The only player I can rationalize being a player-only-fan of would be one Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon. He can play for the utah fricken' jazz and I would still pull for him. As far as any of today's players? Uh....no. You leave Houston, you can kiss my bright red rosey on Main street. And that goes for all Houston teams.
I thought this title was Prayer Only Fans. And my thought was, well, how do I feel about them? They sound boring as hell.
Isn't that a player only fan? You don't like the team, just one player. Yao Only Fans were called out because it seemed they only cared about Yao and not the team.
i thought this was going to be a thread about the r. kelly song. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YOFxAn2gLR0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YOFxAn2gLR0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object> and yes, im a fan.
I'm from Australia so obviously there's no 'home' team. I've followed the NBA for over 15 years and was definitely more of a player fan. There were players I liked and I followed their careers such as Jordan, Penny, Grant Hill, Kemp and Dominique but I never really had a favourite team. Jordan was my favourite player but at one point I was actually sick of the Bulls winning and would root against them hoping to see a different champion. BUT And I'll admit this...I started following the Rockets when Yao entered the league. I was intrigued by this 7'7 Chinese guy that could actually play. Being Chinese myself I guess I really hoped the guy could 'represent'. I joined this BBS and have mainly lurked but I visit almost every day. Having been around here for a while now and become familiar with all the players and the fans (you wonderful people) I now consider myself a team first fan. Even if Yao moves on I will continue to support the Rockets. I think if you live in an NBA city you become a fan of the home team by default. If you don't, you need some other event to make you support that team above all others. For me, it was the commonality of heritage between Yao Ming and myself that made the Rockets my team of choice. But like I said, I've made the transition now to Rockets first. :grin: TLDR; I don't mind player only fans because I was one myself. What I actually hate are player only fans who have no basketball knowledge. They like Lebron, Wade and Kobe and buy all their gear because they are 'in'. But if you asked them where Kobe went to high school they'd have no idea. If you asked them to name 2 other Lakers they wouldn't be able to.
players only fans just have no appreciation and awareness of what sports are all about.. they just like the excitement, but don't want the love of the sport.. Team fans=marriage player fans=prostitute once that player starts sucking or retires, they move onto the next.
not true at all. It's the reason I'm such a Pujols fanboy. Because I have an appreciation of the sport. I hate the fact that he is donning enemy schwag, but the dude is a gift to baseball. If you refuse to root for him, that is understandable, but to deny what his place is in MLB history is moronic and petulant. The guy is a beast. I'm not asking anyone to be a fan of Pujols like I am. But if youre any sort of fan of baseball, you should to be a fan of Pujols by default. But, always, always hate the Cardinals.
I hate them... honestly, I think you can follow a player's career without being a player only fan.... the ones that flip flop who their favorite team is because of player movement isn't as acceptable. People ask me constantly if I will still be a Rockets fan if Chuck is traded or signs somewhere else and I say yes. I started out with no NBA team that held my affection. I tried to get into watching the Pistons when Prince went there, but I just wasn't into their team or organization. When Chuck was picked up by the Rockets I fell in love with JVG, Yao, even the drama around Tmac's back... Once that first full season started, when we picked up Shane, I was in. I just loved everything about the team. So now I'm a Rockets fan, who's favorite player is Chuck... rather than a Chuck fan who's favorite team is the Rockets. I could only do this because there is no Cincinnati NBA team.
I'm a player only fan. I have no shame about it. I rooted for the Lions when Barry Sanders played. Then I stopped following the NFL because no one was interesting enough to follow. Then I rooted for the Falcons when Michael Vick became a star. Now I follow basketball more. The first NBA team I followed was the Phoenix Suns when Kevin Johnson played. Then I started liking Dennis Rodman and followed the Spurs and the Bulls. Now I follow the Rockets because of Yao. I was knowledgeable about every team I followed, as well as the sport, not just about the player I liked, but the team was only important to me because the team's success reflects on the player's success. The first MLB team I followed were the New York Mets when Todd Hundley and Jeff Kent were playing as they were my favorite players. Then when they got traded I kept rooting for them but not their new teams because living in New York, I got more opportunities to watch the local teams and was impressed by Bernie Williams, so I started following the Yankees. Then when Barry Bonds started channeling Babe Ruth I was cheering for him but not the Giants because I was still primarily following the Yankees. Now I don't follow baseball much anymore. The only active athlete I root for is Yao Ming. There was just something transcendent that captivated me about each of these athletes the first times I watched them play that compelled me to keep watching them, while the other athletes in the sport didn't stand out to me. The individuals held my interest, and what team they were on were only incidental. It seems strange to root for a team just because they play in the same proximity of my residence. It does not account for personality or playing style. It's like blind nationalism translated into sports.
some people posting here are confused, one thing is that you like a player and you like seen him play and be succesful, and other thing is that you root a team just because your favorite player is on, about that team and if that player goes to other team, you are now a fan of the other team, and and you dont care now about the previous team. That is the true definition of a Player Only Fan And I dont like it, you should stick to a team to be a diehard fan, but you can still root for other players if they are playing any other team that is not your favorite. for example, your team is the rockets, but you like Nash and you want him to win against other team, but when the Suns plays against the rockets, you dont want him to win, maybe you want him to have a good game, but not win the game.
I don't really like it. I have only been a fan of one team my entire life, but if there was one player, it would be Hakeem. I just don't see that happening anymore though.
