First step is to forgo a distinct personality.
A fascinating discussion when you live in the arse end of Ireland and discover that most people are fans of this team or that team… all of which are English.
Like a religion, or culture. As other have said, location, family, etc. Also, advertising plays a role, and then there are people who get really into it and spend a lot of time focusing on different teams, and sports, until they just become team/sport agnostic or focus on the one that meets their statistical, and business practices, requirements.
The correct answer is “the team they first win as in a video game about the sport”.
A runner up is “Coolest animal” chosen for mascot. (And no, if a team does not have an animal for a mascot, it is not a viable option. Sorry, thems the rules)
I don’t really give a flying fuck about team sports. They tend to bore the hell out of me.
So, depending on the event, when I’m being social and don’t mind playing along with sports talk, I’ve picked teams to tell people that I pretend to be a fan of. I’m honest about it, I say up front that I’m not a big sports fan, and that I don’t really care about any team, but I’ve picked some for the fun of talking about it.
I pick them by mascot most of the time. Currently, my top team is the Baltimore Ravens for US football. The Cardinals for baseball. I flipflop between the Hornets and the Bulls for basketball. I don’t run into enough hockey or soccer/football fans to have picked a specific team in either for the US options, though I say I support Arsenal for all other soccer. Why? When I looked up teams, it was the first I ran across.
Any suggestions for a hockey team? I’m open to anything with a cool mascot, or nice uniforms. I won’t give a flip about it in reality, but I promise I’ll watch them and cheer when it’s on.
I have never been a professional organized sports person. I played soccer in middle school, baseball in elementary school, but have never gone out of my way to watch any. If there was soccer, hockey, or baseball on tv and I could find nothing else I would watch.
I went to all of my daughter’s soccer games while she was in AYSO, and most of her home games when she played varsity.
Lately though I have really been into the PWHL (women’s hockey league). It just started its second season. There are only 6 teams currently. None of them are near me (I am in NM), none are near where I have lived. No one I know watches, the person who turned me onto it follows the Boston Fleet, which is kind of where I am settling.
