Your Thoughts On Having Secondary Favourite Teams?

[crazyforhockey]

There is no right way, to be a fan

You can have secondary teams or not
You can love other players not on your team, which leads to watching that player more often, liking what you see from the team

You can have such a hard fought series, where you either hate the other team, or admire the toe to toe battle( esp when your team wins, but you gain an appreciation for the other team)

Do think the internet does lead to sone fans from all teams who's toxicity, puts a bitter taste in people's mouths
Not that it wasnt there in days past, but internet intensifies the anger.

In the 60s,70s teams stayed relatively stagnant in player movement, so your fav team remained your fav team, your fav player, stayed your player, so less impetus to cheer the other team

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

My only question is: what happens when the two teams you cheer for meet in the Stanley Cup Final?

You find out which one you actually love more.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Anyone who is a fan of a second team probably isn't a diehard fan of their first team. It's lame and cheap. And if anyone is a fan of two teams that are rivals it's even worse.

I used to work with a guy who liked Montreal and Ottawa evenly. Drove one of our other co-workers nuts.

I think it’s fine to have a second team you follow, but you should only have one favourite team. I’m an Ottawa fan, but I’ve always liked Edmonton and Winnipeg. I don’t follow them as closely as Ottawa, but I want to see them do well. Over the years, I’ve developed an affection for Calgary too, but the other Canadian teams can get bent.

 

[Rich Nixon]

I've always had one Western Conference team that I've pulled for, in addition to the Flyers, just for fun. Changes by era. First one was the Avalanche, both cause I loved Forsberg and also because they played teams I hated--Detroit and the Devils--in important playoff matchups. Second was Chicago when they were awful and then on-the-rise, because they were an iconic team that deserved to be prominent again (that ended sharply in 2010). Then St Louis a while, was always fond of the look, the scheme, and I thought they deserved a Cup. After that, Laviolette--one of my favorite coaches--ended up in Nashville, and so did I! So I rooted for them for a while, have a couple hats, but that's started to tail with Lavi gone and the team mediocre.

Still carry a fondness for all those teams besides Chicago, who I now actively dislike. I don't really choose the team, I just watch a ton of hockey and find myself wanting to watch and root for one rando team in the other conference, so I follow them for a while. Dunno who it will be next, but I'm pretty partial to the Flames.

This is like, way, way down there compared to the Flyers, who I will kill for. But it's just fun to familiarize yourself with another franchise and its players for a while and have a minor rooting interest in a few more games per season, makes things fun.

 

[neXis]

Usually people who only like one team are ones to never watch other teams play, making the sport localized. NHL gets a bad rap because of die hards who only watch their team and no one else. Hence NHL low ratings compared to other sports.

 

[96]

Usually people who only like one team are ones to never watch other teams play, making the sport localized. NHL gets a bad rap because of die hards who only watch their team and no one else. Hence NHL low ratings compared to other sports.

Lol.

Us, normal people, watch other teams play and like their individual players not just become fans of the team... Kane has probably been my favourite NHL player of all time, since 2010... I was never a Blackhawks or USA fan...

 

[Jacksonbobson]

I think it's disgusting.

 

[the4thlinegrinder]

I like to follow random teams in given years if they are exciting or have good prospects. I watched a lot of Thrashers games in 10-11 (RIP), Knights in 17-18, that sort of thing. I didn't really cheer for or get invested with those teams though. It was more for something to watch besides the Oilers.

I find it hard to establish a fandom of a team as an adult. I've tried (my city got a pro soccer team last year for example) but I can't develop the same passion and/or love for a team that I have for the Oilers who I've been a fan of my entire life. That's why I don't have a second favourite team.

 

[Edenjung]

I am a huge coyotes fan.
But at the same time i really like the islanders so i am a fan of them too.
Not as much as of the yotes but a fan nonetheless.

And i always cheer for the german in each team

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

I'm a Tampa Bay fan.

Aside from them, I watch and follow the Rangers closer than any other team in the league, but a large part of that is because I'm a fan of one of New York's baseball teams and interact with a lot of fans of both teams so it's just as much to have something else to talk about as much as it is anything else. I'm generally happy for their success when they have it and, sure, if the Lightning's season is over but the Rangers are still playing, then I'd rather the Rangers win the Cup than anyone else, but I would never call myself a Rangers fan or anything like that.

I've also had occasions in the past where I watched an inordinate amount of another team's games from the West - Calgary in '16-'17, Vancouver the next year - but, again, that's not the same thing at all. It was just as much a byproduct of finding those teams interesting and generally playing when the Lightning weren't.

I would be a hypocrite if I had a problem with liking multiple soccer teams, considering I do that. But that's a case of liking different teams from different leagues. I don't see a problem with that. But liking multiple teams that play in the same league? I can't do it.

 

[TheAngryHank]

When the Wings were in the west and always kinda liked the islanders and Philly , always respected the Devils.

 

[PavelBrendl]

Always have and always will be a Montreal Canadiens fan.

However, throughout most of my life, we haven't had really any superstar players (lots of love for Koivu though) and so I've always had a few teams I would root for because I liked the players. When I was a kid in the 90s and early 2000s, I couldn't get enough of the Red Wings and Avalanche. I didn't care that they were bitter rivals, those teams were tons of fun to watch and their rosters were stacked with so many of my favourite players. Those insane playoff series were win/win hockey for me.

After living in Winnipeg for a while, I developed a minor love for the Jets (bought a Throwback jersey with Laine's name on it and now consider pierogies an acceptable topping on hot dogs). Meanwhile, since the year I lived in Toronto, I never hated the Leafs more.

If you can only appreciate one hockey team, you're probably also the kind of person who just eats baloney on white bread for lunch every day.

 

[MoreOrr]

My only question is: what happens when the two teams you cheer for meet in the Stanley Cup Final?

Like when Boston faced Vancouver... It made me hate Vancouver for the first time. But I identified that "hate" as specifically referring to that Canucks' team. However, I've never felt quite the same about the Canucks since then.

On the other hand though, I've also always liked the Blues as like a 3rd or 4th "favorite", and when they won the Cup last year against the Bruins, I really hadn't developed a hate for them. I mean, I remembered the last time the Blues had a chance (small though it was) to win the Cup, and my Bruins swept them, and that was so long ago, I just didn't feel I could begrudge the Blues the Cup this time around. Though I certainly wanted the Bruins to win.

 

[MoreOrr]

Bruins 100%

I live in Vancouver and Canucks are my 2and favourite team. Still love em

Ask me how post 2011 has gone for me

I lived in Vancouver for a bit more than a decade, and I had already liked the Canucks before I lived there. For you, how did you feel about the Canucks during the Final between them and the Bruins? I do think it might have been just a tiny bit tougher for me if I had still been living there then, but with the Bruins not having won since 1972, there still wouldn't have been any way in hell that I would've rooted against them.

 

[SlapshotTheMovie]

I am all for having a team in the east and west... the thing is you dont get to champion your secondary team when they win. You can say you were rooting for them and shit but you dont get to act like their main fan base. So for me i am a rangers fan. But if the rangers game starts at 7 and the sharks start at 10 i can catch all of the rangers and 80% of the sharks game. Sadly since Vegas came on the scene i really only watch them outside the rangers or what i am betting on.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

extremely lame

This

 

[Taluss]

Plenty of reasons someone can have 2 teams to cheer for. Dont blame em at all

 

[HanSolo]

Formed my love of hockey through the Ducks. Vegas was just gonna be a casual follow given that I've lived in Las Vegas since 2005. But after the Mandalay Bay shooting and how integral the VGK became to the community, I have no moral hangups about supporting both teams. They both mean a great deal to me personally and if anyone else thinks it's "lame", I don't really give a shit.

 

[scorpiorising]

I lived in Vancouver for a bit more than a decade, and I had already liked the Canucks before I lived there. For you, how did you feel about the Canucks during the Final between them and the Bruins? I do think it might have been just a tiny bit tougher for me if I had still been living there then, but with the Bruins not having won since 1972, there still wouldn't have been any way in hell that I would've rooted against them.

I'll always like the Canucks. When both teams made it I knew I'd be happy either way. I grew up in a MTL Canadiens household.

 

[Sniper99]

Nothing wrong with it but they cant be in the same conference. I know a football fan who is a Cowboys Falcons fan I asked him so who do you root for if they meet in the conference final? "Oh I wish them both well and whatever happens, happens" GTFO

 

[ponder719]

Brian Zane of Wrestling With Wregret has a great quote, meant originally for wrestling but applicable pretty much everywhere: "Like what you like, don't be a d*ck." (Asterisk in the original quote.) That ought to be step one, and anyone who ignores that, I ignore their opinion.

That said, given a few minutes, I could write out tier lists of my top few teams in order, teams I root for or against situationally, teams I will always root against, and teams I loathe in just about every sport. I'm a Philly sports fan, but my wife's from DC, so we have a deal: she roots for Philly except when they're playing Washington, I root for Washington except when they're playing Philly. Beyond that, I tend to root for teams who I have family near (the Sharks, in hockey) and teams I just generally respect (the Blues), as well as teams that have never won a championship before. Can't root for them above my team, but outside of that, it's nice to care about other games being played.

 

[Brucelenok]

Proud Leafs (1st team) and Caps (secondary team mostly due to Ovi) fan right here. Been living in Toronto for 15 years, yet Ovi is my favourite player since he came into the League.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Wings fan ,but I'll also pull for any team playing the Penguins

 

[LokiDog]

Eh, I have teams I really like, as in I like a bunch of their players and enjoy watching them. It isn’t exactly the same as a “second favorite”. I have my team through thick and thin for life, but I am a “fan” of other teams, in so much as if I look at the nightly schedule and see them it’s a pretty automatic “yeah, I’m watching that game”. I guess there’s a difference between saying I’m a Rangers and Capitals fan as saying I’m a Rangers fan but I love watching the Avs, Blues, Caps, etc. I don’t know.

 

[King Mapes]

In my experience many who have more than one team are more of hockey fans than their team. They just enjoy the sport more and aren’t the diehard fans of one team.

For example, I don’t watch near as much hockey as I used to but when I did I liked watching Ducks or Avs do well but I wasn’t a hardcore Leaf fan. I was more of a hockey fan and would watch many non Leaf games. In basketball I would never. I’m a hardcore Raps fan and I only watch them. Same with Jays.