It's one thing to lose (some) interest in a team when they suck. I admit, I watched fewer Blazers games on TV than I had in some past years when the schedule was posted by my TV so I wouldn't miss a minute. But that's not the same as saying I'll just find someone else to root for. I watch the playoffs when my teams aren't in it and usually have a rooting interest; if nothing else, the underdog. And whoever plays the Lakers (in baseball, Yankees). But I am still a Blazers fan first last and always. If, may the basketball gods forbid, the Blazers ceased to exist, would I find another team? Probably root for Sacramento, lukewarm. Root for individual players I like. But when the Portland Fire folded, I still watched WNBA games on TV but to this day I've never found another team I really love. Because love can't be commanded. You don't stop loving a sick spouse, do you? Or hell, even a spouse who ditches you, very often. I did not make a grand plan to fall in love with the Portland Trail Blazers. But I did. And I remain. And I will remain. And everyone else will always be "just a good friend" and never my true love. Never.
Mindlessly repeating the word "chickenshit" because one doesn't have anything contentful to say is chickenshit.
Eloquently put. Although one way to end love is for the spouse to betray you. So if the Trail Blazers moved to Anaheim, it might be easier. Although then you just stay in love with the memory, like those sad, sad Seattle SuperSonics fans. I think the analogy with romantic love is sadly apt. But I'm looking for an open relationship. I don't mind if the Blazers seek out other fans, I really don't.
I'd start following your favorite players. I know Minstrel became a Blazer fan because of Pippen. (He seems to have been cured, judging by his posting frequency lately.) Problem is that my favorite player to watch for the pure joy of the game is LeBron. He's just....man, we all know how amazing he is. It's just so unfortunate that he formed a superteam with Wade and Bosh. I can't bring myself to care about the Heat like I used to when he was carrying the Cavs. I'd be might tempted to pick up the Bulls as my new favorite team. Exciting point guards are always a blast, and the inevitable epic battles with the Heat would make it worthwhile. Even if the Bulls are likely going to wind up on the losing side most years. The Clippers could be fun to get behind. You've got until the end of this season to legitimately say, "I was a fan of them before everybody knew about them." But then you just know fate is going to yank out that football on Charlie Brown and they'll revert to being the Clippers. So maybe that's not such a hot idea.
I will always be a Blazer fan . . . but I admit that when they suck, I naturally lose interest and divert my attention to all the other things going on in my life. This season I don't have a problem with letting go of the Blazers and the NBA (think I've seen 2 out of the last 5-7 games, which is something for a fan that usually attends and/or DVR and rewatches the games). Next year will be tough for me. I do enjoy the NBA and if the Blazers next year are anything like this year (fighting for lottery seeding/tanking), I will probably pick up some team to follow and root for. I usually go with a team I feel I have some connection with, either location, player on the team or personality of the team. I have found myself liking the Suns and Mavs as an organization, the rebellious side of me enjoys rooting for the villians in Kobe and Lebron and in general I root for west coast teams over east coast teams.
each to their own on changing teams. But jumping to a ship that wins a title after I become a fan would just feel empty and hollow to me. And personally I'll take 1 Championship in my lifetime that means the world to me, over 20 that meant very little to me personally.
Depends on when you became a Yankee fan IMO. As a kid I either had the Mariners shoved down my throat due to proximity, or Dodgers due to my dad lol. Don Mattingly was my absolute favorite player as a kid, and the Yankees sucked to there! I'm not Fairweather when a team wins!
I don't get the question. Did the Blazers relocate to another city and nobody bothered to tell us? Unless that were to happen, I don't think there's any way I could become an active fan of another NBA team. I'm an Oregonian through and through. I fell in love with the Blazers their first season and have followed them ever since that time. In the good years, it's great to follow a winner. The championship season was pure adrenalin here in Portland. The following year, when the team started out 50-10 was as close to basketball nirvana as it's possible to get. The dream of multiple titles for that team ended when Walton was injured and then abandoned ship. When the team has been down, I'm always excited about the prospect of moves to be made to get back into competition. The last thing I could ever envision myself doing is rooting for a team in another city simply because they're the favorites for a title. I see no thrill in jumping on to, say, the Heat bandwagon just so I can celebrate a title that I've not been invested in at all. There have been other teams that I've admired because of the way they play or because they have some classy players (the Spurs would be an example), and I may root for them when the Blazers are eliminated from contention, as they are this year, but I'm always going to be a Blazers fan until the day I die. Does that make me a homer? Good.
I used to like the Clippers when I was a grad student at USC in the early 90s and could walk across Exposition to the Sports Arena (I went there to watch the draft where they took Antonio McDyess and then got booed for trading him for Rodney Rogers, Brian Williams and Brent Barry). The Bill Fitch-coached-year when they just missed setting the record for consecutive losses by beating the Bucks (with their prize rookie, Glenn Robinson) was pretty epic. But the sheer sordidness of Donald Sterling has grated on me. When he was just cheap, it was okay, but now we all know he's a racist, rape-y sleazeball scumbag, it's not so funny. Plus Blake Griffin is a dick.
So to all those who state or imply they are better than us who decide to root for other NBA teams . . . what do you do during the NBA season when the Blazers suck and can't even contend for a playoff spot? Or even the next step, when they start losing on purpose. Continue to follow Blazers religiously or tune out?
I suggest the San Antonio Spurs. They're a team that seems to do it right. If you can pull it off, cudos to you. I just can't though. I've tried and it just doesn't work. I can't find it in my heart to love any team other than the Blazers. I think the cheating lover example is a good one. There are SOOOOOOOOO many reasons to leave for greener pastures, but you just can't do it.
But isn't it kind of cool that the expected domination hasn't really happened? I think it's okay that they did that - because it hasn't worked. Yeah, the Bulls are safe to support now we've got some distance from Jordan. And I love Deng and Noah. But they really need another scorer to get past the Heat.
Was watching to hope to see continued development of our young players. It was ugly, sure. But in a lost season, there's still always that hope for the future. So you watch us losing, but, as we see with the threads on this board, you look at what the future coould bring, in the way of the draft, free agency, trades, etc. And then hope to see guys like Nolan look a little better. Maybe Hickson to blow up, so we can S&T him if we can not afford him.
meh, i like D Rose so id probably be a bulls fan if the blazers moved to anaheim and became the mighty ducks 2, quack attack
I was a huge fan of the Pacers when they had Reggie Miller. I enjoyed their battles against the Knicks and Magic in the mid-90s. Later I met Reggie when I was covering the Blazers and he turned out to be a dick.
