Would You Pick Another Team if the Brewers Moved?

[Warning Track Power]

Engaging in a little friendly bar debate with my friends last night and thought it would be a good topic to bring up.

 

The argument was basically would you root for another team if your team moved and if so why would you pick them?

 

Now I understand the Brewers do not face the possibility of moving anytime soon but the conversation was definitely an interesting one, especially when it turned into how your favorite team would become the team you hate the most if it left your city. Another interesting point that came up in the conversation for one guy was how he, a Yankee fan, would immediately root for the Red Sox as he felt that by rooting for his former favorite teams greatest rival would be his greatest ability as a fan to get back at his former team.

 

I know I would definitely be devastated if the Brewers ever left Milwaukee and I would immediately loathe them. Not sure I could bring myself to rooting for the Cubs or Cards but I do agree that would be the best way at getting back at the Brewers if they left. Not sure if I would ever find myself rooting for another team with the same passion I root for the Brewers either. But if I was forced to pick a team, with the economics of the game the way they are currently, it would be tough to not try and pull for a big market team and avoid the tough situations of being forced to trade fan favorites ala Prince Fielder once they get close to free agency.

 

So who would you root for? Being California-born and loving the NL, I'd probably have to go with the Dodgers or Giants. But for those of you who are Wisconsin-born, I'd imagine it would be a tougher call and a more interesting call as to who you would root for due to the closest teams being the biggest and most hated rivals.

[cwolf2012]

Honestly? Probably the Reds now. With Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto expressing so much disgust for the Cubs and the Cardinals, I could easily see myself rooting for them. I could also be a fan of the Rays, since I like how they are a small-payroll team actually beating big market teams.

[joepepsi]

I was an Oriole fan first, and though there hasn't been much to cheer about with them in the last decade, I'm still kinda known as an Oriole fan. Listening to Uecker after moving to Wisconsin turned me into a Brewer fan. I follow the Brewers more closely than the Orioles these days.

 

Except for the Brewers I've always been more of an AL fan. If they left Wisconsin or moved back to the AL, I wouldn't pay much attention to the NL. I'd probably follow the Orioles more, but I've also always liked the Twins and White Sox. I live closer to the Cities than Milwaukee, so it'd be easy to root for the Twinkies.

[cwolf2012]

"I live closer to the Cities than Milwaukee, so it'd be easy to root for the Twinkies. "

 

While the first half of that isn't true for me, I could probably convince myself to root for the Twins. It would be the only conceivable Minnesota team I could ever root for in any sport.

[davego]

Tigers or Indians.

[DuWayne Steurer]

If this question were asked before we moved to the NL, easy answer for me. When I was a kid, the Crew was my favorite AL team, and a distant 2nd, but my favorite NL team was the Cubs. (Now, I was a Cubs fan because one of my older brothers was drafted by them quite a long time ago) Now, I can honestly say I hate the Cubs, their fans, and their stadium with every fiber of my being.

 

I can't see myself just 'picking' another team. My sports loyalties have always been deeply ingrained in the state. I like the Brewers, Bucks, Packers, and Badgers. I follow Marquette, UW Green Bay, and UWM for college basketball as well. I follow UW hockey. I just can't see myself rooting for an out of state team that I arbitrarily choose.

[trwi7]

Mariners.

[bullox]

I moved across the country but haven't changed the teams I watch, will always be Wisconsin sports. Hard to say if I would stop watching them if they moved.

[CheezWizHed]

Its taken me a long time, as I'm still a bit miffed over 1987, but since the Brewers left the AL, I've kind of sorta rooted for the Twins. A Brewer/Twin WS would be awesome, IMO.

 

But without the Milwaukee Brewers, I'd probably not follow MLB baseball that much. What can I say? I'm a homer...

[BrewCrewForever]

I would still tell people I'm a Brewers fan, just like all those fans of the Expos when they moved to Washington.

 

I would probably mainly root for the Mariners and Rays. Mariners because I was a huge Griffey fan growing up and still like the team. Rays because I like the way the team is run and love most of the good young players on the team.

[colbyjack]

This was a very realistic discussion about 15 years ago, and I honestly didn't know who I would root for. No way could I ever root for any Chicago team, but I really respect the Twins organization from top to bottom.

 

I also remembering thinking that if the Brewers did leave you would think they would almost immediately become a AAA city. If so, I would root for that team, and probably whoever their parent club was. Unless it was a team I couldn't stand, like the Cubs or Cardinals (and that would have been a crushing double-whammy had it shaken out like that). Even then, I don't think I could ever get hardcore into a team from top to bottom like I do now, meaning I probably wouldn't have followed the other affiliates like I do currently.

[RockCoCougars]

If the Brewers moved, I would probably stop watching MLB altogether. I definitely wouldn't have rooting interest for any particular team unless I had money riding on them.

[hawing]

In 1995, when (as colbyjack correctly states) the future of the Brewers in Milwaukee looked anything but clear, I actually had a mental short list of teams to which I would consider switching loyalties, if worse came to worst.

 

It was mostly small/smaller market teams: Cleveland, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Seattle. I list them alphabetically because I don't remember if I had them ranked otherwise. I'll bet I'd have had Tampa Bay on the list if they'd existed then. I don't think I had Colorado on the list, but I wouldn't add them now. I don't remember having the Twins on the list.

 

My hatred for the Cubs hadn't really deepened yet, but I didn't feel they needed my support as a fan. Same went for the mega-market NY and LA-area teams. St. Louis, naturally, was right out. Like Warning Track Power, whatever new identity the Brewers franchise took on would immediately become the Anti-Franchise to me, to be loathed. I don't know if I would loathe the players, but ownership? no doubt.

[RightFieldCoder]

How many people in Milwaukee still cheer for the Braves? It seems they come to the park every year they come back (though in dwindling numbers).

 

I'd start following pennant teams. I've had my fill of losing.

[patrickgpe]

The Indians are my favorite AL team so probably them. I still think that depending on the circumstances of the brewers move i'd still follow them. Since I follow these players from draft day on, I just don't see me stopping if the brewers left. Of course I haven't had a team relocate on me so I can't be sure of that.

[Sage]

If the Brewers moved, I think I would follow the Royals. Those guys have a bright future with lots of young talent coming up, and they've got the right guy at the helm managing that young talent.

[BrewCrewRising]

For me there are three possibilities:

 

1) I started at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in 1987. Since I was moving away from home for the first time, I decided I'd root for both the Twins and the Brewers. And then the Twins won the WS when I thought the Brewers were a better team. A bunch of people on my dorm room floor were kind of jerky about how the Twins won and the Crew had never won, and so I never did become a Twins fan.

 

And then when Bud Selig was going to contract the Twins and they started winning, I thought I would root for them because I thought they were getting screwed.

 

But now I can't feel sorry for them, and my old prejudices remain. I really do admire the organization though. So, I would probably follow them and root for them, but not be that invested in it.

 

2) I live in Chicago now, and I couldn't root for either of these teams. I have a softer spot for the White Sox since my grandpa was a fan, but I still associate the team with thuggery.

 

3) Otherwise I might root for the Pirates because I loved the stadium and was suprised by how much fun Pittsburgh was when I first visisted it.

 

But all in all, I think I would just loosely follow minor league ball more.

[Polish Falcons]

I don't really think it's possible for a die hard fan, who follows a particular team from the time he was growing up, to just switch gears and become a fan of another team. Sure you can have a soft spot for other teams, just like I do now with teams the Rays, A's, O's, and Pirates, but you will never be passionate about another team in anywhere near the same manner as the Brewers. My dad grew up when the Milwaukee Braves were in town. When they left he didn't follow them or any other team until the Brewers came to town. That's the only circumstance, a new team relocates... I do like colby's comment about following the AAA team in Milwaukee, and their parent organization. Again though the level of fandom just wouldn't be the same. Me personally I would keep following MLB just as close because I am huge baseball fan, but I don't think I would ever be as devoutly indebted to another team as I am to the Brewers. I would do like I'm about to do now, turn on mlb.tv and find the best game of the evening since the Brewers played a day game.

[homer]

Since I live in Chicago and hate the Cubs I would probably pick the White Sox just because they hate it when the Sox do anything good.

[logan82]

I would probably drop baseball all together. Even now I have little or no interest in baseball outside of the Brewers. That is of course unless the Yankees suck so I can give my neighbor a hard time.

[Godspeed]

I would drop baseball entirely if not for the Brewers, kinda like I dropped the NBA after they folded the Bucks after during the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals...

[craigharmann]

Yep, the Packers.

[Team Canada]

Maybe the Twins, passively, but I probably wouldn't care as much about any team in particular.

[Funketown]

I'd move to the Twins eventually. However, they'd never take the #1 spot on my personal rankings. Right now, they go 1) Brewers 2) Canucks 3) Packers. They'd switch to 1) Canucks 2) Packers 3) Twins.

 

Luckily we don't have to worry about this anytime in the near future. Unless the classic baseball hotspot Orlando gets their way.

[JimH5]

I like to listen to WFAN, the flagship station of the Mets. They have enough misery going on with that franchise that they would be a good fit for me.

 

Other than that, the Twins seem like a fine franchise. I like Minneapolis, and would probably make it up to their stadium once a year or so.

 

But with fantasy baseball, it's really possible to be a fan of the game in general. To have your set of guys, scattered throughout both leagues, and to keep an eye on them.