I do not understand the obsession with local professional sports teams (football, basketball)

[questioner2]

In Washington DC people are incredibly excited about the Washington Redskins. In Dallas, it is the Dallas Cowboys. But I see a problem, the members of the team are not even part of the community. They do not even live in town during the season and most do not have any connection historically to the city. I do not see the local connection. It is just a group of out of town rich fat cats trying to trick everyone to believe that the team is local.

Now I can understand local high school football or basketball. These players are local in most cases. They may be friends or relatives or kids your son/daughter goes to school with. You have a connection to the school. I have no connection to anyone working for or playing for the Washington Redskins. Can you relate?

[newyorkjetsfan74]

most people including myself are fans for certain teams because they grew up in a household where their father, brother, uncle, etc rooted for a particular team so u grew into the tradition of rooting for the particular team. i could care less where the players are from. most teams would be horrible if they just played players that were from the area.

[Town&Country]

"yawn"... I understand it.

[dfrench8456]

Im sure one reason and certanly in my case the reason i like the local team is because i get to watch all of there games on tv, every morning theres a new article about them in the paper so you know everything about this team.

[X-Greensboro Resident]

It's more about the city and less about where the players are from, in my opinion.

[samyn on the green]

Good point, these guys on pro teams are mercenaries from another part of the world that are only playing in your city for the money. I too do not relate to them. There was I time when I was a huge fan of the Jets/Mets/Knicks but those days are over. At one time the players stayed with the team of all or most of their careers and we developed a following for the players. Now it is a different groups of men each and every year on the team, the only thing that stays the same is the team name.

The only sport that I like watching is thoroughbred horse racing. This is the only real game left in America. If the Jockeys do not perform on the track they lose mounts and since they get paid per win and not by contract the motivation to perform everyday is tremendous. Combine that with the honest, non-complaining thoroughbred and you have a great sport that is engaging to get involved in.

You do not just watch a race like you passively watch a football game, you open the form and dive into the running lines of each horse and place your opinion, heart and soul on the line every time the bells goes off and the latch is popped. There is no thrill like building a opinion, waiting patiently for the right situation to materialize, placing your $2 down, watching your horses score and you collecting hundreds of dollars. I do not understand how the public on the whole prefers to watch ballgames over the thrill of watching horses run.

[BrianH]

Sure theyre just a franchise arent they ? It dosent matter where the players live, but the team. If you support local teams thats great, but a Franchise can just up and leave if they feel like, they have no real loyalty to the city.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by questioner2

In Washington DC people are incredibly excited about the Washington Redskins. In Dallas, it is the Dallas Cowboys. But I see a problem, the members of the team are not even part of the community. They do not even live in town during the season and most do not have any connection historically to the city. I do not see the local connection. It is just a group of out of town rich fat cats trying to trick everyone to believe that the team is local.

Now I can understand local high school football or basketball. These players are local in most cases. They may be friends or relatives or kids your son/daughter goes to school with. You have a connection to the school. I have no connection to anyone working for or playing for the Washington Redskins. Can you relate?

In professional sports the ownership group or local team origanization is the only thing that's really truly local , players can come from anywhere on the face of the earth as long as local team managment think that they have the potential of bringing home a "World Championship trophy " to the local city or urban area. Yeah High School And Middle Schools or Junior High Schools are local but" THE LEVEL" of play is only 1/10TH of that of a professional team.Be it in the NFL..NBA...MLB..NHL

[loose cannon]

There's always a few players who stick around for 4 years and some who are great enough to be franchise players. It all evens out.