I need a new NFL team. What is the best way to switch allegiances?

Question

I was a steelers fan. I became one two years ago when Roethlisberger had that fantastic season and i had just started to gain a newfound interest in the NFL (before then, I enjoyed watching the games but didn't have a rooting interest in a particular team. But ever since moving to Pittsburgh, I've realized that I was a phony: I started cheering for the team (which I started disliking in the spring, before this bad season started) for the wrong reasons. So now I need help choosing a new team, a new slate and a new beginning: The Browns are appealing, b/c my fiance is a huge steeler fan, and that would give us a fun competitive rivalry twice a year for the rest of our lives.

With that being said, what is the best way to pick a team to cheer on for the rest of my life?

I was a steelers fan. I became one two years ago when Roethlisberger had that fantastic season and i had just started to gain a newfound interest in the NFL (before then, I enjoyed watching the games but didn't have a rooting interest in a particular team. But ever since moving to Pittsburgh, I've realized that I was a phony: I started cheering for the team (which I started disliking in the spring, before this bad season started) for the wrong reasons. So now I need help choosing a new team, a new slate and a new beginning: The Browns are appealing, b/c my fiance is a huge steeler fan, and that would give us a fun competitive rivalry twice a year for the rest of our lives.

With that said, what's the best way to pick a team to cheer on for the rest of life

*Good answers so far....more info: I'm not going to choose a team until a month before the draft, and growing up, we moved around a lot, and the NFL wasn't big in our house: so i have neither location or family ties to help pick

Answer 1

Your sure can just pick a team. I'm from Los Angeles, so I figure I can just pick anyone I want. Around 1995 I decided to pick the Patriots, and it has worked out quite well for me.

The Browns would be an excellent choice. You don't want to jump on the bandwagon of a team that's really good right now. Not only does that look bad, but you won't get the full effect of the excitement when they win. It will be too early.

I suggest you buy a jersey (Willie McGinnest?) and some other team paraphernalia. Then get NFL Sunday ticket and watch the game EVERY week. That's the best way to pick up on the team info and history. Make yourself a email news alert with the name of a few players, so then you'll get updated on all the important news.

By the time the Browns win a Superbowl, you'll be hooked!

Answer 2

I'm old, so I've been watching football for a lot of years. I have been a Seahawks fan since day one, (the mid-70s) because they are the closest NFL team to where I was born and raised (British Columbia). Every year they would fall to pieces early and I would end out the season cheering for somebody else.

During the 70s it was Pittsburgh, I loved them. The 80s it was Joe Montana and the 49ers. Of course I have picked some ugly teams too, I loved the Houston Oilers at one time, also the Bears and Dolphins. During the 90s I really liked the Panthers and the Jags (still do actually) and I was a big Bucs fan when they went all the way.

Now that Seattle is actually in the hunt each season as a serious contender, my options are quite limited, I don't much like the coach and I still don't trust the team fully, but hell, they are MY team and after 30 years of frustration, I'm certainly NOT going to give up NOW!

How did I pick the others, well, I just watch the games and study up a bit, and somewhere along the line something just hits you. It could be the uniforms (Panthers) it could be the way an new expansion team gains respectability right away (Panthers and Jags) it could be a coach (Dolphins) or the fact that it was my Dad's favorite underdog team with fantastic new quarterback (49ers). It might be the way they keep kicking the butts of "America's Team" (Pittsburgh), or maybe you just go for the underdog team with the QB who was such a star in the CFL. (Oilers).

Maybe its just that you start to smell a team of destiny right from the start of the season, something really odd and special about an insane QB who bashes heads with Off. linemen, a crazy coach like Mike Ditka, a Hall of Fame runner like Payton and DB like Singletary, a bi-polar Def. Co-ordinator like Buddy Ryan and every time you see these guys play, you start to hear that song in your head:

"Freight train, freight train, goin' so fast......"

And for that one brief period, that one year, you suddenly understand that you are watching something as close to pure football perfection as its possible to get and the only thing you can say for the rest of that season is ....... "da Bears!"

That's how I would do it in the past. But the Browns, I don't know, ugly uniforms, terrible name, stupid colors, awful helmets and a really uninteresting city. They aren't playing THAT well, and even if they do, who will care?

If you do want a new team, why not chose the OLD Browns, the Baltimore Ravens. There's a bunch of washed-up, overachieving, has-beens with an old dinged-up, worn-out QB and a brilliant coach that might actually be on a genuine run for the silverware this season, now THAT's the stuff of legends.... If the Seahawks lose many more this season, why I just might come over and join you...............

Answer 3

I would call you a fan of football but not a fan of any particular team. Until you spend years supporting your team during losing or marginal seasons and tough it out with them, then you will be nothing more than a casual observer.

It's ironic that you would be considering a switch from one of the most loyal of fan bases in football.

I would suggest that instead of feeling guilty for being a fair weather fan and since you are living in Pittsburgh, go out to one of the ten zillion Steeler gatherings and get involved. Steeler fans are fanatics (fan addict) but really understand the game and it's history.
They are EVERYWHERE. There are 14 Steeler venues for me to choose from within an hour of my house here in North Carolina.

Whatever you decide, best wishes to you and one other suggestion. Don't choose the Browns if you want to have a social life while living in Pittsburgh. Live it or live with it.

Answer 4

As a native Bostonian, I am a Patriots fan. My father was a Patriots fan. All the kids in my neighborhood were Patriots fans. Some went to games regularly. Mine is the easy case.
The next easiest case is when someone moves to Boston, say from Fresno, and they have no particular team to cheer for. They get caught up in the ubiquitous general feelings of caring if the Patriots win or lose each weekend in the fall. I am sure it is the same in every NFL city.
The third case is someone from Fresno who lives in Modesto or Bakersfield or wherever and wants to pick an NFL team to cheer for. That sounds like you, but I think you ought to be in the second category. You live in Pittsburgh, your fiancee is from Pittsburgh, you would be missing out on something to share if you adopt another team. Our children wear Patriots shirts to school. It's fun to be able to cheer for the same team. I cannot imagine having the same fun, if I had married a Dolphins, Jets or Bills fan. At the very least, pick a team in another division.

Answer 5

You just don't pick a team out of a lineup and say,this is my team,you get to be a fan of a team no matter how good or bad they might play,it's usually but not always where you are from and the nearest team there,and then you follow the same team for the rest of your life even if you move to another state,I am a Cowboys fan and have been always,I've seen them go with only one win but I've also been there when they have won all those championships

Answer 6

"The Browns are appealing, b/c my fiance is a huge steelers fan, and that would give us a fun competitive rivalry twice a year for the rest of our lives."

Bad move dude!!! Although it pains me to say this, if I were you I would root for the steelers. Less fights!!! Competitive rivalries don't exist when it comes to football. Especially if it's your wife's team. I don't know about the rest of the people here, but it would tick me off if someone was rooting against my team, in MY house. That goes triple for a spouse.

I'd re-think your strategy!

Answer 7

If you're picking the Browns just to have something to get wound up about that might not be a bad idea but it won't be sincere when you two banter about who the better team is. Maybe you should just ride out the rest of the regular season and see if anyone strikes your fancy before the post-season sometimes all it takes is watching one game and for some odd reason you've got a new team. Good luck with your search.

Answer 8

I do not agree with all of the people who say that the team is chosen for you. You choose who you like. Ok so I grew up in TN and I did not know really anything about football but if anyone asked, I was a Titans fan since the year that they went to the Superbowl. Although now my husband is a huge football fan and he has taught me all about football and I understand it now. I started watching it and grew respect for some players and just grew to love to watch the Jacksonville Jaguars and now I am a huge Jaguars fan through good times and bad. That is a true fan. Choose for yourself.

Answer 9

It's hard to CHOOSE a team to root for--I'm a Browns fan myself, but that's because I became attached to them at an early age. We lived in northeast Ohio when I reached the age that I began to understand and like football, and if you've ever been in Cleveland during football season, you know how passionate they are for them Dawgs. I got swept up in that, and so I remain a fan to this day, even though I now live in eastern Pennsylvania, where there's almost as many Steelers fans as Eagles fans.

My point is that it's almost like falling in love - you don't CHOOSE to do it, you just do.

Answer 10

Are you sure you're not just wanting to switch teams because the Steelers are having a bad season?

Don't be a fair weather fan, a real fan stands behind their team win or lose.