How did you develop your fandom for your team?

[Bo Diddley]

How did you come to develop your fandom for your various sports teams?

BYU

Of course it goes without saying that my time and energy goes primarily to BYU Football and Basketball. I was born into this tribe, lived through the golden years of Saint Edwards, and went to school there.

Lavell.jpg

Pittsburgh Steelers

Before I even understood the rules of football, I liked the Steelers because my oldest brother did. He did because of they were something special back in the mid 70's. My other older brother was a Raiders fan. I hate them. My earliest memories of football include Terry Bradshaw throwing the football to John Stallworth and Lynn Swann. I loved when they played on Monday Night Football.

Then we suffered through several lean years until Bill Cowher came along. I love that guy and his passion for the game.

I had no idea upfront that I was picking one of the all-time great teams, but it's been a fun ride so far.

bill cowher.jpg

Utah Jazz

We moved to Utah in 1981. I started seeing a few games here and there. Hot Rod Hundley called the games, and it was fun watching Adrian Dantley, Ricky Green and Golden Griff play. Then with the advent of Stockton to Malone, I was hooked. I love Jerry Sloan.k

I cooled to the NBA after their last strike, so perhaps I'm not the fan I used to be.

Jerry Sloan.jpg

Kansas City Royals

Christmas 1981, when I was 13, my mom bought me a book for Christmas called Hooper Haller. It's a fictional book about a kid from Hooper, UT who was drafted straight to the Royals. Their colors were royal blue and white, just like BYU, (PGHS is also blue & white) so it was a perfect fit!

Back in those days, I rarely saw them play on TV. I had to follow them in the daily newspaper--how many games back were they? Sometimes quite a few, sometimes really close to leading the division. 1985 was a real treat--not just because they won the World Series, but because I was able to watch quite a few games on TV in their push through the playoffs. It's amazing how times have changed. Now I have MLB TV, and can watch their games live on my phone or TV anytime, anywhere.

It was mostly a rough 30 years in between championships, and again after, but I still follow them as close as I can. I love that they get their results without paying out the big money like the Yankees, Red Sox and others. And I love Ned Yost.

Ned Yost.JPG

Other Sports

I have even less time and energy for other sports. I enjoy the olympics every four years. Go USA! It's fun to grab the occasional hockey game, but I only have so much fanatic energy, and don't want to spread it too thin.

[old_gregg]

oh man donuthole is going to kill you

[Bo Diddley]

oh man donuthole is going to kill you

Bad use of fandom?

fandom.jpg

Right before I posted, I wondered if I was using that word correctly. Unless my reading comprehension is as suspect as my grammar, I'm good to go! But I will admit, I was going to go with it anyways, because for whatever reason, I like to poke a stick at him.

[Eddie]

I'll give it a shot:

BYU

Having been raised of goodly parents... My Mom's side of the family really aren't strong sports fans for the most part - though I do have an uncle who taught at BYU, and those cousins are ardent fans. But my Dad's side of the family are all BYU fans. They're all rednecks too - so Dad was the first to go to college. He did undergrad at Utah and then graduate work and taught some classes at BYU as a TA, I think. When I was in Elementary School, we got season tickets to football and would attend a couple of basketball games a year. I was hooked. Always been a BYU fan, in spite of never having attended the school. Same for my siblings - two of us have degrees from Utah, but still bleed blue.

NFL:

Here's where the purist-types start to have their heads explode, because my loyalties are all over the place.

I remember having people ask me which team I cheered for, and not knowing. I didn't have the family connection to a team - my Dad would watch the superbowl, but little NFL outside of that. One day, when I was 7, I remember being in my cousins room and looking at a poster he had of all of the NFL helmets, and trying to decide which one I liked best to pick which team would be mine. Yeah - that didn't work either. None of the helmets were awesome in and of themselves.

Not long after that, I was at a friends house who had the Boy's Life magazine laying on the floor in his room. On the cover was Pat Hayden of the Rams, who happened to be left handed. I'm left handed too - so that was my answer, and I became a rams fan. At least that's what I told people when anyone asked.

Still - we didn't watch much football outside of the superbowl growing up - probably because about the only thing Mom would let us watch on TV on Sunday was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, followed by The Wonderful World of Disney.

During the Steelers and Cowboys years, I had annoying cousins who liked the Cowboys, so I would cheer for the Steelers.

But most of my loyalties were more directly tied to BYU guys. So I cheered for the Raiders when Wilson was there, the Bears when McMahon was there, and more than the rest, the Niners when Steve Young was there. There is still a place in my heart for the Rams, but I mostly follow the Pats, Packers, Chiefs, and Saints right now. Not necessarily in that order. Chiefs have the added benefit of not only having Reid as their coach and Sorenson on the team, but my son is currently serving a missionary there. Somehow I'm thinking that will get the Chiefs to stick even if there are no BYU guys on the team, which gives me undo angst due to the Chiefs also being Bill Riley's team, and I kind of want all of his favorite teams to always lose. So it's a dilemma.

MLB

More heads exploding here...

I've never been a huge baseball fan. I enjoy playing baseball and softball, but don't get into the stats and get bored by it way too easily. Except for the World Series - which I will watch.

My best friend served his mission in Boston and became a Red Sox fan - intrigued by their long-suffering history (and since I didn't really care enough to get emotionally attached to wins or losses), I was a Sox fan for a while.

I used to work with a guy named Dave who was a HUGE Cardinals fan. I liked Dave a lot, so I would cheer for the Cardinals with him. Dave got brain cancer and really struggled with memory and finding things. This was pre-maps in cell phones, so his wife gave him a GPS unit for Christmas one year. Dave immediately loaded the directions to Busch Stadium, just in case he ever needed to get there for a game. Dave died in the fall of 2011 - I credit the Card's improbable run and world series win that year to his passing and being there to pull off some "Angels in the Outfield" shenanigans for his team. I miss him a lot. The Cardinals have a TON of good memories for me because of Dave.

I also follow the Royals now - again, due to that son serving a mission there and knowing that he is interested in them winning.

NBA

It's always been the Utah Jazz. Like Bo - I started following and listening to games with Hot Rod calling games for Ricky "the fastest of them all" Green and Adrian Dantley. Stockton and Malone cemented it with their long legacy, but it was guys like Griff, Antoine Carr, and Horny, and others that were some of my favorites.

Other Sports -

I'm with Bo again here. It's mostly "Go USA". I've caught some Real Salt Lake games on TV when they're in the playoffs and have friends and family that love them, so if I had an MLS team that would be it. Being born in NZ, I'm all about the All Blacks. Though they aren't on the TV channels I have all that often, so I don't catch them as much as I'd like.

[Bo Diddley]

Still - we didn't watch much football outside of the superbowl growing up - probably because about the only thing Mom would let us watch on TV on Sunday was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, followed by The Wonderful World of Disney.

The LDS cultural undertow is strong here. We had the same thing growing up. Plus, my dad just wasn't into sports much.

[BigFatMeanie]

BYU:
Mom and Dad met at BYU. Grew up a fan from birth, attended the 1980 Holiday Bowl in person, stayed to the very end, and saw Jim McMahon to Clay Brown. Went to BYU, met my wife at BYU, had season tickets for ages, one kid at BYU, others aspiring to go there. Being a BYU fan is in my DNA.

NFL:
I have no loyalty to any specific team. I grew up in mainly Utah without an NFL team so I follow the teams that have BYU players or coaches.

NBA:
Jazz. Obviously growing up in Utah made me a Jazz fan. Like Eddie I remember the old days of Ricky Green and others of his era and remember when Larry Miller bought out Sam Battistone. Loved Stockton and Malone but after they retired I largely abandoned the NBA and focus only on BYU basketball now.

MLB:
I know Bryce Harper is LDS. Beyond that I don't know much about MLB.

Others:
I will go to one or maybe two Real Salt Lake games a year. I watch the US in the World Cup and watch the Olympics. Never watched an NHL game in my life.

It's pretty much only BYU for me.

[mtnbiker]

BYU:
Mom and Dad went to BYU, but I don't remember them ever being big into sports. As a kid I didn't know there was any difference in sports quality between universities, so I quietly rooted for Idaho State (or sometimes Weber State, since my grandparents' house was near the campus and I could hear the cheering and announcers when we visited). My oldest sister went to BYU, and we visited her one year when the Y played Utah State, and the team included Chris Farasopolous, Pete Van Valkenburg, Golden Richards, Joe Liljenquist, etc. I remember them having homecoming activities, including a mud football game. Looking at old schedules, it looks like it was 1970.

NFL:
I remember as a really little kid watching (on black-and-white tv) a 105-yard kick return and deciding I liked that team. It was the LA Rams, and must have been either 1961 or '63, looking back at statistics from the seasons. It's hard to believe I would have remembered something like that as a 2 year old, but the stats match. Later, I liked the Fearsome Foursome, Roman Gabriel, Eddie Meador, and everyone on the team. These days I mostly just follow the careers of former Cougs.

NBA:
I liked Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain. Oscar Robertson had an interesting one-handed jumper. But I had a spot in my heart for the Utah Stars of the ABA, and later the Jazz of Rickey Green and later Stockton & Malone. I hated the Pistons, and respected the Showtime Lakers and the Larry Bird Celtics. I can't stand to watch these days because of the star treatment the refs give. It's so annoying.

MLB:
I had an old RCA lunchbox-type tube radio that could pick up Dodgers games if the atmospherics were right. The signal bounced a long way from LA to Idaho. Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes....
old radio lunchbox style rca8BX6.jpg

Others:
It hardly got any play, but I was interested in US cyclists doing well. Greg LeMond, Davis Phinney, and loved the Lance Armstrong era until it was obvious that he was not only a doper but also ruthlessly mean to anyone who got in his way. These days it's cool to watch Peter Sagan with his incredible bike handling and all-around talent.

[Paperback Writer]

College Football:
BYU
My parents are BYU alumni and my Dad was a Cougar fan but also followed Utah St. and UCLA - schools he attended for his Master's and Phd. I learned Golden Richards was a relative and starting taking an interest in BYU. Todd Christensen became a favorite player, even more so when he started playing TE for the Raiders, my high school position. I was certain I was going to get the height of my older brother (6'3") and play TE for BYU. Was a big Jim McMahon and Steve Young fan. Living in the epicenter of Cornhusker land, I was known as the guy who followed BYU football and refused to let friends change the channel at a party during the 1980 Holiday Bowl. I predicted the comeback and my friends watched in amazement and viewed me as somewhat of a prophet for a short time afterwards. After my mission I transferred to BYU and the Cougars immediately won a national championship.

Nebraska
Family moved to Lincoln when I was 12 and I went to every home game from 1975-81 and attended Nebraska as a Freshman. Nebraska was on a roll from 1970-2001; and since then....hey, did I mention they went 60-3 from 1993-97? My high school football coach was a former player and have several HS teammates and friends who have played for Nebraska.

MLB
Boston Red Sox
Became a Red Sox fan as a kid under the influence of an uncle who is a Harvard alumni. In my bedroom I had posters of the Red Sox outfield: Yastrzemski, Rice, Lynn, and Evans. When I received my mission call to the Massachusetts Boston mission, my high school friends didn't believe me. And with MP permission got to attend a game at Fenway where my favorite players: Yastrzemski and Evans both homered in a 10-5 Red Sox victory. Last season was fun to watch; so far this season, not so much.

NFL
Dallas Cowboys
As a kid, I was a LA Rams fan because my Dad was distant cousins to Merlin Olsen and I like their helmets. Deacon Jones and Jack Snow were my favorite players. After graduation from BYU, moved to the Dallas area and became a Cowboys fan. Rams were moving to St. Louis anyway. Dallas is a football town so I jumped on the bandwagon as I could tell they were building something good in the early 1990s. I've stayed with the Cowboys since, more out of habit.

NBA
Was a fan of the Larry Bird era Boston Celtics. Now I don't take much interest in the NBA due to the star treatment that mtnbiker mentioned. Only player I followed was the local guy, Dirk Nowitzki. Now that he's retired, I might be done with the NBA.

[Surfah]

I grew up in LA. I went to BYU.

[Applejack]

I was born of goodly parents.

[creekster]

I was born of goodly parents.

It must be hard on them.

[Walter Sobchak]

I grew up in LA. I went to BYU.

+1

Born in Utah, educated in Provo, moved to Seattle.

Root, root, root for the home team. It's not rocket science.

[Donuthole]

Bad use of fandom?

[ATTACH]9498[/ATTACH]

Right before I posted, I wondered if I was using that word correctly. Unless my reading comprehension is as suspect as my grammar, I'm good to go! But I will admit, I was going to go with it anyways, because for whatever reason, I like to poke a stick at him.

Fandom is a fine word. There is another huge problem with your thread.

[Bo Diddley]

Fandom is a fine word. There is another huge problem with your thread.

I mean if there's a thread I overlooked when starting this, go ahead and move this over there. Otherwise the reference has gone over my head.