What makes the NFL different?

[Bob_R]

Why do you think the NFL is different from other sports from a fans perspective?

For example, in my area 99%, I guess I can't really say 100%, of people are Yankees or Mets fans.

But, as far as the NFL goes here are the favorite teams of people I know:

Giants
Jets
Cowboys
Steelers
Patriots
Chargers
Vikings

Why is it this way? And, is it this way where you live?

FYI: The Giants and Jets are New Jersey teams. There hasn't been a NFL game played in NYC since December 1983.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I think the NFL generates more fair-weather fans, whereas baseball fans tend to stay loyal to their childhood team...

There are Cowboys and now lately Patriot fans from nowhere near Texas and New England.... Steelers fans are everywhere, mainly because we all moved away.... :D

Having said that though, the Western PA/Southeastern Ohio is nearly entirely Steelers fans, with Browns fans starting to mix in once you cross the Ohio border, and as you get closer to my hometown in PA north on I-79....

If you get up to Erie, which is centrally located between Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, I'd say it's still a majority Steeler town, but there's a decent portion of Browns and Bills fans....

[BITEYOASS]

Lions fans consists mainly of Tiger fans waiting for the next baseball season to start. :D

[sadaist]

But, as far as the NFL goes here are the favorite teams of people I know:

Giants
Jets
Cowboys
Steelers
Patriots
Chargers
Vikings


It's weird for me to imagine people around the country are Chargers fans. They are an excellent team, and have dominated the AFC west winning most of the titles there the last 10 years. But only recently are they getting any credit nationwide.

I think with football since you only get 16 games a year, you watch the teams that are the most exciting. You might be a die hard Rams fan, but are gonna be watching the Chargers/Colts play rather than your team.

NBA has 82 games and baseball has 162. With so many games it's not as easy to change allegiances.

[Unchainme]

Browns fans have been pretty quiet since about 1999, you won't really see them as rabid as of late because theres really been nothing worth cheering, but when there is something with that gives us an excuse to cheer, we will be there and be there in full force.

The Pittsburgh game was a great example of that. The whole place was going wild and the stadium was like only about 60% full.

[DlocRoth]

Browns fans have been pretty quiet since about 1999, you won't really see them as rabid as of late because theres really been nothing worth cheering, but when there is something with that gives us an excuse to cheer, we will be there and be there in full force.

The Pittsburgh game was a great example of that. The whole place was going wild and the stadium was like only about 60% full.

That's the fucking definition of a fair weather fan.

LMAO...you are SO rabid when there's a reason to be..... LAME.

[POJO_Risin]

First and foremost, I'm a Cleveland fan...with the exception of the Browns...and Cleveland fans have pissed me the fuck off for years.

Case in point...as a former Indians season-ticket holder, when the Indians began winning in the 90's, there was nothing more satisfying and more frustrating than watching all the new fans roll into the Jake, a much smaller stadium than the usually empty Municipal Stadium...

I had club seats, and the season tickets around our seats that first year were ridiculous...purchased extra to sell and make money...and the variety of riff-raff that would sit in those seats. There was a grandma knitting, a dude with his computer, a couple making out, college girls figuring out how to score with Julian Tavarez (look at his pictures...very puzzling), and several people with books and fucking magazines...

So the Indians set the record for most sell-outs in a row, and you can almost forgive the city for not coming to games for so long because the club was so bad. They rose to the top quickly, and the city responded, albeit without a majority of the fans knowing what the hell they were seeing. Since then, the product has dropped, and so have the fans...again. What's worse, is that when the Indians were good in 2007, they couldn't sell-out, falling into the traps in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, who never really supported their teams with sell-outs when they were winning. I went to games in both cities when they were having their runs (Bonds era--Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz era), and was able to walk up to the window and buy tickets to a section of seats completely empty.

Now, the Browns are struggling to fill seats...and I'm not a Browns fan, but I know this city. It's very similar to Pittsburgh, and was as extreme a football town as Pittsburgh, rooted in history and NFL titles prior to the Super Bowl. The major difference was the ownership. Art Modell, who at a time was in some ways as respected as the Steelers Rooney clan. The difference? Modell handled money like a two-cent whore, tried to force the city of Cleveland to build a stadium or else...then the NFL allowed him to leave one of the most storied franchises in football. Since then, the Browns have been a joke, and really didn't have to be. Fans don't trust the owners, and won't pay the money for tickets.

I hate the Browns, but don't blame them for that.

Are there fairweather fans in Cleveland? Sure.

Are there more than in normal cities? Sure.

Are there reasons for that? Sure.

But I guarantee you this...if the Browns ownership make honest attempts to put a solid product on the field, the city will not only support the Browns, but make it a top ten NFL market, as it has been for years and years and years...until fucking Modell was allowed to whore out his team...

[DlocRoth]

I get what you're saying here...all valid points.... the city of Cleveland has been raped.

But when was the last time you said "I'm not watching the Steelers this year until they give me something to cheer about"?

[Unchainme]

First and foremost, I'm a Cleveland fan...with the exception of the Browns...and Cleveland fans have pissed me the fuck off for years.

Case in point...as a former Indians season-ticket holder, when the Indians began winning in the 90's, there was nothing more satisfying and more frustrating than watching all the new fans roll into the Jake, a much smaller stadium than the usually empty Municipal Stadium...

I had club seats, and the season tickets around our seats that first year were ridiculous...purchased extra to sell and make money...and the variety of riff-raff that would sit in those seats. There was a grandma knitting, a dude with his computer, a couple making out, college girls figuring out how to score with Julian Tavarez (look at his pictures...very puzzling), and several people with books and fucking magazines...

So the Indians set the record for most sell-outs in a row, and you can almost forgive the city for not coming to games for so long because the club was so bad. They rose to the top quickly, and the city responded, albeit without a majority of the fans knowing what the hell they were seeing. Since then, the product has dropped, and so have the fans...again. What's worse, is that when the Indians were good in 2007, they couldn't sell-out, falling into the traps in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, who never really supported their teams with sell-outs when they were winning. I went to games in both cities when they were having their runs (Bonds era--Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz era), and was able to walk up to the window and buy tickets to a section of seats completely empty.

Now, the Browns are struggling to fill seats...and I'm not a Browns fan, but I know this city. It's very similar to Pittsburgh, and was as extreme a football town as Pittsburgh, rooted in history and NFL titles prior to the Super Bowl. The major difference was the ownership. Art Modell, who at a time was in some ways as respected as the Steelers Rooney clan. The difference? Modell handled money like a two-cent whore, tried to force the city of Cleveland to build a stadium or else...then the NFL allowed him to leave one of the most storied franchises in football. Since then, the Browns have been a joke, and really didn't have to be. Fans don't trust the owners, and won't pay the money for tickets.

I hate the Browns, but don't blame them for that.

Are there fairweather fans in Cleveland? Sure.

Are there more than in normal cities? Sure.

Are there reasons for that? Sure.

But I guarantee you this...if the Browns ownership make honest attempts to put a solid product on the field, the city will not only support the Browns, but make it a top ten NFL market, as it has been for years and years and years...until fucking Modell was allowed to whore out his team...

I sort of disagree with the assumption that C-town has a lot of fairweather fans. You go down to say, Miami, and see them not even fill the arena for D-Wade (one of the best players in the NBA) or you see sights like this whenever the Marlins play.

http://ui25.gamespot.com/600/marlins_2.jpg

I say this realizing the stories of how bad it was back in the day of the Tribe playing at the Muni, but that was a team that was consistantly in last place or close to it, the Marlins have what? 2 titles in the past 15 years.

I still go to Tribe games, I feel bad as I didn't start going to them until '95 and '97 but it really wasn't anything under my control personally. Just happened to be old enough to go to games just as they were becoming Amazing on the field.

Cavs are a different story. I really didn't follow basketball until the LeBron buzz was building around Northeast Ohio in the early part of this decade, didn't really see the point in following a team which were neck and neck with the clippers at getting laughed at by guys on Sportscenter along with the LA Clippers, that and I really wasn't into Basketball prior to that, I was a football honk,

YouTube - Ricky Davis Triple Double Ripoff (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MezCclCSjNw)

I mean, really, the Blue Seats and the Swatch Jerseys are all but painful memories. Pretty pathetic when your team is pitching matchups against other players like the Allen Inverson or the Lakers, rather than going to see the home team play.

Gilbert did a great job remaking the franchise and making it seem like one of the NBA elites, he's a great owner and I hope he can build this team into one of the elite in all of sports.

As for the Browns, the fans are still there, even through all the crap that's happened..well..hell since 1987 really, there's still a pretty large fanbase there, and you give them anything at all to be excited about, they will be there. Should have seen how excited it was this Sunday at CBS I was at in a Meaningless game against the Raiders, in the 4th quarter, it was pretty crazy, and it was only around 60-70% full.