Sports bigamy and bandwagoners (was: Pics of your UT Room!!!)

[vader]

What Skins players went to your high school?

[BigPapaVol]

I'm with Lex. In the professional ranks, I tend more to root for players and coaches than I do teams.

I grew up in TN and root for UT in everything. I root for my undergrad and graduate schools, but I suspect they'll never compete with UT for anything. If they do, I'll be torn, but will probably root for my undergrad alma mater.

What's that make me?

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by BigPapaVol

I'm with Lex. In the professional ranks, I tend more to root for players and coaches than I do teams.

I grew up in TN and root for UT in everything. I root for my undergrad and graduate schools, but I suspect they'll never compete with UT for anything. If they do, I'll be torn, but will probably root for my undergrad alma mater.

What's that make me?

The way a sports fan ought to be about it? Undergrad alma mater trumps all, IMO.

[BigPapaVol]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

The way a sports fan ought to be about it? Undergrad alma mater trumps all, IMO.

I say my alma mater would trump, but there is no way I could root against UT. Just couldn't do it.

[doozer]

fortunately, there is no way my alma matter will ever play Tennessee.

[Vercingetorix]

I think that if I'd gone to school somewhere else, I'd have ended up rooting for my own school over the school I'd grown up rooting for. I think. But I ended up going to UT anyway, so it was a moot point.

[BigPapaVol]

Originally Posted by doozer

fortunately, there is no way my alma matter will ever play Tennessee.

neither of mine is likely to either.

[volfanbill]

remember, that the Arizona DBacks aren't much younger than tvolsfan, so it's not like he picked up rooting for a brand new team because they were necessarily brand new. I see no problem with him not rooting for the Reds.

I mean I root for the A's because I loved their colors as a kid, thought Dennis Eckersley was the coolest man on the planet, and I thought Rickey Henderson might actually steal two bases with one pitch (and no errors). The Bash Brothers were cool, but far from my favorite aspect about the A's. I also grew up a Braves fan, but as mentioned before, couldn't stand john schuerholz's idea of letting my favorite players always go. Ironically, it's the norm for the A's nowadays.

Never expected my question to turn into this, but quite a good theory you have Vercin.

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by volfanbill

remember, that the Arizona DBacks aren't much younger than tvolsfan, so it's not like he picked up rooting for a brand new team because they were necessarily brand new. I see no problem with him not rooting for the Reds.

I didn't mean to imply he was a bandwaggoner for rooting for the D'Backs, and I certainly don't have a problem with it; I just think he's missing out by passing up on two separate teams within a couple of hours of his house in order to root for a team all the way across the country. The net makes it obviously much easier to follow a team long-distance, but still -- if I have to go run errands or something while a game is on, it's on the radio. I can go down to the ballpark on a whim just because the weather is nice or the pitching matchup is intriguing. (This would be more difficult for tvolsfan, obviously, but still doable.) Etc. etc. I just think 17 (or whatever he is) is really young to stick your stake in the ground and commit to a team way out there when you've got two right there in your back yard.

I mean I root for the A's because I loved their colors as a kid, thought Dennis Eckersley was the coolest man on the planet, and I thought Rickey Henderson might actually steal two bases with one pitch (and no errors). The Bash Brothers were cool, but far from my favorite aspect about the A's. I also grew up a Braves fan, but as mentioned before, couldn't stand john schuerholz's idea of letting my favorite players always go. Ironically, it's the norm for the A's nowadays.

Never expected my question to turn into this, but quite a good theory you have Vercin.

I wouldn't call it a theory, and I think I overanswered your question by coming up with a numbered list of items. I've had the same argument on here repeatedly with people whom I've deemed to be frontrunners and/or bigamists several times, so I thought that instead of just snarking at people I'd set out a statement of basic principles. It ended up being a little more exhaustive than it needed to be, I guess.

And we are totally agreed on Rickey Henderson. Probably my favorite baseball player ever.

[volfanbill]

i thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts and agree with most of them. I guess I'm just in a different situation where I've always been at least 3 hours from a pro team so it's impossible to root for the local team.

And that 3 hour trip was for the Hornets, who are now in New Orleans. I was a Hornets fan, but my interest in the NBA was dwindled significantly since my childhood, but I'd still call the Hornets my team. And I will add, that them now being a pretty good team hasn't really sparked anymore interest in the NBA. I still only watch some of the playoffs and an occasional big game if no good college bball is on.

By the time the Panthers came to Charlotte, I had already become a Redskins fan and I wasn't going to change just because they were close by. Same goes with the Titans.

Had I grown up in Columbus, OH with the Reds, Indians, Bengals and Browns so close I might be able to better understand that perspective.

So basically the only thing I would add to your list is that if you've already settled on your team and a team moves close by, you are not obligated to cheer for them.

[BigPapaVol]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

And we are totally agreed on Rickey Henderson. Probably my favorite baseball player ever.

I liked Henderson until after his monster World Series MVP. After that, it was too much I am the greatest and referring to himself as Rickey. His late, late career antics were comic book stuff with his hanging around forever to break certain records.

[GAVol]

The best Rickey story ever is when he received his signing bonus and months later the check wasn't cashed so the team contacted Henderson and found out that instead of depositing the $1 million check, he framed it and hung it on his wall.

[droski]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

I think that if I'd gone to school somewhere else, I'd have ended up rooting for my own school over the school I'd grown up rooting for. I think. But I ended up going to UT anyway, so it was a moot point.

there was a guy in my dorm who grew up a stanford fan and would openly root against cal when we were watching games in the common area. he wasn't my favorite person.

[KB5252]

Originally Posted by droski

there was a guy in my dorm who grew up a stanford fan and would openly root against cal when we were watching games in the common area. he wasn't my favorite person.

droski when are you going to post picks of your UT room?

[droski]

Originally Posted by KB5252

droski when are you going to post picks of your UT room?