Your home team is out. Who do you root for?

[RoJoHen]

I was just watching the NFC Championship with my mom and my sister, and it was really funny watching them cheer. My mom was cheering for the Vikings, and my sister was cheering for the Saints. Keep in mind that we are from Chicago.

This is something that I've always wondered about. When your home team (in my case it's the Bears) loses and is out for the season, how to you pick your next team?

Please, try to apply this to more than just this football season. I'm talking sports in general. Your team is out...who do you root for next, and why?

 

[Aragorn]

Well in the case of the Super Bowl, the Saints have never been there before and I like Drew Brees. I like Peyton Manning but I hate the Colts owner. So Saints it is. I wanted to see a Saint-Chargers SB actually.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

In the '08 World Series, I rooted for Tampa Bay, mainly because I thought they could use the resulting publicity (if they'd won) to get a new stadium. God knows they need one.

But in general, if my Yankees or Mets aren't in the postseason in any given year, I won't really root for any team in particular (unless the Red Sox are in, in which case I'll cheer for their opponent ).

Although in last year's NL playoffs, I was kind of rooting for the Dodgers, 'cuz I thought they would have been the most exciting opponent for the Yankees. Plus I really wanted to see the two Joes (Girardi and Torre) go up against each other.

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm a Braves and Bears fan. I also will cheer for the Cubs, or whichever NFC or NL team is left, unless it's a team is playing the Mets or the Phillies, which every good Braves fan should hate.

 

[Pegaritaville]

In baseball, if my team (the Twins) goes out I'll root for whichever team from our division is still in. After that I tend to root for whoever is the AL underdog (which in baseball often means the team with the lower payroll).

In hockey, I'll also root for the division when my team is out. But there are a few teams that I dislike enough that it makes that difficult. Then I'll root for whatever team has the most players I like.

I'm a bit different when it comes to the NFL. I'm a Packers fan first, but a rabid anti-Vikings fan second. So if my team goes out and the Vikes are still in, any team playing against them gets my support (I couldn't make myself root for Dallas a few weeks ago, though). After that, it depends on the players and or the team. Case in point: I can't stand Peyton Manning, so I'll be rooting for New Orleans all the way.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Arsenal.

 

[Roger Wilco]

It depends, in American Football I don't really have much "passion" so my priorities are different than for example in Real Football. Generally I don't like to root for teams everybody seems to like - like the Saints this year, but I also rather prefer the underdog usually. There are also some minor superficial factors like colour (I can't root for a purple team) or tradition (the older the club the better).

In Football my support for a team other than my own, is primarily defined by dislike/hatred for other teams, so I root for one team to lose rather than their opponents to win. I usually don't have "second choices" in that.

 

[SmoothieX]

The Pats got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. Leaving me with a very unappealing matchup of Jets-Colts for the AFC Title. Nothing good could come out of that, other than a black hole enveloping the stadium at halftime.

Given the choice, I visited my parents to celebrate my Mom's birthday.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I root first for my team. When they're out, I root for the team playing a team I hate (in certain situations, I root against a specific situation or for the lesser of two evils). If that fails, I try to find a team I'm a bit sympathetic towards and root for them. I'll almost always root against the team that beat my team, but not guaranteed.

For example, in this year's playoffs, I rooted for the Eagles. When they lost I picked the Saints (sympathetic towards them getting a championship) and the Vikings (rooting against the Cowboys for many, many reasons). Then I picked the Saints over the Vikings because I didn't really want to hear more about Favre (prevent a situation from happening), but I decided that, if the Vikings won, I'd root for them (Manning had a more recent Super Bowl, plus I was grateful to the Vikings for beating the Cowboys).

So, now I'm rooting for the Saints.

 

[Mallory]

Team, division, conference is my order. If my team is out and there are no other teams left from my division, then I tend to root against the teams I dislike rather than for someone else.

 

[tomalak301]

Depending on the sport, I go for the feel good stories or Underdogs. So for example:

College Basketball - I love upsets in the tournaments so I really root for that. Saw what George Mason did a few years ago and it was just incredibly awesome.

College Football - Same as Basketball. Root for the upsets or just a good game

Baseball - Anyone but the Yankees and soon to be Red Sox. It was fun seeing the Rays in the ALCS a few years ago.

NFL - New Orleans is a feel good story, and I like Payton Manning. I hope it's a good game, but I'll root for the Feel good story and not feel bad if the Colts win.

NBA - This one really don't matter. I guess anyone but the Lakers, but I don't follow it that much (And the Warriors suck every year to follow it) to really make a determination.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

I'd root for the team that plays against the team that knocked my team out.
EG: in 2004 Calgary knocked off Vancouver so I rooted for San Jose then Tampa Bay.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd root for the team that plays against the team that knocked my team out.

This is why I actually found myself cheering for the Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS. I did this because they were playing the Indians, who had just beaten the Yankees in the ALDS. And I felt I could not immediately start cheering *for* the Indians who I had just been rooting *against*.

Of course I'd never do this now. I woke up.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I don't follow sport very much, just a some soccer and the Olympics.

However. In international soccer competition (like UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup), if my team is out I usually root for other Italian teams, or any team supported by my friends (simply for the fact that I want them to be happy).

 

[Chaos Descending]

If my team makes it to the playoffs, but then gets beaten, I tend to root for the team that beat them, because I like the idea that "only the actual champions were able to beat my team".

Unless the team that beats my team is a team that I generally hate, and I really only have a couple of those.

If my team doesn't even make the playoffs, I usually don't pay attention to who remains.

 

[Maestro]

It really depends on the sport. When the Packers are done, I'm pretty much done with the NFL. I like Payton Manning, so I'll pull for the Colts in the Superbowl, but most of the time I'm "meh" about the NFL postseason.

In the NHL, once the Wild are done, I'll follow other teams that I happen to like.

In college football, once Bucky is done, then I either root for the remaining Big Ten teams, unless I hate them. Then I root against. The same is really true of college basketball. Once the Big Ten has been marginalized in the Tourny, then I root for the underdog or which ever team I picked in the pool. In fact, college hockey is the same. Once Bucky's done, I root for the remaining Big Ten (not WCHA) teams, except for Minnesota. I never root for Minnesota in hockey. And I never root for North Dakota either.

The NBA isn't real.

The only Olympic team sports I watch are hockey and basketball (although I found softball to be fascinating two years ago, but, it's gone now). Once the US is done, in hockey, I'll throw my support behind Canada, followed by Russia. Once the US is done in basketball, I'm done watching.

In the Soccer World Cup, once the US proves it doesn't belong there, I'll root for England. After that, it's sort of like the NCAA Basketball tourney... root for the underdog.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

In most cases, whoever is playing against Australia.

 

[BRG]

In International football or rugby, when Scotland are out, I will usually support Ireland. At the 2010 World Cup, with the Scots & Irish both at home, will support Italy.

In club football, when my Killie are out, I'll support any team who are up against Celtic or Rangers.

And in other sports, when my favorite team are out, I will cheer on the underdog. So I will be supporting the Saints at next weeks Super Bowl!
BRG