RE: Fan of multiple teams?
The way I look at it is you have a pool of fandom that starts at 100%. With each additional team that you choose to root for, spend money on, pay attention to, etc., that pool is diluted by some percentage.
What other way is there to look at it objectively?
As always, it's to each his own. You can for as many teams as you choose. However, when someone tells me that they are a fan of say, the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns, my first thought isn't, "Wow, this guy really loves the NFL!" My honest thought is, "Wow, this guy doesn't really have a favorite team - or at the very least, not one that he is as passionate about as I am about my team."
I'm sorry if that offends anyone but that is honestly how I see it.
As for the front-runner thing, that's a slightly different issue but does intersect with this issue from time to time. However, we all know the guy who is a fan of his hometown teams but also cheers for Notre Dame (football only) and the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bulls, etc.
I'm sorry but I have no respect whatsoever for those folks, even when they cheer for one of my teams – like the Pittsburgh Steelers for example.
I don't want to turn this into a political discussion but the Bridgegate scandal does not bother me nearly as much about Chris Christie as finding out that a guy from New Jersey is a self described Notre Dame and Dallas Cowboys fan. I'm sorry but that just doesn't work for me and tells me all I need to know about the guy. He's a front runner and a poseur. Oh, and surprise, surprise, he also loves the Yankees. I'm sure you're shocked to hear that!
Every rooting interest I have is based almost entirely on how it impacts my team even if my team isn't playing in that particular game.
In college football, the rules are simple. I root for Pitt every week. I root against Penn State and West Virginia every single week – no exceptions. For pragmatic/political reasons, I cheer for ACC teams in their out of conference games pretty much no matter what and I always cheer against Big Ten teams pretty much no matter what.
I never, ever find myself saying, "Go Oklahoma State – you are my favorite Big 12 team." I think that's as weird as it is weak.
Again though, obviously I'm in the minority because I regularly hear people talk about UCLA being their favorite Pac-12 team and Memphis being their favorite AAC team and Mississippi State being their favorite SEC team, etc. I don't think that way at all. I don't understand it, I don't respect it and I never will.
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