Comments on: On Fandom Part 1

By: Zilla Rocca

Zilla Rocca — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:34:52 +0000

The Raiders aim for the sky and hit the sunroof year in and year out…

Cardinals are smart keeping Boldin and Fitzgerald. If only people didn’t bring camera phones into Leinart’s mansion.

Thanks for reading!!

By: Cardinal Fan

Cardinal Fan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:40:44 +0000

Hard to be a Cardinals fan these days … but the future is very bright.

Raiders & Eagles are the best though their sights are always set high

By: zillarocca

zillarocca — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:59:22 +0000

Vincent:

To root for the Wings…WOW. I bow to you as Supreme Philadelphia Sports Fan.

Dart:

I’ve watched almost every Celtics game this postseason and I enjoy reading your wrap-ups. As much as it hurts me to say this, your boys are gonna be slammed by the Lakers. I want Shuttlesworth and The Kid to get rings but I honestly can’t see them beating Kobe and crew. Maybe if Sam Cassell doesn’t play one minute, they can surprise me though.

By: Kim

Kim — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:04:21 +0000

I remember that heated conversation you had with Leah about what makes a fan and what not as i was slowly falling asleep on her couch at 4 a.m. I wish I had something to say about this subject but I’m not a huge sports fan. If i happen to be watching a sporting event I’m more along Klosterman’s level where I will just pick a team and say I want them to win for whatever reason. The only team I have a small space in my heart for are the Nittany Lions and that’s cause I’ve been watching them since I was like 3 but again I’m not a big sports person so I can’t really speak much on the matter.

By: Dart_Adams

Dart_Adams — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:59:12 +0000

I’m a Bostonian and as you already know I bleed green and when I was born in Boston City Hospital in 1975 my wrist tag had my name on it on one side and the other side had the phrase “Yankees Suck!” printed on it. This was before they even got Reggie Jackson!

I used to root for the Patriots back when they were so godawful that they didn’t air their games on TV because they couldn’t sell out Foxboro Stadium. We’d listen to the radio and HEAR them lose…then they’d air the game after it was over so we could WATCH ‘em lose 31-9 to the New York Jets LIVE!

I still remember the day Len Bias died I remember the epic fail that was the Red Sox World Series in ’86. I can’t forget Super Bowl XX.. I still remember how I felt the day the Lakers won in the Garden in ’87.

I still remember how I felt the day Reggie Lewis collapsed on that court in ’93 in Game 1 of the 1st round vs. the Charlotte Hornets. I still remember being late to go to the gym to see Reggie play pickup just to hear that he died on the news…I was handwriting out a tracklisting to a new tape I recorded from the radio or I could’ve been there, too.

Without all that collective pain of the lean years this current era of Boston sports dominance wouldn’t be so sweet. We used to think we were cursed at one point…then we realized that you just need excellent ownership and management, front office and personnel people and a commitment to excellence across the board to succeed.

BTW, GO CELTICS!

UBUNTU! © Boston Celtics

One.

By: vincentlopez

vincentlopez — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:53:59 +0000

I’m a diehard Philly sports fan. I even root for the Wings. I’m also a fan of Bill Simmons (just read his latest article at espn.com) because he rides for Boston like I ride for Philly whether the teams are good or bad. You have to stick by them and you just can’t switch up teams like some rat. I’m STILL mad about the Sixers losing the ’80 and ’82 NBA Finals to the Lakers which is why I hate them so much. And I remember my friends leaving me at school to go to the ’83 Sixers parade. I ended up meeting Dr. J the very next year at school by sheer accident so that made up for it. Anyway, you have to ride for your teams. What the heck would sports be if I couldn’t call up my boy Chris (who lives in Las Vegas but is from North Jersey) and let him have it about his horrible Knicks and Yankees?

Vincent
thimk.wordpress.com

By: zillarocca

zillarocca — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:37:06 +0000

Right now, fans of the Seattle Supersonics are going through the same thing. I wouldn’t blame them if they never rooted for another team again.

Mookie Blaylock is probably the most slept-on great point guard of the 90s. And I remember reading a story where Yinka Dare thought the “C” on a player’s jersey, which stands for captain, stood for “caucasian.”

By: fresh

fresh — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:46:53 +0000

Until recently, I would have fallen into the Bill Simmons category of fan, at least as far as the Nets were concerned. I stuck with them through a lot, too – highlights included Larry Brown’s ego and Michael Ray Richardson’s coke habit destroying what would have been the greatest years in franchise history, replacing Mookie Blaylock with Rumeal Robinson, the powder blue tie dye uniforms, drafting Yinka Dare (RIP), having an entire season blacked out on tv because of a dispute the owners had with cablevision, Jayson Williams twirling his fully-loaded shotgun around like it was a nerf gun etc., etc.

But after ownership announced that they were moving the franchise to Brooklyn, an announcement that occurred shortly after their first ever trip to the Finals, the whole purpose of rooting for a specific franchise seemed pointless to me. Most owners these days treat their team just as a commodity, rather than as something they have an emotional investment in, and they’re far more interested in winning over a few politicians who can get them the state funding for a new arena than they are in catering to the local/loyal fanbase. Not that I’m bitter, of course.

So now I just choose a team on a per-game basis, based on whoever happens to be playing the most appealing brand of basketball (which has made it virtually impossible to find a team to support in the Celtics-Pistons series). Individual matchups can sway my allegiance, too, as when Chris Paul was tearing up Kidd earlier in the playoffs.