Why do people care about their local sports teams?

Espressocycle
Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
in Chit-Chat
I have never understood why people get so into rooting for their local professional sports team. It would be one thing if all the players were from your home town or something, but they are just people from all over hired to play for a team that happens to be based in your metropolitan area. If you like a player on your team one year, he could be playing on another team the following season. It's not like the team even belongs to your community - the owner can move it to another city!

I actually enjoy watching a really good baseball or basketball game, but I just don't understand why anybody cares which team wins.

Anyway, I would like to get it. People really seem to enjoy it!
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Replies

  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
    In Detroit, it's all we have.
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
    Local teams bring in a TON of money to the local economy especially professional and Division I NCAA teams in America. We're talking several hundred million dollars per year here. Not chump change. Most of that money is also taxable so it's good for state and local government income as well.

    It's also fun to be able to go out on a weekend to a sporting event and enjoy the crowd and the energy of a good game.
  • IsabellaC45
    IsabellaC45 Posts: 137 Member
    I am from Manchester. I feel my explanation will suffice. :P
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,465 Member
    I don't really get it, but I suppose if there wasn't some reason like that for supporting a particular team, everybody would just support the team that won the most. Maybe that's not a problem, though?
  • infamousmk
    infamousmk Posts: 6,033 Member
    I BLEED BLUE AND ORANGE.


    Until we're out of the playoffs, and then I forget there are sports at all.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    People seem to develop an emotional connection to the team they grew up rooting for, which will usually be their hometown team.

    But we all understand that it's really just entertainment.
  • jmc0806
    jmc0806 Posts: 1,444 Member
    I've been a New England sports fan since I was born. You grow up that way around here
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
    I am from Manchester. I feel my explanation will suffice. :P

    No, I wonder about all you English football nuts most of all.
  • futurestarz
    futurestarz Posts: 510
    In Detroit, it's all we have.

    I second this!
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    ***Applies to football only***

    Unless you pony up for NFL Sunday ticket, you only get to watch the "hometown" team, so who else are you gonna cheer for? The networks are conspiring to MAKE me a Raider fan.....but I am too smart for that! :laugh: :wink:
  • jnh17
    jnh17 Posts: 838 Member
    What I don't get is supporting a college you or a close relative didn't attend? My cousin is a die-hard Longhorns fan but nobody in our family or his wife's family ever went to school there. We're talking infant's-first-clothes type of fan. It's weird.
  • fightininggirl
    fightininggirl Posts: 792 Member
    in Arkansas we are razorback manaics. It is all we have too. wooe pig sooie!!
  • meredith1123
    meredith1123 Posts: 843 Member
    Its a political thing.

    I dont like any of my local teams.

    enough said.
  • wolverine66
    wolverine66 Posts: 3,779 Member
    I would bet that it has something to do with a few things -

    First - people weren't always able to watch any game they wanted. Until recently (within the last 10 years or so) you were pretty saturated with teams that were around you. Sundays, for me growing up, was the Steelers every week. And baseball was the pirates, and so on.

    Secondly - those were the teams primarily covered in the area by the newspapers (remember those?), so you learned more about the players, regardless of where they were from. I should state that I am not a fan of the Steelers, and it was extremely difficult with the lack of TV exposure and internet to be a Lions fan in the early 90's (it's still difficult, but for other reasons - like they suck).

    Thirdly - fandom is often passed down from generation to generation. People will tell stories about going to games with their dads (or moms) and so on.
  • kaitimae
    kaitimae Posts: 727 Member
    In Detroit, it's all we have.

    I second this!

    Third. I live in Denver... but I'm all about Detroit. Good thing there are lots of Michiganders here. :)
  • LittleMissNerdy
    LittleMissNerdy Posts: 792 Member
    We've lucked out (Baltimore) and had a few players in different sports who are actually from the area stay here (Cal Ripken Jr) or have players that might be from other cities but have stayed with us their entire career (Ray Lewis).

    I love my teams. It brings pride to the city when one of them (or both) do well. I love going out to a baseball game and cheering on my team. It's a break for me. It's a way to meet new people.
  • Brianna716
    Brianna716 Posts: 303 Member
    Because I can drive to the Bills and Sabres games... it's a sense of community to root for the home team! And the energy of being at a game surrounded by fellow hometown fans cheering- it's just awesome :)
  • rydn4h2o
    rydn4h2o Posts: 255
    Local teams bring in a TON of money to the local economy especially professional and Division I NCAA teams in America. We're talking several hundred million dollars per year here. Not chump change. Most of that money is also taxable so it's good for state and local government income as well.

    It's also fun to be able to go out on a weekend to a sporting event and enjoy the crowd and the energy of a good game.

    This...
  • mattagascar
    mattagascar Posts: 708 Member
    NERRRDS? NERDS! NERDS! NERDS!!
  • nerdyandilikeit
    nerdyandilikeit Posts: 2,185 Member
    What is this 'sports'?
  • TheNewJesse
    TheNewJesse Posts: 184
    My brain cant comprehend not cheering for local sports.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    root, root, root for the home team...if they don't win it's a shame...for it's 1, 2, 3 strikes your out at the old ball game.

    I think for most sports fans it's pretty deeply rooted and often over generations. Lot of nostalgia for me...remembering sitting on the couch with my dad watching the football game or the base ball game...going to the stadium with dad and grandpa on a summer evening and the smell of clipped grass...freezing my butt off in the winter at the football game and drinking my cocoa while dad drank his (with a little something extra)...etc, etc...
  • LaurySch
    LaurySch Posts: 277 Member
    Why does it bother you?

    If you watch sport for sports sake, go ahead - but for most people it makes it way more exciting to root for a team.
  • oregonzoo
    oregonzoo Posts: 4,251 Member
    Why not? It's fun.


    Errrr... go dirty birds?
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
    It gives me something to get riled up about that doesn't have any direct bearing on my daily life. Allows me to vent frustrations. Form elaborate rivalries in my head. Not to mention just being able to watch all those hot, sweaty men...
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
    I found this online:
    "Some people watch and mock at the fact that people watch sports so religiously but they have not experienced it. Many go as far as to say, "it is a waste of time". The connections that many have to sports is in fact like a religion, not in the sence of worshipping the sport, but in the way of being involved because of the togetherness, and family that it represents."

    Gotta say, being raised atheist as well, it's no surprise I have no level of connection to my fellow man. If it wasn't for food, I would have nothing to talk about with anybody.
  • ncahill77
    ncahill77 Posts: 501 Member
    Ever been in an Arena or stadium that is just rocking? It's a sense of community that doesn't really exist any where else anymore other than maybe a university or church.
  • wjniii
    wjniii Posts: 110 Member
    It satisfies our primal need to belong to a tribe. Caring who wins shows emotional commitment which raises the stakes and makes it exciting.
  • AngelsFan91106
    AngelsFan91106 Posts: 111 Member
    I think people cheer for their local team because you can actually attend the games in person when it's located locally.

    In regards to players moving away, I have a favorite player who is going to play for Detroit next season. I will probably always keep an eye on his career and root for him, unless he's playing against my team, of course.
  • Cyngen
    Cyngen Posts: 557 Member
    Local teams bring in a TON of money to the local economy especially professional and Division I NCAA teams in America. We're talking several hundred million dollars per year here. Not chump change. Most of that money is also taxable so it's good for state and local government income as well.

    It's also fun to be able to go out on a weekend to a sporting event and enjoy the crowd and the energy of a good game.

    Pretty much this

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