Has anybody lost interest in a team over the years? (ticket, golf)

[Mathguy]

NBA regular season - just got too boring and meaningless. I generally follow whats going on but not very closely. Plus a few elite teams lately make the playoffs less interesting.

MLB - I dialed it all the way back to casual fan after the strike and with the grossly imbalanced payrolls and huge salaries. Unless there is a really compelling reason I don't even watch the World Series.

NFL - Results vary

[safak]

Originally Posted by Ron61

I used to be a huge fan of the Cincinnati Reds. Before,during,and after the Big Red Machine days I followed them religiously. After the last strike I lost all interest in them and baseball. Never watched or listened to another game since then. The rule changes also turned me off, such as the DH.

thats another one i lost interest in baseball.

my team (pirates) had 22 straight years of losing(all time record in all of N.A. sports!).
Not just losing but, bottom of the barrel cheap owner , not even competing losing.

then they had 3 years of 'ok' where they could have just spend a little money and had a real shot but, the cheap owner sold tickets so why bother!

now they suck again probably for the next 22 years.
So yeah kind of hard to keep caring about them.

[Jonathan Ashbeck]

Originally Posted by Ron61

I used to be a huge fan of the Cincinnati Reds. Before,during,and after the Big Red Machine days I followed them religiously. After the last strike I lost all interest in them and baseball. Never watched or listened to another game since then. The rule changes also turned me off, such as the DH.

I'm not a fan of the DH rule either.

[Julio July]

Originally Posted by safak

Fantasy football ruined my NFL fandom. I used to be a diehard steeler fan (they kick you out of this city if you aren't, so i still fake it).

Hahaha!!!!!

[Julio July]

This is a great thread! A lot of people give you crap if you don't continue to root for and publicly support a team a terrible, inept team that you no longer have any interest in FOR LIFE, but sports are supposed to be FUN!!!!! Root for whoever the heck you want to, and enjoy watching and following!!!

The team I have lost interest in over the years is the Chicago Bulls. I rooted for the Bulls since BEFORE they won their first championship, when they were still struggling to get past the Bad Boy Pistons in the playoffs. Unlike most so called Bulls fans, I even stuck with them for the nearly 20 years after Jordan was gone for good. But I got tired of following and trying to root for a team with arguably the worst run front office in the entire NBA. If I'm not even ENJOYING watching or keeping up with them and haven't in years, then what's the point? Especially when it's clear that they aren't even trying to compete and don't even dare about successfully rebuilding; it's a slap in the face to fans. So no, I don't feel bad for not rooting for them anymore.

I actually root for the Lakers now, because they were always my next favorite team behind the Bulls. Also, as a kid, the first NBA game I ever saw in person was a Lakers game, where my dad took me to see Magic Johnson (my second favorite player of all time behind Michael Jordan). So, I have always felt a special connection with the Lakers and rooted for them out West whenever they didn't play Chicago. And since the Lakers are such a legendary and important franchise with so much tradition, they are always actively trying to improve, so you know they won't stay terrible for long. That makes it fun to follow a team that actually CARES about improving and winning, and that you can stick with and follow as they go from bad to good, instead of just following a team that is bad---and almost PURPOSELY bad---year after year after year.

Also, following an exciting, young, rebuilding Lakers team with so much potential and that actually has GAMES broadcast on national TV so I can watch and follow them has REALLY renewed my interest in the NBA, because as others have stated, I had grown really tired of the long, meaningless NBA season where nobody really plays hard until after the All-Star Break, the dumbed down rules aimed at making only the guards look good and important on offense, and how all the best players are buddies and keep jumping on 2 or 3 teams together to make "super teams," which tremendously waters down the rest of the NBA.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Statz2k10

...Just wondering if anybody can relate. Maybe you enjoy watching a sport but really don't have a favorite team anymore but you used too be a die hard fan. And why is that?

Yeah, I can relate. Used to follow professional sports until the Dodgers traded Steve Garvey to San Diego. That was in 1982. After that, I lost all interest in following professional sports teams.

These days, the only sports I follow is tennis and cycling. That is probably because I am active in both. And, both are international sports. And, I follow the All Blacks, (New Zealand national rugby team). Anything else, I could care less. Couldn't even tell you who played in the Super Bowl last year.

[SonnyCrockett]

I'll give you one and I know I speak for plenty of others: UConn basketball (and no I don't mean the boring women's version). Kevin Ollie is awful- and now a combined 65 point loss to Michigan State and Arkansas this past weekend. One of sport's biggest oddities was Ollie claiming a national championship thanks to the heroics of Shabazz Napier.

Not to mention some off-the-court transgressions while Calhoun was still there. The interest was waning even when Calhoun was still at the helm and the program also won it all in 2011, as many fans were pretty disgusted. Now the issue is that you watch UConn's offensive offense on TV and it makes me rather watch a marathon of made-for-putting a gun to my head Lifetime Channel flicks. Seriously, give me 10 minutes and five middle school aged children who never picked up a basketball, and I could produce a more cohesive offensive unit where there is cuts, screens, and occasionally an open jump shooter 15 feet from the basket. Its amazing too UConn can't seem to recruit one single player that can make a jump shot consistently from more than two feet from the basket.

UConn screwed themselves with the football pipe dream and as a result, are in a yawner of a conference with no regional rivals, instead of being in a still formidable Big East. I don't feel all the time a fan's interest should wane just because the team isn't good, but when the product is so brutal to watch and uninspiring, how can't it?

[Hollywood]

Charlotte Hornets. I was a big fan until they left in 2002 or so. We got the Bobcats, but I never cared for them. Even after the new name change, it isn't the same. The NBA has 2 or 3 teams that can win the title, and everyone else is just cannon fodder. Why bother watching?

Also used to watch the Braves in the 90s and early 2000s. But I stopped watching MLB after the Red Sox won in 2004. I really followed the Sox that year, and I don't think I've watched a full game since then. Even with local hero Madison Bumgarner on the Giants, I didn't watch. Couldn't care less anymore.

Used to watch a ton of college football in the 2000s too. I don't bother with that anymore either. So many more things to do with life than to watch sports. Especially pro sports that don't really care about the fanbase. If they can grab a buck in another town, they'd move in a heartbeat. I like the Panthers, but I bet someone moves that team 3 seconds after Jerry Richardson dies. Screw 'em all.

[safak]

all of the nba..

im not sure if i just got old, but it seemed like every team had that larger than life character. jordan, magic, bird, barkley, ewing, hakeem the dream, mailman+stockton, clyde the glyde, isiah.

now its like there are a handful of guys i know are good but no personalities outside of labron i guess, and they pack the good ones all on 2 or 3 teams. its a few teams, and 25 also rans no one cares about.

and, they play too many games.. same with hockey wake me up 15 games before the playoffs start.

[WyoNewk]

Originally Posted by Statz2k10

...I know part of the reason is that Miami just hasn't been fun to watch but even when so I just feel like I have very little interest in football anymore. It doesn't have anything to do with the political/kneeling issues going on. I've felt this way for a few years now. Seems like it kind of started when I got into fantasy football 6-7 years ago and suddenly I was more focused on my fantasy team doing well than Miami....

Originally Posted by safak

Fantasy football ruined my NFL fandom. I used to be a diehard steeler fan (they kick you out of this city if you aren't, so i still fake it).

But years of rooting for people to score touchdowns against them and got to the point i can't fake the passion I had when I was younger. I still want them to win but, it doesn't affect my mood if they lose anymore except by osmosis.

I've never gotten into Fantasy Football, and that's one of the reasons. My son is a pretty active sports gambler and has been a diehard sports fan since he was old enough to read. He experienced the same same as you guys did with Fantasy Football. He tried it for a year or two and says it took away from his pleasure of "the game" so gave it up.