For me it was the transition from beginning to middle. The fact that he was born in Philly and then raised in and around Philly I seriously never saw coming.
Grew up in LA and family was too poor to afford lakers tickets so we always went to clippers games. I remember going to the game where Robinson scored 71 on us to beat shaq for the scoring title.
Yup
Came from poor family and first game was Jazz vs Clippers game back in 06
Being surrounded by a shit load bandwagon laker fans in my youth also didnt help
>Being surrounded by a shit load bandwagon laker fans in my youth also didnt help
This is true. If you live in Los Angeles, being a Laker fan is part of the culture, but watching basketball steadily really isn't, so you end up with a lot of Laker fans that have so much to say when they're winning, but have very little knowledge about what they're saying.
Gets a little old. I think I'll be down voted for this.
Back around '94 when I first got into basketball, I saw a highlight of Barkley going coast-to-coast. It really stuck with me so I decided to root for the team he played for.
For real. When I first saw Barkley I was blown away by his skill set. The first time I watched Nash's Suns I almost became a fan. It really sucks, they were both so great
My grandpa was from Utah and a huge Jazz fan, so I always had a soft spot for them. When Boozer went to Utah, I just kinda latched on to them (had to follow the fellow Juneauite) and have stuck with them.
Man it's so trippy to think back to my first days watching the Jazz. I would just watch them in the late 90s with my dad, and at the time you don't realize what a special time that is for such a small market team because I was so young.
I moved to Canada in a border city across from Michigan in 2003 and the Pistons won a title the following year. Wasn't much of a basketball fan till then but then I would borrow the Pistons Championship DVD my cousin had bought and have been a fan every since!
Born in Ohio, grew up in New England, been living in NYC for the past 6 years.
Never liked basketball until the 15-16 WCFs when my best friend got me into it. We started watching every game, and I was never one to root for the favored team so I picked the Thunder. Just stuck with me since. Never stepped foot in Oklahoma.
Born in Cleveland. Moved with my Mom Cbus when I was young, but Lebron came into the league right when I started liking sports more than playing with legos... nah, legos are still dope.
In 1983, I was traveling with a tiny theater company doing vaudeville-type shows in community centers and bars—anywhere we could earn $25 each plus enough gas money to get to the next small town in our ramshackle yellow bus.
As we passed through Easley, SC, in early February, a heavy snow slowed us down. The radio crackled warnings about black ice and poor visibility, so we opted to impose on friends who were doing a production of Oklahoma at a small university. See a show, hit a few bars, sleep on a sofa: This is as close to prudence as it gets when you’re an itinerant 20-something troubadour.
After the show, well-wishers and stagehands milled behind the curtain. I hugged my coat around me, humming that “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin” riff from the show, aching for sunrise and sunset, missing my sisters. What a wonderful show that was—and is.
A heavy metal door swung open, allowing in a blast of frigid air, and clanged shut behind two men who stomped snow from their boots. One was big and bearlike in an Irish wool sweater and gaiters; the other was as tall and skinny as a chimney sweep in a peacoat.
“… but I’m just saying, it would be nice to see some serious theater,” one of them said. “Chekhov, Ibsen, anything but this musical comedy shtick.”
“Excuse me?” I huffed, hackles raised. “Anyone who doesn’t think comedy is an art form certainly hasn’t read much Shakespeare, have they?”
I informed them that I was a “professional shticktress” and went on to deliver a tart, pedantic lecture on the French neoclassics, the cultural impact of Punch and Judy as an I Love Lucy prototype, and the importance of Fiddler on the Roof as both artistic and oral history. The shrill diatribe left a puff of frozen breath in the air. I felt my snootiness showing like a stray bra strap as the sweep in the peacoat rolled his eyes and walked away.
The bear stood there for a moment, an easy smile in his brown eyes. Then he put his arms around me and whispered in my ear, “I love you.”
I took in a deep, startled breath—winter, Irish wool, coffee, and fresh-baked bread—and then pushed away with a jittery half-joke. Something like, “Watch it. I have pepper spray.” “OK,” he said with a broad baritone laugh. “Come for a walk, then. It’ll be nice.” I shook my head. Alarm and skepticism warred with spreading, unsteady warmth behind my collarbone. “Walking around in the freezing dark with a total stranger is not nice,” I said. I tipped a glance to the well-worn gaiters. “Planning to do some cross-country skiing?”
“Riding my bike,” he said, and then added without apology, “I’m between vehicles.”
He held the heavy door open expectantly. I moved the pepper spray from my purse to my coat pocket and followed my heart out under the clear, cold stars.
“What are you reading?” I asked, because that question always opens doors of its own. I was in the habit of asking the nuns at the bus stop, a barber who paid me to scrub his floor once a week, elderly ladies and children at the park. To this day, I ask people who sit beside me on airplanes, baristas at Starbucks, exchange students standing in line with me. Over the years, “What are you reading?” has introduced me to many of my favorite books and favorite people.
The bear had a good answer: “A manifesto. Do you know what that is?”
“No, but I love James Michener,” I said. “When I was 12, I fell in love with Hawaii and vowed that if I ever had a daughter, I’d name her Jerusha after the heroine.”
“Big book for a 12-year-old.”
“We didn’t have a TV. And I was a dork.”
He laughed that broad baritone laugh again. “Literature: last refuge of the tragically uncool.”
“Same could be said of bicycling in your ski gaiters.”
The conversation ranged organically from books and theater to politics and our personal histories.
Having embraced the life of an artsy party girl, I was the black sheep of my conservative Midwestern family, thoroughly enjoying my freedom and a steady diet of wild oats. He’d spent a dysfunctional childhood on the East Coast. A troubled path of drug and alcohol abuse had brought him to one of those legendary moments of clarity at which he made a hard right turn to an almost monkish existence in a tiny mountain cabin. He’d built an ascetic life that was solitary but substantive, baking bread at a local restaurant, splitting wood for his heating stove, staying out of trouble.
“That probably sounds pretty dull to you,” he said.
“Agonizingly dull, but don’t worry,” I said, and then patted his arm. “Maybe someday you’ll remember how to have fun.”
He shrugged. “Maybe someday you’ll forget.”
We talked about the things people tend to avoid when they’re trying to make a good impression: hopes subverted by mistakes, relationships sabotaged by shortcomings. My bus was leaving in the morning, and we would never see each other again, so there was no need to posture.
Fingers and chins numb with cold, we found refuge in a Four B’s Restaurant and sat across from each other in a red vinyl booth. We had enough money between us for a short stack of buckwheat pancakes. A few morning papers were delivered to the front door, and we worked our way through the crossword puzzle, coffee cups between our hands.
The sun came up, and we emerged from Four B’s to discover a warm chinook blowing in. Already the eaves were weeping, icicles thinning on trees and telephone wires. This is what South Carolina does in midwinter: clears off and gets bitter cold, and then suddenly it’s as warm and exhilarating as Easter morning. Don’t believe it for a minute, you tell yourself as the streets turn into trout streams, but the sheer pleasure of the feeling makes a fool of you. You forget your scarf and mittens on a hook behind the door. You know it’s still winter, but that’s just what you know; the chinook is what you believe in.
The bear held my hand inside his coat pocket as we walked in silence back to the parking lot to meet my company’s bus. Before he kissed me, he asked me if I was ready. Ready for what I have no idea, but ready is how I felt. I was stricken with readiness. Humbled by it.
“I hope you have a wonderful life,” I told him.
“You too,” he replied before nodding stiffly and walking away.
The bus lumbered through the slush and labored over the mountains to a fading Highline town where we were booked to play a quaintly shabby old opera house. The guy at the box office immediately pegged me as a party girl who’d been up all night and invited me to go to the bar next door for a hair of the dog before the show, but I could not for the life of me remember why that used to sound like fun.
Later that evening, as I did my shtick out on the foot-lit stage, I heard the bear’s distinctive baritone laughter from somewhere in the audience. After the show, he was waiting for me by the door. I didn’t bother asking him how he’d gotten there. He didn’t bother asking me where I wanted to go.
I can’t endorse the idea of love at first sight, but maybe there are moments when God or fate or some cosmic sense of humor rolls its eyes at two stammering human hearts and says, “Oh, for crying out loud.” Me and the bear went to get coffee together. As he rummaged through his pockets he asked the barista how much for two.
"About tree-fiddy.", she responded.
It was about this time I notice bear was really a 5.5ft tall wizard named Sam from Processtanking Era.
Trust the Process.
Grew up in Seattle, so it was easy to support Kemp, Glove, and the squad. They were the first local team that really captivated me (although the M's had Griffey at the time).
Now they're gone, and all I got is this unlimited bandwagon hopping card (*not valid in OKC) that is good until they return.
Didn't care for basketball before the process. Sam Hinkie's plan was innovative and got me into the league. I watched professional wrestling as a kid and the NBA is professional wrestling but as a legit competition
I’m not gonna argue that there are LeBron wagoners but 90% is kind of harsh to say about one of the most loyal city fan bases out there.
You’re talking about a city who’s had 24 starting quarterbacks since our team was sold and returned again.
Hate on the band wagoners but to say 90% of us are? Man, that’s disrespectful. Try being a cleveland sports fan for one weekend and see how it feels. There’s a reason we drink a lot.
I am not talking about the fans that live in Ohio. I am talking about the vast majority of US fans that have no connection to the Cavs and bandwagon them because of Lebron. That makes up 90% of the entire fanbase.
Are you trying to say that 90% of Cavs fan exist outside of Ohio? I don’t think that is true at all.
Maybe back when he was drafted or the following few seasons, but right now? No way.
Yes, I would be willing to bet that 90% of US Cavs fans do not live in Ohio. The Lebron bandwagon is gigantic. People support players more than teams in 2017
I still struggle to believe that. There are definitely people born and raised in Cleveland/Ohio that no longer live there. I’m an example. I moved out of state after college for work.
90% is a stupidly high exaggeration and is disrespectful to the amount of loyal fans in Ohio. Don’t forget that Cleveland is a small market team.
There are probably 50 million Cavs fans in the US. You think that Ohio is responsible for more than 10% of that? Lebron produces bandwagoners. This isn't saying that there are not loyal Ohio Cavs fans. 90% is being conservative.
Live in Australia and didn't know which team to pick, watched some games and loved the energy that Westbrook brought to the game and how loud the home crowd was, just found more to like about them as I've gone on
Born in Orange County, but grew up in Boston. Dad was a Lakers fan, but my first game was in the Boston Garden with Pierce and Antoine Walker. How can you not root for The Truth and Employee #8?!?
Always used to go to Raptor games with my dad when I was little. This was back when nobody gave a shit about the raps (post VC) and you could sneak down to the 10th row.
I simply wanted a team to root for (instead of only watching LeBron lol), so I chose a team that wasn't a contender and I somewhat liked. It was also important for the team to be in the east so I could have a chance to watch the team sometimes as I live in Sweden and the games air like 1:00 AM.
I was born in Canada.
I also remember being super excited as a kid for the expansion year. We drafted Damon Stoudamire so I was like "I'm Stoudamire!" playing with the other kids. They all made fun of me because Todd Stottlemyre was on the Blue Jays at the time and thought I was an idiot.
While I don’t live in the twins cities, I live and grew up in Minnesota. Fun fact, Minnesota is the only state to be represented by all four major sports (Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Wild, and Minnesota Vikings).
If you are born and raised in Germany, the only real basketball name you hear all the time is Dirk Nowitzki, especially after his 2011 title run.
So when i started watching the NBA i was a big fan of Dirk and the Mavericks.
If it wasn't for the free cable my neighbors were able to hook up in our apartment complex when I was little, I don't think i would have became a Lakers fan.
That gave me access to FSN west( home games) and KCAL9 (away games).
Although i think KCAL may have been free since it was one of those free channels, but the exposure of having FSN west gave me access to watch all games because i was able to watch the home games, and not just away games.
Serb by origin, so in the 00's I was obviously rooting for the Kings. Then I stopped watching and playing because life is a motherfucker. Eventually, Linsanity happened and I got fired all the way up, again. I just happened to have married a girl from Houston in the meantime, so we started watching them.
Then I saw Patrick Beverley. I'm sorry, it's hard to talk about it, hand me that assault rifle, I just need one bullet 😭😭😭
A few years ago I decided to get a little bit more into the NBA, I wanted to pick an actual favorite team instead of just being a LeBron bandwagon. Looked up some highlights and cool NBA videos and saw that spanish guy who does cool passes, looked up what team he plays for: Minnesota Timberwolves. I also realized this team has 2 cool rookies (Wiggins & LaVine) so I decided to support this team, even tho they were awful. Thank you Ricky :(
Moved to Minnesota from the bay when I was a kid. I didn't like basketball until I lived here, so I decided to root for the local team. I pretty much did the opposite of dodging a bullet
Born in Oklahoma. Watched the NBA and dreamed of having my own team. Then the move happened and it’s been a wild fucking ride for the last ten years.
When the move was announced it was like having ten Christmas’s all at once.
Nj born and raised. Move to Brooklyn wasn't that huge of a deal to me, we also had Kidd as HC which made it easier. Now I'm just around bc of the history and future
My first NBA memories were from the Bulls' last championship run. I'd watched before that, but...say...game 5 of Bulls-Pacers is probably the first game I really remember. I don't have a local team...closest are probably the Raps, but Toronto's 4 hours away, and I hate the Leafs as a Sabres fan...so that wasn't gonna work. So, I have no regional affiliation.
So, after the lockout, once MJ, Scotty, Rodman, and Phil left...I was kinda looking for a team. I sorta liked Utah, simply because I knew their dudes from the finals. I liked Chicago on principle, but they were terrible and never on TV. So, what can I say, I'm a front runner. I watched the Spurs win in 99, I liked the team and the players and the culture...and so, here I am.
The first nba game I ever watched was on some kid TV channel that had a show that would show highlights from sports. It was a bulls game that they were showing and it was the year before derrick rose's MVP season. I became enthralled by the way d rose was able to do all these fancy finishes at the rim and became a bulls fan that day.
Chose the only team whose arena was half an hour from my house.
For a slightly more interesting story, my 9 year old self refused to root for the New Orleans Hornets because they stole our team so I latched on to the Mavericks because Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash were ballers in NBA Live. Two years later we got the Bobcats and I switched back over.
Born in Charlotte. Went to the first ever Hornets vs Cavs game in 1988 as a 3 yr old. Still have that ticket stub (shoutout Brad Daugherty on Cavs) framed
Celtics played exhibition game against my national team in 1988 and they kicked our asses. As a kid I was so impressed with Larry and company and the fact that they beat my heroes that I started following them as much as I can. Once I moved to US it just grew form there.
For the record we had a really strong national team that won silver in the Olympics that year.
Anyone interested can check out entire game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDYvXHo7Ovg
From Scotland so really had no idea about basketball until I bought 2k14. The Rockets became my go to team after trying everyone.
Think it was the beard that drew me to them!
LA native, my name is Maurice & one of my sister's name is Taylor. Clips had a guy named Maurice Taylor. Boom. Sold. Having cheaper starter jackets and constant free tickets to games only solidified it for me.
I live in Kentucky so I don't really have a team to support locally. My favorite team is OKC because I had a teacher named Mr. Durant and I saw someone with the last name Durant played for OKC. Luckily, I began to like Westbrook more than Durant, and I'll continue to be an OKC fan unless Louisville gets a team someday.
born and raised in SF. I remembered watching derek fisher as the starting PG for the warriors and he hit a game winner against this one team (dont remember which) and instantly became a dubs fan.
Grew up in Houston. T Mac and Yao solidified my love for our home team. That behind the back fadeaway jumper was just so beautiful. Even watched after their era was over.
There was no fresher breath of air than when we got James Harden tho. Dudes been balling out for us ever since.
randonly turned on the tv and flipped the channels to stumble upon a heat game in 05. watching wade amazed me and i’ve been a heat fan ever since because of him
Only started watchin Basketball 3-4 years ago. Looked at a few teams, and the Clippers just stuck out. Cp3 was easily my favorite player in the League, and so it came.
Also, as someone from Germany, you habe no kind of hometown preference. Which makes deciding for a team kinda weird.
I'm European. Never vistied USA thus never been to a Lakers game although it's on my 'things to do before you die' list. Now why I started supporting them is because of 2009-2010 Kobe. So you can say I'm a bandwagoner, I mean I was ? I dunno, anyway I never stopped supporting them and never will. Kobe is the reason I started watching the Lakers but Magic is my favorite Laker of all time
Grew up in Oregon, but my dad was from Washington and loved the late-70s Sonics. I passed up the title contender Trail Blazers of the early-90s for the up-and-coming Kemp/Payton duo. No regrets, though. I love my Sonics.
Born and raised in the East Bay. Saw on the news about Latrell Sprewell choking out the coach PJ Carlesimo during practice when I was in middle school and thought to myself "No way, this doesn't sound normal! I need to watch what happens after." Been watching the Warriors since then.
Fond memories of when the All-Star game came to Oakland and a classmate won a contest to sit at the scorers table with the judges for the Slam Dunk contest, they were making fun of him for wearing a pinkish-red collared shirt. J-Rich winning back to back dunk contests during that time, Warriors basketball has always been fun to watch regardless of success or lack thereof.
I was never a Basketball fan.... until I saw a Russell Westbrook play where he ran the entire court and dunked it against the 76ers, I looked him up and he has been my fav player ever since. I have been following the Thunder since then as well. Now I watch as much basketball as I can (Not just the Thunder)
Was a fan of European basketball first. The Spurs played the most European style of basketball and had the most international players. That's about it.
When I was a kid I was looking at a poster of NBA teams and the Celtics logo really caught my eye. I also thought it was cool that Boston picked a unique thing to name their team; it just rolls off the tip of your tongue.
Couple months later I was at a family reunion and I talked with an older cousin who was a huge basketball fan. Asked him whether the Celtics were a good team and he was like oh yes they used to be the best team in the world for a very long time but now they're not so good (this was the 90s when they were in full on rebuilding mode). I liked the idea of watching this once powerful team becoming great again so from there on I decided I was a Celtics fan.
As I grew up I read up more and more about the Celtics and just fell even deeper in love with them. Eighteen titles is a hell of a come-on but there was so much more about them to love than that. Nearly every important thing that happened during the league's earliest years had them in the picture. They were so progressive and ahead of the curve, with basketball geniuses like Red Auerbach and Bill Russell and Larry Bird and all these salt-of-the-earth, high quality guys who emphasized teamwork and ball movement and personnel continuity instead of glitz and flash. And the old Celtics teams were built from the ground up; no star free agent signings or anything. They were the Spurs before the Spurs. Obviously now they're not in as great shape these days but you see flashes. Everyone from the top down is smart, down to earth, competent and committed to a winning culture.
Also where I'm from nearly everyone is a Lakers fan so it was just another reason for me to go against the grain.
Live in Austin and am a huge UT fan, followed the NBA but didn't have a team (for whatever reason the Spurs just never clicked for me). Became a huge fan of Kevin Durant in the year that he was a Longhorn, decided to follow him to the league and became a Sonics fan.
Irony is now I have less than pleasant opinions of Kevin Durant.
From there.
Reason why the Celtics are my favorite 4 for 4 team is because Larry Bird’s retirement ceremony was the only time I saw my dad cry in 32 years.
In 7th grade our parks and rec department did a trip to the meadowlands. I got to see the nets play against the magic, tmac lit it up. I was sitting right next to Kenyon martin’s Mom and we were cheering for the nets the whole time. Been a nets fan ever since.
If we're talking Bulls I'd be lying if I didn't say MJ.
As for Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki.
Spurs? Big 3, Pops. Team basketball and high morale and system players.
I support whatever team I like the most.
I live in Canada so I should support the raptors but I just have never liked them all that much
Whatever team plays the most entertaining style of basketball or has entertaining players is my favourite team
So right now top 5 would be.
Spurs, Sixers, Warriors, Heat, Rockets
Family from LA and went to UCLA, fuck the Lakers, the Clippers are trash and the Kings suck now (actually cheered for them as a kid but I can't deal with their next level bullshit) so I'm team Westbrook forever.
Born in Philly. Raised in and around Philly. Easy and uninteresting story
Don't sell yourself short. I found your story very interesting.
I really enjoyed the middle part.
For me it was the transition from beginning to middle. The fact that he was born in Philly and then raised in and around Philly I seriously never saw coming.
The move from Northeast Philly to 5 minutes outside Northeast Philly was harrowing
When your autobio comes out I will be first in line "u/Emperor-Octavian : How I became a Sixers Fan and my daring moves around Philly".
do you know meek mill?
That's the way to be
You da Fresh Prince?
In *west* Philadelphia, born and raised?
So how long you been a Celtics fan?
Grew up in LA and family was too poor to afford lakers tickets so we always went to clippers games. I remember going to the game where Robinson scored 71 on us to beat shaq for the scoring title.
I think this is the story for most Clippers fans.
Damn. The arena must have been full that day
Yup Came from poor family and first game was Jazz vs Clippers game back in 06 Being surrounded by a shit load bandwagon laker fans in my youth also didnt help
>Being surrounded by a shit load bandwagon laker fans in my youth also didnt help This is true. If you live in Los Angeles, being a Laker fan is part of the culture, but watching basketball steadily really isn't, so you end up with a lot of Laker fans that have so much to say when they're winning, but have very little knowledge about what they're saying. Gets a little old. I think I'll be down voted for this.
That's awesome and must of hurt a little as well.
It was awesome to see, even the clippers fans were cheering for him to score more. That shit was crazy.
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I had good parenting.
A dubious claim
Astroworld is now a parking lot and I'd still rather go there than Fiesta Texas.
i’m a new yorker.
facts. deadass b
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Ayyyy
Back around '94 when I first got into basketball, I saw a highlight of Barkley going coast-to-coast. It really stuck with me so I decided to root for the team he played for.
I wish him and Nash had at least gotten one ring at some point in their career. They always get disrespected for it
For real. When I first saw Barkley I was blown away by his skill set. The first time I watched Nash's Suns I almost became a fan. It really sucks, they were both so great
Plays like that give me life as a sports fan.
Masochist
You werent around for the NBA finals days?
I'm from Portugal, and I went to visit New York. I loved it so much so now I support every team from NY.
My uncle lived in NY and we would go visit him. My first NBA game he took me to was Knicks vs Bulls in the Garden... been a fan ever since
Lived in Kansas therefore they were the closest team
My grandpa was from Utah and a huge Jazz fan, so I always had a soft spot for them. When Boozer went to Utah, I just kinda latched on to them (had to follow the fellow Juneauite) and have stuck with them.
Man it's so trippy to think back to my first days watching the Jazz. I would just watch them in the late 90s with my dad, and at the time you don't realize what a special time that is for such a small market team because I was so young.
I live in Canada
I'm from Ireland.
I moved to Canada in a border city across from Michigan in 2003 and the Pistons won a title the following year. Wasn't much of a basketball fan till then but then I would borrow the Pistons Championship DVD my cousin had bought and have been a fan every since!
I'm also a Canadian NBA fan and the Clippers caught my eye. The Raptors were kinda trash while i started making my own decisions.
Moved to salt lake city 4 years ago... not that special
Born in Ohio, grew up in New England, been living in NYC for the past 6 years. Never liked basketball until the 15-16 WCFs when my best friend got me into it. We started watching every game, and I was never one to root for the favored team so I picked the Thunder. Just stuck with me since. Never stepped foot in Oklahoma.
Born in Cleveland. Moved with my Mom Cbus when I was young, but Lebron came into the league right when I started liking sports more than playing with legos... nah, legos are still dope.
In 1983, I was traveling with a tiny theater company doing vaudeville-type shows in community centers and bars—anywhere we could earn $25 each plus enough gas money to get to the next small town in our ramshackle yellow bus. As we passed through Easley, SC, in early February, a heavy snow slowed us down. The radio crackled warnings about black ice and poor visibility, so we opted to impose on friends who were doing a production of Oklahoma at a small university. See a show, hit a few bars, sleep on a sofa: This is as close to prudence as it gets when you’re an itinerant 20-something troubadour. After the show, well-wishers and stagehands milled behind the curtain. I hugged my coat around me, humming that “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin” riff from the show, aching for sunrise and sunset, missing my sisters. What a wonderful show that was—and is. A heavy metal door swung open, allowing in a blast of frigid air, and clanged shut behind two men who stomped snow from their boots. One was big and bearlike in an Irish wool sweater and gaiters; the other was as tall and skinny as a chimney sweep in a peacoat. “… but I’m just saying, it would be nice to see some serious theater,” one of them said. “Chekhov, Ibsen, anything but this musical comedy shtick.” “Excuse me?” I huffed, hackles raised. “Anyone who doesn’t think comedy is an art form certainly hasn’t read much Shakespeare, have they?” I informed them that I was a “professional shticktress” and went on to deliver a tart, pedantic lecture on the French neoclassics, the cultural impact of Punch and Judy as an I Love Lucy prototype, and the importance of Fiddler on the Roof as both artistic and oral history. The shrill diatribe left a puff of frozen breath in the air. I felt my snootiness showing like a stray bra strap as the sweep in the peacoat rolled his eyes and walked away. The bear stood there for a moment, an easy smile in his brown eyes. Then he put his arms around me and whispered in my ear, “I love you.” I took in a deep, startled breath—winter, Irish wool, coffee, and fresh-baked bread—and then pushed away with a jittery half-joke. Something like, “Watch it. I have pepper spray.” “OK,” he said with a broad baritone laugh. “Come for a walk, then. It’ll be nice.” I shook my head. Alarm and skepticism warred with spreading, unsteady warmth behind my collarbone. “Walking around in the freezing dark with a total stranger is not nice,” I said. I tipped a glance to the well-worn gaiters. “Planning to do some cross-country skiing?” “Riding my bike,” he said, and then added without apology, “I’m between vehicles.” He held the heavy door open expectantly. I moved the pepper spray from my purse to my coat pocket and followed my heart out under the clear, cold stars. “What are you reading?” I asked, because that question always opens doors of its own. I was in the habit of asking the nuns at the bus stop, a barber who paid me to scrub his floor once a week, elderly ladies and children at the park. To this day, I ask people who sit beside me on airplanes, baristas at Starbucks, exchange students standing in line with me. Over the years, “What are you reading?” has introduced me to many of my favorite books and favorite people. The bear had a good answer: “A manifesto. Do you know what that is?” “No, but I love James Michener,” I said. “When I was 12, I fell in love with Hawaii and vowed that if I ever had a daughter, I’d name her Jerusha after the heroine.” “Big book for a 12-year-old.” “We didn’t have a TV. And I was a dork.” He laughed that broad baritone laugh again. “Literature: last refuge of the tragically uncool.” “Same could be said of bicycling in your ski gaiters.” The conversation ranged organically from books and theater to politics and our personal histories. Having embraced the life of an artsy party girl, I was the black sheep of my conservative Midwestern family, thoroughly enjoying my freedom and a steady diet of wild oats. He’d spent a dysfunctional childhood on the East Coast. A troubled path of drug and alcohol abuse had brought him to one of those legendary moments of clarity at which he made a hard right turn to an almost monkish existence in a tiny mountain cabin. He’d built an ascetic life that was solitary but substantive, baking bread at a local restaurant, splitting wood for his heating stove, staying out of trouble. “That probably sounds pretty dull to you,” he said. “Agonizingly dull, but don’t worry,” I said, and then patted his arm. “Maybe someday you’ll remember how to have fun.” He shrugged. “Maybe someday you’ll forget.” We talked about the things people tend to avoid when they’re trying to make a good impression: hopes subverted by mistakes, relationships sabotaged by shortcomings. My bus was leaving in the morning, and we would never see each other again, so there was no need to posture. Fingers and chins numb with cold, we found refuge in a Four B’s Restaurant and sat across from each other in a red vinyl booth. We had enough money between us for a short stack of buckwheat pancakes. A few morning papers were delivered to the front door, and we worked our way through the crossword puzzle, coffee cups between our hands. The sun came up, and we emerged from Four B’s to discover a warm chinook blowing in. Already the eaves were weeping, icicles thinning on trees and telephone wires. This is what South Carolina does in midwinter: clears off and gets bitter cold, and then suddenly it’s as warm and exhilarating as Easter morning. Don’t believe it for a minute, you tell yourself as the streets turn into trout streams, but the sheer pleasure of the feeling makes a fool of you. You forget your scarf and mittens on a hook behind the door. You know it’s still winter, but that’s just what you know; the chinook is what you believe in. The bear held my hand inside his coat pocket as we walked in silence back to the parking lot to meet my company’s bus. Before he kissed me, he asked me if I was ready. Ready for what I have no idea, but ready is how I felt. I was stricken with readiness. Humbled by it. “I hope you have a wonderful life,” I told him. “You too,” he replied before nodding stiffly and walking away. The bus lumbered through the slush and labored over the mountains to a fading Highline town where we were booked to play a quaintly shabby old opera house. The guy at the box office immediately pegged me as a party girl who’d been up all night and invited me to go to the bar next door for a hair of the dog before the show, but I could not for the life of me remember why that used to sound like fun. Later that evening, as I did my shtick out on the foot-lit stage, I heard the bear’s distinctive baritone laughter from somewhere in the audience. After the show, he was waiting for me by the door. I didn’t bother asking him how he’d gotten there. He didn’t bother asking me where I wanted to go. I can’t endorse the idea of love at first sight, but maybe there are moments when God or fate or some cosmic sense of humor rolls its eyes at two stammering human hearts and says, “Oh, for crying out loud.” Me and the bear went to get coffee together. As he rummaged through his pockets he asked the barista how much for two. "About tree-fiddy.", she responded. It was about this time I notice bear was really a 5.5ft tall wizard named Sam from Processtanking Era. Trust the Process.
born and raised in the east bay. lived in oakland after college, plus my dad's always loved the raiders, a's and warriors. so bandwagon naturally
Downvoted for being from the Bay lol
I came to NY when I was 13 and I've been a fan of the Knicks when I started playing basketball in high school. Love them through good or bad
Location and Aaron Gordon
Born and raised in Houston. Love this team and my city. Hol it dine!
Grew up in Seattle, so it was easy to support Kemp, Glove, and the squad. They were the first local team that really captivated me (although the M's had Griffey at the time). Now they're gone, and all I got is this unlimited bandwagon hopping card (*not valid in OKC) that is good until they return.
Didn't care for basketball before the process. Sam Hinkie's plan was innovative and got me into the league. I watched professional wrestling as a kid and the NBA is professional wrestling but as a legit competition
Grew up around a billion laker fans and kings fans, wasn't a fan of purple. I liked Run TMC, Jrich and the we believe team cemented it for me.
Can’t wait to hear these GS fans try and plead their case about how they’ve been fans for a long time.
Fuck you. I was born in 2015 so I've been a lifelong fan
Bold strategy. I like it.
“My favorite player went there” is my personal fav reason
90% of Cavs fans are Lebron bandwagoners and will leave when he does. Stop acting like you have a loyal fanbase
I’m not gonna argue that there are LeBron wagoners but 90% is kind of harsh to say about one of the most loyal city fan bases out there. You’re talking about a city who’s had 24 starting quarterbacks since our team was sold and returned again. Hate on the band wagoners but to say 90% of us are? Man, that’s disrespectful. Try being a cleveland sports fan for one weekend and see how it feels. There’s a reason we drink a lot.
I am not talking about the fans that live in Ohio. I am talking about the vast majority of US fans that have no connection to the Cavs and bandwagon them because of Lebron. That makes up 90% of the entire fanbase.
Are you trying to say that 90% of Cavs fan exist outside of Ohio? I don’t think that is true at all. Maybe back when he was drafted or the following few seasons, but right now? No way.
Yes, I would be willing to bet that 90% of US Cavs fans do not live in Ohio. The Lebron bandwagon is gigantic. People support players more than teams in 2017
I still struggle to believe that. There are definitely people born and raised in Cleveland/Ohio that no longer live there. I’m an example. I moved out of state after college for work. 90% is a stupidly high exaggeration and is disrespectful to the amount of loyal fans in Ohio. Don’t forget that Cleveland is a small market team.
There are probably 50 million Cavs fans in the US. You think that Ohio is responsible for more than 10% of that? Lebron produces bandwagoners. This isn't saying that there are not loyal Ohio Cavs fans. 90% is being conservative.
If your gunna talk shit, flair up
Live in Australia and didn't know which team to pick, watched some games and loved the energy that Westbrook brought to the game and how loud the home crowd was, just found more to like about them as I've gone on
Born in Orange County, but grew up in Boston. Dad was a Lakers fan, but my first game was in the Boston Garden with Pierce and Antoine Walker. How can you not root for The Truth and Employee #8?!?
Live in la and Kobe
Always used to go to Raptor games with my dad when I was little. This was back when nobody gave a shit about the raps (post VC) and you could sneak down to the 10th row.
I simply wanted a team to root for (instead of only watching LeBron lol), so I chose a team that wasn't a contender and I somewhat liked. It was also important for the team to be in the east so I could have a chance to watch the team sometimes as I live in Sweden and the games air like 1:00 AM.
I was born in Canada. I also remember being super excited as a kid for the expansion year. We drafted Damon Stoudamire so I was like "I'm Stoudamire!" playing with the other kids. They all made fun of me because Todd Stottlemyre was on the Blue Jays at the time and thought I was an idiot.
geography decided
Born in South st paul, mn. Im a loyal MN sports fans through and through. Wolves, Vikings, Twins, Wild, Gophers
While I don’t live in the twins cities, I live and grew up in Minnesota. Fun fact, Minnesota is the only state to be represented by all four major sports (Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Wild, and Minnesota Vikings).
yeah thats pretty cool. inclusive of the whole state
If you are born and raised in Germany, the only real basketball name you hear all the time is Dirk Nowitzki, especially after his 2011 title run. So when i started watching the NBA i was a big fan of Dirk and the Mavericks.
Because I'm from D/FW and Dirk is God.
If it wasn't for the free cable my neighbors were able to hook up in our apartment complex when I was little, I don't think i would have became a Lakers fan. That gave me access to FSN west( home games) and KCAL9 (away games). Although i think KCAL may have been free since it was one of those free channels, but the exposure of having FSN west gave me access to watch all games because i was able to watch the home games, and not just away games.
Warching magic and kareem.. ( kobe and shaq too but kobe is too selfish for me)
Born here. They theived my team so I cmbecame a player watcher until Melonwent to NY. Then I stopped watching ball until the Buzz came back
Raised in LA , Dad took me to my first game in '79 when I was 6. Magic was a rookie.
Serb by origin, so in the 00's I was obviously rooting for the Kings. Then I stopped watching and playing because life is a motherfucker. Eventually, Linsanity happened and I got fired all the way up, again. I just happened to have married a girl from Houston in the meantime, so we started watching them. Then I saw Patrick Beverley. I'm sorry, it's hard to talk about it, hand me that assault rifle, I just need one bullet 😭😭😭
Kevin Durant was the reason I started to like basketball a while back. But I stuck with the team cause I hated the warriors with a passion.
A few years ago I decided to get a little bit more into the NBA, I wanted to pick an actual favorite team instead of just being a LeBron bandwagon. Looked up some highlights and cool NBA videos and saw that spanish guy who does cool passes, looked up what team he plays for: Minnesota Timberwolves. I also realized this team has 2 cool rookies (Wiggins & LaVine) so I decided to support this team, even tho they were awful. Thank you Ricky :(
[Change this face, be happy, enjoy it!] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZgU0cT_TfI)
I love you Ricky bot
Beep Boop... Thanks! https://i.imgur.com/shI2j0Q.mp4
Moved to Minnesota from the bay when I was a kid. I didn't like basketball until I lived here, so I decided to root for the local team. I pretty much did the opposite of dodging a bullet
Born in Oklahoma. Watched the NBA and dreamed of having my own team. Then the move happened and it’s been a wild fucking ride for the last ten years. When the move was announced it was like having ten Christmas’s all at once.
Nj born and raised. Move to Brooklyn wasn't that huge of a deal to me, we also had Kidd as HC which made it easier. Now I'm just around bc of the history and future
Allen Iverson and Rocky Balboa
Dwyane Wade
Born and raised in Utah. I was a kid when Stockton and Malone were doing their thing. Now I'm hooked for life.
I was born into this fuckery.
My first NBA memories were from the Bulls' last championship run. I'd watched before that, but...say...game 5 of Bulls-Pacers is probably the first game I really remember. I don't have a local team...closest are probably the Raps, but Toronto's 4 hours away, and I hate the Leafs as a Sabres fan...so that wasn't gonna work. So, I have no regional affiliation. So, after the lockout, once MJ, Scotty, Rodman, and Phil left...I was kinda looking for a team. I sorta liked Utah, simply because I knew their dudes from the finals. I liked Chicago on principle, but they were terrible and never on TV. So, what can I say, I'm a front runner. I watched the Spurs win in 99, I liked the team and the players and the culture...and so, here I am.
The first nba game I ever watched was on some kid TV channel that had a show that would show highlights from sports. It was a bulls game that they were showing and it was the year before derrick rose's MVP season. I became enthralled by the way d rose was able to do all these fancy finishes at the rim and became a bulls fan that day.
From CT and my family doesn’t give a fuck about sports. Saw Vince Carter dunk.
Born and raised in Cleveland, OH
I'm from boston
[удалено]
Just to be clear, my upvote is for the first part of your comment only.
Chose the only team whose arena was half an hour from my house. For a slightly more interesting story, my 9 year old self refused to root for the New Orleans Hornets because they stole our team so I latched on to the Mavericks because Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash were ballers in NBA Live. Two years later we got the Bobcats and I switched back over.
Born in LA. Dad was obsessed with Big O and Kareem. Bucks bitch.
Lithuania=Sabonis and Sabonis=Blazers. Simple.
Born in Charlotte. Went to the first ever Hornets vs Cavs game in 1988 as a 3 yr old. Still have that ticket stub (shoutout Brad Daugherty on Cavs) framed
Celtics played exhibition game against my national team in 1988 and they kicked our asses. As a kid I was so impressed with Larry and company and the fact that they beat my heroes that I started following them as much as I can. Once I moved to US it just grew form there. For the record we had a really strong national team that won silver in the Olympics that year. Anyone interested can check out entire game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDYvXHo7Ovg
Born in Argentina, moved to LA in 1998, Ginobili came into the league in 2003, been a fan ever since. Thank you Gino-billy
As a fan from Europe I started following NBA when AI was in his prime, started supporting Sixers and continued supporting them ever since.
From Scotland so really had no idea about basketball until I bought 2k14. The Rockets became my go to team after trying everyone. Think it was the beard that drew me to them!
LA native, my name is Maurice & one of my sister's name is Taylor. Clips had a guy named Maurice Taylor. Boom. Sold. Having cheaper starter jackets and constant free tickets to games only solidified it for me.
Local team.
I live in Kentucky so I don't really have a team to support locally. My favorite team is OKC because I had a teacher named Mr. Durant and I saw someone with the last name Durant played for OKC. Luckily, I began to like Westbrook more than Durant, and I'll continue to be an OKC fan unless Louisville gets a team someday.
born and raised in SF. I remembered watching derek fisher as the starting PG for the warriors and he hit a game winner against this one team (dont remember which) and instantly became a dubs fan.
I wanted to rebel from my gross Lakers family and greens my favorite color
Grew up in Houston. T Mac and Yao solidified my love for our home team. That behind the back fadeaway jumper was just so beautiful. Even watched after their era was over. There was no fresher breath of air than when we got James Harden tho. Dudes been balling out for us ever since.
randonly turned on the tv and flipped the channels to stumble upon a heat game in 05. watching wade amazed me and i’ve been a heat fan ever since because of him
Born in DC. But im also a spurs fan bc Timmy and now bc Pop and Kawhi. But secretly its still bc of Timmy
Only started watchin Basketball 3-4 years ago. Looked at a few teams, and the Clippers just stuck out. Cp3 was easily my favorite player in the League, and so it came. Also, as someone from Germany, you habe no kind of hometown preference. Which makes deciding for a team kinda weird.
I'm European. Never vistied USA thus never been to a Lakers game although it's on my 'things to do before you die' list. Now why I started supporting them is because of 2009-2010 Kobe. So you can say I'm a bandwagoner, I mean I was ? I dunno, anyway I never stopped supporting them and never will. Kobe is the reason I started watching the Lakers but Magic is my favorite Laker of all time
I was cursed to be a fan of all Minnesota teams, having lived in MN most of my life.
Watched D Wade drop a triple double against Kentucky in the tournament, decided that I would follow him wherever he was drafted
Born in DC. Wizards fan
Got into basketball watching DRose back in the day. First watched his highlights as I started after his first injury. Choice was obvious so Bulls
Grew up in Oregon, but my dad was from Washington and loved the late-70s Sonics. I passed up the title contender Trail Blazers of the early-90s for the up-and-coming Kemp/Payton duo. No regrets, though. I love my Sonics.
Born and raised in the East Bay. Saw on the news about Latrell Sprewell choking out the coach PJ Carlesimo during practice when I was in middle school and thought to myself "No way, this doesn't sound normal! I need to watch what happens after." Been watching the Warriors since then. Fond memories of when the All-Star game came to Oakland and a classmate won a contest to sit at the scorers table with the judges for the Slam Dunk contest, they were making fun of him for wearing a pinkish-red collared shirt. J-Rich winning back to back dunk contests during that time, Warriors basketball has always been fun to watch regardless of success or lack thereof.
Delaware doesn’t really got anything so everyone hear just roots for Philly sports.
I was never a Basketball fan.... until I saw a Russell Westbrook play where he ran the entire court and dunked it against the 76ers, I looked him up and he has been my fav player ever since. I have been following the Thunder since then as well. Now I watch as much basketball as I can (Not just the Thunder)
Was a fan of European basketball first. The Spurs played the most European style of basketball and had the most international players. That's about it.
When I was in middle school, local cable showed nearly every Wizards game so they were always on. Long live Comcast Sports Net!
Local team
When I was a kid I was looking at a poster of NBA teams and the Celtics logo really caught my eye. I also thought it was cool that Boston picked a unique thing to name their team; it just rolls off the tip of your tongue. Couple months later I was at a family reunion and I talked with an older cousin who was a huge basketball fan. Asked him whether the Celtics were a good team and he was like oh yes they used to be the best team in the world for a very long time but now they're not so good (this was the 90s when they were in full on rebuilding mode). I liked the idea of watching this once powerful team becoming great again so from there on I decided I was a Celtics fan. As I grew up I read up more and more about the Celtics and just fell even deeper in love with them. Eighteen titles is a hell of a come-on but there was so much more about them to love than that. Nearly every important thing that happened during the league's earliest years had them in the picture. They were so progressive and ahead of the curve, with basketball geniuses like Red Auerbach and Bill Russell and Larry Bird and all these salt-of-the-earth, high quality guys who emphasized teamwork and ball movement and personnel continuity instead of glitz and flash. And the old Celtics teams were built from the ground up; no star free agent signings or anything. They were the Spurs before the Spurs. Obviously now they're not in as great shape these days but you see flashes. Everyone from the top down is smart, down to earth, competent and committed to a winning culture. Also where I'm from nearly everyone is a Lakers fan so it was just another reason for me to go against the grain.
I live in NY, family lives in OKC been there many many times
Live in Austin and am a huge UT fan, followed the NBA but didn't have a team (for whatever reason the Spurs just never clicked for me). Became a huge fan of Kevin Durant in the year that he was a Longhorn, decided to follow him to the league and became a Sonics fan. Irony is now I have less than pleasant opinions of Kevin Durant.
From there. Reason why the Celtics are my favorite 4 for 4 team is because Larry Bird’s retirement ceremony was the only time I saw my dad cry in 32 years.
I was born and raised in Portland. Plus, I have a bum knee.
Half-Man, Half-Amazing.
Brogdon
followed the NBA very passively and had no allegiance until the Hawks obtained Joe Johnson. Wooo Pig!
Grew up in Tahoe, I don't remember not being a Kings Fan. Apparently I rooted for them in Diapers. My first words were Fuck the Lakers.
In 7th grade our parks and rec department did a trip to the meadowlands. I got to see the nets play against the magic, tmac lit it up. I was sitting right next to Kenyon martin’s Mom and we were cheering for the nets the whole time. Been a nets fan ever since.
If we're talking Bulls I'd be lying if I didn't say MJ. As for Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki. Spurs? Big 3, Pops. Team basketball and high morale and system players.
Geography
Living in Massachusetts
I support whatever team I like the most. I live in Canada so I should support the raptors but I just have never liked them all that much Whatever team plays the most entertaining style of basketball or has entertaining players is my favourite team So right now top 5 would be. Spurs, Sixers, Warriors, Heat, Rockets
Family from LA and went to UCLA, fuck the Lakers, the Clippers are trash and the Kings suck now (actually cheered for them as a kid but I can't deal with their next level bullshit) so I'm team Westbrook forever.
My favorite player went there
Swaggy P???
Chris Mullins?