I'm a die hard Miami Dolphins fan, stemming from playing for the "Dolphins" as a kid in pop warner football.
Big dropoff, as I don't actively root for other teams. But other teams I have a rooting interest in are the NY Giants and Cleveland Browns [spent 5 years living in NEO, my wife is from Cleveland and a die hard Browns fan].
I'm an SU fan and follow SU players in the pros. If an SU player becomes "the face of a franchise" I will likely find myself rooting for that team, even after the SU leaves. But this doesn't always "take". I also might follow a team if they have a history of taking SU players. Geography doesn't mean anything to me. New York City and Boston, Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh or Cleveland or Detroit- no difference to me. I live in Syracuse. Even the teams I root for I don't do passionately because they aren't Syracuse. There's no since of identity, of putting "us" on the map. It's just more fun to be rooting for a team than to have no team.
Historically:
- I grew up as a Browns fan because of Jim Brown and Ernie Davis. I also kind of liked the Colts and the Chargers, not really because of John Mackey and Walt Sweeney but because I liked their uniforms and they were exciting, successful teams. If Ernie had signed with the Bills, (who drafted him for the AFL)- and he would have if George Preston Marshall had not been forced to trade the pick to Cleveland and if Ernie had been able to play, (he's have been in the backfield with Cookie Gilchrist on what would have been some incredible Bills teams), I probably would have become a Bills fan, as so many in this area are. But it didn't happen and the Bills have always been just another team to me.
- I found myself rooting for the Broncos and the Dolphins when Floyd Little and Larry Csonka went there and those teams began winning. Why didn't I root for the Patriots and Jim Nance? I don't know. It just didn't 'take'. I kept rooting for the Browns, Dolphins and Broncos for years after Brown, Little and Csonka retired, just because they were still winning and it was still fun. It was frustrating because they were all in the AFC so I never had a "lock" on the Super Bowl, although I did on the AFC title game in several seasons. Why didn't i root for the Redskins and Art Monk or the Giants and Joe Morris. Again, for some reason it just didn't "take".
- Eventually those teams faded and my enthusiasm for them did as well. But when the Eagles drafted Donovan McNabb I got interested in them. They were also a distinguished NFL franchise that hadn't won a title in decades, so I spent the last decade rooting for McNabb and the Eagles. I also became a fan of the Colts because they used a lot of ex-SU players, including Marvin Harrison and Dwight Freeney. I also liked Peyton Manning. Now I had a chance for a Super Bowl 'lock' and both the Eagles and Colts made it but not in the same year.
- I've tried to be a Giant fan due to Tom Coughlin and rooted for them vs. the Patriots but, somehow, it hasn't taken - yet, despite the demands of Kaiser UEO.
- With McNabb leaving Philly and Manning leaving Indy, I became something of a "free agent". I couldn't connect to Washington or Minnesota, both because the teams were bad and I thought Donovan got treated badly there. But Manning's resurrection in Denver, a team I rooted for for years re-ignited that interest, (I won't use the term "loyalty" for reasons that must be clear). As long as they are winning, I'll be following them. But I'm still in the market for an NFC team.
If any of my old teams get good again, I suspect I'll be rooting for them.
