Granted I don't care as much about Pro Sports as I did growing up. My sons have taken up that mantle. I really only follow the Red Raiders much these days but was thinking about my favorite teams and players growing up. My dad and both grandpas LOVED the Dallas Cowboys. Even though they had struggled for 3 years and had last won a Super Bowl 11 years before in 1977, my dad really took it hard when new owner Jerry Jones unceremoniously dumped Tom Landry. He was an icon and idol to my family. My dad told 12 year old me and my 9 year old brother that we'd never cheer for the Cowboys again, and not while Jerry Jones owned them. He said to pick a new team.
This coincided with me beginning to play organized school sports myself. So in 1989 I began to follow a former Dallas Cowboy named Dan Reeves and his young and cocky gunslinger named John Elway. Elway had Michael Jordaned the Cleveland Browns twice already but had come up short in two Super Bowls. He was preparing to take on the Joe Montana led juggernaut San Francisco 49ers in XXIV. My little brother picked the 49ers for his team. My brother cheered and I cried Red Raider tears as the 49ers whipped the Broncos in USC-Cotton Bowl-fashion, 55-10. The crushing defeat actually galvanized my under-dog love for the Broncos.
A young Jimmy Johnson reestablished Cowboy dominance and America's team but I refused to jump on the band wagon even though it was hard seeing all of my classmates, cousins, uncles, etc, return to being Dallas Cowboy fans again. My little brother took even more crap for being a 49er fan in Cowboy country during the 90s as that NFC rivalry really ramped up. He held his own while Neon Deion and Charles Hailey took turns on both teams.
In 1989 I also fell in sports love with a rookie NBA player named David Robinson. Living in Lubbock we weren't overly inundated with professional sports. We could catch the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS but that was about it. I became a Spurs fan and a Braves fan. I did see Nolan Ryan pitch and even got/have his autograph but the terrible Braves appealed to my under-dog heart. Little did I know that they would go from worst to first by 1991. I have been to dozens of Braves games in multiple parks. I LOVE(d) Chipper, Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz.
From 1989 until today, I've seen those Broncos, Spurs and Braves live and in person as well as on tv have some incredible seasons, highs and lows. While I do enjoy it now when the Cowboys are successful, I haven't been a band wagon fan. In that time frame,
Denver Broncos - Super Bowl Champions 1997, 1998, and 2015
San Antonio Spurs - NBA Champions 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014
Atlanta Braves - World Series Champions 1995
Who are your favorite teams to follow? What is your fan story?
This coincided with me beginning to play organized school sports myself. So in 1989 I began to follow a former Dallas Cowboy named Dan Reeves and his young and cocky gunslinger named John Elway. Elway had Michael Jordaned the Cleveland Browns twice already but had come up short in two Super Bowls. He was preparing to take on the Joe Montana led juggernaut San Francisco 49ers in XXIV. My little brother picked the 49ers for his team. My brother cheered and I cried Red Raider tears as the 49ers whipped the Broncos in USC-Cotton Bowl-fashion, 55-10. The crushing defeat actually galvanized my under-dog love for the Broncos.
A young Jimmy Johnson reestablished Cowboy dominance and America's team but I refused to jump on the band wagon even though it was hard seeing all of my classmates, cousins, uncles, etc, return to being Dallas Cowboy fans again. My little brother took even more crap for being a 49er fan in Cowboy country during the 90s as that NFC rivalry really ramped up. He held his own while Neon Deion and Charles Hailey took turns on both teams.
In 1989 I also fell in sports love with a rookie NBA player named David Robinson. Living in Lubbock we weren't overly inundated with professional sports. We could catch the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS but that was about it. I became a Spurs fan and a Braves fan. I did see Nolan Ryan pitch and even got/have his autograph but the terrible Braves appealed to my under-dog heart. Little did I know that they would go from worst to first by 1991. I have been to dozens of Braves games in multiple parks. I LOVE(d) Chipper, Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz.
From 1989 until today, I've seen those Broncos, Spurs and Braves live and in person as well as on tv have some incredible seasons, highs and lows. While I do enjoy it now when the Cowboys are successful, I haven't been a band wagon fan. In that time frame,
Denver Broncos - Super Bowl Champions 1997, 1998, and 2015
San Antonio Spurs - NBA Champions 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014
Atlanta Braves - World Series Champions 1995
Who are your favorite teams to follow? What is your fan story?
