How did you become a fan of your favorite team?

[SabresRule]

How did you guys first become fans of your favorite team?

(How did Sandra become a Rangers fan, for example)

I became a Sabres fan when they traded for this guy:

 

[JAG72]

Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings fan from birth. Relocated after college and the Blue Jackets came to town so I picked them up as a foster team. Favorite games right now are watching the Jackets and Wings in person.

 

[Jimbo]

Lions, Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings fan from birth. Relocated after college and the Blue Jackets came to town so I picked them up as a foster team. Favorite games right now are watching the Jackets and Wings in person.

Let me know next time your going down to see the Wings in Columbus if you want company.

Jimbo

 

[BillD1984]

For me it's just a matter of geography. Growing up 12 miles south of Boston turned me into a rabid fan of our four major sports teams.

 

[Jimbo]

I grew up Tigers, Red Wings, Lions fans, from my Grandpa,
Steelers on my own, but my Dad has always been a Steelers fan too, so that probably started it...

Born a Buckeye fan

Jimbo

 

[Mr Tony]

Easy
Lived in Duluth...bought hockey season tickets the first year I was there (2000).....lived through the infamous 7-28-4 season (still have the shirt....I survived the 2000-2001 UMD Hockey season...7-28-4 overall and 3-22-3 in the WCHA)

God those games were fun to go to...still are (even though I'm 180 miles away).

 

[mccoyrj]

I was born and raised in southern Louisiana with a Dad who was a rabid LSU fan, and I've been a Tiger fan since I knew what sports was.

Also took after my Dad in his love of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates had a farm club in New Orleans called the Pelicans in my Dad's hayday. He followed the players from the Pelicans to the Pirates. I was introduced to the Buccos during the late 60s, and my sports idol Roberto Clemente as well. From there I began to follow the Steelers, who also had a Louisiana connection at the time by the name of Terry Bradshaw. After traveling to Pittsburgh to see the Pirates a few times as a kid, I adopted the city, and their pro teams, as my own and have continued to follow them to this day (began to follow the Penguins when Lemieux came aboard).

In 1969, I learned what it was like to be a fan of a perpetual loser when my birthplace, New Orleans, got their first NFL team - my red-headed step child Saints (however I almost always pull for the Steelers over the Saints).

 

[Ramy]

Being a Reds and Bengals fan was from location and the fact that my dad and grandfather were big Reds fans. Being a Redskins fan came from my dad going to D.C. on school patrol trips as the police officer for the group. The Lakers was just because they were always on TV when I was growing up and the fact that A.C. Green is a christian so that kind of swayed me to them.

 

[salsadancer7]

In the 70s, was a huge Dave Casper fan...and when he went to the Raiders....it was a no brainer!

 

[HD MM]

Born and raised in NE Ohio. It is a right of passage to live, breath and bleed with all Cleveland sports teams growing up.

 

[hancox]

Dad and Uncle and Aunt and Cousin all UConn alums.

First UConn game I watched on TV (in NJ, mind you)...

That's right, the '89-'90 Sweet 16 game against Clemson (Tate George with "The Shot")

Moved to CT in 1993, and been rabid nearly ever since

Class of '99

 

[cybok0]

All from birth...my family loves Pittsburgh sports...so I became a Pittsburgh fan.

The only difference is that everyone in my family likes Penn State(Sister went there)...and I'm a Pitt fan.

 

[SandraC]

How did you guys first become fans of your favorite team?

(How did Sandra become a Rangers fan, for example)

Well while growing up in my house, if you weren't a Ranger fan your older brothers all used to beat you up.

And when you went crying to daddy, he forgot you were his little girl and started talking about Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle.

The choice became easy after that.


Sandra

 

[Peter Parker]

many years ago I was in a Friendly's Ice Cream shop with my father. I saw a large man with several bowls of french fries in front of him. I asked my father ho it was and the waiter overheard. it turns out that the man was George Scott who was then in the Red Sox minor league organization. He obvisouly noticed all thsi because when we pased by him on our way out he told me "I love my taters."

That was it. I have rooted for the Sox ever since.

 

[boomer69]

Born and raised here in Indy, playing little league, fell in love with baseball, kind of followed the St. Louis Cardinals unitl family moved to Cincinnati after my freshman year in high school. When my stepdad took me to my first major league game at Crosley Field in 1966, that was it....lifelong Reds fan. Also became a Bengals fan when they began playing. After coming back to live in Indy after a stint in the Army and living in Missouri for about 5 years, became a Colts fan when they moved here and have been a season ticket holder from their first year here!!!...

Yes, I'm a homer and proud of it!!!...

 

[Weezknight]

I've played ice hockey since elementary school, so it's always been my #1 sport. I played Defense growing up and around '85/'86 there was no better Defensive role model than Al MacInnis! I instantly fell in love with the Flames because of MacInnis, Vernon, and Lanny McDonald. Then they added Joe Nieuwendyk whose poster adorned my closet door for many, many years.

They won the Cup in 1989, a few years after I had made them "my team" and they've been #1 for me ever since. It's amazing how many Calgary jerseys I have, but the ones I cherish the most are the youth-sized jerseys with Vernon & MacInnis on them. When my daughter gets a little older I'm sure I'll struggle with letting her wear them, or not.

 

[BillD1984]

Well while growing up in my house, if you weren't a Ranger fan your older brothers all used to beat you up.

And when you went crying to daddy, he forgot you were his little girl and started talking about Vic Hadfield and Jean Ratelle.

The choice became easy after that.


Sandra

Jean Ratelle......one of my favorite all-time Bruins. And what a gentleman!!! To think, as a youngster, I (along with the majority of Bruins fans) was angry with the blockbuster Bruins-Rangers trade.

Bruins got- Ratelle, Brad Park (two huge contributors on the Bruins for many years), and Joe Zanussi.

Rangers got- Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.

 

[SabresRule]

Jean Ratelle......one of my favorite all-time Bruins. And what a gentleman!!! To think, as a youngster, I (along with the majority of Bruins fans) was angry with the blockbuster Bruins-Rangers trade.

Bruins got- Ratelle, Brad Park (two huge contributors on the Bruins for many years), and Joe Zanussi.

Rangers got- Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.

IMO, other than Gretzky to the Kings, no hockey trade had more shock value than this one.

BTW, I'd like to get Sandra'a perspective on this trade, being a Rangers fan.

 

[BillD1984]

IMO, other than Gretzky to the Kings, no hockey trade had more shock value than this one.

I totally agree. As usual, very astute observation. :up

 

[denisincalif]

I've been a Dodgers fan since they arrived in LA when I was in elementary school. My Dad also became a huge Dodgers fan and I have many fond memories of attending games with him, first at the Coliseum and later at Dodger Stadium. Even more memories involve being glued to the radio with my Dad listening to Vin Scully announce the games.

My Dad worked in a bank all of his adult life. In the late fifties he was the operations manager at the head office of Security Pacific National Bank in Los Angeles. That was essentially being a branch manager, except he ran the public banking area in the head office, not a branch. One day in walked the treasurer of the Dodgers to open a corporate account for the team. He and my Dad hit it off and became good friends. That meant I went to a LOT of games in my youth, all for free, and about one/third of them in the very best seats in the stadium. My Dad and I got a personal tour of Dodger Stadium before it opened to the public. We got tickets right behind third base for the first World Series game in LA against the 1959 White Sox. We also got seats along the right field foul line for the first World Series game played in Dodger Stadium against the 1963 Yankees.

How could I not turn into a Dodger fan?