[Ernie Mccracken]

I'm sure someone will point out that I'm not a true fan or some bs, but I can't think of any good reason to root for, say, the Cleveland Browns. And yet, every week you see thousands of fans coming out to blow their paychecks so that failure may continue to exist. They dress up, read the team blog, talk themselves into thinking this may be the week, and end up buried midway through the 2nd quarter like every other week for the last 25 years.

WHY? Sports are entertainment, and even when the product is terribad, why do honks still line up?? No one in the org cares about winning, and even when they stumble backwards into the playoffs once a decade, they're going to choke it away. Did anyone truly believe the Raiders wouldn't blow that game yesterday?

It's like when you go to the strip club and there's that one really fat, ugly girl. Not only is she unattractive, but incredibly mean as well. She'll scowl the entire time and you'll toss her a couple singles to go away. Wait long enough, and you'll see some self-loathing loser goaded into blowing $500 on her.

[Carseller4]

I have been a Saints fan since 1980.

I had to wait 29 years for glory.

It was worth it.

It will be even better when they win it all again this year!

[KingJD31]

Cause you grew up a fan if your dad or whatever didnt make you become a fan then you woudnt understand

[SBR Lou]

Cause you grew up a fan if your dad or whatever didnt make you become a fan then you woudnt understand

Yes it usually gets passed down, or you cheer for your hometown team. The OP suggested one's paycheck should be blown only on a winning team (perhaps that's his strategy for gambling as well). Fair weather fans are comical.

[BuckeyeT]

OP think of it this way.

The way you feel about your PS2 or xbox is the way us true fans feel about our teams.

We live n die with them, and so what if i want to spend a few hun to go see the sorry ass browns play. Thats my choice and i dont give a rats ass what anyone else says.

Good luck with your new madden 2012 game. douche!!

[Naz18]

What else do you want people to do....people spend their disposable income in different ways....this is one of them....and were talking about 5 hours a week.

[Ernie Mccracken]

Yes it usually gets passed down, or you cheer for your hometown team. The OP suggested one's paycheck should be blown only on a winning team (perhaps that's his strategy for gambling as well). Fair weather fans are comical.

Why? Growing up, I was a huge blazers fan as my old man was a total die hard. Clyde the Glide, Uncle Cliffy, Terry Porter, the Duck, Buck Williams, and company. Great team, great product. I still have a bunch of old games recorded on VHS tape. I wore ugly Avia's because of Clyde!

When they decided to only sign criminals and become one of the losingest teams in the league, it was no longer a product I wanted to buy. So I didn't spend a dime on them a dime for years. Many others in Portland did the same and revenues plummeted.

The past few years, the organization has cleaned up a lot and signed character guys who want to win. I've started attending games again and following the team, and never once have I regretted not supporting them during the JR Rider and Shawn Kemp era. Does that make me an inferior fair weather fan?

[itchypickle]

I have been a Saints fan since 1980.

I had to wait 29 years for glory.

It was worth it.

It will be even better when they win it all again this year!

Tampa fan here....decades of misery until the one Championship...followed by a few more years of hopes but failure....on to 2012!

[antifoil]

i have several teams in each sport i root for.

you need to diversify, but i don't root for the public teams unless they live in my state.

[TheCentaur]

fa·nat·ic (f -n t k). n. A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause

[Chi_archie]

I wouldn't call Being a loyal fan of a losing team "WASTING A LIFE" just as I wouldn't think sipporting

[Chi_archie]

I wouldn't call Being a loyal fan of a losing team "WASTING A LIFE" just as I wouldn't think supporting a great team makes a life more complete...... Are yanks fans lives THAT much better?

[str]

Why? Growing up, I was a huge blazers fan as my old man was a total die hard. Clyde the Glide, Uncle Cliffy, Terry Porter, the Duck, Buck Williams, and company. Great team, great product. I still have a bunch of old games recorded on VHS tape. I wore ugly Avia's because of Clyde!

When they decided to only sign criminals and become one of the losingest teams in the league, it was no longer a product I wanted to buy. So I didn't spend a dime on them a dime for years. Many others in Portland did the same and revenues plummeted.

The past few years, the organization has cleaned up a lot and signed character guys who want to win. I've started attending games again and following the team, and never once have I regretted not supporting them during the JR Rider and Shawn Kemp era. Does that make me an inferior fair weather fan?

No. He is talking about all the current Green Bay fans that were Patriot fans a few years ago and 49ers fan years before that. That is, guys that bounce around hoping on board when teams are winning.
Anyone that continues to be a die hard for there team is not wrong for doing so because they chose to stay with that team. You chose to walk away from your team for your own set of reasons. You then chose to come back to your team because they cleaned up there act. That is commendable on your part but people don't always look at things the same way.
Having been a Washington D.C. kid growing up, I lost a baseball team to another city, lost a football team to a bad owner and had a basketball team loose there identity because the owner thought that the name "Bullets" was promoting inner city gun violence. As a result, I am now a NFL and MLB fan., not a home team fan.
Too each his own .

[k13]

So we should only cheer for teams that win?

Fair weather fan huh...lol

[Ernie Mccracken]

So we should only cheer for teams that win?

Fair weather fan huh...lol

That's not really my point. I'm not saying Redskin fans should all become Patriot fans. That's a different kind of toolbaggery.

That said, Dan Snyder is one of the inept, insufferable human beings on the planet. Do some homework on his business methods (mostly quasi legal extortion) that he brought to the NFL. This is well documented. He abuses fans like rented mules and will likely never field a competitive team. And yet, people trample each other to give him all their disposable income like he's got the last wonka bars.

[str]

That's not really my point. I'm not saying Redskin fans should all become Patriot fans. That's a different kind of toolbaggery.

That said, Dan Snyder is one of the inept, insufferable human beings on the planet. Do some homework on his business methods (mostly quasi legal extortion) that he brought to the NFL. This is well documented. He abuses fans like rented mules and will likely never field a competitive team. And yet, people trample each other to give him all their disposable income like he's got the last wonka bars.

He is a disgusting human being.

That's why I am now an NFL fan.

[bobby heenan]

as mentioned by others...pats fan since birth(1980)...suffering only makes success all the more sweet

[Chimneyfish]

Because you're not allowed to root for any other team. It's a rule: you can only root for a team if you're from its market or if your father rooted for the team.

Nothing worse than the guy from Arizona or somewhere who decides that he's going to start watching baseball and declares himself a "Yankees fan," and then goes around the next day bragging about how many more rings "his team" has won than yours.

[InTheDrink]

i kinda agree on one of big ern's points....look at the pirates....they really dont give a fuk about winning so you kind of have to feel like a dick if you care more about the team than the ownership and management

[SASH]

im a die hard JETS fan my whole life. Garbage franchise that always finds a way to blow it. Very hard being a Jets fan!

[Ernie Mccracken]

im a die hard JETS fan my whole life. Garbage franchise that always finds a way to blow it. Very hard being a Jets fan!

Reminds me of this article. At least the Jets have a really fat coach who's funny at times.

[Emily_Haines]

This is how things work in this country. They keep the population dumbed down with their stupid sports teams, mean while they pass bills like SOPA and NDAA to take your freedoms away and most people could care less as long as the entertainment doesn't stop.

[Dutch]

I tend to follow certain players. I was a huge Utah Jazz fan when Stockton and malone were on the team. Now I could give a shit about the jazz.

On the other hand..My step-dad was a huge White Sox fan growing up and my Grandpa was a huge Steelers fan, now I can't help but follow those teams.

Then again I don't spend a lot of money on sports teams. I dont wear the gear, I don't buy nick-knacks and shit.

Then again if I had home town teams I might be a homer like Cleveland Browns fans. I'm a homer for The Iowa Hawkeyes.

[bb_skoots]

Browns fans buy into the team every year. Nothing is different from year to year but they keep coming back. It is based on emotion (as stated earlier often passed down through generations) not on rational thought. This makes it easy to keep fans attached and therefore no need to ever succeed as a team.

[BroncosFN]

As a lifelong Broncos fan I suffered through 3 horrible SB losses, everyone in middle school and high school telling me Elway is a joke, to losing in the AFC title game in 1991 to Bills, to losing to the Jaguars in the divisional game the year Broncos were 13-3.

The next year Broncos made it as a wild card and beat the Jags, Chiefs, and Steelers to go to the SB as huge underdogs to defending SB champs Favre's Packers. Those playoff games were pure magic. I remember jumping around with my dad and hugging him when they won each game. Great memories.

Watching Elway do the helicopter in the 3rd q of SB 32 and pulling that upset to
break a 13 year NFC dominance in the SB has to be the greatest day of my sports watching "life"

If you can't understand that then I can't help you and you should stop watching sports. I only hope Browns fans can experience this one day...

[Ernie Mccracken]

Then again if I had home town teams I might be a homer like Cleveland Browns fans. I'm a homer for The Iowa Hawkeyes.

I'd spend my sunday afternoons freestyle canoeing long before allocating any amount of time, money, or energy to the Browns.

[SASH]

As a lifelong Broncos fan I suffered through 3 horrible SB losses, everyone in middle school and high school telling me Elway is a joke, to losing in the AFC title game in 1991 to Bills, to losing to the Jaguars in the divisional game the year Broncos were 13-3.

The next year Broncos made it as a wild card and beat the Jags, Chiefs, and Steelers to go to the SB as huge underdogs to defending SB champs Favre's Packers. Those playoff games were pure magic. I remember jumping around with my dad and hugging him when they won each game. Great memories.

Watching Elway do the helicopter in the 3rd q of SB 32 and pulling that upset to
break a 13 year NFC dominance in the SB has to be the greatest day of my sports watching "life"

If you can't understand that then I can't help you and you should stop watching sports. I only hope Browns fans can experience this one day...

Your kidding right. Broncos fans have lived blessed lives. You got it good pal. Remember the 1999 AFC Championship game??? Ugggh!

[BroncosFN]

Your kidding right. Broncos fans have lived blessed lives. You got it good pal. Remember the 1999 AFC Championship game??? Ugggh!

Lose 3 SB with your star QB 1st pick of the draft who wouldn't play for the team that drafted him and then tell me...its all good now but it was torture back then.

Bills fans had it worse though.

Its like thinking about Patriots fans. Yeah they have had it easy but remember themnin the 80s and before Brady and co.

[BroncosFN]

Jets had 0 chance in that game anyway. Broncos were already dominant at that point

[bobby heenan]

Lose 3 SB with your star QB 1st pick of the draft who wouldn't play for the team that drafted him and then tell me...its all good now but it was torture back then.

Bills fans had it worse though.

Its like thinking about Patriots fans. Yeah they have had it easy but remember themnin the 80s and before Brady and co.

trust me....real pats fans know what it was like sitting on aluminum benches at sullivan/foxboro stadium

we had a glimmer of hope in the 90's with drew and tuna.....my father has season tickets...i remember being in high school..and just the feeling we had beating pittsburgh at home....the fog bowl with terry glenn catching a bomb on the first play of the game...curtis martin doin his thing...it was unreal...then the afc championship game against jacksonville....the otis smith fumble return......the lights going out...it was magical....and it seemed to pass us by........

[KingJD31]

Sash Im with you Ive been a fan only since 90 though seen huge dissapointment but 2004 had to be the hardest thing Ive ever been through as a fan.....................BURN IN HELL DOUG BRIAN

[BroncosFN]

[QUOTE=bobby heenan;13049495]trust me....real pats fans know what it was like sitting on aluminum benches at sullivan/foxboro stadium

we had a glimmer of hope in the 90's with drew and tuna.....my father has season tickets...i remember being in high school..and just the feeling we had beating pittsburgh at home....the fog bowl with terry glenn catching a bomb on the first play of the game...curtis martin doin his thing...it was unreal...then the afc championship game against jacksonville....the otis smith fumble return......the lights going out...it was magical....and it seemed to pass us by........[/QUOTE

This guy understands.

[bobby heenan]

[QUOTE=BroncosFN;13049605]

trust me....real pats fans know what it was like sitting on aluminum benches at sullivan/foxboro stadium

we had a glimmer of hope in the 90's with drew and tuna.....my father has season tickets...i remember being in high school..and just the feeling we had beating pittsburgh at home....the fog bowl with terry glenn catching a bomb on the first play of the game...curtis martin doin his thing...it was unreal...then the afc championship game against jacksonville....the otis smith fumble return......the lights going out...it was magical....and it seemed to pass us by........[/QUOTE

This guy understands.

i sure do...i remember what a gift we got with jax taking out your broncos...cause we couldnt beat them to save our lives....they owned us(terrell davis signed a program for me once at old foxboro stadium....seemed like a real nice guy).....

like i said...it seemed to pass us by....then we hit the lottery

[SASH]

Jets had 0 chance in that game anyway. Broncos were already dominant at that point

What are you talking about??? You have no idea what your talking about. We were up 10-0 at the half and controlling that game

[InTheDrink]

This is how things work in this country. They keep the population dumbed down with their stupid sports teams, mean while they pass bills like SOPA and NDAA to take your freedoms away and most people could care less as long as the entertainment doesn't stop.

Sopa is ABOUT entertainment

And who knew enjoying sports and being aware of current issues are mutually exclusive

If you'd used reality tv as your argument I might agree...but then that's not what his threads about either