The last statement is a great summary of what I think so many managers of professional teams simply don't get. They're far too willing to trade players to whom their fans are loyal... and that loyalty often develops prior to the players association with the team.
For me, in football, that association starts while they are Vols.
I don't need to apologize to someone for Pittsburgh for not having been stuck in that godforsaken city as a child.
well, what you are kind of getting into is, what my friend likes to call, a "pro fan or college fan." The fans with the much stronger ties to the college tend to develop the stronger ties with individual players, leading to some association with professional teams that take the players from said college; on the other hand, pro fans he felt tend to form more of an initial association with the team before and then they come to like certain players...(whereas the college fan has a similar association with the school, allowing a 'revolving door' of associating the players that come and go through)
that's his theory though; it's not one I ever particularly subscribed to, but it does appear in some cases.
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That example I gave in what you quoted was my case though. While I vaguely knew about the NFL when I was 11, I didn't follow it or really know how to at that point. The closest I had to anything was that that John Elway was a good player and liked him....but without knowing how to watch it, that really didn't go anywhere (and really couldn't). That was my extent of professional football knowledge. I knew about the Super Bowl (which would have been the Falcons-Broncos), but all I knew was that it was on and that it came on too late for me to stay up and watch. (and Elway of course retired the following year, so I would guess any chance of forming a tie with the Broncos became completely moot then)
I had known Tennessee was getting a professional team, but that really was about it. Then in 99, my aunt and uncle took me to my first NFL game, the Titans-Falcons game that year. I had a great time; the fans were great, the team was good, I liked the stadium and how the stadium did everything[being a small child, i liked the dark blue uniforms], and after that experience I started to watch the NFL weekly, especially the Titans games (which were local) I really started to like guys like Steve McNair, Eddie George, Jevon Kearse (think I have liked the last two the most)....for some reason Blaine Bishop too. And I really started to follow the sport in that part of the season - not because the team was good I might clear up, but simply because it's when I found out how the sport worked.
My aunt and uncle took me to my first playoff game that year: that famous Titans-Buffalo game. I remember not only the game, but starting to get up and leave to turn around and see the music city miracle happen when people were about to give up hope. It is just something immense to have been a part of watching something both that impressive and historic like that. I watched the playoff game where they beat the Colts and then where they beat the Jaguars for the 3rd time that season (12 yr old self called it btw
). That Titans-Rams Super Bowl was the first Super Bowl I watched, both out of interest and actually being allowed to stay up that late when I had school the next day; and even though it ended the way it did, the team just grew on me from all that and on.
They became my team from that point on, and I've liked them ever since. But everyone has their own story, and what really matters is their ties to their team, of their varying strengths.
