Picking a favorite sports team at a very young age is a tradition for some that can last throughout their lives, and they may also pass it down to their children.
In Pennsylvania, the popular teams are usually the Philadelphia Eagles, the Phillies, the 76ers and the Flyers.
However, some get their teams from family or from the state they moved from.
“My mom’s side of the family has been in Denver for generations. I inherited that from her, and I grew up moving around all over the place. I never really had one spot that I lived,” senior Troy Fritz said. “I just kind of picked that as my team when I was really little, and ran with it ever since.”
A similar idea can be found in sophomore Jacob Ruth. According to Ruth, he’s been a Kansas City Chiefs fan for 5-6 years due to his dad’s love for the team.
“He’s been a Chiefs fan since he was a kid,” Ruth said, “and that made me become a Chiefs fan.”
The same thing rings true for freshman Caleb Garrett. His family has influenced him greatly to support Harding University.
“All my family pretty much went there,” Garrett said. “When my cousin decided to go to college there, that was when I decided to become a fan.”
Garrett has been a fan of Harding University for about four years now, and his family played a huge role in that. According to Garrett, he and his immediate family members, with his cousins and uncle, got to watch Harding University play in the finals together.
For some, it’s the environment that causes them to pick the team; they become fans of teams even if they are not in the state.
“My sister went to college at Pitt, and that’s when I started liking football. I just grew up going there a lot,” junior Matthew Kearns said.
According to Kearns, he has been watching the Steelers play since he was in the second grade.
The team can also play a huge role in why a person is a fan of the team they choose. For junior Landon Harrison, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers were the local team, and the Cavs won the championship when LeBron was there,” Harrison said.
Being an out-of-state fan can lead to fun rivalries between friends and families, but at the same time, they can bond over that.
“My dad and my sister are both Eagles fans, and my mom and I are Broncos fans, so we’re kind of like a house divided,” Fritz said. “When it comes down to it, if they’re playing with each other, it can get a little heated, obviously, in a joking kind of way.”
Having a team that is not in a different state can make it difficult to watch their home games in person due to living such a distance away.
Nevertheless, Fritz got his opportunity to watch his Denver Broncos play the Philadelphia Eagles in person in Philadelphia.
The trip was worthwhile to him because he got to watch the Broncos beat the Eagles 21–17.
For computer science teacher Michael Olenick, his choice of team was based off simple sibling rivalry. Olenick’s favorite NFL team is the Dallas Cowboys.
“I had an older brother and he was a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan. He still is,” Olenick said. “It was about the time when you’re discovering sports teams and they were playing the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. So since he was a Steelers fan, I had to pick the opposite.”