Too many #$%# Northerners in this town...

[jd77]

Im with you Griggsy...people who still root for their "home" town team sicken me.....I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, but have been down here for over 10 years.  How anyone can root against the home town team is beyond me and in my opinion truly does show they are bandwagon fans.  Oh, the Devil Rays suck so Im going to still root for the yanks/sox/etc... Its pathetic.  And hey, you can have your old memories (I still remember the back to back stanley cups with Lemiuex and Jagr...and the Pirates going from horrible to division winners during the Bonds/Bonilla/Van Slyke days)...but guess what thats the past...now I get to be part of memories of the Lightning stanley cup, and the Bucs superbowl win...and the frustration of being a Devil Rays fan.  Thats what a true fan is....

You either dont care about sports or are a dumbass. I dont give a **** where the hell I live, I will root for the teams I grew up rooting for. Just because I live in Tampa doesnt mean I HAVE to be a D-Rays fan.

If anything you are the exact opposite of a true fan. If you pack up and move to Miami, are you going to become a Dolphins and Panthers fan? If you move to Atlanta are you going to root for the Falcons and Thrashers?

Do you see how ******* retarded you sound by saying what you are saying?

I think you are misunderstanding his point.  He has lived here 10 years, he seems pretty set.  If you move to a city for a few years for school or a temporary project at work or some other temporary reason that is different.  You are there temporarily and are heading back to where your heart is.

But, if you say I want to leave city A, because living in city B is better. Then get there and love the area and intend to stay there for the rest of your life and raise a family there, then yes you should support the home teams.  The players I grew up with in the DC teams aren't even there anymore.  WIth free agency at the pro level the majority of the players have no loyalty to a team anymore, why should we?  I do have loyalty to Tampa and the whole Bay Area though.  And these people that drive around with Yankees/Red Sox/Bears/Giants/Jets/etc crap all over there car and Florida plates make our area look stupid and un-unified.  I also find these people to be the one's that complain that Florida sports fans aren't passionate enough.  Ummmm yes they are, they are just confused/retarted and are passionate about a team that plays home games 2000 miles away.  The majority of the people here moved here from somewhere else of their parents did.  If you want to build a strong sports fan base we need everyone to band together and support our teams.  All 3 of which are expansion teams.  We could build a fan base 2nd to none.  

And if everyone followed your logic of supporting a team until you die no matter what...then every expansion team and team that moved cities in the history of sports would have failed.

[nukebull]

When i go away or am In tampa people always ask me where i a from.  I say tampa, then i get there is no way your accent is from Tampa and i have to explain originally NY.  So i call tampa home but it is conditioned in my accent and way of life I am from new york.  If you forget where you come from you will never get where you are going.  

as for the rant, i mean cmon man if it wasnt for the transplants (from everywhere) florida wouldnt be half the state it is.  Half of the little cities wouldnt have jobs or hard roads yet.  You should be proud people find where you are from a desireable place to live.  

A) I choose to live here and I do not support the bucs, rays or lightening and i dont see a problem with that.  What you have to understand is that a lot of us transplants have instilled in our memories watching sport with our families.  i can still remember watching the 86 Mets win the WS with my Grandfather and how fun it was.  I still remember watching the Islanders win 4 stanley cups when i was a toddler and happy it made my father.   I remember the Jets being the worst team ever and when people ask who we liked we would say "the God awful Jets".  you think i or anyone is going to give up their memories and change their team perference like a flip of a switch. Not a real fan.   Life is more than sports, people choose to live in florida for education, employment, weather, family, etc. etc.  Not sports.  So miniscule I cant see how you can let it bother you.  

As for college fans, if you attend usf, you are now a part of usf and should give up your old team or support them both.  For example, i am no longer a st. johns basketball fan since usf joined the big east, i pay attention but t is a conflict of interest.  Anyway its not a big deal.    

I am a Florida native and do not care for Yankees. That being said let me address the issue as I see it:

Florida was fine before all the people moved here, without a huge population we would not need all the paved over crowded roads you guys have helped us build. Herman you guys did such a fine job with NYC (a place I love to visist and work in) that it is almost impossible to live in the city without going insane. Enough of my cracker rant. smazza call me redneck.

The problem I have with the fans is not the ones who are alumni or are real fans. It is the ones who did not root for SU while in NY but do now to be non conformists or different. Carry on a conversation with most of these fair weather fans and you may find out they have never attended a game at the school. Rutgers is a perfect example, I know a boatload of people from Jersey who would not claim Rutgers they liked Penn State or Miami or ND or whoever. When Rutgers started winning they all went to store to get Rutgers stuff. These type of fans drive me nuts.

On the pro level I grew up in Miami and moved to Tampa. I switched to the Tampa team because I am a fan of the sports first and foremost. I love football so I buy season tickets to the local team and root for them. Same with Hockey. It would be stupid to root for the Dolphins and hate Bucs. I love football and being a Bucs fan gives me the opportunity to go to their games and read about them daily.

As far as moving to another college town. If I moved to where ECU is I would become a fan and go to games, but would still be a USF fan first and foremost. I spent some time in Hawaii and root for them when they play. I will always be a USF fan first because I got my degree there and that is a bond that can not be broken. It is more that rooting for a Pro team that may move, and you are not part of. As Alumni we are part of the team and the school.

[smazza]

florida population has what, tripled in last 30 years

the locals need to grow up

[Markeymark]

face it technology - like this board makes it easier to be able to follo your teams from a distance

That's a great point - you can now live practically anyplace on earth and still pickup some kind of satellite feed or streaming internet broadcast, if you really want to. And nowadays, compared with the price of actually going to the game, it's not really that expensive.

[nukebull]

face it technology - like this board makes it easier to be able to follo your teams from a distance

That's a great point - you can now live practically anyplace on earth and still pickup some kind of satellite feed or streaming internet broadcast, if you really want to. And nowadays, compared with the price of actually going to the game, it's not really that expensive.

I will be back in Hawaii in 2 weeks on the big Island (Kona) it is a little harder to get great coverage there, but I do love watching sports 5 to 6 hours earlier

[Bobcat99]

I have some pretty strong feelings about this subject.

I'm of the opinion that you support your undergraduate alma mater first and foremost and in all circumstances. If you're an Ohio State fan and cheering for them in a bar in Tampa because you went there, you SHOULD be.

If you're an Ohio State fan even though you went somewhere else to school, you should be shot since there's no conceivable reason to be an Ohio State fan.

If you're a Yankee fan because you grew up in the Bronx and recently moved to Tampa, that's great, and I support you. If you're a Yankee fan under ANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES (If you grew up in any other borough, on LI, Yonkers, Jersey, anything else you should be a Mets fan) you're a loser.

I grew up in Ohio cheering for the Browns, Indians, Cavs, and Red Wings. I still cheer for those teams, but not at the expense of my local teams. If the Tribe are in the Trop, I'm wearing my CC jersey. When the Browns played the Bucs this year, I cheered for the Pewter Pirates.

It's not that difficult. If you are a permanent or semi-permanent (My time here will span four years; I consider that permanent) resident, you ought to be cheering for the home team. That is the end-all be-all trope of being an American sports fan. Continue cheering for your team back home, sure; but not at the expense of the home team.

Certainly my biggest issue is with people cheering for colleges they never attended, especially if they later attended a different school. It's easy to say "people living in Tampa should cheer for USF" because we're the only D-I school here. You can't force that on someone living in Philadelphia; should they cheer for Penn? Drexel? St. Joe's, Villanova, Temple? LaSalle?

Good is not in the man who identifies with the winning team. It is in the team with a chance for moving forward; a team for which [for example] beating WVU in Morgantown is a great experience or [for example] taking three in a row at home against the Red Sox is a cause for celebriation.

[jd77]

You aren't here permanently Bobcat?  

If you do leave, keep posting at Raysbaseball.com.  You will be missed.

[Bobcat99]

There aren't really any schools for me to teach at around here. I'll end up at a low-major place like South Alabama or Stetson, at least for now. Once I've written a few books I might have a shot at a place like USF.

[USFCollin]

I'll follow up on the Bobcat's Philly issue.  I'm from Philly, and most of my family went to Villanova.  I always rooted for the Wildcats growing up, but in Philly the sense is that a rising tide lifts all ships, so you pull for Temple and Penn when they make a run as well.  You just hope you slaughter them in Big Five play.  

And ask any Philadelphian.. they'd rather win the Big Five then the Big East/A-10/Ivy title anyday.

When we played 'Nova here last year, I thought it might be weird openly rooting against a team with Villanova across the chest (and my coaching hero Rollie Massimino in the stands), but that lasted right up until I heard the national anthem.  Then I wanted them completely slaughtered by the Bulls.  

By the way, at least two of those "student fans" at the Syracuse game that were wearing orange in the student section are members of the USF Rugby Team.  That really bothers me, but sadly there isn't anything to be done.  

As for the pros, hey it's not like I root against the Devil Rays... I get to a few games every season because I love baseball, and I pull for the hometown team.  I especially like supporting them now that Sternberg really seems to be trying to make it work here.  

But I'm a Phillies fan, a former season ticket holder, and that's not ever going to change.  That's my team today, tomorrow, and until I'm dead.  Professional sports teams ask fans to be loyal to them through good times and bad (like rebuilding years).  Well when we do what they want us to do, their fellow owners can't complain when we happen to move where our lives take us.  They would be hoping for the same loyalty if a D-Rays fan moved to Philly or LA or anywhere else.  

However, with college its different.  If you pay your tuition to get a diploma, that's your team.  If you want to adopt the team where you got your masters, or even put them first, that's fine too.  But degree should win out, as you're forever a part of that institution.  Exceptions might apply for having a close friend or relative on the court or field playing against your alma mater, but that's about it.

[Economics_Nerd82]

^ Nice post.

Do they still play half ball in Philly?