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How big of a fan are you?


ztejas

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I was a casual fan of the Astros, Cowboys, and Longhorns as a little kid.  In junior high and high school, I was obsessed with basketball and was a huge Charlotte Hornets fan.  The 94-95 season I probably watched 70+ Hornets games on tv.  Age 18-29 I was as avid of a longhorn football fan as anybody.  Attended every home game and OU.  Watched every road game on tv religiously.  The games were the focus and highlight of my calendar.  The losses ruined my day, and sometimes my week.  The wins tasted like a great meal.  

Thru my 30’s and into my 40’s my UT passion has waned dramatically.  But the hobby is still there.  I can still name every current player on the roster and most recruits from memory.  I still have season tickets.  But I am pretty apathetic.  That’s due to a lot of factors: I now have a family that rearranged my priorities, I started following the Astros a lot more, college football descended further into resembling an NFL D-league, and Texas has been mediocre.  Never thought I would say this, but I am on the fence about renewing my tickets after this season.

In my late 20s I got interested in minor league baseball and as a childhood fan of the Astros started following their farm.  That coincided with Houston’s rebuild and something about the way prospects evolve got me hooked.  I obsess over Houston’s farm system and have yet to run into another fan as passionate or knowledgeable about it as I am.  Consequently I’m a pretty big fan of the big league team.  But I am not really emotionally invested in the outcomes of the games.  And I don’t really watch games on TV.  I follow the box scores online religiously and attend an Astros game and a few minor league games each year.  I’ve been to spring training once and would love to do that again.

I pay attention to UT baseball and basketball but it’s pretty casual other than following the roster and playoffs/tournaments and maybe attending 2-3 home games a year.

I just don’t have time or energy to be heavily emotionally invested in sports right now.  I do wonder if that’ll change once my kids are older and/or I’m retired.

Edited by Snake Diggity
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Die hard fan:

Longhorns football

SMU football (try to go to every home game whenever I can't make it to Austin)

Spurs basketball

Astros baseball

Stars hockey

Blackhawks hockey 

Browns football 

Germany Men's National soccer team 

USMNT

This next category is the teams I don't really follow closely, but enjoy watching:

Wisconsin football

Oregon football

Arizona Wildcats basketball 

Navy football 

Rangers baseball(never used to conflict with the Astros since they were in different leagues when I was a kid)

USWNT

Penguins hockey 

FC Dallas 

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51 minutes ago, SHOOTER12 said:

Hell  yeah!

The post begs a question.  Who all besides AB and me got to see all 4 championships?(when they happened?)

Going into the 2010 Rose Bowj, I thought my hanging banner was gonna have to be replaced with an updated one.

🤬

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6 hours ago, slorch said:

Not at Pearl Harbor, no.

Lived there when I was a kid though.

 

What is your connection at Abernathy?....I can tell you this....where I'm from... 1975-1977....we were 9-0 vs Abernathy....Cleveland vs Irbeck

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Longhorn Football is my fave without doubt during the last half of the year.  Longhorn Baseball is the first half of the year.  There was a time in the past, I'd would/could go over the top with spazzing out, yelling at the TV, drinking to excess (both in victory and loss) etc.  How I survived the Greg Davis years, me and the cardiologist will never know.  These days at 56, I no longer get that rowdy.  For my second-tier teams that I'll watch if not in conflict with the 'Horns are Marshall football and the Astros.  The Marshall plane crash story was really a story that intrigued me.  I've been on campus for the annual anniversary event honoring the victims.  I thought it was a moving and very thoughtful event as they turned off the fountain.  We typically make at least on Marshall game a year.  The teams I take the most joy in seeing them lose in no particular order are:  USC, OU, Ohio, Notre Dame, Pedo State.  It pains me to say it, but even I don't hate on the aggy as much as those teams.  I think it stems from the fact that when I was kid those were about the only teams that CBS, ABC, and NBC would broadcast.  I've always hated them (the teams and TV) for that.  I always pray those teams get food poisoning before they take the field.

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1 hour ago, Hpara759 said:

What is your connection at Abernathy?....I can tell you this....where I'm from... 1975-1977....we were 9-0 vs Abernathy....Cleveland vs Irbeck

Went to Abernathy Senior year.  

I didn't know Coach Irlbeck, but know who he was. 9-0 in 3 years?  Is my math fucked up, or are you combining sports?

Dimmitt?

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I used to be a die hard Longhorns football fan. Life pretty much revolves around watching the games, highlights, updates, reading about them, keeping up with recruiting. All that mess. I would wake up after graveyard to catch the games. Watch them at work or use my phone to keep up with it at a time when that meant possibly getting fired.

I would get so pissed at stuff that happened and ecstatic at high points.

The 2010 happened. The more the program went downhill, the less I cared. I have my Saturdays back now and my blood pressure doesn’t spike when I do watch them play.

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12 hours ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

 It pains me to say it, but even I don't hate on the aggy as much as those teams.  I think it stems from the fact that when I was kid those were about the only teams that CBS, ABC, and NBC would broadcast.  I've always hated them (the teams and TV) for that.  I always pray those teams get food poisoning before they take the field.

I think who you hate is a function of when and where you grew up, even as a Texas fan. I came of age with A&M being a complete non-factor while OU was consistently top 5, and lived in DFW, where the number of aggy is relatively small given the size of the area. To this day, I really wouldn't say I hate aggy, though I definitely understand why people do now living in Houston, where it seems like every terrible driver in a lifted F250 with a blue lives matter sticker also has an aggy decal.

OU is just on a whole different level than they are.

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1) Texas Longhorns Football 

2) Oklahoma State Wrestling 

3) Watch Texas Longhorns Baseball highlights on YouTube but I'm really not much of a baseball guy. Only reason I ever took any interest in the sport was due to Jomboy Media having some hilarious breakdowns on his YouTube channel. 

4) That's about it.

 

 

 

 

 

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Longhorn Football.  

That's about it.  I'll watch other teams and other sports but not have much more than a passing Interest in who wins or loses.  I have no particular allegiance nor hatred for most other teams, even the polarizing ones like the Cowboys... just another team about as significant as any other to me.  I do still carry a healthy hatred for the Aggies and Sooners.

With the Horns, winning and losing used to make or break my whole week.  For the last decade, it's been a gradual detachment for me.  Probably partially because we have sucked for so long and partially just because you get to a point in life where too many other things become more important than games.  I still get irritated at the losses but it doesn't stick with me long.  Same with the wins, I'm happy when we win but it isn't going to define how my day goes, much less my week.  

I sometimes get privately judgey about people's fandom.  If it's a younger guy I completely understand the intense and over-the-top emotional reactions to sports.  Been there.  If it's a guy at or beyond middle-age I wonder what's missing in the rest of his life that these games still rate that level of intensity.  Maybe some people have room in their minds to be that passionate about lots of things at the same time.  I don't.

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Longhorn Football

Astros

Packers- my best friends growing up were from Wisconsin and they would grill and watch games on Sunday when my parents were at church, it was the early 90’s and Favre and I became a huge fan.

Rockets

PGA Golf- love watching, more fun when Jordan/Tiger or Scottie are in contention 

Longhorn Basketball

Horns Baseball

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14 minutes ago, LebongJames said:

PGA Golf- love watching, more fun when Jordan/Tiger or Scottie are in contention 

Yeah man this is a weird one that I left out. Tiger, Rory or Bryson getting close to winning majors is as exciting as anything else. Growing to like Spieth and I like Scottie and JT and a bunch of other guys. And I only root Bryson because I have to. 

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13 hours ago, slorch said:

Went to Abernathy Senior year.  

I didn't know Coach Irlbeck, but know who he was. 9-0 in 3 years?  Is my math fucked up, or are you combining sports?

Dimmitt?

yep....Basketball...played them 2 times a year scheduled...tournaments....then playoffs

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Any of y'all know anybody that likes a team only because of a certain player? 2 of my brothers are Lebron fans so they've been on the Cavs(twice), Heat and Lakers bandwagons. They could care less about the rest of the team, only wherever Lebron goes. 

A cousin of mine is a huge Marc-Andre Fleury fan so he was all about the Chicago Blackhawks forever when they had Fleury, then bandwagoned the Vegas Golden Knights and now has joined the Minnesota Wild bandwagon. 

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1a Longhorn football 

1b Portland timbers

2 longhorn baseball 

3 Chicago bears

4 F1 (general fan and watch most races ((Ferrari))

5 pga (general fan and matches are always on on the weekends on at least one tv)

6 usmnt

 

 

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Texas has sucked. Also doesn’t help college football the point has gotten so bad over the last 7-10 years that we know who’s going to be in the championship the second the previous years championship is done. I dont even care that much that Texas isn’t even in the mix in those years. But outside of Georgia, Ohio St, Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma…what’s the combined FBS playoff appearances for the other 122 teams? 3? And they got the shit kicked out of them.

I’ve added 2 kids since Texas was once good, and Texas is on their 3rd coach since my soon to be 7 year old was born. So shell out another 35 million. That’s another turn off.

I’m back on pro football is the best product by far. Vikings suck but the nfl playoffs are the best especially this last year.

Vikings
Twolves
Longhorns/NDSU football

The rest

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4 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Texas has sucked. Also doesn’t help college football the point has gotten so bad over the last 7-10 years that we know who’s going to be in the championship the second the previous years championship is done. I dont even care that much that Texas isn’t even in the mix in those years. But outside of Georgia, Ohio St, Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma…what’s the combined FBS playoff appearances for the other 122 teams? 3? And they got the shit kicked out of them.

I’ve added 2 kids since Texas was once good, and Texas is on their 3rd coach since my soon to be 7 year old was born. So shell out another 35 million. That’s another turn off.

I’m back on pro football is the best product by far. Vikings suck but the nfl playoffs are the best especially this last year.

Vikings
Twolves
Longhorns/NDSU football

The rest

NDSU?

My landman went to school there.

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 1 . longhorn football                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   2.  longhorn baseball                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  these two maybe switching spots                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                . don't really give a two shits about but are still "my" team - cowboys 

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Watch a lot and follow some in off season:

1.  Astros & Horns football

2. Oilers (been on hiatus a really long time now...starting to think they might be as dead as Joel Buchsbaum...he was must listen radio back in the day)

Mild interest:

3. Horns baseball

4. TCU football

5. Any underdog of the moment, especially in college fb, small market teams in the pro's.  Except for UT, I've always hated the blue blood/dominants/dynasties.  Screw the Yankees, Dodgers, Bama, Ohio St, Patriots, etc. (Sorry, Cowboys, you haven't really been a dynasty for 25 years now...)  I want upsets.  ESPN insisting on a NY/Boston/LA or Chicago team in every Sunday Night Baseball game insures that I never watch if the Astros aren't playing.

A few events each year: Always the Masters but rarely any other golf; College World Series & regionals/supers; Daytona, Talladega, Phoenix, and a few other NASCAR races as background noise; maybe some March Madness until the likeable teams are gone.

Life is too short. 

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1. My wife and I follow the Saints pretty obsessively.  She was a Katrina evacuee and I went to Westlake.  We are full blown members of The Who Dat nation.  We also watch Red Zone all season, because it’s just an amazing way to consume football. 

2. I follow the Red Sox pretty closely, but my tolerance for actually watching games is low.  I’m a boxscore fan until the post season.

3. I will usually watch the Horns until their inevitable early/mid season collapse, then I reclaim my saturdays.  But my son is enrolling at Oregon, so I’m going to be trying the Ducks on for size this year.

4. I track the Chaps each year and will tune in if they make the title game. 
 

5. I don’t follow any of the DC teams, but will go to MLS games when they are good, which they haven’t been for awhile.

 

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18 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

Thru my 30’s and into my 40’s my UT passion has waned dramatically.  But the hobby is still there.  I can still name every current player on the roster and most recruits from memory.

I used to have the dorky ability to name every player's high school, and I followed recruiting pretty heavily.  Some time during the Tom Herman era that changed.  Probably because of my lack of time and brain capacity to keep up with all that shit, and probably because fuck you, Tom Herman.  These days I rarely post on the recruiting board, and when I do it's usually for a cheap laugh -- I don't have much of an idea of who we're going after and who we're landing until signing day.  I'm vaguely aware of a kid named Arch Manning.

Edited by South Austin
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8 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I used to have the dorky ability to name every player's high school, and I followed recruiting pretty heavily.  Some time during the Tom Herman era that changed.  Probably because of my lack of time and brain capacity to keep up with all that shit, and probably because fuck you, Tom Herman.  These days I rarely post on the recruiting board, and when I do it's usually for a cheap laugh -- I don't have much of an idea of who we're going after and who we're landing until signing day.  I'm vaguely aware of a kid named Arch Manning.

I followed recruiting pretty closely for years, starting in the 90s when that info was first becoming widely available on the internet.

 

Now I don't have time and honestly, it's a bit of a relief not worrying about the whims of 16 and 17 year olds.  I'm back to the olden days of not caring one lick about a player until he's actually on my favorite team.  It's refreshing.

 

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Texas Longhorn Football is about the only thing I'll redirect obligations for. I'll disturb the peace during the game.

USMNT - During qualifying, I try to remember my upbringing and not unnecessarily impugn the nationality of those flopping, rolling, and cutting Pulisic's ankles. After qualifying, I sort of accept the fact that they're not upper echelon championship material yet.

Dallas Stars - Watch whenever I can, although Fox Sports Southwest (or whatever) thinks it's still 1997 and everyone has a cable subscription (another rant entirely). This season they couldn't score goals. The playoff series against the Flames was merely a confirmation of that. When they show a notion to accede to a higher caliber, I'll be much more passionate fan.

Texas Basketball - Games should only be 10 minutes long. I can't watch an entire game (my basic lack of knowledge on the finer details). College basketball is tailor-made for bitching about the refs.

There's others I might have on whilst folding laundry, but that's largely the complete list of "undivided attention" teams.

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19 hours ago, slorch said:

Went to Abernathy Senior year.  

I didn't know Coach Irlbeck, but know who he was. 9-0 in 3 years?  Is my math fucked up, or are you combining sports?

Dimmitt?

Ken (?) Cleveland was a basketball coaching legend at Dimmitt. Those dudes were a fucking machine my Junior year, they went undefeated and routed everyone in the playoffs by like 20. We played them my sophomore year in our long-time coach’s last game, and between the two of them they had won something like 1,600 games…

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Any of y'all know anybody that likes a team only because of a certain player? 2 of my brothers are Lebron fans so they've been on the Cavs(twice), Heat and Lakers bandwagons. They could care less about the rest of the team, only wherever Lebron goes. 
A cousin of mine is a huge Marc-Andre Fleury fan so he was all about the Chicago Blackhawks forever when they had Fleury, then bandwagoned the Vegas Golden Knights and now has joined the Minnesota Wild bandwagon. 

I used to root for the Titans because of all of the UT players. Always pulled for VY. Colt too and Ricky too.
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On 5/22/2022 at 6:25 PM, Snake Diggity said:

I was a casual fan of the Astros, Cowboys, and Longhorns as a little kid.  In junior high and high school, I was obsessed with basketball and was a huge Charlotte Hornets fan.  The 94-95 season I probably watched 70+ Hornets games on tv.  Age 18-29 I was as avid of a longhorn football fan as anybody.  Attended every home game and OU.  Watched every road game on tv religiously.  The games were the focus and highlight of my calendar.  The losses ruined my day, and sometimes my week.  The wins tasted like a great meal.  

Thru my 30’s and into my 40’s my UT passion has waned dramatically.  But the hobby is still there.  I can still name every current player on the roster and most recruits from memory.  I still have season tickets.  But I am pretty apathetic.  That’s due to a lot of factors: I now have a family that rearranged my priorities, I started following the Astros a lot more, college football descended further into resembling an NFL D-league, and Texas has been mediocre.  Never thought I would say this, but I am on the fence about renewing my tickets after this season.

In my late 20s I got interested in minor league baseball and as a childhood fan of the Astros started following their farm.  That coincided with Houston’s rebuild and something about the way prospects evolve got me hooked.  I obsess over Houston’s farm system and have yet to run into another fan as passionate or knowledgeable about it as I am.  Consequently I’m a pretty big fan of the big league team.  But I am not really emotionally invested in the outcomes of the games.  And I don’t really watch games on TV.  I follow the box scores online religiously and attend an Astros game and a few minor league games each year.  I’ve been to spring training once and would love to do that again.

I pay attention to UT baseball and basketball but it’s pretty casual other than following the roster and playoffs/tournaments and maybe attending 2-3 home games a year.

I just don’t have time or energy to be heavily emotionally invested in sports right now.  I do wonder if that’ll change once my kids are older and/or I’m retired.

I ain’t reading all that. I’m either really sorry that happened man or I’m happy for you. 
 

haha jk, that was some deep shit. I think a lot of UT football fans have been through that same hell you spoke of. The wins were electrifying but fuck me the losses have been brutal. 

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