NFL fans claiming to be a loyal fan of a team but switch teams, your thoughts

[MJS]

42 minutes ago, CoffeeDrip said:

My husband was a loyal Browns fan from when the franchise was revived. Through thick and thin, he endured, until they traded for Watson. That was the day he renounced his Browns fandom and became a full fledged member of our Bills community. However, living in WNY and being married to me, he’d always had a good knowledge of and love for the Bills anyway, so it was a natural transition. 

That's understandable.

[The Frankish Reich]

4 hours ago, Logic said:

Perhaps when one's fandom is not innately related to the region in which they were raised, it's easier to switch allegiances. I've met people over the years who particularly liked one specific player, and would follow that player from team to team, and thus switch allegiances

True. 

Team allegiances are formed when you're young. I lived in Buffalo as a kid, I became a Bills fan, the Bills never left Buffalo (even though I did) ... I'm still a Bills fan.

The Sabres were brand new when I was little. They're still my NHL team. But ... when it's like the Bills drought years, you soon develop a 1A and 1B allegiance. So I follow the Avs more than the Sabres now. Until 2023-24 (there's hope!)

I was a Buffalo Braves fan. They left. My NBA favorite teams have changed over the years as I've moved.

We never had MLB in Buffalo (came a little close once), so my baseball teams were first those with a national following (the Reds when I was a kid), and later the teams where I lived.

[Albany,n.y.]

It's a lot easier for fans who never go to games and only watch on TV to switch teams.  I've been to 264 Bills games and it's way too late for me to get another team.  

[SoMAn]

3 hours ago, NewEra said:

I guess I can relate.

 

The backstory:  I’ve always been a huge basketball fan. The UNC Tar Heels beating Georgetown in the 1982 title game was the game that really got be excited.  I fell in love with the Tar Heels and James Worthy that game.  I also formed a dislike for Patrick Chewing. 
 

I didn’t have an nba team at the time so when worthy was drafted to the lakers, they became my team. As Worthy retired, in came Kobe a year later.  I would consider myself die hard for sure. I’d take off work in order to watch playoff and finals games.  I went to a couple playoff games.
 

They remained my team until the Lakers signed dwight Howard.  For whatever reason, I had always hated. Dwight howard.  I thought he was a joke (albeit a very good rebounder and defensive player) that didn’t want to be great and I couldn’t take him seriously.  they also traded for Steve nash and named Mike dantoni the HC.  3 moves that I couldn’t get behind and found myself not being able to root for them.

 

While at the same time, my favorite UNC basketball player, supposed Tar Heel savior and #1 rated HS player, Harrison Barnes  had been drafted by the warriors that same offseason. I’d watch both teams’ games to start the season. After a couple weeks I found myself not watching laker games and watching every GS game.  OT just happened. 30 years of being a laker fan was over and I was a big warrior fan.  I went  to 3x as many warrior games as I did laker games over the next 4 seasons.  Wore their gear.  Took off work to watching playoff games. I was all in on those teams.  I was die hard for sure…..until Barnes rebuffed the warriors contract extension, wanting more $ while also choking on his in the finals and forced the team to move on and snag KD.  
 

Barnes signed Dallas and they drafted luka after a couple bad season.  I watched their games and Luka became one of my favorites. I liked the team, but wasn’t really excited about them.  Then Dallas traded barnes to Sacramento where he and the team had wallowed in its suck for 3 years before finally getting things together this year.  Since the trade, I had been rooting for Dallas and Sacramento for the last few years but I seldomly watch regular season games.  Definitely not die hard for either team.
 

So I know what it’s like to be a die hard and a casual.  I know that it’s possible to be die hard for 2 different franchises playing in the same league (but not at the same time of course). I have definitely been a die hard lakers and warriors in my lifetime.  
 

If Buffalo still had an nba team, everything would’ve been different.  Rooting for your home town team is different.  If you don’t have a home town team and love the sport you can find a way to become die hard for a team….. but without the family roots, I don’t think that bond is very strong and can easily be broken.  
 

living in Vegas for the last 20+ years, i can’t stand the VGK or the Raiders.  I’ll always be a Bills and Sabres fan as long as they remain in Buffalo.  Eager to see if I jump to the A’s (when they arrive in Vegas) and leave the Yankees behind.  🤷🏻‍♂️ 

Sounds like you’re more a ‘player fan’ than a team fan. I know a lot of people with no connection to WNY started following the Bills because of O.J., Kelly, Bruce, or someone else. I’m sure the Edmonton Oilers gained a lot of fans when Gretsky was Mr. Hockey. 
Nothing wrong with that route to following a team. 
To answer the OP- like so many WNYers, I was exposed to Bills football as an impressionable kid, and they were and always will be my only team. I’ve lived in Atlanta most of my adult life and have absolutely zero interest in the Falcons. 

[Saxum]

1 hour ago, CoffeeDrip said:

My husband was a loyal Browns fan from when the franchise was revived. Through thick and thin, he endured, until they traded for Watson. That was the day he renounced his Browns fandom and became a full fledged member of our Bills community. However, living in WNY and being married to me, he’d always had a good knowledge of and love for the Bills anyway, so it was a natural transition. 

 

Your husband might know some friends of mine.  Multigeneration Browns fans who sat in the "Dog Pound" during years Cleveland was without a team.

[NewEra]

17 minutes ago, SoMAn said:

Sounds like you’re more a ‘player fan’ than a team fan. I know a lot of people with no connection to WNY started following the Bills because of O.J., Kelly, Bruce, or someone else. I’m sure the Edmonton Oilers gained a lot of fans when Gretsky was Mr. Hockey. 
Nothing wrong with that route to following a team. 
To answer the OP- like so many WNYers, I was exposed to Bills football as an impressionable kid, and they were and always will be my only team. I’ve lived in Atlanta most of my adult life and have absolutely zero interest in the Falcons. 

I’m a hometown fan. If it’s not a Buffalo team, then I’ll root for my favorite players and teams that enjoy watching.  I’ll always stick with the Bills and Sabres.  With regards to the NBA, it starts in college.  I root for Carolina players in the NBA.

 

With Barnes on his way out and (and not being very good rofl) I think my next NBA team will be whichever team drafts Elliot Cadeau in the 2025 draft.  

[StHustle]

1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

 

I can understand that if their team made a morally objectionable decision and they could no longer be a fan of that team.

I know several Browns fans who got rid all of their stuff for Browns with one of them being a Browns fan prior to moving to Baltimore and being fan of no team in interim period.

I know some Washington fans no longer being fans anymore with one who burned their jersey and hangs it as a flag on their car.

I can understand some not agreeing with their stances but their definition of ethics is probably different.

 

I agree but no way I could become "diehard" for another team. My love for the Bills runs too deep. If I had to abandon ship because of a moral issue, I could see becoming a casual fan of another team, or even multiple teams, but not diehard. 

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

When rumors were heating up that Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez were going to buy the Mets, I was 100% prepared to dump the Mets if it came to fruition. 
 

My mind was made up that I’d switch to the Red Sox (because Fenway is the same distance from me as Citifield and I love Fenway) and only switch back if the team was sold to someone else. 
 

Luckily, it didn’t happen. 
 

Had it happened and I jumped ship, I would not consider myself disloyal, given the context. 
 

 

 

Becoming a fan of another team, I get that. Becoming a diehard fan of another team is still weird for me regardless of the situation. Are you saying youd become a true diehard fan of the Red Sox, then if Mets have a new owner, flip flop and go back to being a true diehard Mets fan again??

[97bills]

For 35 years it’s been all about the bills for me , I don’t miss a game and watch every second, I no some fans just have the tv on , and when  there team scores they look. That’s what I do after the bills games, unless it’s a big AFC match up on. I do watch Thursday. And Monday night.. GO BILLS 

[Coffeesforclosers]

Straight up. If the Bills ever moved, i was tossing a coin. Heads = Baltimore, Tails = Pittsburgh. 

[benderbender]

For the better part of two decades you HAD to be a fan of football to still watch NFL knowing our seasons were usually over by Thanksgiving. 

 

I tried picking an XFL team and USFL team this year to get more into it but none seem appealing. I’ll wait for expansions I guess.

[PonyBoy]

4 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

This whole thread a a quiet neck tattoo brag.

 

Maybe.... LOL!! 

 

 

[That's No Moon]

33 minutes ago, Coffeesforclosers said:

Straight up. If the Bills ever moved, i was tossing a coin. Heads = Baltimore, Tails = Pittsburgh. 

If they ever move or moved I'm out. I don't watch football apart from the Bills unless I'm gambling on it and gambling isn't fandom.

[Patrick Duffy]

30 minutes ago, Coffeesforclosers said:

Straight up. If the Bills ever moved, i was tossing a coin. Heads = Baltimore, Tails = Pittsburgh. 

 

Ok, but do you think you could feel the same way for one of those teams as the Bills?

 

For me if Bills moved I'd have no other team, ever. I'd be a lot less interested in NFL all together. I'd probably tune into playoffs that would be about it

[Coffeesforclosers]

6 minutes ago, Patrick Duffy said:

 

Ok, but do you think you could feel the same way for one of those teams as the Bills?

 

For me if Bills moved I'd have no other team, ever. I'd be a lot less interested in NFL all together. I'd probably tune into playoffs that would be about it

 

Won't know until it happens and I hope it never does.

 

But if I was going to choses a team, it was going to be a team with Lombardis, from somewhere roughly in the northeast, that didn't play in the AFC East. 

[RunTheBall]

It’s different when you are from Buffalo. No other fan base has the depth of love/passion for their team than the Buffalo Bills.

I was born in WNY but have lived away for 25 years. My kids were each born in New England and within minutes of popping out of their mom they had a small Bills football next to them on the C-section table. My girls are now 16 and 18 and are the definition of die hard - wearing Bills jerseys to school in Rhode Island throughout most of the drought when Pats dominated us and when we finally broke it they knew what it meant to be a real fan through thick and thin.

 

I love the Sabres. Not like the Bills but I watch most games and follow them closely. Don’t care about Basketball (Braves left when I was real young), don’t care about baseball. Went to Syracuse so I follow the Orange. Went to grad school at UB so I follow the Bulls. That’s it.

 

It’s the emotional connection to my hometown and our teams that mean something. I can’t imagine just picking a team and saying “this is who I root for”.  There’s nothing wrong with that, I just don’t get it.

 

[Matt_In_NH]

I feel so attached to this team I cannot fathom “switching”.  I truly don’t understand how you can.  IMO you are not a “die hard” if you can switch.  At times during the drought I felt trapped in a way.  I cannot not care about this team.  I literally watch every play n every game no matter the score or situation.  

[Gugny]

2 hours ago, StHustle said:

 

I agree but no way I could become "diehard" for another team. My love for the Bills runs too deep. If I had to abandon ship because of a moral issue, I could see becoming a casual fan of another team, or even multiple teams, but not diehard. 

 

Becoming a fan of another team, I get that. Becoming a diehard fan of another team is still weird for me regardless of the situation. Are you saying youd become a true diehard fan of the Red Sox, then if Mets have a new owner, flip flop and go back to being a true diehard Mets fan again??

Nah. Not a diehard. Just a place holder. 

[section122]

2 hours ago, NewEra said:

I’m a hometown fan. If it’s not a Buffalo team, then I’ll root for my favorite players and teams that enjoy watching.  I’ll always stick with the Bills and Sabres.  With regards to the NBA, it starts in college.  I root for Carolina players in the NBA.

 

With Barnes on his way out and (and not being very good rofl) I think my next NBA team will be whichever team drafts Elliot Cadeau in the 2025 draft.  

I think the NBA lends itself to following players more than other leagues because its 1 out of 5.

 

Basketball and football are my 2 sports and im a lakers fan because of magic.  I will always follow and root for them over every other team that said there are a ton of players I love to watch play.  I won't say I root for them but I enjoy watching them.

 

Kd, jokic, jamal murray, steph curry, lebron among others are all a blast to watch play.

 

There are also players I hate the way they play like Harden comes to mind for 1.

 

To the op i think people care too much about others rooting interest.  I don't care if people switch teams.  I would never blame a commanders fan for switching.  Or even a pats fan following brady and rooting for tb too.  It's all entertainment in the end.

[SinceThe70s]

2 minutes ago, RunTheBall said:

 

It’s the emotional connection to my hometown and our teams that mean something. I can’t imagine just picking a team and saying “this is who I root for”.  There’s nothing wrong with that, I just don’t get it.

 

 

As an out of town Bills fan this is kind of what I did. Grew up on Long Island with a father from Chicago and a mother from Boston so no local allegiance. I ended up 'rooting' for whichever team won the SB until my father called out my BS. Took it to heart and kind of  'just picked a team' cuz OJ was amazing, Bills were from NY and except for a hobbled Joe Namath the Jets and Giants had no star power.

 

I've never looked back, don't regret it and am thrilled that my two sons are big time Bills fans despite growing up out of market. 

[BigAl2526]

I figure fans can like whatever team they want, and change when they want.  I've been a Bills fan since 1969, but I won't hate you if you became a Bills fan 2 years ago, were a Patriots fan for five years before that, and will become a New Orleans Saints fan next year.