How you became a Penguins fan ?

[ArcticFox]

The NHL was becoming cool here in Sweden in the 90s, especially with the EA NHL series. I wasn't really a fan but I liked alot of teams when I was a kid, but for some reason in 1996 I just caring less and less about other teams and more and more for Jagr and the Penguins.
God that black wordmark jersey was awesome!

 

[MovesLikeJagr]

I always watched them as a kid, Jagr was my favorite. Living in Kansas, you don't get to watch a lot of hockey. I bought nhl 04, and besides Mario, that team was bad, and I always enjoyed making them good in that game. My mom eventually dated a navy officer from Pittsburgh; he eventually came over so often that he bought center ice at the house, so that took me from casual to die hard. He loves the penguins, so I enjoyed getting to watch my team often instead of a few times a year. Now they are married and are in Florida, so I have to stick to nhl network and NBC sports until I decide to pony up for center ice . living in carolina now, I'm glad I can watch the canes and will be able to see more penguin games after realignment.

 

[Fhfel]

I was born in Philadelphia, but I only lived there until I was 8 months old. I moved to Erie, PA and growing up in Erie I used to go to the local Fox's Pizza Den and that place had Pittsburgh sports memorabilia hanging on the wall. I asked my dad what that was and he told me the names of those Pittsburgh teams so I developed an interest. I was about 5 at the time, my dad suggested that I start watching those teams on the TV ans before long I became a fan of not just the Penguins, but the Steelers and Pirates too. My mother was not too crazy about that because she and the rest of the relatives on that side of the family are from Philly. I've been a die hard Penguins fan ever since I was five back (late 90's) when Alexei Kovalev was throwing back goals like it was nothing.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

I was born in 84’ so I was fairly young when Mario and Jagr were the Demi-Gods of hockey. But my uncle Jason was a murderous Penguins fan and he would watch me sometime when I was a kid when both my parents were working. And I both got to see my first Stanley Cup raise and have my first sip of beer watching the Pens raise their cup in 91 with him. Following year it was basically a repeat of the same thing... I have been a to the marrow of my bones Pens fan since.

 

[BHD]

I watched hockey with my father, a Leafs, but didn't like the team. Decided to root for the Pens instead. Simple as that.

EDIT: Well, I think it was because I thought the whole "you have to root for a Canadian team" thing was silly.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I'll preface my first encounter with, we were a baseball and football dominant house, being born in 68, watching baseball with my grandfather at the age of two and going to games, and watching the Steelers.

Somewhere around 1977, give or take a year, I was stumbling through the channels (by hand, no such thing as remotes then) bored nothing was on, I stumbled on a Penguin game, and after going through the channels one more time I decided to give it a go. Of course I had not one clue as to the rules or anything about the game, Names and such didn't really seem important at the time, I just watched. The one thing I can remember that first game I watched was the blue jerseys. Don't remember anything beyond that.

So, moving along, I'd do the same for a couple years before it got a bit more popular, like playing in the back alley, making nets out of plastic pipes by my cousins. But that ended for me playing in the back alley when I took a stick to the eye, but at that point I liked watching it and grew stronger every year from there.

Obviously, Baseball and football were still the dominant sport for my family and me, and when Gretzky and Mario came around pretty much locked me in.

I had to wait for years to go to my first game, being a kid and not really having a lot of money. I'd help at a local gas station even to have money to go get a milkshake, candy and such if I wanted it. That for sure I know I was 10 years old. In the 80's was my teen years and I worked two jobs to save money for school. 87/89, (couldn't watch then)and I don't really even remember my first game, but after I got back from school I was into that work/party faze. So that game was more than likely right around the cup years. I remember doing bus trips to games from a bar, a trip to Buffalo in the old Auditorium, then hit up Niagara falls and up to Toronto. These times are more adrift for me. Did the 5/15 game plans for a few years. Dependant on money availability.

I was fully engaged in the 90's as I was 22 when they won their first cup. The second cup I worked the second shift (4 to 12) and had to listen to the radio while I worked.

All my stuff from back then is tucked away in a box. Ticket stubs/collectibles.

 

[TNT87]

I was always a Pittsburgh sports fan. However, in the early 80s as a little kid, the Pens were hardly talked about on the sportscast where I lived since they weren't that good. I didn't know any of the players but I would look at the score in the newspaper to see if they would win. I didn't know anything about hockey either unlike football and baseball. That is until a certain guy was drafted #1 overall by the Pens and the media began talking about him and the team. I then listened to the games on KDKA radio with Lange and Steigerwald. I used to tape the post game highlights after the game on a cassette. I would go up to my grandparents on Saturday nights to watch HNIC to learn more about the game. I was so excited when they showed the Penguins playing the Leafs. I never watched a Penguin game until then. I still remember my first Lemieux t-shirt that I bought when I was in the sixth grade.

I remember the big trades that brought in players like Barrasso, Coffey, Francis, and Ulfie. I vividly remember listening to Lemieux's five goal game against the Devils on New Year's Eve. I didn't have cable when I was high school but there were a few times that the Canadian channel would come in on my antennae. As if a gift from the heavens Game 6 against the North Stars in the SCF came in absolutely crystal clear. I couldn't believe it. It stayed that way until the last few minutes so I switched on the radio to hear Lange announce them as the Stanley Cup champions. The next year I started college and there was no way I got anything done when the Pens were on TV. If they were on and I had a big assignment or test I would force myself to go to the library because there was no way I could watch the game and concentrate on my studies. lol

So for all the clowns that whine about Pens fans being bandwagon fans I guess I've been one since '84. Been one through thick and thin and when the day comes where Sid and Geno aren't playing I will continue to be so. I've been fortunate to see some great memories over the decades with this franchise. Here's to many more in the years to come.

 

[Tweed]

I'm from just outside of Toronto. In the early 80's I was getting into playing ball hockey at recess with classmates. Everybody was always claiming they were "Wayne Gretzky" or "so and so" or that they were "The Leafs" or "The Oilers" or "The Canadians" [sic]. I had no idea what or who they were talking about, honestly... I just liked playing the game.

Then that Xmas, my mom bought me a Coleco board hockey... and I saw all the teams on the side of the box and the board. So I picked the coolest f***ing logo I've ever seen in my life, as MY TEAM. Then after Xmas, I went back to school... and told everybody "I'm the Penguins"...

... and then I got the shit teased out of me for everything from picking a non-Canadian team to picking the worst team in the league.... and that went on for yearrrrrs.

But since that first winter recess... not a single one of them bitches has watched "their team" win more Stanley Cups... than ME.

 

[Doogle]

I lived in south Jersey as a kid. Respected hockey but wasn't into it. Knew Recchi, Leclair, and Lindros were the local stars.

Moved to Jacksonville in 5th grade. No pro hockey but went to several echl games there. Became a lizard kings fan. Then moved to KC where we had no hockey.

In high school I moved to Pittsburgh during the lockout year. Next season I watched Sid's debut at a new friend's. He had get togethers there and it was a way for me to meet new friends as the new kid. Leclair and Recchi gave me a couple familiar faces to root for.

I watched the Pens win the 09 cup with those friends. Two months later I met my girlfriend of now almost nine years, and we watched the two recent cup runs together and go to multiple games. I love the Pens and what they've meant to me and my closest friends since moving here half my life ago.

 

[Turin]

Grew up in Canada without an NHL team in the early 2000s. Picked them based on their colours and name, no joke. Was a real good choice in hindsight.

 

[RizzleMcRib]

1989. I was 11 living in NC. The only sports station we got that showed hockey was HTS out of DC. My brother became a Caps fan. I couldn't like the same team. I thought penguins were cool animals.

Had to listen to the games on 1020 KDKA.

 

[Andy99]

I'll preface my first encounter with, we were a baseball and football dominant house, being born in 68, watching baseball with my grandfather at the age of two and going to games, and watching the Steelers.

Somewhere around 1977, give or take a year, I was stumbling through the channels (by hand, no such thing as remotes then) bored nothing was on, I stumbled on a Penguin game, and after going through the channels one more time I decided to give it a go. Of course I had not one clue as to the rules or anything about the game, Names and such didn't really seem important at the time, I just watched. The one thing I can remember that first game I watched was the blue jerseys. Don't remember anything beyond that.

So, moving along, I'd do the same for a couple years before it got a bit more popular, like playing in the back alley, making nets out of plastic pipes by my cousins. But that ended for me playing in the back alley when I took a stick to the eye, but at that point I liked watching it and grew stronger every year from there.

Obviously, Baseball and football were still the dominant sport for my family and me, and when Gretzky and Mario came around pretty much locked me in.

I had to wait for years to go to my first game, being a kid and not really having a lot of money. I'd help at a local gas station even to have money to go get a milkshake, candy and such if I wanted it. That for sure I know I was 10 years old. In the 80's was my teen years and I worked two jobs to save money for school. 87/89, (couldn't watch then)and I don't really even remember my first game, but after I got back from school I was into that work/party faze. So that game was more than likely right around the cup years. I remember doing bus trips to games from a bar, a trip to Buffalo in the old Auditorium, then hit up Niagara falls and up to Toronto. These times are more adrift for me. Did the 5/15 game plans for a few years. Dependant on money availability.

I was fully engaged in the 90's as I was 22 when they won their first cup. The second cup I worked the second shift (4 to 12) and had to listen to the radio while I worked.

All my stuff from back then is tucked away in a box. Ticket stubs/collectibles.

I’m similarly aged and have a similar story, except I had a school friend whose father had season tickets even when the team was the worst B.M. (before Mario). A bunch of kids went to this friend’s party his parents held at a game at the Civic Arena around ‘76 or ‘77 and it was pretty terrible hockey but it still interested me. I didn’t get to develop that interest much again until October 1984 when my friend and his dad invited me to another game at the arena, which just so happened to be the NHL debut of Mario Lemieux. I was hooked ever since....

 

[LOGiK]

Does being a follower for so long I honestly forget count?

Since 1996 I believe. If not give or take a year. Hockey follower in general since 1992. The Penguins were not my first love.

EDIT:
Thinking about it, now I remembered how I came to love hockey and start watching and following it. Mark Messier.

 

[Son Goku]

Mario Lemieux

 

[jay caufield forhead]

in 1983 I was on a select team from northern New York we went to ( an hour and a half away) Montreal area for a tournament. The first day of tournament my team went and watched Mario Lemieux jr team and he had like 8 points in the game. My mom got his autograph after game for me so I loved Mario Lemieux ever since so who ever drafted him was my team

 

[davemess]

My Uncle and his family moved from Scotland to Pittsburgh for about 5 years in the late 80s early 90s due to my Uncles work.

So Pittsburgh ended up being the first place in the US I ever visited.

Not sure why but it made me end up feeling quiet a strong connection to the City even though I was only physically there for about 2 weeks.

So when I ended up later starting to follow Football and Hockey it made sense to start following the Steelers & Penguins.

 

[LOGiK]

in 1983 I was on a select team from northern New York we went to ( an hour and a half away) Montreal area for a tournament. The first day of tournament my team went and watched Mario Lemieux jr team and he had like 8 points in the game. My mom got his autograph after game for me so I loved Mario Lemieux ever since so who ever drafted him was my team

This sparked memories for me when I lived in upstate Pennsylvania and my team was invited to a hockey tournament in lower New York in Binghamton at the Ice House and I remember the skate sharpener sabotaged my skates. I couldn't even stand up on ice. I'll never forget that for the rest of my life.

Who sabotages a kids skate sharpening!?!? That was unbelievable.

 

[Coach Travis]

Crosby bandwagoner. I didn’t watch or like the Pens in Mario or Jagr’s hay days. When Crosby came into the league I had to see what all the hype was about. Over his Rookie season I probably watched more Penguins games than any other team and I got to know all the other players. Then the next season when they made the playoffs I looked around and realized that I wanted the Penguins to win the Cup more than any other team. That was it. I was officially a Pens fan.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I jumped on the bandwagon when I was 2 or 3.

 

[EightyOne]

Family from Pittsburgh.

So all Pitt teams were followed.

First time I saw them live was out here in San Jose in 95.

9-1 win.

I got it all though. Goals by Jagr, Francis, Nedved, Naslund and freaking Lemieux.

I was the only kid running around playing street hockey in my town, shooting into milk crates. No one cared about hockey in my central California farm town in the early 90s.

But the Sharks have changed the landscape within 50 mile radius from 'what is hockey' to 'oh yeah the thing on ice and they hit each other.'

Not great progress. But better than nothing.

 

[Sorry]

Born in Pittsburgh. Was 5 and 6 years old when the Pens won back to back in 91 and 92. It’s basically in my DNA.

 

[TheSniper26]

For me... I was born into it. My parents were season ticket holders and I started skating/playing at 3. Born in 1985 and Mario was taking this city by storm. My parents completely bought in and thus my hockey career started.

All thanks to #66. I still remember being downtown for the parade/party for winning the Cup. Greatest time to be a hockey fan.

Change the year to 1984 and this would pretty much be my exact post in this thread.

 

[lordstanley91]

2001 when I was 10 my dad was watching the NHL playoffs so I decided to join him. I remember how intense the game was and how much I was getting into it even though I didn’t know the rules (I played baseball and football growing up and hockey later). Then Straka stripped Gonchar at the blue line and went top cheese on Kolzig and I was hooked.

 

[mpp9]

You can’t grow up in Pittsburgh and not at least casually watch Lemieux and Jagr.

Pens Cup run in 08 really got me into hockey again.

 

[Pancakes]

I grew up in Massachusetts and learned to play hockey there. Like Crosby, I'm an 87 baby and in the early/mid 90s Mario/Jagr were at the height of their powers. Instead of gravitating towards the local team (which would have been Hartford or Boston I suppose) I opted instead to cheer for my favorite hockey player, Mario Lemieux. As he was on the Pens, they became my team.

I've stuck with the Pens ever since, even through the dark years when it looked like we might move and Rico Fata and Dick Tarnstrom were our best players. And I'm glad I did. They've rewarded me as a fan many times over.