Why Are You a Fan of a Particular NFL Team?

[The-Hack]

I expect we’ll get some political responses, but that’s not what I’m after.

I’m a U.K. Football fan, primarily because I’m from Kentucky. I’ve always viewed the color Blue as a conscious or subconscious reference to the nickname of the Blue Grass State.

In 2005, I took a Russian immigrant bud to a U.K. game, and he was blown away by what he interpreted as “madness,” as we beat Mississippi State, narrowly. Leaving our seats after the game, people were screaming and celebrating on the way to the parking lots, chanting Blue-and-White, singing the fight song, chest-bumping strangers, etc., etc. Coming out of my parking area, I was high-fiving college kids to 80 year olds out my car window.

I told him the “war-like” words of the “fight” song, and related the 120 year history of the program.

He said that he interpreted the passion he saw as a form of “patriotism,” and even a substitute for war, and he had good points. We have our respective schools’ flags, colors and songs openly inciting a form of violence, and SEC football is territorially based.

I can understand much of my strong identification with UK, and that of my family, neighbors, etc.

But I’ve never quite understood the fan ship some have for pro football, and I’m not talking about the politics of the last three or four years. There are folks on here who seem to “like” some pro teams as little as I like hearing Rocky Top . . . or as little as I like James Franklin (I just don’t much like James Franklin.)

But how did you come to love the Steelers, and hate the Browns, or visa-versa?

Are there a lot who grew up proximate to these pro franchises?

I’ve always liked the Cincinnati Reds, and even the Bengals a little, but that’s physical proximity, again.

I have the greatest respect for the Green Bay Packers, but only because they remind me of the college-like passion of the SEC, as the taxpayers own the franchise and it will be in Green Bay as long as UK is in Kentucky.

So why the love and/or hate for pro football franchises?

I’ve honestly never gotten it.

 

[TheBlueCat]

In the late 90's my dad's job moved us to Tampa, and during the first week I was there, Warrick Dunn came and spoke to my class. I fell in love with the Bucs(they were really good at the time). We moved back to Louisville in 2002, and my loyalty has remained, although it hasn't always been easy.

 

[RDF922]

Super question...
I am a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals because of proximity and a fan of the Dallas Cowboys because of Roger "The Dodger" Staubach.
To a kid growing up in the 70's (I'll be 57 next week) he was the most exciting player of that era to me. He was the All American male. Navy, Heisman trophy, and he wasn't handed the QB job for the Cowboys. He actually split time with Craig Morton for a while.

Roger was The Man.

 

[stuway]

Grew up in KY. Moved to Tampa for a decade at 19. The Bucs had Dungy and were up and coming. Got to go to many home games while there and fell in love. Came back to KY many moons ago but still a Buccaneers fan. It ain't easy either.

 

[WildcatFan1982]

I was a Cowboys fan as a kid. Because they were awesome and had Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, and Michael Irvin.

As an adult, if you put a gun to my head, I'd say I'm a Bengals fan. I lived in Lexington for a long time so all of their games were on TV. But honestly if I moved to a city with an NFL team I wouldn't feel guilty switching allegiances.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Because growing up in Kentucky my Mom bought me a Minnesota Vikings letterman jacket when I was like 8 yrs old.

This was back in the mid 70’s when the Vikings were going to SBs every year.

Years later I asked her why the Vikings jacket? She said it was probably on sale but I doubted that because back then the Vikes were the ish.

My take on it is even though Valley St., where my Mom grew up is Cincinnati Bengals territory, she went to Valley HS which are the Vikings.

Thats my story and Im sticking to it!

SKOL!

 

[pumpedupcats]

I grew up hating the Titans because so many people in my family fawned over them when they started up in the late 90s (I grew up an hour from Nashville). My grandfather and I were the only holdouts. At that time I liked the Broncos. But over the years I never really had a favorite team until I moved to Nashville in 2014. Being in the city, I warmed up to the Titans and now they're my team.

But I'm a CFB guy and never have been that into the NFL, so I don't really hate any teams. Except the Patriots.

 

[WildcatDJ]

I was the youngest of three boys and I was eight back in 1988. At this point in my life my two older brothers got to do everything with my dad, whereas I was always too young.

In January 1988 I get to watch the Superbowl with my dad...I want to say Denver vs Washington? I'm going straight from memory. At halftime my mom makes me go to bed...I was devastated and was in bed crying. A bit later my dad came and got me up and let me watch the second half with him...one of my favorite memories with him.

Fast forward to December 12 of that year. We find out my dad has cancer and by December 28th my dad had passed.

That January our team, the Cincinnati Bengals, make the Superbowl. I was looking for anything to latch onto at that point and the Bengals it was. I've been in NFL purgatory ever since. You'll never convince me my dad's spirit didn't help the Bengals that year, because they've been atrocious ever since haha. And I've been right there alone the way.

As an add on, one year later same situation with the Reds. They swept the Oakland A's and the Bash Brothers to win the World Series and I've been hooked on them ever since. And again I've found myself in MLB purgatory ever since lmao.

 

[Freetaxreturn]

Lifelong Saints fan as is the entire family, we are/were about 200 mile drive to Awlens on I-10 and I got to go a lot with my friends and their dad since he had season tickets. The speed of the game is crazy fast and it’s entertaining as hell especially in person. Love the NFL and MLB 🍺

 

[420grover]

Dad liked the Steelers so I liked the Steelers.

Hate the Cowboys, Browns, and Ravens because I'm a Steelers fan.

Hate the Titans because when they moved to Nashville, they took all the tv spots. And lots of people around here(Hoptown) jumped ship and became Titans fans. If I ask a person around my age or older(46) why they're a Titans fan, they usually reply with "They're the home team!" And I say "Umm, it's a different state, you don't root for Vandy over UK, do you? They're much closer. If you were a fan of someone else first, then you're just a bandwagon fan."

These colors don't run. If Hoptown got an NFL team, I'll still be a Steelers fan.

 

[fabcat]

Fell in love with the Steele Curtain and liked Terry Bradshaw. Live an hour from Nashville have grown to like the Titans. I like several NFL teams but my favorite is The Steelers.

 

[jameslee32]

I live 12-15 minutes from Paul Brown Stadium. Beat dem Brownies!

 

[Rush2112 UK]

I don't care about or pull for any pro sports franchise. I grew up in central Kentucky, and as far back as I can remember, I've been consumed with the Cats. We don't have a pro team here, so I don't have a dog in the fight.
I'm connected to UK in every way imaginable: geography, family affiliation, and it's my alma mater. It's part of the culture of this state; being part of the BBN is everyone's birthright here. I think this kind of deep connection is the beauty of big-time collegiate sports, and relatively few major (football/basketball) programs match the fervor for UK in this state.

Aside from geographic proximity, you don't find this connection with pro sports. Most people pick "their" team because they're winners, or were winning when they climbed on the bandwagon. You don't see many Jets, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, etc. fans outside of those areas. Conversely, you'll find plenty of Steelers, Cowboys, and now Patriots fans everywhere.

I can't imagine why.

 

[dvillecatfan]

1 of 2 things have led me to Raider Nation. 1) I was blessed from above. 2) Watched Ghost To The Post game back in '77. Raiders won...don't know if it was the Silver and Black or that they won. Next thing ya know i'm rocking Raiders gear from the sears catalog.

 

[CatGotMyTongue]

Cincinnati. Rooting for the “local” team

 

[CatGotMyTongue]

I don't care about or pull for any pro sports franchise. I grew up in central Kentucky, and as far back as I can remember, I've been consumed with the Cats. We don't have a pro team here, so I don't have a dog in the fight.
I'm connected to UK in every way imaginable: geography, family affiliation, and it's my alma mater. It's part of the culture of this state; being part of the BBN is everyone's birthright here. I think this kind of deep connection is the beauty of big-time collegiate sports, and relatively few major (football/basketball) programs match the fervor for UK in this state.

Aside from geographic proximity, you don't find this connection with pro sports. Most people pick "their" team because they're winners, or were winning when they climbed on the bandwagon. You don't see many Jets, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, etc. fans outside of those areas. Conversely, you'll find plenty of Steelers, Cowboys, and now Patriots fans everywhere.

I can't imagine why.

I like both the Browns and Bengals having also lived in N Ohio. I think I’ll add the NY Jets to complete the Bermuda Triangle of the NFL

 

[420grover]

I don't care about or pull for any pro sports franchise. I grew up in central Kentucky, and as far back as I can remember, I've been consumed with the Cats. We don't have a pro team here, so I don't have a dog in the fight.
I'm connected to UK in every way imaginable: geography, family affiliation, and it's my alma mater. It's part of the culture of this state; being part of the BBN is everyone's birthright here. I think this kind of deep connection is the beauty of big-time collegiate sports, and relatively few major (football/basketball) programs match the fervor for UK in this state.

Aside from geographic proximity, you don't find this connection with pro sports. Most people pick "their" team because they're winners, or were winning when they climbed on the bandwagon. You don't see many Jets, Browns, Lions, Jaguars, etc. fans outside of those areas. Conversely, you'll find plenty of Steelers, Cowboys, and now Patriots fans everywhere.

I can't imagine why.

If Murray basketball had UK's history, everyone in the state would be a Murray fan. The same reason you're bagging on people for picking a favorite pro team is the same reason you're a UK fan.

 

[OSOK]

I was a teenager in the 60's all I could get on TV was the Bears or the Browns, I loved Jim Brown and coach Paul Brown, To watch Jimmy make one long run after another. Milt Plum throw to Gary Collins was a thing of beauty.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

titans moved to Tennessee when I was 10. Air McNair, Eddie George. Jevon Kearse and the legend of Kevin Dyson did the rest for me. I doubt we ever win a super bowl but they have given some fun playoff moments scattered over the last 20 years as the titand.

 

[maysvilleky]

My dad was in the Navy and we weren’t stationed in the continental US. So my memories were from games on TV and the Steelers were the best at the time. So I have been a Steelers fan since then. Bradshaw, Franco, Swann, Mean Joe, etc.

 

[point1zero]

Always gravitated towards players instead of a team. I was a young teen when I noticed Brett Farve. Loved how he played. Adopted the Packers because of him and also Reggie White as well as the tradition - Lambeau, Lombardi, the dedicated fans. Awesome when the won the SB a few years later. Have stuck with them into the Rodgers years, but largely because of Randall Cobb and Clay Matthews. Now they’re gone, so I’m not as interested, but still pull for the Pack.

 

[CatGotMyTongue]

If Murray basketball had UK's history, everyone in the state would be a Murray fan. The same reason you're bagging on people for picking a favorite pro team is the same reason you're a UK fan.

I never understood being a fan of teams because they win. I’m a Ukfb fan first and foremost so I guess that figures.

I’m not a big b-ball fan, but Ill claim Uk since I graduated from there. 😎

 

[UKCatnNC]

I was a Colts fan until they moved to Indy. From time to time I watch the Packers, Steelers and the Panthers. I really don't have a favorite NFL team and it has nothing to do with politics. GO CATS!!

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

If Murray basketball had UK's history, everyone in the state would be a Murray fan. The same reason you're bagging on people for picking a favorite pro team is the same reason you're a UK fan.

Since Murray State is also in Kentucky, it's a poor analogy. The better question is if the University of Pittsburgh was really good at basketball, would he a be Pittsburgh fan instead of a UK fan? I think his point was proximity has a lot to do with it for him. Murray is still a state school, so he would still have a connection. The University of Pittsburgh, in contrast, isn't a state school and only reason he would have become a fan is because he picked them because they were winning when he choose a team. You can view that as a negative, and maybe he meant it that way, but what he said is true. A lot of people do not pick pro teams based on proximity, but by who was winning when they were young and started watching the sport.

 

[littlecreek]

When I was a young boy in the 70s I liked the Falcons because of their uniforms. I liked the looks of them. When I got in high school I started liking the Raiders because of their offense was like what we ran in high school and I was in Marcus Allen’s position on our team. I started keeping up with whatever team had a UK player on it after high school. Now, I don’t care about the NFL at all.

 

[CC_332]

The 49ers were really good on Madden when I was about 10-11. Terrell Owens, JJ Stokes, Garrison Hearst and Fred Beasley were on the team and I just remember throwing hail mary's all the time and winning. Maybe they were good or maybe the difficulty level was really low, but that's how it started.

The Titans are my secondary team since moving to middle Tennessee about 5 years ago.

 

[KYNC89]

I’m a Packers fan due to Brett Favre and the Minister of Defense, and his name was Reggie White.

 

[420grover]

Since Murray State is also in Kentucky, it's a poor analogy. The better question is if the University of Pittsburgh was really good at basketball, would he a be Pittsburgh fan instead of a UK fan? I think his point was proximity has a lot to do with it for him. Murray is still a state school, so he would still have a connection. The University of Pittsburgh, in contrast, isn't a state school and only reason he would have become a fan is because he picked them because they were winning when he choose a team. You can view that as a negative, and maybe he meant it that way, but what he said is true. A lot of people do not pick pro teams based on proximity, but by who was winning when they were young and started watching the sport.

Teams that don't win aren't on tv. You can't make a connection with something you never see. People become fans of the Cowboys, Steelers, Yankees, etc because that's what they see.

 

[Nuke99m]

Saints. Worked on the oil rigs in the early 80's. They got good the year I moved back to Kentucky. Had season tickets the year they had Earl Campbell and Ken Stabler.

 

[BBN1792]

My connection with UK sports extends through my father and his friends. Most of my family are UL fans or just dont care about sports. I never had a great relationship with my father, expect when UK was on. So I guess my fandom to UK was the only way to connect with my father. My dad has moved to another state and we never speak, butI still go out and watch UK games with my godfather (his best friend) still to this day. I know the history of UK sports like the back of my ✋. I live in Lou, so UK fans in Louisville have to know the history of both the CATS and the CARDS just so you can defend yourself in an argument 🤣

 

[Freetaxreturn]

Saints. Worked on the oil rigs in the early 80's. They got good the year I moved back to Kentucky. Had season tickets the year they had Earl Campbell and Ken Stabler.

99 Did you chopper out of Galliano on the Bristow heli pads ?

 

[YouKay]

When I was a kid I sort of like the Oakland Raiders. Don’t know why, just liked the bad boy aspect of that team. Loved Fred Biletnikoff.

My first adult NFL team was the Washington Redskins. I lived in the DC area during the whole Joe Gibbs era in the 80s and 90s. Good times. Never got to see a game in person until 2003 just before we moved away.

Then I married a Boston guy, and became a Patriots fan after that. Briefly lived in San Diego, so I had a soft spot for the Chargers until they moved to LA, now I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire. I hate all LA sports teams.

 

[camron]

I haven't watched any pro sports in 10+ years. Too many over paid cry babies.

 

[JDHoss]

Cowboys fan since Don Meredith was the QB. They were on TV a lot and I liked the uniforms. Now, much like with the NBA, I enjoy just following the league.

 

[TeoJ]

When a kid growing up in Kentucky it was the Cleveland browns only team ever on TV,but they did have one of the best Running backs ever in Jim Brown.Then when the Bengals came along I became a Bengals fan closest to where i lived in Kentucky.Then in the 80's I moved to St Pete became a Bucs fan went to a lot of games.I have watched some really bad teams all those years watching my pro teams and the CATS,enjoying more now.

 

[CB3UK]

Always lived in Lexington, my teams are the Reds and Bengals. Self explanatory .

 

[CatGotMyTongue]

Cowboys fan since Don Meredith was the QB. They were on TV a lot and I liked the uniforms. Now, much like with the NBA, I enjoy just following the league.

“Turn out the lights....”

 

[FtWorthCat]

Super question...
I am a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals because of proximity and a fan of the Dallas Cowboys because of Roger "The Dodger" Staubach.
To a kid growing up in the 70's (I'll be 57 next week) he was the most exciting player of that era to me. He was the All American male. Navy, Heisman trophy, and he wasn't handed the QB job for the Cowboys. He actually split time with Craig Morton for a while.

Roger was The Man.

I'm similar to RDF922 only I go back a couple of years farther. Once when I was about 5, I got a pack of football cards with a Bob Hayes card. My older brother told me that Hayes was "the world's fastest human." That sounded so cool, that I became a Cowboys fans. Then Staubach came along and only increased my love of the Cowboys. They were on TV almost every week and they were almost always one of the top teams.

Growing up I never dreamed I would spend most of my adult life in the D/FW area, but that is how it turned out. Over the last 20 years or so, I've become fairly apathetic toward them. I don't really get too worked up over them one way or the other these days. In fact, I think the last Cowboys game I attended in person was the day they put Bob Hayes in the Ring of Honor in old Texas Stadium. I've never been to a Cowboys game in "Jerry World", even though I live about 15 miles from there. I've been to 3 UK basketball games in "Jerry World" (four counting the women's game against Baylor) . I still live and die with UK sports.

 

[zannmann]

49ers because they beat the Bengals in the Super bowl in the early 80s.

 

[Nuke99m]

99 Did you chopper out of Galliano on the Bristow heli pads ?

Flew out of Amelia. Just outside of Morgan City. Worked for Chevron.