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

[Another Fan]

To each their own when it comes to sports teams and rooting interests.  Life happens…. I don’t hold it against fans who root for more than one team or switch allegiances.

 

However jumping on teams bandwagon is weak AF.  Just driving the other day I passed a house with a KC Chiefs flag flying on it.  I mean really? 

[Buffalo Super Fan]

I think this all baloney Buffalo Bills diehard loyalty what is that? To this Buffalo Bills fan it’s a lot of hot air if one was to ask me. Here is a better example Buffalo Western New York through hypothetically climate change becomes a 15 million people metro area by 2050. The Buffalo Bills under Terry Pegula PSE continue to be incompetent hypothetically. Because of Buffalo size we get another NFL team or let’s say because America grew by 100 million people by 2050 as they predict another major football league pops up whatever Buffalo receives another major football franchise the Buffalo Wings anyway. The new Buffalo Wings NFL team hypothetically wins 7 Super Bowls in a row play in a hypothetical Buffalo Wings domed Vikings style stadium downtown and food, drinks are Atlanta Falcons prices. Still loyal to the Buffalo Bills in 2050 tailgating in Orchard Park with PSL’s or do you follow both which is what I would do if I am even still alive. Forget loyalty to one Buffalo football team the NFL owners or the management and players aren’t as loyal to you the fan. The Buffalo Bills would become what happened to the New York Baseball Giants that once was New York City toast of the city baseball wise until this guy named Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees so there is your loyalty what have you done for me lately just win baby. I don’t think Buffalo in that same position is any different than New York, Chicago or Los Angeles in my opinion. Go Bills! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[Talley56]

On this note, I do wonder how many people have seen me with my Bills gear on over the last few years and wondered if I was just a bandwagoner.  I'm not in the Buffalo/WNY area so I'm sure some stranger has seen me with Bills gear on and assumed that about me ever since the Bills have been good (of course, would have to be someone who didn't know me before).  I guess the important thing is I know I was a fan during the drought years and I know I'm not a bandwagoner and I've earned the right to enjoy the success we have seen lately.

[Bubba Gump]

Just ask Pats fans....or former Pats fans. To many of them, Tom Brady is all they know.

[SinceThe70s]

6 hours 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. 
 

 

 

To each their own, but my loyalty to the Mets runs far deeper. The thought of those two clowns owning the Mets was equal parts horrifying and nauseating. But, I lived through the Wilpons and more to the point hated players like Vince Coleman.  I may get disgusted by my team, but I'll never abandon them.

 

As to the Bills - had they left Buffalo I have idea how I would have handled that. Football is the only sport where I can watch a game between two games that i don't gaf about. Not sure how that would change if i didn't gaf about any team.

[Gugny]

4 minutes ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

To each their own, but my loyalty to the Mets runs far deeper. The thought of those two clowns owning the Mets was equal parts horrifying and nauseating. But, I lived through the Wilpons and more to the point hated players like Vince Coleman.  I may get disgusted by my team, but I'll never abandon them.

 

As to the Bills - had they left Buffalo I have idea how I would have handled that. Football is the only sport where I can watch a game between two games that i don't gaf about. Not sure how that would change if i didn't gaf about any team.

I absolutely despise Rodriguez. Having the most prolific cheater in MLB history own the Mets is something I just would t be able to be onboard with. 
 

You know how much I love the Mets, but I just knew there was no way I could do it. 
 

I’m happy it turned out to be moot. 
 

Had the Bills left Buffalo, I’m not sure what I’d have done. My hunch is that I’d have stuck with them.  Choice B would have been to switch to the Giants, since they’re only a few hours away from me (Buffalo is about 5 hours). 
 

Happy that turned out to be moot, too. 

[SinceThe70s]

1 minute ago, Gugny said:

I absolutely despise Rodriguez. Having the most prolific cheater in MLB history own the Mets is something I just would t be able to be onboard with. 
 

You know how much I love the Mets, but I just knew there was no way I could do it. 
 

I’m happy it turned out to be moot. 
 

Had the Bills left Buffalo, I’m not sure what I’d have done. My hunch is that I’d have stuck with them.  Choice B would have been to switch to the Giants, since they’re only a few hours away from me (Buffalo is about 5 hours). 
 

Happy that turned out to be moot, too. 

 

I absolutely despised Vince Coleman before he became a Met. Took a few months to warm up to him - and just when I did he had the firecracker incident. Hated the player, still loved the team. Same with the Wilpons, hated the owner, loved the team. I have a hard time believing I'd have walked away from the Mets if those other two clowns had bought them.  

[JoPoy88]

11 hours ago, Patrick Duffy said:

 

I have to think this has happened to quite a few ppl here before at some point or other.....

 

Anyways, to quickly set the scene for you just a bit, stopped for gas while I was out running some errands and have one of my many Bills shirts etc, and have a smaller 3-4in tattoo of Bills charging buffalo on the back of my neck people notice sometimes that often is the first thing they comment on getting my attention starting a little football talk....

 

Told him I was a loyal die hard Bills fan for almost 40 years now and he was a die hard fan of the Packers for however many years, but at some point is now a die hard Raiders fan lol 

 

So how can one be a "loyal die hard" fan when you switch teams like that? I could never do it, I can't imagine myself being a fan of any other team besides Buffalo. 

 

 

 

 

I mean it’s not a competition, people can root for whomever they want. Obviously they have a different definition of what “die hard” means though.

[Zag20]

I think it’s honorable to not take sports too seriously, considering you have nothing to do with the outcome. So if you want to switch teams because of one player that went to your college, or you like the logo or the uniforms, then fine. People switching teams seems very petty, but it’s all relative to how big of a fan you actually are. That being said, if you don’t feel something when you see the logo of your team, you’re not really a die hard fan. When I see the charging buffalo, I feel pride and hope, but also a bit of sadness, and I feel all those things at a fairly intense level. The last few (semi) successful seasons have been extremely cathartic after having spent thousands of dollars and sacrificing countless hours to watch every single game over the years. Not to mention it’s so much easier to see every game now. I grew up and live in Seattle and when the Seahawks win, I’m happy for my friends and family.  But when they lose, I’m laughing inside because this town is full of bandwagon jumpers and fair-weather fans. I’m pretty comfortable in saying I’m the biggest Seattle born Bills fan. If the Bills moved or disappeared I wouldn’t watch the NFL at all. When the Sonics left Seattle in 2008, that was it for me. Haven’t watched a full NBA game since. 

[BillsPride12]

6 hours ago, Zag20 said:

I think it’s honorable to not take sports too seriously, considering you have nothing to do with the outcome. So if you want to switch teams because of one player that went to your college, or you like the logo or the uniforms, then fine. People switching teams seems very petty, but it’s all relative to how big of a fan you actually are. That being said, if you don’t feel something when you see the logo of your team, you’re not really a die hard fan. When I see the charging buffalo, I feel pride and hope, but also a bit of sadness, and I feel all those things at a fairly intense level. The last few (semi) successful seasons have been extremely cathartic after having spent thousands of dollars and sacrificing countless hours to watch every single game over the years. Not to mention it’s so much easier to see every game now. I grew up and live in Seattle and when the Seahawks win, I’m happy for my friends and family.  But when they lose, I’m laughing inside because this town is full of bandwagon jumpers and fair-weather fans. I’m pretty comfortable in saying I’m the biggest Seattle born Bills fan. If the Bills moved or disappeared I wouldn’t watch the NFL at all. When the Sonics left Seattle in 2008, that was it for me. Haven’t watched a full NBA game since. 

Where do you stand on the Seattle Kraken?  Just curious 

[Radar]

My thoughts? Could care less.

[Chaos]

Fandom loyalty tests are crucial.  It certainly is more important that fans stay loyal to a team, than say the players.  I have been a life long Bills fan.  If Josh Allen were to leave the team, I don't know if I would become a fan of his new team, or if he would be an arch enemy.   But I suspect many fans, especially those who have only been a fan during the free agent era, follow their favorite players to new teams. 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Chaos

[Ethan in Cleveland]

11 hours ago, RunTheBall said:

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.

 

We have great fans and a great connection to the city but so does Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, Seattle, KC, Cleveland, and several others. I'd say we travel better than any other franchise, but that may be in part because so many of us have left WNY already. 

And that is just NFL. 

Baseball in places like St Louis are just as linked as the Bills are to Buffalo. 

[mjt328]

To be a true fan of a team, you stick with them through everything... regardless if they are winning or losing.

 

I'm fine with bandwagon jumpers, as long as they don't get involved in trash talking.  

If you can't stick around and take it when your team is bad, then you don't have the right to dish it out when they are good. 

 

I just about blew a gasket with my brother-in-law during the Miami playoff game.  He doesn't root for a particular team.  But still couldn't shut-up all game long about how much the Bills sucked.  He is no longer getting invited over to watch football at my house.

[ddaryl]

15 hours ago, Beast said:

See, I’m the opposite. I’m a big football and hockey fan. If either the Bills or Sabres moved they’d still be my favorite team, though I wouldn’t live and die with them like I do now.

 

Kind of like Alabama football. I’ve rooted for them for over 45 years but I don’t have the connection to them that I do Buffalo teams.

 

 

 

 

I was born and raised in Hamburg. Been to Bills games when OJ was runing the football for us, so I grew up and have emotional attachment to the Bills and Sabres because they have Buffalo in the name. I am just physically incapable of maintaining that emotional attachment without them being attached to my hometown.

 

 

I live north of Seattle these days, but I plan on moving back to the Buffalo area in about 4 years..... I can't even folow the Seahawks, Mariners or the Kraken and I have been out here for over 25 years. Even If I try the emotional attachment to the local teams out here just does not exist.

[Marcus Aurelius]

You'll see a lot of Bandwagon fans here in the Rochester  area ... they're pathetic 

[SMAKCruiser]

15 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

You'll see a lot of Bandwagon fans here in the Rochester  area ... they're pathetic 

Agreed.   10 years ago, I was one of the few people at Wegmans on Sunday before a game wearing Bills gear and lately it seems like 90% of the store has something on.   

[teef]

15 hours ago, msw2112 said:

 

No doubt.  New York State has very good universities, but lacks a "flagship" school and lacks a school with a big time sports program.  Syracuse is the closest thing, but it's a private school and doesn't contain the state's name in its own name.  UB has an occasional jaunt into the top-25 in football or basketball, but then its coach moves on to a more major program and things regress.  And as far as branding, when they tried to market UB sports as "New York" it went over like a lead balloon and they went back to "Buffalo."

if i'm not mistaken, they were trying to brand the entire SUNY system, and not just buffalo.  something about galisano willing to give over a large sum to the university programs, and part of that was the name change from SUNY to something involving New York.  the state didn't like it and that was the end of that.

21 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

You'll see a lot of Bandwagon fans here in the Rochester  area ... they're pathetic 

i don't find that to be the case.  i see bills gear everywhere...especially during the season.  years ago you would notice a lot of pats gear when they were on top.  it seem to be a certain age group who are now in their mid-30.  they great up watching the dominant team and became fans.  there's nothing worse than a pats fan from wny.

[The Frankish Reich]

11 hours ago, Gugny said:

Had the Bills left Buffalo, I’m not sure what I’d have done. My hunch is that I’d have stuck with them.

For me, I might have stuck with them for a few years, until the players I cared about retired/moved on. 

I lived in LA for a time, and there was nothing stupider than the transplanted New Yorkers who claimed to be Dodgers fans because of the historical connection to Brooklyn - a place they had abandoned in the 1950s.

It's to the NFL's credit that they recognized this when they decided that we'd just pretend that the New Cleveland Browns were the Old Cleveland Browns for purposes of franchise records, etc. It seemed ridiculous at the time. Now nobody even notices.

Edited May 24, 2023 by The Frankish Reich

[machine gun kelly]

People can do what they want.  Having said that, it speaks to what a real fan they were of the original team.  
 

I’ll never leave the Bills.  If I can survive 17 years of drought and even before the melodrama Flutie, and RJ, and the crappy mid 80’s, I’m confident I’m not changing.

 

Now I do have a second team, but not as passionate, but I’ve lived in Tampa since 5 days before the Bills/Giants SB down here in Tampa.  My kids are huge Bucs fans and all of my friends living here.  Everyone knows I don’t nearly have the passion I do for the Red, White, and Royal Blue.  Besides for me I have my AFC team, and my NFC team, and when they play each other in Tampa, I’ve proudly gone to every Bills/Bucs game every 8 years since 93 in my Bills jersey.