Fan Loyalty and Bandwagoners
Muddy
USA
John Cusack recently got shit at a White Sox playoff game for rooting for both Cubs and White Sox. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGj8w6So…
His explanation was he grew up on the North Side but did star in 8 Men out as one of the Black Sox. Ok I don't if it's a good enough excuse but ok.
My experience where I grew up you have some BIG decisions to make as kid that may affect your mental health down the road severely, there's multiple teams in the sports locally and in hockey there's even three. But you pick wrong (that's what I probably did, edit: make that definitely) you might just be fucked for life and have to hold that down. I understand and accept that. At no point am I thinking to myself alright where can I jump ship to. And your buddies growing up would never let you live it down anyway and bust your balls for eternity. There's was always this notion if you have two teams, you really have none and I tend to agree with that. It cheapens it if one of those teams do end up winning.
As I've gotten older though, there's also a part of me that feels I really don't give a shit anymore. If that's what makes you happy good for you. How do you view this?
His explanation was he grew up on the North Side but did star in 8 Men out as one of the Black Sox. Ok I don't if it's a good enough excuse but ok.
My experience where I grew up you have some BIG decisions to make as kid that may affect your mental health down the road severely, there's multiple teams in the sports locally and in hockey there's even three. But you pick wrong (that's what I probably did, edit: make that definitely) you might just be fucked for life and have to hold that down. I understand and accept that. At no point am I thinking to myself alright where can I jump ship to. And your buddies growing up would never let you live it down anyway and bust your balls for eternity. There's was always this notion if you have two teams, you really have none and I tend to agree with that. It cheapens it if one of those teams do end up winning.
As I've gotten older though, there's also a part of me that feels I really don't give a shit anymore. If that's what makes you happy good for you. How do you view this?
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18 comments
I have to admit that I tend to be a bandwagoner. It's just more fun to root for the team that is going to win. Being in Tampa part time has made that easy. Tampa teams seem to win everything these days.
@Warrior yeah that is definitely a legitimate exception no doubt about it. If a teams leaves or moves to you, you have free reign to jump ship. No qualms about it. It’s affected a lot of people too. Like the famous one was when the Dodgers left, something people still bitch about around here. Some took their fandom out to LA or a lot of fans like my uncles said fuck that we’re not rooting for the Yankees (who btw were probably the greatest dynasty in the history of the sports at that point in the 50’s and won it all almost every year), they just won’t have a team and they came back out of hiding once the Mets came about.
Today I don’t know how I’d react but I would probably just give up my fandom it’s already hanging on by a thread anyway in all sports across the board anyway, unless I moved somewhere with a local team I never had any hatred for I could get try to be happy for them
I did because I figured there might be herds of buffalo wandering through the the city. Seemed like good eatin’. But I arrived only to discover that the only redeeming thing about Buffalo is that it is better than frickin’ Rochester! Now there is is city that had like 100 prides of lions team up to go all wildebeest on its ass!
On second thought, move to Buffalo. You seem like the kind of ape that might like sad, cold, and buried under lake effects snow. Hell, move to frickin’ Rochester. ROAR!!!
I couldn’t love the football Giants as a kid. They were not a good team in the 70’s. I never found love for the Jets either. The Knicks and Yankees were my favorite teams. I went to several Nets games - but they were never my favorite.
I think the biggest choice in NYC is a baseball team. It’s crazy how folks stick with the Mets every year!
Hockey fans can be hardcore as well. I can’t watch hockey playoffs in June - it just doesn’t work for me.
I don’t care if a team plays across the river - or in Brooklyn - or Queens.
I know older guys who are Dodgers fans - as they loved them when they were in Brooklyn - and they will never change.
most of the older guys I knew that rooted for the Dodgers from my hometown of Brooklyn, NY, switched to to the Metsies, the Dodgers became dem bums in 1957 and we all booed them cause they ran out to lalaland.
i'll just assume that cusack is just another average casual sports fan. like many others he'll defend rooting for both teams because they are both representing the city. any diehard fan of either team would think that this guy has no loyalty at all and is just talking out of his ass.
so yeah cusack's offense would be considered an old school violation.
Although it shouldn't be like that. But in this fucked up country everything is just a business
For example, I’ve partied with mikethetiger a few times. You know, drinking beer, bangin’ sexy LSU coeds. Fun shit. But it give me great pain to let you know that ol’ mike is a frickin’ idiot. He’s almost as stupid as Skifredo on here.
So you should focus on listening to ricks. My advice: buy s stylish suit, get a bottle of good drivin’ whiskey, and go have fun. Doesn’t matter whether your a dog that identifies as a rat or a rat that identifies as a dog I think you’ll have fun. ROAR!!!
I can understand why Cusack was getting a hard time. In Chicago you’re either a Sox fan or a Cubs fan. Can’t be both. And it goes beyond just rooting for the teams. It’s really a cultural thing. The south side (White Sox) is lower working class people. Historically it’s the area of the old meat packing plants and heavy industry. It’s home to immigrants from Poland, Slavic countries, Italy and Ireland.
The north side (Cubs) is more affluent. Everything is different - architecture, restaurants, jobs.
It’s not a simple as just Cubs vs Sox