Is it hard to still be a die hard sports fan? (pro teams)

• MANAZE

  

  With FA (free agency) and the way teams treat thier players it seems its really hard to route for certain teams anymore. I'm still a Browns fan and all but I think that I'm just going to route for players anymore. I get why FA is important but at the same time do you think it hurts the game?
• believer

  

  FA hurts the game and so does...
  
  Drug abuse
  Inflated player salaries
  Owner greed
  Excessive hot dogging and show boating
  
  ALL of the above issues plus that piss ant named Art Modell ruined my interest in following the NFL and the Browns in particular.
  
  While college football is far from innocent I'll watch it and high school football any day over the NFL.
  
  The only pro sports I still follow is baseball....minor league that is! These kids work hard because they WANT to play at the major league level. But once they make the big time they are subject to the crap listed above.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  I don't let things like FA affect my fandom. I am a fan of the team no it's individual players. If while a player is on my team, I am glad to see them perform well. If their greed or attitude takes them somewhere else, then screw them. You had your chance and didn't stick around so no sympathy for me in the future.
• Swamp Fox

  I don't get too excited about professional sports because I've just always liked to watch kids play more than spoiled overpaid, over medicated, and over hyped players at the professional level. From 20 minute celebrations in the endzone to denying steroid use on national tv only to tearfully admit such activities to attempt to save a place in the respective Halls of Fame, when the memberships should be in the Halls of Shame. Professional sports just don't appeal to me much.
• HitsRus

  

  I root for my teams not players. I still have favorite players when they are traded or move on....such is life with being a Cleveland fan. But when they play for another team against us...they are just the enemy.
• hoops23

  

  Cleveland till I die.
• Sonofanump

  My pro football team fandom ended in November of 1995.
• se-alum

  

  In the NFL & NBA the superstar players don't leave their teams that often, and when they do, they're usually past their prime. I think baseball is where FA really hurts the teams, because of the lack of salary cap. That being said, I'll always root for my main teams(Browns, Cavs, Reds), it's the secondary teams that will change for me as players move around.
• thavoice

  Hurt the game?
  
  No way. I think it gives you more hope than anything else.
  
  Im a fan of a team that usually loses big names instead of signing them in but FA always gives ya hope that one signing will be huge for your team.
  
  FA hasnt hurt my fandom. I root for the front the name on the front, not the back. When guys leave most times Ill kinda keep tabs on how they do and such.
  
  FOr the most part your team stays together from year to year. Few guys come, few guys go, but for longevitiy it is easier to follow than in college sports. In college ya may get 2-3 yrs MAX of a player in the lineup at the best. Got into an argument the other week from somone who complained that he didnt like the NFL because 'ya never know who is on the roster anymore'. He was a huge OSU fan and I was like......uh......u do realize with your beloved college team ya have guys come and go each year too and guys start for a couple of years and move on....and oh yeah....some leave early for the NFL so how is your roster more consistant than that of my nfl team?
• UA5straightin2008

  

  ive been a die hard vikings fan for about 10 years now, ever since they had culpepper, carter (OSU), robert smith (OSU), randy moss, etc. about 4-5 years after becoming a fan, all of those players were gone, yet i still held true (and the fact that ive been a fan for 10 or so years and weve never been better than mediocre (except in 2000? when we were raped by the giants in the NFC championship) makes this years loss to NO that much more frusterating/angering, etc)...skol vikings!!!!
• krambman

  

  THE4RINGZ wrote: I don't let things like FA affect my fandom. I am a fan of the team no it's individual players. If while a player is on my team, I am glad to see them perform well. If their greed or attitude takes them somewhere else, then screw them. You had your chance and didn't stick around so no sympathy for me in the future.

  This is basically my thinking. If you leave my team as a free agent, I may still follow you, but team still comes first.
• thedynasty1998

  

  Very interesting topic. Something I've thought about over the past few years as I've seen some of my allegiances change.
  
  In pro sports, I am more of a fan of individuals over a team. There are a lot of players that I enjoy watching moreso than a team because of the name on the front.
  
  I'm a self proclaimed Browns fan, but hardly watched them over the past two years because I'd rather watch a more exciting game or player.
  
  I'm a Cavs fan and if Lebron leaves, I doubt that I'll watch any of their games because it won't bring an entertainment factor to me.
  
  As I said above, I'm a Browns fan, but I actually enjoy watching every other team in the AFC North more. I like Cinci because of Palmer and Ocho Cinco, the Ravens because of Ray Lewis and their defense and Pittsburgh because of the old fashioned way they go about the game.
  
  So I guess that makes me an unloyal fan, which I don't mind. But I would say that yes, free agency has affected me.
  
  As for college, I'll always be a Buckeye fan and it's easier because I live in Columbus and it's the only team I feel a connection with.
• DeyDurkie5

  

  LTrain23 wrote: Cleveland till I die.

  this
• killdeer

  

  that is definitely an issue with the pro game...as players become more and more transitory I wonder...am I really just cheering for that Cincinnati Reds laundry? Whoever fills that size 44 number 28...that is my guy??
  Good question.
  
  Definitely that makes the college game a bit more passionate, however, as more and more kids are 'one-or-two and done", will the college game become similar;
  the only difference being that many fans share the same allegiance if it is their alma mater.
• redstreak one

  

  I am not a big fan of professional sports period. I can sit and watch college, especially small college on sto all day long. There isnt a sense of wonderment at the pro level. I mean, watching pregame at an OSU game is awesome, watching pregame of an NFL game snoozing! lol
• thavoice

  ^^Im the total opposite. Id watch any NFL game over even the biggest of college games.
  
  I have a sense of wonermeant watching professional players....they are the best of the best...and to me the college game just doesnt interest me a whole lot.
• wkfan

  redstreak one wrote: I am not a big fan of professional sports period. I can sit and watch college, especially small college on sto all day long. There isnt a sense of wonderment at the pro level. I mean, watching pregame at an OSU game is awesome, watching pregame of an NFL game snoozing! lol

  This.
  
  I could not care less about professional sports. Way too many prima donna, me-first bad character guys for my taste.
  
  I'll watch the Super Bowl this weekend because, well, its the Super Bowl. Hopefully, there won't be any Pierre Garcon-like displays in the Super Bowl like there was in the championship game.
• Con_Alma

  I am more of a "die hard sports fan" now than I ever was.
  
  Who is competing is less of an interest to me than the competition itself. What individual has the uniform on doesn't mean anything to me. The entertainment of the competition is why I watch.
  
  To see the spirit of effort and the commitment towards victory is just as exciting whether it's a high school, collegiate or professional match-up.
• KR1245

  

  LTrain23 wrote: Cleveland till I die.

  Yep
• Fab1b

  

  I love Cleveland sports teams but I have no where the passion I do for pro as I do for college and Ohio State especially football. If I miss a browns game, no biggie but if I have to miss a buckeye football game for some reason I am like a crack addict going through withdrawls that day!!
• thavoice

  Fab1b wrote: I love Cleveland sports teams but I have no where the passion I do for pro as I do for college and Ohio State especially football. If I miss a browns game, no biggie but if I have to miss a buckeye football game for some reason I am like a crack addict going through withdrawls that day!!

  Couple of reasons for it.......OSU wins pretty much every game, whereas the browns.....eh....dont.
  
  Many in ohio will say they are collegiate fans first and foremost and it is udnerstandable. OSU will win at the leaset 75% of their games each year. Matter of fact....winning 8 of 12 is probably a bad season by their standards but still......when you are following the team...it is much much more fun to follow a winner and a team that each week most likely will come home with a W.
  
  OSU, and college football for some teams truly fit that bill.
  
  Locally at the HS level it is the same way...those from towns that are usually good have fans who wont miss games and are very into it. Fans from teams that arent........dont really care as much.
  
  If the browns (bengals) would be constant playoff contenders, a team that is legit spot at the crown for a good, long run and OSU wasnt I can about imagine many more would say they like the NFL better.
  
  Just sayin. Heck..look in PIttsburgh. Pitt Panthers arent terrible, some good years, but it is a steelers town because they traditionally are in the hunt.
  
  Sorry..just my theory........
• KnightXC1

  

  I have been lucky for the most part (outside of the Lions) that Detroit teams owners are very dedicated to winning and keeping key players. But in the end, players will never affect my fandom for the teams I have grown up watching every day. Free agency can hurt teams but if owners and GM's are dedicated to keeping the teams on top, players will want to stay or come to those teams.
• End of Line

  

  
  
  Til the day I die.........
• Heretic

  

  KnightXC1 wrote: I have been lucky for the most part (outside of the Lions) that Detroit teams owners are very dedicated to winning and keeping key players. But in the end, players will never affect my fandom for the teams I have grown up watching every day. Free agency can hurt teams but if owners and GM's are dedicated to keeping the teams on top, players will want to stay or come to those teams.

  That's how I am with Pittsburgh (with the Pirates replacing the Lions as the "exception to the rule"). And I'm still a diehard fan of the Pirates...it's just a more frustrating experience that really, really tests my optimism. I have an angel on one shoulder saying, "Neal Huntington knows what he's doing and this team will be good in a year or two" and a devil on the other saying, "WTF?!?! He'll screw things up like every other idiot who's worked for that hellhole the last 15 years has. They'll lose 90+, a couple of guys will get hurt, a few prospects won't pan out and the whole thing will get blown up again AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!!"
• BRF

  

  THE4RINGZ wrote: I don't let things like FA affect my fandom. I am a fan of the team no it's individual players. If while a player is on my team, I am glad to see them perform well. If their greed or attitude takes them somewhere else, then screw them. You had your chance and didn't stick around so no sympathy for me in the future.

  I also agree with this and I am a die hard Cleveland fan, too.