Comments on: Tebucky Jones is the only New England Patriot who was born in New England http://www.mandymag.com/2007/01/19/tebucky-jones-is-the-only-new-england-patriot-who-was-born-in-new-england/ yes I've changed my theme again! Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:17:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: spiralbound.net » American Football Fans Have Misplaced Loyalty http://www.mandymag.com/2007/01/19/tebucky-jones-is-the-only-new-england-patriot-who-was-born-in-new-england/#comment-690 spiralbound.net » American Football Fans Have Misplaced Loyalty Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:40:19 +0000 http://www.mandymag.com/?p=155#comment-690 [...] She started thinking about it, and wrote: So how can we be so loyal or patriotic (pun intended), to a team or a sport that is really just a money making business where none of the players are actually New England natives? To be honest, whether they are New England natives or not, doesn’t really matter to me much. I guess I care more about the make-up of the team and less about their place of origin. [...] [...] She started thinking about it, and wrote: So how can we be so loyal or patriotic (pun intended), to a team or a sport that is really just a money making business where none of the players are actually New England natives? To be honest, whether they are New England natives or not, doesn’t really matter to me much. I guess I care more about the make-up of the team and less about their place of origin. [...]

]]> By: Cliff http://www.mandymag.com/2007/01/19/tebucky-jones-is-the-only-new-england-patriot-who-was-born-in-new-england/#comment-688 Cliff Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:01:46 +0000 http://www.mandymag.com/?p=155#comment-688 Fair enough... I will never stand up against something that brings family and friends together. Hey, I'm not Christian, but I still like Christmas because it's a great reason to see my family and have everyone get together. The experience holds the value to me... Not the holiday. This still does not explain why one team is picked over another as a place to invest one's loyalty. If, indeed, the players are essentially interchangeable parts to a larger NFL machine, than the only plausible reasons to become "pat"riotic is that you either like the team logo, or have become friends with the team owners. Since most fans seem to agree that team owners tend to be "evil", and simply liking a team based solely on their logo seems more frivolous than a teen magazine article about Ginger Spice, I can only assume that these reasons do not apply. NFL teams move an amazing amount of money, and I could get behind a team if their winning made me money, but beyond that I still fail to comprehend where fan loyalty to a certain team comes from. Like I said, I completely understand how coming together to watch the game is fun and rewarding, but why one would pick one team over another is a total loss to me. Not the players, not the coaches, not even the owners stick with one team with the same loyalty of the fans. Loyalty to an institution seems misplaced when the only thing that is stable about it is the logo. I guess it just makes it more fun when you have picked a team, but since there is no such thing as a local team, picking one seems as arbitrary as throwing darts at a board. Fair enough… I will never stand up against something that brings family and friends together. Hey, I’m not Christian, but I still like Christmas because it’s a great reason to see my family and have everyone get together. The experience holds the value to me… Not the holiday.

This still does not explain why one team is picked over another as a place to invest one’s loyalty. If, indeed, the players are essentially interchangeable parts to a larger NFL machine, than the only plausible reasons to become “pat”riotic is that you either like the team logo, or have become friends with the team owners.

Since most fans seem to agree that team owners tend to be “evil”, and simply liking a team based solely on their logo seems more frivolous than a teen magazine article about Ginger Spice, I can only assume that these reasons do not apply.

NFL teams move an amazing amount of money, and I could get behind a team if their winning made me money, but beyond that I still fail to comprehend where fan loyalty to a certain team comes from. Like I said, I completely understand how coming together to watch the game is fun and rewarding, but why one would pick one team over another is a total loss to me. Not the players, not the coaches, not even the owners stick with one team with the same loyalty of the fans. Loyalty to an institution seems misplaced when the only thing that is stable about it is the logo.

I guess it just makes it more fun when you have picked a team, but since there is no such thing as a local team, picking one seems as arbitrary as throwing darts at a board.

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