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[melack]

I like the Utah Jazz misnomer better, if only for the racial/religious implications.

[CortJstr]

Why don't you just watch the team that's the most entertaining instead of the one that happens the practice the closest to you?

[Drygioni]

Why don't you just watch the team that's the most entertaining instead of the one that happens the practice the closest to you?

I'm not sure if this really applies, but I'd still support England (and I'm sure many of you would support your own countries similarly) even if Brazil were the most entertaining team by miles. Maybe it is the same on a local scale.

[CortJstr]

I'm not sure if this really applies, but I'd still support England (and I'm sure many of you would support your own countries similarly) even if Brazil were the most entertaining team by miles. Maybe it is the same on a local scale.

But it's not like any of the players or coaches are actually from that town. They're just going to where the money is. Your national team is at least made up of people actually from that nation.

[melack]

You root for the local team because players and winning records come and go, but geography stays the same. Well, except in this case. 

[pmcd9]

You gotta love the teams that DON'T change their names appropriately.

Like the Utah Jazz.  The whitest city in the country has a team called the Jazz.

~Paul

[AugustWest]

I used to wear a watermelon on my head and go to Rams games until that bitch haued ass for the ca$h. Good thing I had a youthful attachement to the Steelers to tide me through.

Heh.  I'm REALLY glad the Rams moved to St Louis.  I get to see games now.  Thanks Georgia!

[pmcd9]

I used to wear a watermelon on my head and go to Rams games.

That was you?

~Paul

[Lister]

I'm of the belief that a team doesn't have true "fans" until they have been in one place long enough for children to have grown up going to games with their parents and then take their own children to games.  There is nothing you have to prove to the second generation of fans in order to have their loyalty -- it's all they've known since childhood.

I'm from Birmingham originally, and we don't have any professional teams aside from the White Sox AA affiliate which no one cares about (except for when Michael Jordan was learning he can't hit a curveball there).  Most of our pro teams have just died with the ill-fated leagues that brought them there in the first place: 

• The Americans of the WFL played one year (won the title!), changed names to the Vulcans, and were declared the champions of the league's final year when there wasn't enough money to hold playoffs.
• The Alabama Vulcans joined the AFA in its third year and folded after one.  That league stayed around long enough for the Alabama Magic to form, play one season, and fold without actually paying the players.
• The USFL came to town the next year with the Birmingham Stallions, which lasted three seasons before the league imploded horribly, having spent a lot of money that it didn't actually get from the networks.
• The NFL made the Birmingham Fire one of the founding franchises of their WLAF, and then moved it to Germany two years later when they decided that all the teams probably needed to play on the same fuck*ng continent.  I'm not sure Europeans actually care about the leage, but the NFL has boohoodles of money so it's staying around.
• When the CFL tried to expand into the USA, we got the Birmingham Barracudas for a season before they realized Americans don't care about Canadian leagues, and the CFL did not have the boohoodles  of cash necessary to support it until we did.  I am told they are in posession of approximately one third of a boohoodle.  Is this true?
• The XFL had the Birmingham Blast Thunderbolts (the name changed when someone realized the Birmingham Blast was a church bombing that was a pivotal event in the civil rights movement) for one year, but the league collapsed under the weight of Vince McMahon's steroid-fueled ego.

         

It's really nice to have a team that is local to you.  Even if you don't go to the games, you probably know someone who did.  You're reasonably certain you can strike up a conversation with strangers that relates to the team, even if it's "How 'bout those Eagles, eh?"  Only twenty years ago it was very difficult to find information about teams that weren't local, because "sports news" was basically 5 minutes on the TV news and two pages in the paper.  Now, if you have a satellite dish you can watch just about every game played by any team in any league if you want.  I like the Packers and the Bengals for no real reason, but I can follow them just as well as someone in their city from whereever I happen to be.  It's kind of cool.

As for the original post... I kind of doubt the Blazers in particular will be leaving, because just about every team there is has done the "we're leaving once our lease is up" dance and most stay where they are.  That said, basketball teams are also the most mobile franchises in our three major sports, so what do I know?  I just don't get how, say, Charlotte was so horrible for the Hornets but is suddenly just fine for the Bobcats, or how the Oilers drew under 10,000 for their last games in Houston but suddenly everyone loves the Texans forever.  Eh.

Also: the NBA could probably support another team or three (to get it to even numbers), but they're better off going slow rather than expand recklessly like the NHL did.  I'm betting if the Hornets return to New Orleans there will be an expansion team in Oklahoma City relatively soon.

PS: I am sorry about the rambling.

[pmcd9]

The Oilers only saw low numbers after it was announced they were leaving.  Everybody loved the Oilers, but hated their prick of an owner.

~Paul

[KeithHernandez]

As for the original post... I kind of doubt the Blazers in particular will be leaving, because just about every team there is has done the "we're leaving once our lease is up" dance and most stay where they are.  That said, basketball teams are also the most mobile franchises in our three major sports, so what do I know?  I just don't get how, say, Charlotte was so horrible for the Hornets but is suddenly just fine for the Bobcats, or how the Oilers drew under 10,000 for their last games in Houston but suddenly everyone loves the Texans forever.  Eh.

Also: the NBA could probably support another team or three (to get it to even numbers), but they're better off going slow rather than expand recklessly like the NHL did.  I'm betting if the Hornets return to New Orleans there will be an expansion team in Oklahoma City relatively soon.

PS: I am sorry about the rambling.

First of all, it is the Super Sonics not the Blazers. 

The Sonics were bought by an Oklahoma City businessman.  Reportably, the Sonics have lost 60 million dollars recently because of a poor lease that runs out in 2010.  Pretty much, unless the Hornets stay, the Seattle Super Sonics will be moving to Oklahoma City. 

At least this is what I am lead to believe from Oklahoma City local news.  However, one of the only good things about living here is the horrendous local news, so who knows.

[wombat]

You root for the local team because players and winning records come and go, but geography stays the same.

Dang, this answer almost makes sense.  Except, couldn't you change who you root for depending on who is most entertaining in a given year?  You don't, like, keep buying someone's books or recordings if you decide they aren't any good anymore, right?

Never mind. Cort and I will never get it.

[CortJstr]

Dang, this answer almost makes sense.  Except, couldn't you change who you root for depending on who is most entertaining in a given year?  You don't, like, keep buying someone's books or recordings if you decide they aren't any good anymore, right?

Never mind. Cort and I will never get it.

Wombat basically thinks exactly what I do.* I'd rather watch the two most entertaining teams (probably the best teams, but not necessarily) play than watch say, Redskins vs. Cardinals just because it happens to be local. I guess this is why I stick to watching scripted entertainment. A.J. Styles is never boring.

*Although I think I'd buy any fiction Vonnegut released no matter how shitty I heard it was.

[wombat]

See, the only sort-of sport that I sort of follow is figure skating.  I was sort of glad when I got interested in it, because it made me understand the rooting for sports thing a little.  It was always totally mysterious to me that people could get so excited when a team won or lost.  I mean, it's not something you accomplished yourself, and you don't even know the guys.  So what's the big deal?  But once there were skaters who I really liked, I understood how you could care.

But there is a big difference.  In skating, I root for the person who I think is most entertaining.  Even if they are, like, Canadian, you know?

Now I was thinking - it is true that if there are a bunch of skaters I've never heard of, and I find out that one comes from my town, I will pay a little more attention to that person to see if she is entertaining.  But if she isn't, I don't care if she wins.  And come to think of it it is the same with books - I will read something because the author lives around the corner or in Baltimore.  But if the book isn't good, I won't buy another one.  I'll read the guy from New Orleans instead.

[jough]

I only follow pro curling.