NFL '09

[Udog]

Acceptable Reasons To Switch Teams

* Your team moves to another city.
* The man who made you a fan of your team cheats on you.
* Your favorite team is the Detroit Lions.

Don't forget the rare and sad times when the ownership basically screws over the fans repeatedly. I think Redskins fans are starting to reach that border.

Trust us, the hottest thing you can wear to bed is our broken-in regulation hockey or football jersey.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

On the whole an excellent set of tips, Effem, most of which successfully cross over to other sports. Re this part though:

Unacceptable Reasons To Choose Your Favorite Team

* You like the team's uniforms or colors.
* You like the animal that the team is named after (especially cats.)
* The team is a consistent winner and you like being associated with winnners.

I would place a caveat of "...unless you are under 10 years old." In that case it's acceptable imo to select a team to support for any of the above reasons, so long as you continue to support them even after you know better. Unlike marriage, sporting fandom is a binding commitment until death do you part. Even if you made a horrible choice. Especially if you made a horrible choice.

I'd also add another one purely for international rugby, since I've noticed that Americans especially are prone to this error:
* You like their pre-game cultural dance (eg haka)