If my memory serves me correct I was a Saints fan before an LSU fan. Dont know why but thats what I seem to remember first. Listening to the game on 870 every sunday, or trying to beat everyone out of church to get home in time for kickoff! Wearing Schweggmans bags to the games! My aunt taught Mr Mills kids got to meet him, (proably the nicest guy in the entire world) My uncle was playing with them when training camp was in Hammond. Got to walk off the field and into the lockerroom wearing his helmet. Was at the Philly playoff game when Bobby flipped off the endzone crowd and some old lady that cursed worse than I do now poured a full cup of beer on Carl Smiths head as the team walked off the field. Listening to Buddy on the way home from a game, Saint WhoDat, Joe Fan, Moses, Mike on the Avenue, Abdul the Tentmaker, Bubba and the Magic Carpet. My BLACK and GOLD heart BLEEDS PURPLE and GOLD!!!!!
I was a Saints fan first by a couple of years. My dad and rest of my family were big Saints fans, so I got pulled into it that way. Started watching LSU on my own, and have since made my family into LSU fans.
I wasn't going to post on this, but then there was a selection for "hate the NFL", so I just couldn't resist. I just find the league utterly uninteresting. For the exact same reasons I find E Entertainment Television and the Emmy Awards and {Insert name Here} Talk Shows completely uninteresting. Cult of celebrity, focused solely on the bottom line. There's no soul to it. Just my opinion - I realize millions of people disagree with me. And that's OK. :hihi:
I do not love the NFL like College Football. The reason fall along the same line of reasoning you have. However, play one season of Fantasy Football and you find yourself interested in games you never thought you would have before.
I also nearly drowned once at a flippin' pre-season game played in a downpour that flooded my neighborhood. The only game in 7 seasons as a season ticket holder that my father left early. Good story: back in those days, the coin flip was held during warmups, and faked for TV just before the game. Knowing who had won the toss beforehand, the starting lineups would be intro'd accordingly (Saints won toss, OK, Rams defense, Saints offense introduced) So we'd get to our seats and I'd grab the binoculars and look at the tunnel where the players came out. I'd see Jack Youngblood or whoever and say, "alright, we're gonna receive." We sat in the same seats for 7 years, with the same family right behind us. For 7 years, they unsuccessfully tried to figure out how I predicted the coin flip every week.
I'll preface this by saying that college football is by far better than the NFL. That being said: I'm a Cowboys fan. I moved to DFW in '97 and actively pulled against the Boys for the first six or seven years I lived here. Basically, it made me angry and miserable during football season. I finally gave in, went over to the other side, and now really pull for the Cowboys. Super Bowl, Baby!
I don't see how you can do that. To me, being a fan of a team means having always been a fan of that team. I was never a fan of any particular NFL team, though I did watch the games every Sunday when I was a kid. I took to the the Saints from the beginning and was a huge (cussing, screaming at the TV) fan. I was at the 1st playoff game against the Vikings. The first 5 minutes or so was the pinnacle. Saints took the lead and the Dome was shaking. Then I remember a fumbled punt and a Viking score on the last play of the 1st half and suddenly, my heart wasn't in it anymore. The Saints got embarrased (44 to something) and I was crushed. I became cynical and treated the Saints like a bitchy ex-wife. The sex was good so I'd keep coming around but I couldn't invest myself anymore. After the Haslett/Brooks debacle, I was done. F the Saints. I couldn't help myself as they made the run to the NFC CG and I was coming back into the fold, but they drop the 1st four games last year and all of the previous pain re-surfaced. Screw you Saints. You'll never sleep in my bed again.