How do you switch team loyalties?

Question

I have been a Detroit Lions fan since childhood. A few days ago Matt Millen reported he is coming back. That's it. To quote Popeye: "I've had all's I can stand, and I can't stand's n'more!" I need to unattach myself from this team and find a team that cares about its fans. I'm not necessarily looking to jump on a bandwagon I just need to support a team that gives a damn. How does someone switch their loyalties to another team? Can it even really be done? Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Its a decision you can personally make its completely possible.

Answer 2

If you are a true fan you cannot switch loyalties. At least you being a Lions fan have had brushes with greatness. You had a Hall of Famer in Barry Sanders. You want to know how many Hall of Famers the Saints have??? Try ZERO. We've won 1 freakin playoff game thus far. Only this year have things finally turned the corner. But I cannot express to you how utterly frustrating it was to go through 20+ years of QBs named Aaron Brooks, Heath Shuler, Doug Nussmier, Danny Wuerffel, Billy Joe Hobert, and RBs named Mario Bates, Lamar Smith, Troy Davis, and Terry Jackson. All the while, EXPANSION teams like Carolina and Jacksonville already have enjoyed more success than a team that's been around for 30+ years. If you think you know misery, talk to me or another Saints fan. We've worn bags on our heads going to games.

Matt Millen will be gone eventually, and a new chapter of Detroit Lions football will begin. Until then you will have to grin and bear it.

But this is part of the ebb and flow of the NFL. I say endure through the tough times. You wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you wholeheartedly began to cheer for another team, only to have Detroit make the Super Bowl a couple of years later. You are one upstart coach and a great draft class away from having the kind of season the Saints are having right now. But you can never give up hope.

Answer 3

You are in a tough situation. I am a life long Packer fan and I always will be. I could never cheer for another team, but if I was in your shoes I would seriously reconsider my loyalties. I don't know how Millen has kept his job. It's like Ford is Mr. Burns and Millen is Waylan Smithers. There is just no other explanation as to why Millen wasn't fired after year one. If I were you I would stick with the lions and hope for another losing season, and just maybe Millen will get canned. Best case senerio is that millen gets fired and gets hired as GM of the Bears, then he can run that franchise into the ground.

Answer 4

It can't be done. Being very young and impressionable at the time, I was heartbroken after the Broncos lost 3 Super Bowls in 4 years (thank god the Bills came along later with their 4 in 4 streak) ...and lost by a lot. And then went into a re-building phase. Long story short...I vowed to never follow the Broncos again. That's a big deal in Denver where Sunday IS the Broncos. Period.

Basically, I couldn't do it. I had to mostly give up football, watching just college ball. Which is great for it's own reasons, but not the same. I did my best to ignore the NFL for years, but still always somehow knew how the Broncos were doing. I finally gave in and just started watching again. I think it was a year later when they signed Terrell Davis.

So the best you can do will be to take a "break." But remember, the game is ultimately driven by the fans. The fans in Denver had a lot to do with Greise getting traded and Plummer getting benched (although his interception rate speaks for itself in my opinion). So hang in there, the Detroit ownership will most likely wise up sooner rather than later. Before it starts hitting their pocket book....;)

Answer 5

I believe it is possible to be a fan of a sport & not have to be a dyed-in-the-wool, faithful-until-I-die fan of one team. IMHO, it should be possible to be a fan of the sport as a whole & not have to be stuck cheering for a crappy team if you don't want to. But I confess, I am a lifelong Steelers fan & will always be one.

That said, if Matt Miller were running the Steelers, I would dabble with other teams, finding one that had players & a style of play that I liked (run & defend against the run), or perhaps played in a town of which I am fond.

And with the NFL, you can always have a 2nd favorite team that's in the other conference so that your loyalties will rarely ever conflict (I admit I've enjoyed watching a few Saints games this year. I want that team to win mainly because of the hurricanes that city went through, but I also like Drew Brees and Deuce McAllister as players.)

Answer 6

No, it cant be done.

A true fan sticks with their team for life, through good and bad. If your team are always pretty bad, thats tough but it makes a winning season all the more sweeter when it finally happens. I know what I'm talking about here..I'm a Saints fan!

If you really have decided you cant bear the Lions anymore, then its better to give up on the NFL completely than switch allegiance to a rival team. Follow College football, follow soccer, follow the Tigers more, follow the Pistons or the Red Wings more..but whatever you do, dont follow another NFL team other than the one you have always followed!

Answer 7

Wow...that's a toughie. Like you, I've been a fan of my home team since childhood...the San Diego Chargers! I've since moved from San Diego in 1988, living in several different states.

In my heart of hearts, I've stuck with them, through the ups and downs. I've been living in Colorado Springs for 10+ years where this is a big Bronco town. And it's amazing that when the Broncos are THE TEAM, everyone here is a fan. But when they have their less than spectacular season...the locals starts to talk trash about them and drops them like a hot potato. Yes, like you, I love a team that supports it's fans, but what about the fans that supports their chosen team no matter what?

It's hard nowadays. Everyone is a free agent and there doesn't seem to be loyalties from some of the players. Who can you blame? The owners? The coaches? The players? The fans?

I attach myself to a team from a personal level. I can't attach myself, say to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, if I've never lived there, or have no kind of personal connection. My two children are big SD Charger fans, though they've never lived there, but have visited often. They go by the personal connections because me and my husband, (their dad), both grew up in SD. When we're watching non-Chargers play football, say the Broncos and another team, again, we root for the team where we have a personal connection and will choose Denver. But when it's San Diego vs. Denver---go CHARGERS!

You can switch loyalites, it might be tough, but it can be done. Maybe root for the team where they may have a player who is a hometown boy where you grew up, and though may play for a different city, but still lives in/near your hometown. I guess another question you can ask yourself, do you choose your loyalty to a team or loyalty to a specific player?

I don't know if my answer helped, but good luck to you!

Answer 8

i dont think it can be done either. im a steelers fan and i know we have a great history, but i truly believe that if we went 2-14 for the next 10 years.... i would still wake up every sunday and throw on my steelers gear and root for the black and gold. when u have a team that u love sooo much, there is an emotional attachment, for whatever reason it maybe, and its hard to break that. i couldnt imagine one day deciding that i wasnt goin to root for the steelers b.c. they have had a rough few years and decide i would be an eagle's fan or whatever.... if u are a true diehard.... then u stick w. that team thru the ups and downs! maybe because u always have hope that next year will be brighter! HERE WE GO STEELERS!

Answer 9

If you truly love the Lions, you'll live and die with them. I've been a diehard Saints fan from the time I could say "Dalton Hilliard." I've been through their few highs and their many, many, many lows. Now they've got a decent shot at a Super Bowl title and I am sick of folks who jump on the bandwagon.

Also, Tom Benson is an idiot and a selfish jerk, but it's not the players' fault that he's that way. I support the guys on the field, not in the suite on the fifty yard-line.

Answer 10

Easy. Start cheering for someone else.

I really need to find out what kind of dirt Millen has on William Clay Ford, because that's the only reason he can still have his job. Either that, or Ford doesn't give a ****, as long as people are still willing to hike down to downtown Kwameville to watch that sorry-*** team play.

Answer 11

I am sorry to say but it is impossible to switch teams if your heart is for the Lions. This is coming from a long time Bear fan that has never put his cap on the hook. Even though many people made fun of me for standing behind my team. Just stick with them they will turn around someday.

Bandwagon fans suck i.e. Cowboys, Patriots, Rams.......