Choosing an NFL team?

Greetings from stormy NY!
I am trying to choose an NFL team to follow.
Once I pick a team I won't change, so I need to get it right.
Interested in NFL, but don't know much.
Went to Wembley for 2011 NFL Series game (Chicago Bears v Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Liked all that 'pirate' stuff.
Also watched the NY Giants play Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium recently. Anti-climax, but Seahawks fans were amazing.

Prerequisites for choosing a team:

• 1. Must have Cheerleaders

• 2. Passionate fans

• 3. Warm/hot climate

• 4. Tradition, history

Where they are in the divisons is totally irrelevant.

Cheers! :bow-yellow:

 

OK, so not so much on the tradition point, but why not Jacksonville?

 

Yeah good point, Tim.
Jaguars were the first team I looked at.
Basically, who are the 'Fulham' of the NFL?

 

In all seriousness....maybe Miami? You have to go back a good 20 years to find some success, and I can't speak to the passion of their fans, but they're pretty solid on the other points.

Other options that could fit the bill: San Diego or New Orleans.

 

I will attempt to narrow down your list of potential teams Westchester;

• Scratch #1 off your list since all teams in the NFL have cheerleaders.
• #2 is very tricky, because most of the franchises in warm climates aren't very good at the moment, and don't possess the fan base and tradtion.
• Scratch off all Florida teams (especially the Jags). Worst supported teams in the NFL with much of their home games filled with fans disguised as empty seats.
• Of your local teams, the Giants have the best tradition, and great ownership (this is a very important to have when choosing). Jets have a wacky owner, and a coach that is offended by offense.
• Teams to avoid; you live in NY therefore you aren't allowed to root for teams from Boston, bye bye Pats.
•Dallas has fans everywhere, but a egomaniacal owner that is great at business, but thinks he knows football. Add in a stadium that only :roll: cost 1.8 billion to build, but has the atmosphere of a library and the Cowgirls are out.
• Houston, Carolina, Atlanta, Minnesota, Detroit, Tennessee, Buffalo, St. Louis, Arizona belong to their local fans and that's about it, avoid them.
• Other bad ownerships to avoid; Washington Deadskins, Cincinnati, Cleveland, San Diego, and Oakland (especially this dumpster fire).
• Philly and Kansas City have amazing fan bases, but for whatever reasons never win (more KC than the Eagles).
That leaves:
Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Chicago, NY Giants, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, Denver, New Orleans, Indy.
• The Steelers have it all (my wife is a die-hard), fans, traditions, great city to visit
• The Packers and Indy, I would say have Fulhamish qualities (especially the Pack). No better home stadium than Lambeau, but it's not called the frozen tundra for nothing. Throw in the Indy and Green Bay Wisconsin aren't exactly in the sunbelt and aren't exciting to visit..
• Chicago is my favorite city in the US, great fans, tradition, but they can break your heart.
• The Forty Whiners are my most hated team and arch rivals of my Seahawks, and telling you to root for them is like a Fulham fan telling someone to pick the HaHa's.
• Baltimore has been good, but living with a Steelers fan has made me have disdain for them, but you could do worse.
• Denver has all the attributes, but they wear orange and tend to get blown out in Super Bowls.
• Seattle. Have been a Seahawks fan for 37 years, so I'm a little biased , but great city, richest owner in the NFL (who doesn't meddle), have been consistent winner for 10-12 years, and most importantly the loudest/most intimidating stadium on planet earth (not sure if any other stadium has registered on the richter scale, but Seattle has done it on multiple occasions). That said, just look at a map, being a Seattle fan in NY could end up being a lonely proposition and considering most west coast teams start at 4 pm NY time, makes it hard. Not to mention rain in the Emerald City is termed 'liquid sunshine' and your not getting a tan when going to see a game.
• That leaves New Orleans (my friend Tim and I do agree on this). Crazy town, great fans, and as long as Sean Peyton is the coach, and Drew Brees is the QB they will be contenders.

 

San Diego is almost the perfect American city; beautiful, warm, fun to visit, but ownership is a mess, and their stadium situation is a disaster and they seem most likely team to move to LA.

 

Arizona has a great stadium, but having gone to multiple games there, the fan base is mediocre (the games I've gone to, Cardinal fans make up around 60-70% of the fans in the building). Their ownership also has a history of being among the NFL's worst.

 

Thanks for your help with this.
Everything considered, it has to be Pittsburgh Steelers.

 

I looked at all the teams.
Packers seemed to be the best choice.
But Pittsburgh stuck for some reason.
Pittsburgh is about 370 miles from NYC.
Close enough to go to home games.
Flights take 1.5 hours for $150. Or Megabus takes 7 hours for $15.
Epic stadium, by a river/park/bridge just like FFC.
The club badge is weird...although being a Fulham fan I'm used to that.
Anyway, final decision, Steelers!
:banana-guitar: :banana-dance: bscene-drinkingbuddies:

 

Westchester - NO,NO,NO - you made that decision way too hastily!. You dont want to be the fan of a team that employs a hard-partying jerk who rapes a drunk woman while his bodyguards keep her friends from helping her. It's the same as Liverpool employing a racist guy who bites other players and gives Fulham fans the finger. Is that what you want to be, a Liverpool fan? The Steelers do have incredibly diehard fans but that's why they cant see how disgusting Ben Worthlisbuggar and their organization is. Also, Joe is wrong. All NFL teams do not have cheerleaders - including the Steelers. In the cold northern cities it basically makes no sense to employ cheerleaders when they cant show the requisite amount of skin.

You want a team to support, I give you the Cleveland Browns. Like Fulham they have a rich history that dates back to the beginning of professinal football but unfortunately they are not going to be winning a championship anytime soon. Joe's is correct in that their current ownership is pretty questionable but that is mostly because the owner is, or at least use to be a Steelers fan. The reason people like Joe think our ownership is bad is because of our revolving door of coaches and executives (also similar to Fulham), but the people locally in the know here in Cleveland say Haslam had to do what he did. He inherited an organization with guys running things who were constantly at odds, which isnt surprising since the previous owner was Randy Lerner - owner of Aston Villa. Lerner ignored the Browns while he wasted his money on Villa and hired the enemy to coach them. Time will tell with the Browns new ownership.


The Browns have a fantastic fan base. Browns Backers Worldwide is the largest fan-based organization in the USA. However, the best example of how great our fans are was their reaction when Art Model tried to take the team to Baltimore. There were numerous law suits, congressional hearings, protests and as a result all of the teams sponsors pulled their sponsorship and the Browns legacy remained in Cleveland. While Model still took "the team" to Baltimore the Browns stayed in Cleveland and the NFL awarded us an expansion franchise three years later. During the time there was no active active team in Cleveland, Browns fans still showed up every Sunday in the stadium parking lot to tailgate. It was kind of the closest thing to being relegated an NFL team is ever going to get - and the Browns survived it. You have to be able to suffer and still believe to be a Browns fan, sound familiar?

Browns Backers in NY can be found here http://fans.clevelandbrowns.com/fans/backers/results.php?id=NY

Also, while were talking the NFL, did everyone see this Texas broadcasters rant about Michael Sam coming out as gay. Nicely done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olc5C4SXAYM

 

Wait, you said warm climate and pick pittsburgh? interesting. I agree 100% with SoCal's analysis. I can't stand the Saints, but that would have been my recommendation to you as well.

 

New England has quite a few fans that root for the Giants as before the Patriots were around the Giants were the closest team to New England. Mostly now New Englanders who root for the Giants root for them because their father did.

 

Lol, keep in mind that Cleveland used to be the arch rivals of Pittsburgh (and maybe someday will be again), but it stopped when the Browns (named after the owner Paul Brown and not the color) became irrelevant (around 1990 :shock: ) The Steelers and the Browns are still division rivals, but the Ravens have replaced them as the biggest 'derby' matches. Come on Mo, even you have to admit the Brownies are a complete disaster :teasing-poke: The Steelers have had 3 coaches since 1969 (the current one Mike Tomiin is fantastic), while the Browns are on their 8th coach since 2000 :shock: Can't disagree WW w/your choice for a variety of reasons:

• The Steelers are a family club. Owned by the Rooney family forever, they have more SB titles than anyone, but do things the "Steeler Way". They are a reflection of the city they are from...tough, hard nosed, but clean. Because of their tradition, Steeler fans can be found everywhere. Watch any Steeler game in any city and you'll see thousands of 'Terrible Towels" waving (google terrible towel, they are fairly sacred to Steeler fans).

• The city is shockingly beautiful. I took my wife (the Steeler fan) 2 years ago, and couldn't believe how nice it is (reminds me of Portland Oregon). 3 rivers combine with bridges, architecture, multiple Universities (including Carnegie-Mellon, & University of Pittsburgh).

• The logo was created by US Steel in the 1950's and represented them years before they allowed the Steelers to use it. The 3 diamonds represent the materials needed to make steel. Yellow for coal, Orange for ore, blue for scrap metal.

• I think it was smart to pick a team in the eastern time zone, and don't be surprised if there is a "Steeler" bar near you.

 

LOL your wife served you the kool aid. What sort of family team worships rapists and pays them millions of $ to boot? You didnt address the Worthlisbuggar issue. What sort of family team embraces the dirtiest player in the league as voted by other NFL players (not once but twice). Is that the sort of "clean" play your talking about. The Steelers brought steroid use to the NFL. Is that the sort of clean play you're talking about?

The Rooney family, the most championships, biased officiating - all sounds like ManUre to me.

 

There is no Fulham in the NFL due to the salary cap. The only way to be consistently poor is to mismanage your organization...and who wants to root for a team like that? But if you want a team that will never win, you can't beat the Browns or Cowboys. Both are terminally handicapped by ineptitude (for differing reasons).

Any team you pick will have it's peaks and valleys, even the Steelers. But they have managed to have many more peaks than valleys, so while I can't endorse the pick as a Baltimore fan, I'd have a hard time finding fault with it as a neutral. Just curious, but if you're throwing out the warm weather, why not pick one of the Giants or Jets, since they're local to you?

Mo, don't you like Leeds? That alone should end any of this moral high ground nonsense. Any professional sport, in any country, is going to have it's good and bad. There is no team without blemishes in their history. If you don't see them, you haven't looked.

Regardless, good luck with the pick WW, hope you find a lot of enjoyment supporting them. Hopefully that enjoyment doesn't come through victories though.