Weekend!
Holy cow, is tomorrow Friday already?
Indeed it is.
What with the Bowl That Is Totally Super coming up, I thought it a good idea to hammer out the circumstances under which you could say “you know what, heck with that, I’m not going to be a fan of Kansas City anymore. I’m switching to the Miami Dolphins!”
Or whichever two teams you want to put in there.
In floating this topic past Fish, he explained to me that, nope, you don’t get to switch teams. Ever.
Ever seems like a heck of a long time so I asked about the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore and we hammered out that “ever” was an overstatement. When the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis, he acknowledged, everybody who was a Colts fan was free to switch teams, no questions asked. While it might have been okay to keep the Colts though they went to Indianapolis, you certainly were under ZERO obligation to do so.
It was at this point that I realized that the team that I picked in the days of my youth, the Los Angeles Rams, moved. I was free! Not that I really paid attention to that then, I think. To be honest, the first full non-Superbowl football game I ever watched was during the Tebow era of the Denver Broncos when they beat the Kansas City Chiefs. As such, I am pretty sure that I could get away with saying that despite my saying that I had picked a team, my team picking qualified for annulment.
But that kind of gets me to wonder: surely there are circumstances that allow for a divorce of one’s team. The team moving from this city to that one qualifies… might it qualify if *YOU* move from this city to that one? I mentioned Tebow, is a hot-shot superstar lighting up the field and winning games that he has no right to win sufficient grounds for alienation of affection?
It seems to me that you *SHOULD* be able to switch teams. I can understand that one should not be fickle and like the Buccs this year, the Panthers the next, the Texans the next, then the Falcons or something. That would be crazy.
But, surely, you should not be chained to your team until they up’n move to Saint Louis to fill the void of left behind by the Rams moving back to LA… right?
As for this weekend, I get to get back on the horse of having a simple two-day weekend after a four-day week that followed a five-day weekend. I’ve come to the conclusion that two million dollars ought be sufficient for retirement. Pay off the house, car, and take over full-time housekeeping duties (including cooking 21 meals a week) would allow for a sufficient lifestyle from the 2.5% interest from 1.8 million bucks. Maribou would probably still have to work (insurance, you know how it is) but… man. Life without an alarm clock was sweet. I miss it already.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Photo is “Footrace finish line, 1925” from the Seattle Municipal Archives, used under a creative commons license)
My sister switched teams after getting married. Not like right after, but once the kid was born and neither she nor her husband had the energy to spare to maintain the hockey rivalry. (At least that’s my guess as to why. Her claims that the Leafs are actually a better team to root for than the Habs are patently WRONG, and she is a very smart person, so…)
I am looking forward to a weekend of cleaning now that I am back to 80 percent capacity instead of less than 50 (for two whole days in a row, WOOOO). And you know, some goofing off too.Report
Also an object lesson – Milton Keynes Dons in England.
Football clubs aren’t franchises in the NFL/MLB sense – they are ineluctably bound to their fanbase, and vice versa (as an outlander, being free to choose, I’m possibly the only Leyton Orient supporter born outside of a few square kilometers in NE London). But not by rule, more of a gentleman’s agreement – and the 2015 Hugos show what happens when new blood comes in that doesn’t agree to bide by the unwritten rules. So in 2003, Wimbledon FC… moved. Unprecedented, possibly literally.
Milton Keynes, a fairly new town that didn’t get a team in the 1880s (since it didn’t exist), pretty much has welcomed the migrants. The original fanbase, however, hated the move so much they crowdshared a completely new team rather than support the new face of their old team. Like the Ravens/Colts, the owners have largely buried the hatchet by letting the pre-move honors revert to the original catchment (so the new Wimbledon team is the heir to the old one, while the MK Dons sprang into existence from someone’s forehead in 2004).Report
It never occurred to me, though of course it should have, that these rules might also apply to footie.Report
I suspect that they apply to all professional (can we all admit that NCAA is really just a lower division of the NFL?) football codes – I suspect an Aussie would be looked at askance if it was found out that he supports Gold Coast now but grew up as an Adelaide fan.
I remember meeting an expat Londoner who was a multi-generation Orient supporter. He was sincerely confused why I would choose to follow a team that’s spent exactly one season in the top flight when there are Manchesters and Chelseas around. But for him it wasn’t an option, even years after leaving the country.Report
Milton Keynes is a team for wishy-washy people. I mean, make up your mind: are you a hands-off monetarist, or a deficit spender?Report
Frankly, I don’t give a damn about football, or soccer either, or much professional sports, on television, but the lady friend wants me to watch the game with her. The sacrifices I make.
I had planned on setting up the new pc, but it’s not back from the tech. Our schedules have been messed up due to SNOWPOCALAPSE and the only day each of us were in the office, she didn’t bring it. Monday it seems. Maybe I’ll buy a new router then.Report
Growing up in a city with no pro teams we were all free to choose whoever we wanted, however, I have recently talked to some coworkers about this. I floated the idea of choosing a new team when you marry. They nixed that. They said the only time a switch is allowed is if your city gets a new or returning team (ex. Washington DC or Cleveland).
College is different. You can root for a team growing up and switch allegiances to your alma mater. You can also start rooting for your spouse’s team as long as they aren’t a direct rival.Report
I’m a sports polygamist, so I worry a lot less about team choice than some people I know. Bandwagoning is objectionable, as is serial monogamy, but as people and teams move around there is nothing wrong with assembling a menage that works for you.Report
Poisons, poisons and more poisons!
And a chance of spontaneous human combustion!
(yes, that was actually on the documentation under “possible side effects”. Does that mean that more than one person caught fire while taking these meds?)
[no, the “medicine” isn’t for me.]Report
Being from Saskatchewan, I don’t think I’m allowed to change football teams barring some apocalyptic Roughriders relocation right out of the province. Moving from Regina to Saskatoon would be irrelevant to that obligation, as they’re a provincial team, not a city team.
I wonder, would a corruption scandal be legitimate grounds for switching teams? I understand that a losing streak on its own isn’t sufficient, but what if it came out that the team had been taking bribes to throw games (not that I have any reason to think that’s happening in the NFL or CFL, just curious)?Report
I grew up in California rooting for the Dodgers. This was the Peter O’Malley era, with Walter Alston managing when I was a young kid and Tommy Lasorda managing after that. I kept my Dodgers allegiance when as an adult I moved to Pennsylvania. That is just the right thing to do. But…
One of the distinctive features of the Dodgers was those managers. O’Malley didn’t fire a manager because the team had a bad year. They were in for the long haul. Everyone knew that Lasorda’s successor when they finally carted him off the field was going to be Bill Russell. (The former Dodgers shortstop–not the former Celtics center.) After Russell retired from playing he was groomed for the job, holding various coaching positions and managing in the minors. The transition occurred in due course in 1996. Then in 1998 O’Malley sold out to, of all people Rupert Murdoch. The Dodgers also had a mediocre season, and Russell was fired.
I was able to stomach Murdoch as owner, but only barely. The Russell firing showed disrespect of the team’s traditions. At that point I decided that I was a free agent, and switched to the Phillies. They were very good a decade later, but in my defense, they were terrible in 1998. They wouldn’t have a winning season until 2001.Report
So a manager firing is sufficient to allow for a change.
Would it have been sufficient if you still lived there?Report
A manager firing is in itself not a big deal. In this instance, it was the manifestation of a major culture shift.Report
“Because they suck” isn’t sufficient justification. “Because the new owner sucks” might very well be, though.Report
My thoughts on this subject track @richard-hershberger ‘s exactly. Difference is, I still live in the greater Los Angeles area so I got to continue going to Dodger games, rooting for them, and hoping that the ownership would change. Which it did, debatably getting worse for a while. I don’t have much of a problem with the current ownership group, FTR.
Regarding manager firings in general: when an apparently good manager or an apparently good coach is fired because of a bad year, that diminishes loyalty. When a manager or coach who has not performed well is fired, that’s a painful but necessary step and fans won’t hold it against the team. Compare: San Francisco 49ers fire Jim Harbaugh after the 2014 season to San Francisco 49ers fire Jim Tomsula after the 2015 season. First firing generates cries of “WTF are you DOING!” across Ninerland. Second firing generates cries of “WTF took you so long!” across the same territory.Report
The evolution of Shanahan within Broncos lore was fascinating to watch.
If (*IF*) Manning happens to win this next one and then, immediately, announces retirement, I wonder if Kubiak will go from Hero to Goat over 3-4 years following a perfectly reasonable and understandable “rebuilding” period.Report
Rupert Murdoch is one of the worst people in the world, but Tommy Lasorda is the worst person in the world.Report
Why do you say that? I am genuinely curious. He certainly had a memorable persona, but he tended to come off more as a clown than as a horrible person. I have no idea what, if anything, his politics are, so maybe it was stuff I didn’t notice. Or has he started yelling at the kids in his old age? I haven’t had any day-to-day contact with Dodgers media in twenty years, so perhaps he is gone cranky on us.Report
Because he is the triple-distilled essence of Dodger-ness. The only other person who even comes close is Steve Garvey.Report
Dude, dude, dude, he’s like not even the worst sportsman out there.
Can we give a hand to the guy who likes cutting other people? particularly younger men?
That guy’s pretty bad. What’s worse is that nobody is doing a damn thing to stop him.Report
So to me, this is an interesting switch: Changing teams due to a perceived betrayal of a team’s traditions, culture, and philosophy. After reading your description of the Dodgers’ cultural shift and your choice of the Phillies, my first reaction was that the switch was ok for two reasons: You chose a team from your current city, and you chose a team that wasn’t, at the time, a winner. Similar to the circumstances under which the Baltimore Colts moved under cover of darkness to Indianapolis or when the Browns betrayed the loyalty of a fan base that supported the home side no matter how bad the team was, if your team betrays you, you’re free to leave.
Contrast this with a friend of mine from high school (in Kansas) who grew up a Cowboys fan. Two seasons ago he got fed up with Jerry Jones and Tony Romo and the Cowboys’ poor play and announced that he was switching teams. This switch, in my mind, was unjustified because 1) losing alone is absolutely not a good enough reason to switch, 2) he’d made the switch in the middle of a season and 3) he’d chosen a team that was winning, and winning a lot (I think I called him a “front-running good time Charlie).Report
I also wonder if there is a rule that covers hating teams.
Under what circumstances would Kansas City fans be allowed to stop hating Denver?Report
They aren’t, because KC and Denver are in the same division, so the teams will meet frequently and directly compete against one another for the same divisional title every year including frequent head-to-head matchups. The best it gets is that over time, they start to hate another team more, because that other team represents an actual threat to them. Similarly, the Chiefs have always had a rivalry with whatever team played in St. Louis, whether that was the Cardinals or the Rams. Can’t get out of that one, either, because of the geographical proximity, even though the teams were in different conferences.
Get outside of a “natural rivalry” dictated by geography and the divisional structure of the league, and I suppose most rivalries might blossom and then fade over time. That’s probably fueled by the quality of the team against whom the historic rivalry exists. For instance, the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys had a pretty good rivalry going for a while, with historical roots epitomized by The Ice Bowl from the pre-Super Bowl era, but that’s faded as the Cowboys have posed less and less of a threat over time to Green Bay. Perhaps the vicissitudes of the future will equalize the teams and the rivalry will rekindle. These days, I imagine that an honest poll of Green Bay fans like me would reveal greater investment in a matchup against the Seattle SeaChickens than against the Dallas Cowboys. You’d have to ask SeaChickens fans what they think of the existence of a rivalry against the Packers, as circumstances have had both teams be pretty good and play against one another for critical games quite a lot in recent years.
And I think it’s fair to say that everyone brings a special level of intensity to a game against the New England Patriots, because [of the debatably incorrect perception that] they cheat and hide behind their lawyers [more than other teams do].Report
Well, most (all?) of the Denver fans I know hate (HATE) the Raiders.
I’ve never met one once who has offered an unsolicited opinion on the Chargers.Report
I remember the days when the sports talk radio was all “Raider Hater” the week before the games with Oakland. When Oakland got so bad for so long, their hearts just weren’t in it any more. It’s kind of sad to see a tradition die.Report
Changing sports for a moment, I have this exact same feeling when it comes to the rivalry between Kansas and Kansas State in basketball: The world was a better place when both teams were top 25-caliber. Kansas currently enjoys something like a 23-4 record on Kansas State’s home court since KSU moved to a new field house in 1988, though KSU has defended the honor of their home court in the last two meetings.Report
Disagree about the Cowboys. Hating them is mandatory for all football fans outside of Texas. In a just world, it would be mandatory within Texas as well. Calling yourself “America’s Team” is an unforgivable crime, unless you are, you know, competing in the Olympics representing the US.Report
Oh, don’t get me wrong: I still feel like there’s a little extra Sriracha on a Cowboys game, even one in which the Cowboys appear like weak contenders. Just kind of a little more worried about them SeaChickens these days because the probability of losing to the SeaChickens is significantly greater than the probability of losing to Metropolitan Fort Worth’s Team.Report
That is indeed a dire nickname. Seriously? Can they not come up with something creative?Report
They first used it in their 1978 highlights film. The name stuck for various reasons, not the least of which was team’s failure to recognize its enormity.Report
We Seahawks fans don’t really think about green bay. We think about threats.Report
Then the evidence demonstrates that you aren’t thinking at all.Report
Well, thats nothing new, @burt-likko
(In other words, my wife would totally agree with you.)Report
I don’t think there’s a Seattle/GB rivalry so much as a shared narrative of weird endings to games that injects history into future matchups.
From “We want the ball and we’re gonna win!” to the Fail Mary to the backup stepping in front of Jordy Nelson on the onside kick…
Denver, OTOH – the SB was just paying the vig. That one goes back to before Steve Largent vs. Mike Harden.Report
I certainly wouldn’t consider it a rivalry from the GB side, though the Seattle Screwjob is in the front of my mind when they play.Report
C’mon – they’re only human… Officials blow calls in big games from time to time. In time, you find it in your heart to forgive, and move on.Report
I have no hostility towards the officials who worked the game, though I have a modest amount towards the NFL for failing to reach an agreement with the regular officials and then going forward with noticeably inferior replacements. Doesn’t mean I’m happy about the game, though.Report
Oooh, see…I really WANT to stop hating Denver. I’d be much happier if I stopped hating Denver. Hating Denver has damn near sucked the enjoyment right out of watching football for me, especially since I live deep in the heart of their fan base.
I’ve even found common cause with two friends of mine who are Raiders fans. We even go so far as to cheer for each other’s teams out of solidarity against Denver, unless Raiders and Chiefs are playing each other or if one team needs the other to lose in order to better their own position in the standings, of course.Report
I think teams moving gives you an automatic, one-time opportunity to adopt a new team. However, if you abandon a formerly local team that bolted and adopted last year’s champion (unless they are local or local-ish), you definitely get the side eye from me.
I think if you are under 10, you are allowed to try on different teams and swap around, but fair-weather fandom should be actively discouraged.
And I think if a team proves itself to be genuinely morally disagreeable to you, you can abandon it in good faith. For instance, if female Steelers fans decided they couldn’t root for Roethlisberger… or female Cowboys fans couldn’t root for Hardy… or animal-loving Eagles or Jets or Steelers fans couldn’t root for Vick… I’d be hard pressed to say, “Tough nuts!” to them.Report
As for the weekend, I plan to take the boys down to the AMNH to see the new dinosaur. Apparently it doesn’t even fit in the Hall it’s so big! Then we’ll head home for naps and hanging out with one of their Aunts. On Sunday, we have swim lessons in the morning and then it is time for haircuts. Mayo has officially grown a rat tail and that is unacceptable. Little Marcus Allen could probably wait a little longer but since we’ll be there, might as well get that done. After that, the boys are off to their Nonna’s so Zazzy and I can have a State of the Boys meeting. Then back home to do errands and hopefully play outside in the courtyard.
Oh, and on Friday we’ll probably watch a new movie at home… if only to get Mayo off of the god-awful bee movie. Ugh… it’s terrible.Report
Titanosaur was dope, even if technically a replica. It’s on a scale that’s borderline incomprehensible.
Remember the first time going back to the dino museum as an adult and feeling slightly underwhelmed? In your head the dinos were as tall as skyscrapers and as long as freight trains? Titanosaur feels that big. You feel like a kid again. Even if the display itself is lacking (too dark… Good for an ominous feeling but bad for appreciating its very real largesse).Report
Don’t you people have a hierarchy of teams?
1. The team of your youth.
2. The team where you live now.
3. Your wife’s team (if she cares, else… BONUS TEAM)
4. Team who’s doing well, not a direct rival, has cool logo/colors that you can cheer for in the playoffs.
5. The Cubs (unless already covered above, else… Notre Dame).Report
Unless you’re a Catholic seminarian, rooting for Notre Dame is worse than rooting for Dallas.Report
Surely not worse?Report
Much worse.Report
Oh dear, I’m starting to feel the need for a collegiate football safe space.Report
1. That would be the Green Bay Packers.
2. Until last week, that would be “not applicable.”
3. That would be the Green Bay Packers.
4. Umm… the Pittsburgh Steelers? I don’t dislike them on sort of a collective level,* and it’s gotta take a special kind of team pride to wear the bumblebee uniforms on throwback day so that’s worthy of respect.
5. I reject the premise of this tier completely.
* Excepting the whole quarterback-can-rape-women-well-kinda-not-really-but-sorta thing. He’s a starting NFL quarterback, a good-looking dude, and a local hero. If he’s interested in a little homina-homina during his free time, identifying an available woman who would eagerly consent to be his bed buddy ought to be a matter of trivial difficulty. But other than that, yeah, I guess, the Steelers are cool.Report
Nice… mine would be Bears, Redskins (or possibly Ravens), Vikings, and Panthers (because Rivera was on Da Bears).
The Cubs *and* Notre Dame are just givens.
[I’ll even surreptitiously root for the Packers breaking all the rules of #4]Report
1. You get one team (per sport)
2. Your current locale doesn’t matter because you get one team
3. I want to say “you get one team,” but I know many of my friends have adopted their spouse’s teams, so I suppose this is a function of marital harmony. However, I think rivalry rules still apply (as in a Michigan fan marrying an Ohio State fan or something)
4. Their are circumstances under which another team can be supported for a short time: Your team is out and to keep your interest, another team to support is chosen. Your buddy’s team is still playing. Your buddy’s team is playing a championship final against your teams rival (see me cheering for the Seahawks against Denver). A team–any team–is playing Chelsea.
5. The Cubs, and also the Red Sox: These two teams were emotional favorites for most people for various reasons: The Cubs because they were perennial losers and the Red Sox because they were always playing David to the Yankees’ Goliath. Then you realize that as long as Cubs fans keep showing up in large numbers and the owners keep making money, they have little incentive to spend money to improve the team (admittedly at odds with the idea that you should support your team, win or lose). And then you realize that “David” is second in payroll only to “Goliath.” And then “David” wins a couple of World Series titles and yeah, I don’t really think your fan base needs my support anymore.Report
I am also fresh back from an alarm clock free time. I think it was my favorite thing about Hawaii. I still woke up at 6:00 am every day, but it wasn’t because I was a slave to my alarm, and I went back to sleep of course. There’s just something about waking up naturally that is infinitely better.
Back to the grind! Working my second job this weekend. Since I went to Hawaii instead of Japan, I rescheduled my Japan airline ticket for August so that it wouldn’t go to waste. That would be bad for the environment ;). I will also be donating plasma for the first time this weekend. Those Red Cross volunteers are relentless!Report
I did not choose “my team(s)” for any sport based on geography. Every sports team I favor is because a loved one likes that team, and I’m happy to change them any time.Report
Fledermaus is heading out of town shortly for a weekend bellydance workshop, returning Sunday.
Tonight I’m going to see Random Rab – and I haven’t been out to dance in what feels like foreverish.
I’m not sure what’s in the cards for the rest of the weekend, but something that takes advantage of the weirdly warm weather.Report
I grew up a Cubs fan, but in my adult years I have come to my senses and become a White Sox fan. Not because they’re a better team, though they have won a World Series in living memory. Rather, my allegiance switched due to the Cubs foisting a horrendous product on their fans for the better part of a century, while continuing to peddle the Wrigley Field experience as the true reason for being a Cubs fan.Report
Watching the Wife build some sort of weird indoor garden on the dinning table, going out searching for vintage bike parts and possibly getting my act together and putting a new chain on the main 10 speed in the stable and going for a ride…
Also, finishing the new Tim Powers book.Report
I have never been able to abandon a team. The closest I have ever come to switching is in Mens College BBall. My mom was the world’s biggest Dean Smith fan, which meant that I grew up a Tar Heel fan.
But having gone to Oregon, I am now a die-hard Duck fan. But I’m still a die-hard ‘Heels fan. Fortunately they never play, nor do their wins or losses ever effect the chances or ranking of the other. So up to now, anyway, this has worked just fine.Report
I went to school at Nebraska, starting a year before Tom Osborne took over as head coach. I thought for a long time that I was a Nebraska fan, but after Osborne won his two national titles and retired, I discovered that I was actually an Osborne fan, as my interest has dwindled since then.Report
I became a Nebraska fan because I was stationed there for three years and I have friends who are practically family who are die-hard Huskers. I had no real allegiance to inoculate me against Huskerism, which also played a part.Report
Snow falling now. Forecast says a couple of inches tonight, a break tomorrow, then perhaps a foot on Monday. The wife’s intuition expects things to be bad, so I’ve checked that we have propane for my old single-burner camp stove and canned soup in the pantry. It’s been 25 years since the power stayed out long enough for me to break out the propane burner and lantern, but I suppose it’s possible…Report