Why Do Some Fan Cheers For Random Teams? Their Stories Are Wilder Than You May Think

Do you ever walk around and notice someone rocking a sweatshirt of a team that is on the other side of the country? Your first question probably is “Why?”

I, as well as many others, have been asked that question. Living in Cincinnati and being a die-hard Boise State fan will raise a lot of eyebrows. After all, the two cities are nearly 2,000 miles apart.

But why do we choose those teams? Why not pick a local/family team?

I went on Reddit, specifically the College Football subreddit, and asked this question and got some interesting responses. Some chose their teams because they enjoyed watching them, others admit they were bandwagons, and for a few it was because of a video game.

First off, I will share my story. I’m a die hard Boise State fan that lives in Cincinnati. How did I start cheering for them? Well, I used to love watching Champ Bailey when he was on the Denver Broncos (this was around 2005/2006). At this time I was young and didn’t think there were that many teams in D-1 basketball or football. When I saw a basketball game on TV, the team was “Boise State Broncos” so I thought no way! Another team named the Broncos! So I tuned in to the game, and when I saw Boise’s court, it looked cool so I began cheering for them. It wasn’t until the next day when I read about their football program that I found out they were the team with a blue field. When people ask me, “Is it because of their field?” I say “No, actually it was because of their basketball court!”

The 2007 Fiesta Bowl was pretty good though, and really made me fall completely in love with Bronco football.

Here are some notable responses to the Twitter reply:

“I’m English, never even been to the State of Texas, I think the closest I’ve been to Waco is either the Hoover Dam or Orlando! I became a Baylor fan in a kind of roundabout way, I’ll give the long version, so if you’re easily bored, turn off now!

When I was around 5, I remember seeing a Chicago Bears T-Shirt and for some reason I don’t recall, I really wanted it, so I got it for my birthday and wore it without ever knowing anything about the Bears. But, many years later when I got interested in the NFL, it gave me my team to root for, so, I watched the Bears.

A group of friends I play online games with play Madden, so I joined them in that and then, one of them told me he had got this game called NCAA Football 12 and wanted to know if I would play with him and a few other guys, I said yes.

We had decided to only select teams that were 1-2 stars (out of 6) so that we would all have a rebuilding job on our hands. I chose the Baylor Bears, purely because I was a Bears fan in NFL. I really enjoyed playing with that Baylor team on NCAA and somehow I found out that Baylor was playing a game on TV. I had formed an emotional bond with my Baylor players in the game and wanted to see if they were any good in real life. That game was TCU @ Baylor, the opener of the 2011 season and I was blown away. I enjoyed NFL, but this game was just so much more exciting, I decided I wanted to see more.

(To watch games) I mostly rely on streams, but sometimes a Baylor fan will give me TV login info to watch it online, or if it is on ESPN, I can watch it on ESPN Player. To this date (so 4 and a half seasons), I have only been able to watch 2 Baylor games on an actual Television on the English ESPN channel.”

– Reddit user cms186, Baylor fan

“I’m British, I really liked some of the players coming out of UM around 2010 such as Denard Robinson, and it just grew from there.”

– Reddit user SkiFlashing, Michigan fan

“I picked up a copy of NCAA 08 and said who is this guy (the cover of NCAA 08 featured Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky) and this team. Been the best relationship of my life ever since.”

– Reddit user joelupi, Boise State fan

“I watched the 30 for 30 on Miami and I loved it. So I started following Miami this season.”

– Reddit user tntkaboom56, Miami U fan

“I’m from the Bay Area in California and I’ve never been to Louisiana. My first college football game that I watched on TV was the 2008 National Championship Game against Ohio State. Fell in love with Les Miles and the program ever since.”

– Reddit user Cvspartan, LSU fan

“Because, #BACKTHEPAC.”

– Reddit user ImTheReal_TuongLuKim, Washington State fan

Many people have different stories, but these are a few that I thought were good to share. From video games to seeing them on TV, there are many ways one can fall in love with a team.

To view the entire thread, click here.