The team of your childhood

[Adam]

Dodgers & Lakers - native of Los Angeles.

Not a huge follower of the Dodgers in the Fox/McCourt era. Don't follow sports very much at all.

[BERIGAN]

The Cardinals of the late 70's.....Lou Brock(so glad I got to see him play before he hung 'em up) Bake McBride, Keith Hernandez , should be a HOF'er Ted Simmons, Gary Templeton(look at his 20-24 years, you'd think he was going to be a HOF'er... whoa, and if this quote on that page is true amazing! "Templeton is the best shortstop I've ever seen, and as you're aware, I've been around and I've seen a few." Satchel Paige)

2nd baseman, Mike Tyson, Dane Iorg, Bob Forsch, John Urrea( a friend once said, I wish you'd die, Urrea-pretty clever for a pre teen) Oh yeah, how can I forget to mention Ken Reitz the slowest player ever, and a great 3rd baseman(Zamboni machine!)And of course, Roger Freed(Quincy remembers him, I think! )

Then Whitey Ford traded everyone I cared for, and I stopped caring about the Cards.

Then I was a Cub fan and a braves fan because of the superstations. I too was deeply pained by the 1984 Cubs....I soooo wanted to see them and the Tigers play in the W.S. Padres...uggh....

Followed the braves even though they always lost...finally got to see them turn it around, and guess I will always follow them....

[GA Russell]

Then Whitey Ford traded everyone I cared for, and I stopped caring about the Cards.

I hope you mean Whitey Herzog!

[Dave James]

Yankees, Red Wings and Eagles. Since I was just a kid in the '50's, these have been my teams. Lots of thick and plenty of thin over the years, but there's no way I could ever root for anyone else. Don't care enough about NBA basketball, even the Trailblazers, to have a favorite.

[mjazzg]

can i sneak in a transatlantic team?

Reading FC, early 70s, bottom division of the national league but who cared?

Was that the Robin Friday era? I read his biography a few years back.

It was indeed!

[Jazzmoose]

The first team I followed (although it was for only one year) was the Packers in '67, a pretty good season to discover pro sports. In '68 I moved to Georgia and decided to replace Bart Starr with Tommy Nobis. Plus, that had me set up for the '69 baseball season and the Braves who had a fantastic season ruined by the so-called "miracle mets", a disgusting group of perverts and ne'er-do-wells who couldn't carry Hank Aaron's jock strap. Ahem. Anyway...

Football was always on TV, baseball on the radio. I kind of lost interest in baseball when the Braves traded Aaron, and when I went in the Navy in '78,lack of regular TV access kind of ended my football fan days as well. Strangely enough, I rediscovered baseball in the Navy while serving as an ET on a ship homeported in Japan. I don't know what they do on ships now for entertainment, but back then, when you were out at sea you'd have video tapes of somewhat recent programs supplied and regularly replenished. Whenever I was the duty ET at sea, I had to show a few shows and then run a film (wish I'd never done that; to this day I can't ignore the 'change reels' warning...). Included were usually the baseball game of the week, and while I was forbidden to show them ("baseball is boring!"), I watched them myself and caught the bug again. I got out in '82 in time for the next great Braves season.

Like jeffcrom, the strike killed my baseball bug. I just didn't care anymore, and still don't. I'll occasionally read a book about baseball, but not often. In all honesty, I couldn't tell you right now who won the Series last year.

[BERIGAN]

Then Whitey Ford traded everyone I cared for, and I stopped caring about the Cards.

I hope you mean Whitey Herzog!

umm, yeah....

[Matthew]

When I was growing up, there were two teams: The San Diego Padres, whose games I went to all the time, and watched some gawd awful baseball, but also had a couple of outstanding players at the same time. The Los Angeles Dodgers were my team though, and during the 1970s, it was a great team to follow -- you had Lasorda as manager; Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey, in the infield, and a whole host of others. I forced my parents to drive me at least once a season to Dodger Stadium so I could watch them in their native habitat. I still follow them, but with the McCourt's, I was just completely turned off by them and what they were doing. I didn't help that in my non-organissimo life, I know (slightly) the O'Malley family, and have been impressed with their classiness, the exact opposite of the McCourts. With the McCourt's out of the picture, I'm starting to come back to The Blue, but I still also follow the Giants, who I associate with my 20s, and my six years in Berkeley.

[Quincy]

My dad wasn't from the US so I was on my own to find loyalties, and I tend to not be overly loyal to laundry. I was a Cardinal baseball fan until they hired a law & order manager named Vern Rapp who forced players shave. Al Hrabosky without a Fu Manchu was just wrong and he soon lost his mojo. This had been building though as the trades of Torre (I was young and didn't get that players aged), a young Jose Cruz and Reggie Smith (for Joe Ferguson?) ticked me off. I defected to the Cubs who were easier to follow because of WGN (you'd think Berigan & I grew up on the same road ) and thus missed a closer connection to the great '80s for the Cards. My AL team was the Yankees as I was a Sparky Lyle fan (like Dan - Sparky's card said he sat on birthday cakes - why this appealed to me I'm not sure) & Thurman Munson. I stuck with the Cubs even after I had moved to Oregon although as the years passed I realized that 1) maybe I liked Harry Carey more than the team 2) I came to loathe Sammy Sosa kissing his fingers and Dusty Baker's managerial genius moves of bunting whenever possible. (A runner on 2nd, no outs in the 1st? Bunt! Moron.) By the late '80s I realized I was falling for the Mariners and when they faced the Yanks in '95 I knew the M's were #1 in my heart. Being 2000 miles away means I can now equally root for the Cubs or Cards (I know this is wrong), depending on which personalities I like more (or loathe less).

I was a free agent fan for football as regional coverage was the StL Cards & Chiefs. Screw that, I loved the outlaw image of the '70s Raiders. I've stuck w/ them although I had a brief flirtation with the Oilers when Stabler was traded there. The Bears are my NFC team.

In basketball the first game I recall seeing was a tape delay of Game 6 of the Celtics-Bucks final and I was mesmerized by Havlicek so that stuck for many years. In the ABA I was a fan of the StL Spirits but that didn't last as they folded (yet they still are highly profitable.) Same happened with the Kentucky Colonels who I also liked. I wanted to follow the Bulls but NBA coverage sucked in the '70s so the Celtics it remained until Jordan was drafted put the Bulls back on my map. (I am guilty of jumping on bandwagons some of the time.) I was incensed at how the Bulls were broken up yet my old Celtics connection wasn't going to work for me either as I loathed Rick Pitino. I have something against men who spend too much time with their hair (unless they're happy alcoholics), even more so for coaches who write management books. So I've kind of gone local and followed the Blazers since the late '90s. Though enough time has passed (and gee, success too - coincidence?) w/ the Bulls that they're a "back up" team.

[.:.impossible]

Aside from the Cubs (WGN), we watched a lot of A Braves games. Richmond was the AAA farm team for years until recently.

I was a big fan of Magic Johnson and the LA Lakers. My brother liked the Bulls.

I was a huge Don Mattingly fan and wore a fitted Yankees cap that my dog had all but destroyed most of my grade school years.

My dad's best friend is the greatest Auburn alum you will ever meet, so Inwas naturally a big Bo Jackson fan and chose the Raiders every time in Tecmo Bowl.

Sports meant a lot more to me back then. I hardly sit through an entire Sportscenter anymore.

Living in RI for a few years got me behind the Red Sox and Bruins. I'm still not an avid hockey fan, but things sure heated up last night!

[Matthew]

The Cardinals of the late 70's.....Lou Brock(so glad I got to see him play before he hung 'em up) Bake McBride, Keith Hernandez , should be a HOF'er Ted Simmons, Gary Templeton(look at his 20-24 years, you'd think he was going to be a HOF'er... whoa, and if this quote on that page is true amazing! "Templeton is the best shortstop I've ever seen, and as you're aware, I've been around and I've seen a few." Satchel Paige)

2nd baseman, Mike Tyson, Dane Iorg, Bob Forsch, John Urrea( a friend once said, I wish you'd die, Urrea-pretty clever for a pre teen) Oh yeah, how can I forget to mention Ken Reitz the slowest player ever, and a great 3rd baseman(Zamboni machine!)And of course, Roger Freed(Quincy remembers him, I think! )

Then Whitey Ford traded everyone I cared for, and I stopped caring about the Cards.

Then I was a Cub fan and a braves fan because of the superstations. I too was deeply pained by the 1984 Cubs....I soooo wanted to see them and the Tigers play in the W.S. Padres...uggh....

Followed the braves even though they always lost...finally got to see them turn it around, and guess I will always follow them....

All I can think of when I hear Gary Templeton's name is that he was traded for Ozzie Smith. I think the Padres got the short end of the stick on that one...

[Neal Pomea]

I rooted for the Houston Colt 45s/Astros from their inception until 2005 when Washington got the Expos franchise. Now I am on the ground floor with this team.

Just adding that I switched allegiance to the Washington Nationals in 2005, and that turned out to be the very year, the only year the Astros went to the World Series! They were swept in 4 games by the White Sox, but it was a great series with each game possibly going either way.

[danasgoodstuff]

After we moved to Sask, the Riders of course. And surprisingly, the Montreal Canadiens - who were widely hated in the praries - but got right away that this was a team that played as a team, and during the 6 team NHL era at least, had the most lopsided home/away record in sports. At that time they had also won > half the Stanley cups...

But my real passion as a child, going back before the move up north, was Ferrari - both the Grand Prix and long distance teams with Chris Ammon and Niki Lauda probably my favorite drivers. Had an air mail subscription to Motor Sport to stay current - although back then Road & Track covered racing much more than they do now.

[kinuta]

Off topic.

Sheffield United. I was never a football fan.

The ritual of ten pints on a Friday night and the match on Saturday afternoon was enough to make anyone a jazz and blues listening drop out and I suspect fellow macho culture haters formed the underpinnings of the whole 60's rock scene in UK.

[PHILLYQ]

In 1964 at age 8 I got interested in baseball and had two local teams, the pathetic(but lovable and sometimes hilarious)Mets or the mighty Yankees.In Brooklyn in those days you picked one and you remained loyal to your team forever. I went with the Yankees, and though disappointed that they lost the WS in 1964 I was sure that more were coming. Of course after that the Yankees were horrible for about ten years, but I did learn a lesson in loyalty and sticking to it.