When is it time to give up a sports team?

[Caveat Emperor]

I'm in my 30s. I've rooted for one football team (Tampa Bay) my entire life. They've been terrible for the overwhelming majority of it -- though, they did manage to squeak out 1 Super Bowl in 2002.

I was born in Tampa, but moved when I was 6. I've stayed loyal despite, really, never having lived in the area for any appreciable length of time.

Today, they just signed Josh McCown and announced him as their STARTING quarterback. A dude who, literally, had a worse QB rating than Brandon Weeden prior to a hot 5 game run in the middle of last season with the Bears. A 10+ year journeyman who was out of football for a full season because no one could be bothered to add him to a roster.

Oh yeah, and they just outright cut Derrelle Revis -- less than a full calendar year after giving up a 1st round draft pick for him.

So, I'm sitting here thinking -- this seriously has to be the final straw. Is there a point where you can just give up a lifelong rooting interest and move on with your life? Have you ever done it?

[JaxRed]

I did. Born and raised in Ohio, followed the Reds and Bengals. Living here in Jax since 1999, you get immersed with info about the local team.

Eventually it got to the point where I was so fed up with Mike Brown's not caring about the team and contrasted that to Wayne Weaver of the Jags.

When they were adding expansion teams, the NFL wanted Wayne Weaver as an owner but wanted St Louis as the town. For 2 weeks they badgered Wayne,. Just abandon Jacksonville and the team is yours. He held fast and Jax got their team. And he fought tooth and nail to keep it in Jax.

Eventually he handed the reigns over to Shad Khan who is also committed to keeping the team here and is has also revived the excitement about the team.

We have not had the success yet, but it feels good to root for a team where you know the owner is doing his best.

[BuckeyeRed27]

I've moved around a bit, but I would have a hard time giving up on one of my teams. The closest to your situation for me is the Utah Jazz. I lived in Salt Lake when I was young, but moved in 2nd grade and have never been back, but I still root for them. I think moving to a place that didn't have an NBA team after helped, but I've been in LA now for a few years and still hate the Lakers. I tried to pick up the Clippers, but never got into it.

I think even if you tried a part of you will always support the childhood team.

[Tom Servo]

I definitely thought of you CE as I just read the baffling news about McCown. As a Panthers fan for over a decade, I can relate, but I say stick it out because you never know when things may turn around. After the start to this last season, I was almost completely done with bothering to follow the Panthers games as it seemed like yet another 'lose all the games early, win most at the end, and finish 7-9/8-8 and talk about the strong finish' season, only for them to put together their best season in years.

But I wouldn't blame you if you bailed.

[IslandRed]

Let me get this out of the way: No one likes bandwagon-jumpers or frontrunners, people who bounce from team to team, chasing reflected glory. You're not one of those guys.

Having said that, life's too short to be miserable all the time. If following the Buccaneers makes your life worse than not following them, don't follow them. That doesn't necessarily mean switching teams, although there are defensible reasons you can. You can just... detach. Do something else on Sundays.

Bottom line, your favorite team doesn't care about you (http://grantland.com/features/the-writer-sht-my-dad-says-why-your-team-give-damn-you/) (NSFW language in linked article), so don't sacrifice too much for them.

[KronoRed]

If you leave, you can never come back.

[WMR]

Don't understand it and could never do it. My teams are my teams.

[Kingspoint]

It was mind-numbing to follow the Bengals so long, so that in order to enjoy the NFL I had to add gambling on the NFL so I could enjoy it. This did the trick. I didn't gamble a lot (in relative terms)...about $400 per week, while I also made a little bit of money. But, I only gambled for the seasons that I had time to pay a lot of attention to the sport.

Rooting for the Bengals was not enjoyable for a very long time. Eventually, Mike Brown began making better decisions. Now I enjoy the NFL again, but in between the gambling and Mike Brown making better decisions again, I added Fantasy Football, and now I enjoy Fantasy Football and the Bengals.

Things cycle...unless you're a Cubs fan. You just have to live long enough.

[improbus]

I was eight during the Bengals second Super Bowl. Then, during my formative years as a sports fan they were atrocious, like worst franchise of all time atrocious. I officially cut ties when Carson Palmer's knee snapped.

Every autumn I see a football fans wallowing in misery again and again (this is Ohio after all) and I don't regret my decision for a minute. Why ruin a good weekend? Or 16 of them? At least a horrible baseball team will make you happy 60 times every summer. A bad football team might do it 3 or 4 times.

[Roy Tucker]

I've told this story on RZ before so I'll keep it short.

I was as big of a Browns fan as there was. Had a Clay Matthews jersey, went up to the Dog Pound every year, and lived and died with each win and loss. Jim Brown, Frank Ryan, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Brian Sipe, Dave Logan, Red Right 88, The Drive, The fumble, and all that. I *loved* the Browns like I love the Reds.

But I moved from Dayton (big Browns contingent there) to Cincy, got married, had kids, the Browns declined, and eventually moved to Baltimore with all the associated acrimony and Modell hatred and Belichick blame. And I could *never* be Ravens fan.

Browns V2.0 came into existence, I made a luke-warm try at becoming a fan again, It just didn't take. Kinda like trying to go back with your first wife. One day, I found out that I just didn't care any more.

So its nice now. I got my Sundays back. I do a lot of other stuff on Sundays now. I watch football when I want to (1 pm kickoffs used to be sacred and reserved times before and God forbid anything getting in the way). My marriage is better for it. I see Browns scores and sometimes I sigh and wonder how they are, like an old girlfriend. But like the old girlfriends, I got over it and I'm better off for it.

[thatcoolguy_22]

I've told this story on RZ before so I'll keep it short.

I was as big of a Browns fan as there was. Had a Clay Matthews jersey, went up to the Dog Pound every year, and lived and died with each win and loss. Jim Brown, Frank Ryan, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Brian Sipe, Dave Logan, Red Right 88, The Drive, The fumble, and all that. I *loved* the Browns like I love the Reds.

But I moved from Dayton (big Browns contingent there) to Cincy, got married, had kids, the Browns declined, and eventually moved to Baltimore with all the associated acrimony and Modell hatred and Belichick blame. And I could *never* be Ravens fan.

Browns V2.0 came into existence, I made a luke-warm try at becoming a fan again, It just didn't take. Kinda like trying to go back with your first wife. One day, I found out that I just didn't care any more.

So its nice now. I got my Sundays back. I do a lot of other stuff on Sundays now. I watch football when I want to (1 pm kickoffs used to be sacred and reserved times before and God forbid anything getting in the way). My marriage is better for it. I see Browns scores and sometimes I sigh and wonder how they are, like an old girlfriend. But like the old girlfriends, I got over it and I'm better off for it.

That was very well written.

[Redhook]

I just moved to Denver, but I'll always be a Reds and Bengals fan. It's in my blood. Plus, I survived the 90's version of the Bengals. If you can get through that, you can get through anything as a fan.

[Razor Shines]

I don't think I could stop rooting for one of my teams. Like maybe if Jim Irsay walked into my house and farted on my dinner I might not root for Colts for a while but after he was dead I'd be right back on board with the them.

[Redsfaithful]

I considered leaving the Bengals at a couple of points (2008 and 2010 were very low times), but couldn't do it. I feel that I've been rewarded for that, they are a competent franchise at this point and have been for awhile. 30-18 in the last three years, so that's a lot of happy Sundays.

I don't measure success in championships. Being a fan of the Reds and Bengals ... that doesn't make sense. I hope, but you have to be realistic, and a good regular season is a good time.

I'd stick with Tampa. A Super Bowl win in the last 15 years really isn't that bad. Like most any team in the NFL, they're just a solid QB away. McCown probably isn't it, but who knows?



I did. Born and raised in Ohio, followed the Reds and Bengals. Living here in Jax since 1999, you get immersed with info about the local team.

Eventually it got to the point where I was so fed up with Mike Brown's not caring about the team and contrasted that to Wayne Weaver of the Jags.

This is a great argument for sticking with your team. Outside of a couple of years the Jaguars have been an absolute train wreck of a team since 1999. But boy I bet they looked like a great bet coming off 14-2 in 1999. Nothing is guaranteed.

[Caveat Emperor]

I think I'm just done for a while. I'm not going to get emotionally invested in a team that thinks Josh McCown is an answer to anything. If they want to demonstrate they have a vision for the future, I'll reserve the right to reconsider my decision.

[westofyou]

I've told this story on RZ before so I'll keep it short.

I was as big of a Browns fan as there was. Had a Clay Matthews jersey, went up to the Dog Pound every year, and lived and died with each win and loss. Jim Brown, Frank Ryan, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Brian Sipe, Dave Logan, Red Right 88, The Drive, The fumble, and all that. I *loved* the Browns like I love the Reds.

But I moved from Dayton (big Browns contingent there) to Cincy, got married, had kids, the Browns declined, and eventually moved to Baltimore with all the associated acrimony and Modell hatred and Belichick blame. And I could *never* be Ravens fan.

Browns V2.0 came into existence, I made a luke-warm try at becoming a fan again, It just didn't take. Kinda like trying to go back with your first wife. One day, I found out that I just didn't care any more.

So its nice now. I got my Sundays back. I do a lot of other stuff on Sundays now. I watch football when I want to (1 pm kickoffs used to be sacred and reserved times before and God forbid anything getting in the way). My marriage is better for it. I see Browns scores and sometimes I sigh and wonder how they are, like an old girlfriend. But like the old girlfriends, I got over it and I'm better off for it.

Yep, I gave up on caring about the Bengals, then NFL and behold... I lived.

Can't quit the Reds or the Red Wings, nor want to. But I know when to walk away from something that gives me no pleasure (I'm looking at you Basketball, Football and most other sports on tv)

[Boston Red]

I think it's fine to give up on a sports team. You just cannot pick another one in the same league unless an expansion team is awarded to the city where you live (or another franchise moves to where you live). So if you give up on Tampa, you cannot claim to be a fan of any NFL team.

[Yachtzee]

Yep, I gave up on caring about the Bengals, then NFL and behold... I lived.

Can't quit the Reds or the Red Wings, nor want to. But I know when to walk away from something that gives me no pleasure (I'm looking at you Basketball, Football and most other sports on tv)

I still like the Bengals, but I am no longer as emotionally invested in them as I once was. A lot of my interest in football has shifted to that other brand of football, soccer.

[medford]

As a fan of the 90s/00's Bengals, the 00's Reds, the 00's Chicago Bulls, the 90's UD Flyers and the John Cooper lead Buckeyes, I'm a proud member of the "I just can't quite you Babe" fanclub when it comes to "my teams". Its envitable, they always drag me back at some point, new coach, Jeff "Shake N'" Blake, Griffey, Jr, Ed Curry, etc... there's alway a new hope to place your faith in.

So how did I cope, so to speak? Easy, I became a low level fan of different teams based upon they way they played or perhaps a specific player. For instance, I loved the way the 90s Bucaneers played, once they switched to the Pewter uniform, I was hooked. I still "root" for them to an extent as one of my auxilary teams, but not that the Bengals are good again, I don't worry about them too much. I could say the same about the mid 90s Colts. Once they drafted Marshall Faulk I became a fan, but on the good side, the really tough losses, don't fester. For instance, the ball that slipped thru the fingers of Sean Dawkins at the end of the AFC title game loss to the Steelers didn't hurt nearly as bad as if that had happened to the Bengals. I'm never fully invested emotionally in these teams, when they win and are playing well and are on a national stage, its easy to enjoy, when they lose, no big deal. Its like being the casual sports fan that my wife is. She can sit and watch a UD basketball game or a Buckeyes game, but the only team she gets even a hint emotionally invested in are the Bengals.

[Puffy]

I'm in my 30s. I've rooted for one football team (Tampa Bay) my entire life. They've been terrible for the overwhelming majority of it -- though, they did manage to squeak out 1 Super Bowl in 2002.

I was born in Tampa, but moved when I was 6. I've stayed loyal despite, really, never having lived in the area for any appreciable length of time.

Today, they just signed Josh McCown and announced him as their STARTING quarterback. A dude who, literally, had a worse QB rating than Brandon Weeden prior to a hot 5 game run in the middle of last season with the Bears. A 10+ year journeyman who was out of football for a full season because no one could be bothered to add him to a roster.

Oh yeah, and they just outright cut Derrelle Revis -- less than a full calendar year after giving up a 1st round draft pick for him.

So, I'm sitting here thinking -- this seriously has to be the final straw. Is there a point where you can just give up a lifelong rooting interest and move on with your life? Have you ever done it?

I tried to do it with the Knicks. My three years in New Orleans made me a HUGE fan of that city and so I decided I would leave the Knicks and take up the Chris Paul led New Orleans Hornets.

It did not stick for even 5 games.

[bucksfan2]

Can't do it. I feel dirty rooting for another team. If I lived in another city I think I could generating a rooting interest for another professional sports team, but I live in Cincy. I have found that it is a lot easier taking a casual rooting interest in soccer and hockey, sports that I don't have a dog in the fight.

[cumberlandreds]

I have never given up on the main teams I have followed over the years. That being the Reds,Kentucky (basketball and football) and Dallas in the NFL. I will admit I don't folllow or root as hard for Dallas as I once did. But I think that is more from losing interest in the NFL in total than just the team. I have had ample opportunity to change over the years too. The Reds were awful for a decade or more and UK football has never been good. I moved to the DC area in 1990 and could have changed to local teams then but never did. Just couldn't get that level of excitement going for the Redskins,Orioles and later the Nats or any of the college programs.

[WVRed]

I think I'm just done for a while. I'm not going to get emotionally invested in a team that thinks Josh McCown is an answer to anything. If they want to demonstrate they have a vision for the future, I'll reserve the right to reconsider my decision.

I'd stick with Tampa. If anything I think they at least have a vision for what they want to accomplish (getting back to the Dungy era). McCown isn't great but neither was Brad Johnson. When you have a great defense though and I think in time the Bucs will have one, QB play is secondary.

I've tried once with the Bengals when Tim Couch went to Cleveland. Being a UK fan I wanted Couch to succeed and the Bengals were going nowhere. I just couldn't do it.

The problem with the NFL is there are teams I absolutely refuse to pull for, and others that aren't much of an upgrade, so leaving the Bengals is pretty hard.

[RichRed]

Lord knows I've wanted to quit the Redskins many times. I know they're already very unlikeable from an outsider's perspective but I'm afraid they're in my blood, like anemia or malaria.

Before the Expos became the Nats, there was a movement to try to lure the team to Norfolk/Va. Beach, which was an extreme long shot at best. I said then that if we got the team, they'd never be any better than my second favorite behind the Reds...and I've never lived anywhere close to Cincinnati.

I completely get why some people give up on their teams; I just don't think I'm wired to do it. And sometimes, I curse my faulty wiring.

[Caveat Emperor]

I'd stick with Tampa. If anything I think they at least have a vision for what they want to accomplish (getting back to the Dungy era). McCown isn't great but neither was Brad Johnson. When you have a great defense though and I think in time the Bucs will have one, QB play is secondary.

Brad Johnson had taken a team to the playoffs in Washington and been a successful starter for multiple years prior to coming to Tampa.

Josh McCown has never been to the post-season, never held a starting gig over multiple seasons, and (until last year) never posted a winning record or thrown more TDs than INTs in a season. He could have been had for a phone call in 2010 and 2011 and nobody bothered. Tampa will be his 8th gig in 12 years.

Johnson I got. Steady hand. Veteran presence. Could lead teams to the post-season. McCown I don't get at all.

[WVRed]

Brad Johnson had taken a team to the playoffs in Washington and been a successful starter for multiple years prior to coming to Tampa.

Josh McCown has never been to the post-season, never held a starting gig over multiple seasons, and (until last year) never posted a winning record or thrown more TDs than INTs in a season. He could have been had for a phone call in 2010 and 2011 and nobody bothered. Tampa will be his 8th gig in 12 years.

Johnson I got. Steady hand. Veteran presence. Could lead teams to the post-season. McCown I don't get at all.

Nobody said he would be a longterm solution either.

Unfortunately the NFL is a Johnny come first serve league. You are expected to win right away. Tampa I think needs about 2-3 years to rebuild but at least there's a structure in place to do it. And by the time they are good again, McCown won't be the starting QB.

At least you're not the Browns. :-)

[improbus]

I tried to do it with the Knicks. My three years in New Orleans made me a HUGE fan of that city and so I decided I would leave the Knicks and take up the Chris Paul led New Orleans Hornets.

It did not stick for even 5 games.

Chris Paul is nice, but give Anthony Davis a chance. He does 3-4 things a game that seem impossible. He is sooooooo good.

[Wonderful Monds]

When is it time to give up a sports team?


When you're a Cubs fan.

[Newport Red]

I'm in my 30s. I've rooted for one football team (Tampa Bay) my entire life. They've been terrible for the overwhelming majority of it -- though, they did manage to squeak out 1 Super Bowl in 2002.

I was born in Tampa, but moved when I was 6. I've stayed loyal despite, really, never having lived in the area for any appreciable length of time.

Today, they just signed Josh McCown and announced him as their STARTING quarterback. A dude who, literally, had a worse QB rating than Brandon Weeden prior to a hot 5 game run in the middle of last season with the Bears. A 10+ year journeyman who was out of football for a full season because no one could be bothered to add him to a roster.

Oh yeah, and they just outright cut Derrelle Revis -- less than a full calendar year after giving up a 1st round draft pick for him.

So, I'm sitting here thinking -- this seriously has to be the final straw. Is there a point where you can just give up a lifelong rooting interest and move on with your life? Have you ever done it?

I gave up on the Bengals years ago. I'm strictly most compelling match up these days. Gawd, I missed a lot of good football in the past when I followed the Bengals.

[Kingspoint]

.....when you discover you're parents tried to make you a Cubs fan.

[OldRightHander]

I have a few thoughts. You can't change where you're from. I'm from Cincinnati, so if Cincinnati has a team in a sport, I don't see how I have much choice. I root for my home. Rooting for a different team would be like rooting for a different country in the Olympics. if one of my teams is stinking, I might stop watching as much, but I won't switch my loyalties to another team.

[Kingspoint]

I have a few thoughts. You can't change where you're from. I'm from Cincinnati, so if Cincinnati has a team in a sport, I don't see how I have much choice. I root for my home. Rooting for a different team would be like rooting for a different country in the Olympics. if one of my teams is stinking, I might stop watching as much, but I won't switch my loyalties to another team.

The Ohio Battery's in the Civil War have great stories. They were a loyal folk. Though at first it wasn't sure which side they were going to fight for, at least in Cincinnati.

[KronoRed]

When you're a Cubs fan.

That's when it's time to give up on life in general.

[OldRightHander]

Every team I root for has some sort of connection with Cincinnati. The Reds and Bengals are obvious. With hockey it's the Blues because when the Stingers folded up and I was trying to pick an NHL team, Mike Liut ended up playing for them and since I had watched him play for Cincinnati, it made sense. I pull for Liverpool in the EPL because when I found out there was a team called the Reds, that did it for me. It's really pretty simple. The only exception might be college football with OSU, but that's because I grew up 50 miles away in Brown County and most everyone out there then were Buckeye fans rather than UC.

[Puffy]

Chris Paul is nice, but give Anthony Davis a chance. He does 3-4 things a game that seem impossible. He is sooooooo good.

Oh, I agree. I still root for New Orleans but could leave the Knicks.

I hate James Dolan........

[M2]

If you leave, you can never come back.

Not true. I walked away from the Reds back in 2007. Never really replaced them with anyone else. I'm back.

As to the larger question, once upon a time I used to be a massive Redskins fan, but I gave up the team when I stopped caring about football. Seems to me it's a tricky proposition to fully give up a team if you continue to follow the sport closely. It probably helps to be in a different city. For instance, if I was looking for a new football team there's the New England Patriots down the highway. They seem to be all right. Football teams also might be easier to chuck aside in some ways. The roster turnover in that sport is pretty fierce, particularly on the bad teams. If you can hold out a few years, very few of the players you once nominally rooted for still will be around.

[gilpdawg]

For instance, the ball that slipped thru the fingers of Sean Dawkins at the end of the AFC title game loss to the Steelers didn't hurt nearly as bad as if that had happened to the Bengals.
As someone who is still haunted by that loss 18 years later....it was Aaron Bailey, not Dawkins. Thanks for bringing that up. ;)

[Kingspoint]

Now is not the time to be giving up on the Bucs, and I also don't understand it as they've done pretty well since Sam Wyche's days there.

From Rotoworld w/ Rotoworld comments:

Bucs agreed to terms with C Evan Dietrich-Smith, formerly of the Packers, on a four-year, $14.25 million contract.

One of free agency's most aggressive teams has gotten better again. Dietrich-Smith has been one of the league's better centers since taking over for Jeff Saturday down the stretch in 2012, grading out as Pro Football Focus' No. 8 middle man in 2013. He's a major improvement on Jeremy Zuttah for a team that wants to run the ball early and often. If there's a knock, it's that EDS' track record is just 25 starts long, but he's still only 27.

[IslandRed]

As to the larger question, once upon a time I used to be a massive Redskins fan, but I gave up the team when I stopped caring about football. Seems to me it's a tricky proposition to fully give up a team if you continue to follow the sport closely. It probably helps to be in a different city. For instance, if I was looking for a new football team there's the New England Patriots down the highway. They seem to be all right. Football teams also might be easier to chuck aside in some ways. The roster turnover in that sport is pretty fierce, particularly on the bad teams. If you can hold out a few years, very few of the players you once nominally rooted for still will be around.

There's some truth to that. My experiences have gone both ways. I was a Reds fan growing up, a far stronger Reds fan than I was a fan of any NFL team. So I'm still here, and although there were periods where I wasn't a fan so that anyone would notice, I never switched allegiances. But my football allegiances have shifted. First, I was a lukewarm 49ers fan -- more of an admirer of the Walsh-Montana axis, really -- that became a bigger fan out of having to defend myself before and during that Super Bowl when 95% of my dorm was rooting for the Dolphins. When I moved to Jacksonville at the same time they were ramping up the expansion team, I gradually became a fan without meaning to.

But after leaving Jacksonville, it was like you said -- one day I realized I didn't know who they were playing on Sunday and I didn't really care, because everybody who'd been anybody was gone, and the new crew was not just mediocre, they were beyond boring. I didn't shift to the new hometown team, though. I was living in Nashville, but as a Jags fan the Titans were the enemy, so that was never really an option. Now I'm back in Florida. Maybe I'll start paying attention to the Jaguars again and maybe I won't. Haven't so far.

I guess when it comes right down to it, there are allegiances that are part of your self-identification -- even if they have placed in inactive status -- and there are allegiances that aren't held that deeply.

[IslandRed]

I'll also add this, and it relates to shifting allegiances of college and pro alike: It's almost impossible to care deeply about two teams at the same time if there's any possibility they'll have to play each other. Once you root against a team, it is never quite the same after that.