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Last week, I posed the question on Twitter on whether it would be fair for me to switch baseball team allegiances from the New York Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This was not a random decision, nor one taken lightly, for I detest people that have changed clubs more often than Adam Scott.
To therefore avoid being called a hypocrite, I laid forward my case to a friend. A well-reasoned argument, I believed, based on a few variables.
Firstly, I don’t really follow Major Baseball League all that closely, so it wasn’t like I was a die-hard Yankees fan.
My support for the boys in the famous pin stripes was based predominantly on two factors: I love New York City and I love Derek Jeter.
My reasons for cheering for the Yankees are no more complex or emotionally involved than that, and I certainly don’t shed a tear when they lose.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers are part owned by my favourite basketballer of all-time, Magic Johnson, the Lakers’ legendary point guard.
Considering I bleed purple and gold, I felt like Magic’s connection to the team provided me with a closer bond with the Dodgers.
The fact both the Lakers and Dodgers are based in Los Angeles rounds out, I felt, some sort of logic or synergy. Or so I told myself.
Throw in the fact that I’ll be going to watch the Dodgers play at the Sydney Cricket Ground early next year, and I believed there was a compelling case for me to legally request permission for a change of teams.
The minor detail that the Dodgers are playing great baseball – and are likely to compete in the World Series – certainly didn’t hurt, and I’m sure I’ll be accused of simply jumping on the bandwagon.
My counter to that would be that following the Yankees is the greatest form of bandwagon support there is in the world, so leaping off that ‘default’ train can only help prevent me from being saddled with the unwanted tag of a bandwagon supporter.
I’ll leave the final decision up to Roarers on whether my appeal to switch teams will be upheld, but it did pose an interesting question and/or topic around how we choose our sporting teams.
Obviously geography plays a large role in many selections, for there is probably no easier – or better – way to follow a side than simply barracking for the ‘home team’.
Such a mentality is exactly why I support the Waratahs and the Sydney Swans, and to a much lesser extent, Sydney FC.
Yet, along with the Lakers, the team for which I have the most passion for is the NRL’s Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs. This is despite never living anywhere near Canterbury or Banskstown.
I actually started supporting the Doggies because my old man was a Western Suburbs Magpies fan, the Dogs arch-enemy at the time. In fact, I also began supporting the Lakers because the old man was die-hard fanatic of the Lakers nemesis, the Boston Celtics.
Seems there is a pattern emerging here. Armchair psychologists will no doubt be rubbing their hands together wistfully.
So, there are two examples of how and why people choose a sporting team: geography, and being a rebellious child.
Other reasons can include not being the black sheep of the family, and cheering for the team your parents or other siblings support. This is why I support the Sydney Kings, as there is an emotional/family attachment to the club.
Another reason could be that you actually played for a particular club, or perhaps their junior/feeder teams.
Being successful is also a magnet for attracting fans. It’s no co-incidence that the Lakers, Manchester United and Yankees all have such a strong following, for they have won a lot of titles, premierships and pennants.
Individual players can likewise be extremely influential in attracting fans; something the Wests Tigers may learn the hard way, now that they have parted ways with the Pied Piper of rugby league, Benji Marshall.
To that point, it was unsurprising that the Miami Heat became a more popular team when they signed superstar LeBron James. In fact, my wife simply goes for whichever team LeBron plays for, such is her love for ‘The King’.
I can’t mock her too much, for I have a well-documented man-crush on The Golden Boy, Tom Brady, which sees me support the New England Patriots in the NFL.
There is also an even more superficial reason to begin supporting a particular team: aesthetics. Especially at a young age, factors like uniforms, team colours, the club mascot, and even a team’s logo, can be quite persuasive.
So Roarers, let us know what teams you follow, and more importantly, why.
The most original, interesting or random answer wins a set of Roar steak knives.