Other teams you follow

[jumpkutz]

Oh, and U.S. men's soccer, of course.

[jumpkutz]

And, to a slightly lesser degree, England men's soccer.

[SteveFakeBlood]

Oh hell... because I'm still awake and this was one of my favorite threads on the old site I thought I'd give it a shot. I actually really like all the expository details of how people became fans of their teams. AggieMatt wins for most tragic story (his NFL teams), but I identify with DaveNearDC as a baseball team being my first love (even if it's one of his division rivals). Anyhow... here it is:

The Chicago White Sox- I'm a third generation life-long fan- I cared about them before I really cared about anything else. The only team logo I have (or ever will have) permanently inked on my skin. I could probably write a book on my fandom... but we'll just leave it at that.

And for everyone else:

Soccer:
Chicago Fire- eventually about a year after I got back from studying abroad in England, I figured I should start following the team that played 20 miles away from me as well as one an ocean away. The second game I attended, the Fire won the 2006 US Open Cup Final which I saw from the Section 8 ultras section and I've been hooked ever since.

US Men's and Women's National Teams: I am American, after all.

AFC Wimbledon- I was first attracted to them by their incredible story- being formed by a group of angry fans in 2002 after their football league team was moved to Milton Keynes. I didn't get a chance to see a Fulham match when I was in London in 2007, so I went to Kingsmeadow to see Wimbledon instead. Since then they've incredibly moved all the way up to League 2. I had an internship in the Wimbledon area as well, so there was a bit of a geographic connection.

Ft. Lauderdale Strikers- My new local team- albeit 40 miles away. There's a small, but very enthusiastic ultras presence at matches and I'm excited that they're headed to the NASL Championship.

FC St. Pauli- Besides loving their countercultural, punk rock, radically fan-centric spirit which is unique for any sports club- they are also the subject of a song by one of my favorite bands ("St. Pauli" by Art Brut) and have connections to my two favorite soccer teams (Moritz Volz plays for them now and current Fire player Cory Gibbs played for them in the early '00s). They got relegated last year, but are playing well in the 2. Bundesliga and may get promoted again.

Villarreal- I was interested in finding a Spanish league team and Villarreal seemed "Fulhamish" in many ways, I also like their attacking style of play and although a lot of USMNT fans will hate me for this, I also like Giussepi Rossi. They're a somewhat small team from a small town that's consistently competing for the Champions League in one of the hardest leagues in the world, so that's also pretty cool. It's nice to finally be rooting for a team in the Champions League.

While I don't follow them closely, but also due to ancestry I root for the Czech and English national teams. I'm conflicted on the Italian national team because that's also part of my heritage, but there's a lot to hate about Italian soccer.



Other Sports:
University of Missouri- My original alma mater and other than the White Sox my biggest personal connection to a team. Mostly, I follow football and basketball, but given the alumni card I reserve the right to bandwagon jump at any time in any sport.

Florida State University- I got my Master's degree here and living in Florida now I can catch their games on TV more than Mizzou's. I expanded my palate a little and am a fan of not only the football and basketball teams, but also the consistently very good baseball and women's soccer teams.

Chicago Bulls- Growing up in the Chicago area in the '90s being a Bulls fan was sort of obligatory- of course, the early '00s weeded out a lot of people- but for everyone paying attention during the very learn years, lastyear's successes were even sweeter. Really hoping the lockout doesn't destroy a legitimately great team.

Florida (soon to be Miami) Marlins- My NL team. I've had a bit of a soft spot for them ever since they successively knocked off the Cubs and Yankees in the 2003 playoffs- but now that I live in Miami and being a fan of them doesn't interfere with being a Sox fan, I feel obligated to support them given that none of the locals do. It's hard to imagine them catching up to the Phillies or Braves next year, but I think if they stay healthy they'll surprise some people.

Miami Dolphins- The first NFL team I haven't felt conflicted about rooting for. Unfortunately, I picked a pretty bad time to start rooting for them.

Northern Illinois University- My parents alma mater, I mainly just follow the football team as the only Illinois university I particularly root for.

Florida International University- Mainly just football, the school's down the street from where I work and I wanted a local college team to root for since I hate UM.

That's it for now.

~Steve