the scene, so I became a Cavs fan because I liked LeBron. I wasn't a Cavs fan before LeBron, and I won't be a Cavs fan now that he's left. Since he took his talents to South Beach I've become a Heat fan again.

I'm kind of the same way. I prefer college football and basketball to NFL and NBA so I never really became a fan of anyone in pro sports other than baseball. I tend to like players in pro sports more so than I do teams outside of the Braves. A lot of that is the Braves were on TV all the time when I was 8-10 when I really started being able to make a decision about what teams I liked. For the NBA and NFL, I follow individual players a lot more than I do teams. I've always liked Shaq but would never really call myself a Magic/Lakers/Suns/Heat fan. Same thing for the NFL, always liked Manning and Favre and Notre Dame players but couldn't say I've really rooted for any team. I will pull for a team in certain matchups or series or whatever but I won't get bent out of shape if they lose.

always have and always will be an ohio state and minnesota vikings fan...i get a lot of shit for being a vikings fan from ohio, but growing up the bengals and browns were never good (and browns were nonexistent for a period of time. I was a huuuuge randy moss fan (and the culpepper/moss connection), as a kid and knowing the vikings had a lot of former osu players was a big factor too (robert smith, cris carter, korey stringer and more recently antoine winfield, mike doss, dustin fox). I was devastated when moss was traded the first time so him coming back now makes me ecstatic

Mohican00;509984 wrote:I don't really have a problem rooting for a team other than one's home team so long as you don't actively hate the home team. For instance, Pittsburgh fans in N Ohio or .....ughhh, Michigan fans from Ohio (I don't give a shit if Toledo is closer to AA than Columbus). In those cases I liken the fan to goth kids from high school who want to be different and go against the norm. Basically they want attention.

Agreed. I actually have some respect for the people I know that are still Michigan fans in Ohio. I can't stand people who just root against OSU to be assholes when they lose. I used to know a girl who was a big Michigan and Ravens fan in the 90's. She still likes the Ravens but now that Michigan sucks she's an OSU fan. Fuck that.

KR1245;510002 wrote:I was born and raised in NE, Ohio and I attend OSU. I have been Browns, Cavs, Indians and Buckeyes my entire life. I dont have a problem with people pulling for other teams, as long as they have a good reason. I sometimes wonder how people can pull for a different team in every sport. My neighbor last year pulled for the Cavs, Cubs, Cowboys, UNC basketball and OSU football. Thats a little too random for me.

I can understand why some people would follow the career of one guy and attach themselves to whatever team he is on......I could never do it though.

I have no problem with the randomness of that, but I'll never understand people who are fans of one school in football and another school in basketball. I can understand rooting for pro teams in different towns, because other than being in the same city they have no real connection. But when it comes to college teams, you're not just rooting for the team, you're really rooting for the school. I could understand someone being an OSU fan and ALSO rooting for UNC unless they're playing OSU. But I can never understand only being an OSU fan for football and only being a UNC fan for basketball.