Help me pick my new team...

I've been a lifelong, diehard Cubs fan, but its time to change. Tried to go to three games this season, all three have been rained out and rescheduled for a time when I couldn't go. So whats the point of being a fan of your hometown team when you can't go see them play in person? So who should I jump ship for? I'm thinking Yankees because, well fuck it, if I'm going to be this obviously fake about my allegiances, might as well be a team that wins. Other suggestions?

man

don't become a yankees fan, please

do you care about being able to, like, watch the team on tv?

in terms of teams that are very good right now, i'd take the red sox over the yankees, and the rangers or braves over the both of them, since either of the latter two could win the world series and aren't as obvious & soulless a pick

if you want to put in some time w/ a team, i'd jump right in on the blue jays, the dbacks, or if you're feeling very adventurous, the nats

if you want to drive yourself to suicide, i'd pick the dodgers

Actually the Red Sox aren't bad because they've sort of always been my default "second favorite team" because I really liked Wade Boggs when I was a kid.

if your gonna go change teams, switch leagues imo

for your consideration, the los angeles angels of anaheim

wow surprised no one has suggested yet the u kno

The Rays, of course.

i think picking a team that is a lock for the playoffs is frontrunning pussy shit. pick a team with "potential"

the blue jays are more chic (and entertaining) than the rays now

The Rays isn't a bad choice either. I'm kind of tempted to pick someone in the Cubs' division though, so I can root against them more often. This could be fun. I literally just packed up all twelve of my Cubs hats, three jerseys, and countless tshirts in a box and tossed them in the garage.

i'd go milwaukee in that case. i was gonna suggest them but i thought you wouldn't want to stay in your division

instead of throwing them away, send them to us. my wife is a big cubs fan.

well, "big." she fought a little to raise our daughter as a cubs fan but lost in the end when phillies jerseys came pouring in from relatives

don't pick the brewers, they're gonna be shit as early as like next season, if not then 2013

if you want an nl central team, reds are your pick

I've been a lifelong, diehard Cubs fan, but its time to change. Tried to go to three games this season, all three have been rained out and rescheduled for a time when I couldn't go. So whats the point of being a fan of your hometown team when you can't go see them play in person? So who should I jump ship for? I'm thinking Yankees because, well fuck it, if I'm going to be this obviously fake about my allegiances, might as well be a team that wins. Other suggestions?

I tried to switch from being a Padres fan to a frontrunner choice of rooting for the A's, and it just didn't work for me. It didn't feel natural, even though I live in Oakland. For better or worse I'm stuck with these fuckers.

Also if you switch to the Yankees you are worse than AIDS fyi

yes

Also if you switch to the Yankees you are worse than AIDS fyi

Haha, this is kind of the reaction I might want to get though. I mean, switching away from the team you've loved your whole life is kind of an asshole move anyway.

I'm not throwing my stuff away just yet because maybe I'll forgive them when next season starts.

lol fair enough

also, rain blows but can u really hate on them for that? also, imagine how good it's gonna feel when cubs finally win a WS? you'll be insane.

the cubs aren't going to win a WS

No its just that the Cubs have one of the least fan-friendly exchange policies in the MLB (or so I've heard). A lot of other teams will let you exchange your tickets for a different game if you can't make the specified make-up date, but the Cubs won't do that. I've been burned on over $90 worth of tickets this season because all three games I've bought tickets for have been rained out.

Also, J0rdan S otm (most likely).

if you want a team to root for this year, i'd rank them as such

1 rangers
2 brewers
3 braves
4 red sox
5 d backs

(cardinals excluded on account of you being a cubs fan)

i think cubs will win a ws b4 the institution of baseball officially ends. it might be awhile, but hopefully in your lifetime, and the wait will make it all the sweeter!

i hope the cubs never win anything ever

y no?

think their fans are super obnoxious for having won exactly nothing ever

A lot of Cubs fans are super obnoxious, yes, but I don't think for that particular reason they are.

So whats the point of being a fan of your hometown team when you can't go see them play in person?

Hmmm, if only there was another team that played baseball in your city.

One that's won a World Series in the past 100 years.

how dare you wish the white sox on someone

Forgive me, one that's won a World Series in the past 103 years.

Just buy an Expo's cap from Lids and resume your baseball fandom as it is now.

has anyone told you that this is kind of a bitch move
that said, go with the royals

could you root for the Cardinals? both Pujols and Berkman should be fun to watch. tho, yeah, go back to your team next year.

don't pick the brewers, they're gonna be shit as early as like next season, if not then 2013

if you want an nl central team, reds are your pick

Next season they are essentially the same team minus fielder (but plus like 15 million in payroll)

I can't imagine the Cardinals or Reds are going to be that good in 2013 either. The Cubs will finally have some of those albatross contracts off their back and just outspend everyone to victory. It's gonna happen.

dude. white sox.

Seriously. Your twitter feed will never be the same.

no man, the more I think about it, the worse this becomes, unless you move out of Chicago altogether. you just can't do it. it's never the same.

Mets are hated by assholes, so feel righteous

Go with the Giants, because I'm getting off the bandwagon.

Giants are a great team to watch because they are so awful and sabotage themselves in so many ways...

Detroit, Cleveland, or Milwaukee seem like the good bandwagon choices to me.

It seems only fair that you should abandon the Cubs for another long suffering team, like Cleveland.

yeah, cleveland is actually a really good pick

Pleasant Plains OTM. Other than the fact you're a filthy Judas who doesn't deserve to support a team. Unless you really start from the bottom and support the Pirates, as punishment for your disloyalty.

But it's never going to feel right, or real. And you'll always be looking at the Cubs' results, and if they have a good season or are in the hunt you'll find yourself wavering... In truth you may as well find another sport.

the Toledo Mudhens

pick any first-place team that's "so awful" per SS

gawd, are you drunk already?

It seems only fair that you should abandon the Cubs for another long suffering team, like Cleveland.

I just can't do that. The three teams that are straight out are Cleveland, Cardinals, and the White Sox. Seriously I'd rather be worse than AIDS and love the Yankees before any of those three. I'm liking the Detroit idea a little bit too.

braves bitch

Do you have a preference between a team that pitches really well vs a team that hits really well? Like, if you really enjoy pitching I'd lean more towards the Giants (or Braves or Angels, or the Phillies if you can front-run), and if you really enjoy hitting I'd lean more towards the Rangers. Like I have a soft spot for teams that pitch really well, so if I were to bail I would probably gravitate more towards the Giants (except that I cannot do that because I am a Dodger fan and would have to stab myself).

Also I tried to do this a few years back with the Dodgers (leaned towards the A's for a while, to the Astros because I liked Bagwell), and it just didn't quite stick; I started liking the Dodgers when I was like 3 years old, so it is irreversibly hard-wired into me. Even this year I haven't bothered running away, which is like 80% because of Kemp & Kershaw & Ethier and 20% because it'll be pretty awesome the day McCourt is no longer involved.

yeah when I was a kid and the Brewers sucked I tried to pick an AL team to root for too, but wound up picking the Royals because I couldn't in good conscience cheer for a good team

you get "your" team when you're like 12 years old and then you're stuck for life. sorry

And being stuck with the Cubs is like having aids, sorry.

i was with jon until he disrespected the cardinals. now i'm forced to voice my true opinion, which is that it's totally weird to go Benedict Arnold on your team because of a) the difficulty of getting tickets because they're very popular and b) their rainout policy. you truly deserve the irredeemably awful chicago cubs, as a life sentence

you should start following community college weightlifting, it is an awesome sport

I don't know if that's a good idea. Athletes in community college weightlifting do occasionally win titles.

ok. then jon can watch me do laps around the track at a middle school down the street, if he wants.

i do race against my ghost times, so there is the chance of me "winning", which may be startling

i do think jon's motives are weird, and would be more comfortable if he said he was leaving because the cubs blow, and will always blow.

maybe that was just assumed idk

he seems to be weirdly assuming it only rains in Wrigleyville

that's the way Cubs fans usually feel though

It doesn't, of course, but Clark Avenue may as well be the Amazon rainforest of the MLB.

"choosing" a new team to root for does seem v strange to me. it's pretty much an emotional thing. you're sick of the Cubs - i'm sure we can all understand that - but randomly grabbing another team to replace them seems really unnatural to me.
maybe just follow baseball and hopefully a connection with a new team will grow.

that said, if you must have a team - i'm going to stump for my guys... you like the idea of the anti-choice, why not go with the one team that's not even in the US?! (no, not Minnesota... Toronto)
our new GM is god-like and watching the team evolve under him so far has been great. i haven't been this excited about our team since the world series years.

xpost - also our stadium has a close-able roof, so no rain cancellations!

i do think jon's motives are weird, and would be more comfortable if he said he was leaving because the cubs blow, and will always blow.

its one thing to root for a terrible team i was raised an orioles fan and will die well ill probably die not caring v much about baseball but yknow ummm but its another to actively root for a team that you think has dicked you over i totally get that even if i dont think their cancellation policy is really all that unfair

I don't really think their policy is all that unfair, just annoying. I realize there are about a billion things to take into consideration when rescheduling a baseball game and its really hard to do, but I sort of think they should try to reschedule a game for the same time as the original one (i.e. a night game at night, day game during the day, etc). I'm mostly just bitter that I'm out so much money after three games this season.

wait, surely the raincheck enables you to get a refund if you can't hit the makeup?

just out of curiosity, how much do the apartments with the rooftop seats cost to rent?

don't listen to jordan s(chaefer), those picks are terrible. go mildly interesting with future upside.

1) Blue Jays
2) Royals
3) Pirates
4) Orioles
5) Indians

lol the indians have the least amount of upside of anyone outside of the astros

i meant the orioles -- indians would be high on my list

i listed a bunch of non-red sox/yankees/phillies playoff teams bcuz it seems like jon isn't really looking for a team to follow for a few years in the hope that they might blossom into a contender

& if he is i already listed some of those teams

i dunno - the Pirates seem like a pretty doomed team for many years to come imho.
xpost

potentially, but they've also spent more money in the draft in the last three years than any team in baseball. also they have one of the best players in the game, plus the central is totally in flux right now, and it could be severely weaker in the coming years

also they have one of the best players in the game
Overbay?

McCutchen

ah i see your reasoning now jord

Go hip and strictly follow Nippon Baseball. Ham Fighters!

fuck you tbh

root for the cubs and hope they get better or gtfo

Go hip and strictly follow Nippon Baseball. Ham Fighters!

― errant flynn, Tuesday, August 9, 2011 8:15 PM (1 hour ago)

haha, not quite.

Title sponsor = Nippon Ham
Team Name = Fighters

But I do like the ring of the Ham Fighters. Food Fighting (competitive eating) originated in Japan. Ham Fighting could be a subcategory of that.

Figured that out a few years ago but I still like saying Ham Fighters.

Ham Fighters!!!

lol at all the fan-morality-stuff itt

people can root for whoever they want to root for

except the yankees obv

that said...it's kinda difficult to regularly watch games that aren't gonna be on tv / have people to talk to / etc. unless you get dedicated and start reading team msg boards or something, it might feel half-hearted.

which is why the white sox would really be the only pragmatic choice if you really did want a new team.

I "chose" my team at the age of 33, but I grew up without baseball so I think it's okay. And I chose a rubbish team (the not mentioned at all on this thread Rockies) who 6 months later got to the World Series. So that cemented my fandom pretty well!

lol at all the fan-morality-stuff itt

people can root for whoever they want to root for

we're trying to warn him about how utterly unfulfilling the whole thing is going to be. you can't just pick and choose which teams you want to root for. it comes from within, in the heart region.

frogbeeok

I've been a Cardinals fan all my life, but asked my parents to pick me up a Tampa hat while they were on vacation. Their initials are the same as mine, the devil ray was a cool animal and the fact that they play inside some sort of rec center and had no fanbase endeared them to me.

So I start wearing the cap and boom, they go to the World Series. Talk about taking the fun out of a liking a team for irony's sake.

I think we can grant Jon a pass here for the simple reason that he's had to be a Cubs fan. Show some mercy.

yeesh my grammar is fucking terrible