2nd-Favorite Teams?

[Shea Knight]

We all have them...we don't acknowledge them as much, maybe, but we all have them, those 2nd-favorite teams of ours, a sort of security-bet, just in case the team we bleed for bottoms out--case in point, my New York Mets--so we still have someone to root for in the fall, or on those off-days when your prime team isn't playing...

So--who are they? Your 2nd-favorites?

[Shea Knight]

Me:

The Boston Red Sox.

Four reasons:

1. They're also arch-rivals of the hated Yankees; I hated the Yanks as a kid--my uncle was a Yankees fan, and I still remember the good-hearted fun he'd poke at the Yanks always out-doing the Mets...ah, if only we could've just won the Subway Series! IF ONLY!--so rooting for the Red Sox isn't that hard in that respect, it's still rooting for a Yankee rival to beat them out...

2. They're in the post-season a lot, and being a Mets fan, you NEED that insurance team, or it's going to be a long October!

3. They sort of remind me of the Piazza-era Mets I grew up with and loved, ie, the 2004 team, the way they had stars and scrappers, and they just found a way to win, even with the odds severely against them...

4. A sort of personal reason, and I've already told this story, but it's a good one--my grandmother (my uncle's mother) was in the hospital after a heart attack during the 2004 ALCS, and she was an ardent Yankee fan, back to the days of Joltin' Joe, and so was my grandfather...and those were some long, long nights, waiting, hoping she'd be alright, with her needing surgery and all...and what was there to do in that waiting room so late at night but buy some chips or a Coke from the vending machine and watch the Red Sox/Yankees, and each night, it looked like it might be over for the Red Sox--my dad expected them to lose at any minute--and each night, a new miracle took place...until they won, and her operation was successful, and afterward, she told me that her ward had a lot of elderly screaming fans rooting for the Red Sox to win as well.

Those sort of games really are the kind that connect you to a team, both because of what's going on in the field and what's happening off it, around you...

Hard not to root for the Sox after that.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Mine would be the Phillies, I always liked Von Hayes and Juan Samuel as a kid. My nickname in HS was Jeltz so I always liked him too. Former MLB player Richie Beckers dad gave me the nickname when we both played on the same team once.

[ol' aches and pains]

I'm a transplanted White Sox fan. I lived in or around Chicago all my life until a year ago. I'm now in upstate New York, where my wife is from, and all my in-laws are rabid Yankee fans, so my second team is the Yankees. Which is kind of nice, because the White Sox don't get to the playoffs very often, so I still have a team with a rooting interest in October.

[Bigfoot 88]

I am a Braves fan that also likes the Cardinals and Red Sox. I guess I have a thing for red teams. I like both of their histories too, and both have been primary anti-Yankee teams. Big fan of Musial, Foxx, and Williams.

[bravesfan6]

It's obvious who my favorite team is but my second favorite team is the Tampa Bay Rays. I lived in Orlando for over 20 years and for the second half of those 20 years they were the "local" team.

[Chimpie]

#1 Rays
#2 Cardinals, because I grew up in Indiana and St. Louis was our closest home team.

[doctor_gogol]

Tigers are my 1st team. 2nd is the Yankees. 3rd are the Twins.

[metfan13]

None. At all. When the Mets are out of it, it's a matter of choosing between the two teams in a particular series. But I don't "root" for any other team.

[EdTarbusz]

I don't have a second favorite team either. When I was stationed in San Diego and Long Beach I was a fan of the Padres, but that ended when I left California.

[O'sFan1997]

I guess it's the Pirates. My whole family's from Pittsburgh originally and I root for the Steelers in football. Plus the famly legend about my Great grand father being friends with Wagner combined with the fact they have some of my all time favorite players like Clemente, and I'll always love Maz for the seventh game of the 1960 World Series. Plus I got to see a game at PNC this summer and had a blast. I can't get into the Nationals at all. To me, they're still the old Expos it feels like just in D.C.

[UnderPressure]

No.

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[Matthew C.]

Most people that have been around here for a while know that the Braves are my second team. Being able to watch quality baseball on national T.V. during the dreadful Joe Torre years caused that. Huge fan of pitching too, which is why I fell in love with Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz.

After that, the Orioles. Orange is my favorite color, but mostly I appreciate the St. Louis connection. I am a fan of Palmer, R. Robinson, and several of their past players as well.

No other teams really get me excited, but there sure are a few teams I really hate.

[Blue387]

I am a Mets fan.

1. I admire the Rays. They have an intelligent front office and manager as well as talented players and a good farm system. I wish the Mets were like the Rays.
2. I also have sympathy for the Pirates. I have friends from college who are Pirates fans. Heck, I was in a pizza place here in Brooklyn and met a guy who was a Pirates fan since the Van Slyke days.
3. I also like the Dodgers and Angels and have seen my team play both teams. You see people here wearing Dodgers caps.
4. I respect the Yankees but resent their citywide popularity and arrogance. Yankee hats are everywhere.
5. After this, I just like certain players on certain teams like Sean Marshall of the Cubs.

I have a few teams and people I dislike which I can discuss. If your team wears red, I don't like you.

[dominik]

I'm a cards fan but I also like a few AL teams like the rays, rangers and red sox (or say I'm interested in them).

[theAmazingMet]

I used to love the White Sox when they had Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, Jack McDowell, Ozzie Guillen, Bobby Thigpen, Carlton Fisk, and Harold Baines. They were easily my second favorite from the late 80's to mid 90's. In the 80's I liked alot of other teams like the Angels (Wally Joyner), Rangers (Pete O'Brien, Ruben Sierra and Bobby Witt), Tigers (Trammel and Whittaker), and Royals (George Brett). Notice they are all AL teams? I always felt uncomfortable rooting for an NL team besides the Mets. Today I would have to say that I like the Twins, and Blue Jays.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My favorite teams are the Yankees and Mets. However since (if they play each other) I root for the Yankees, I guess the Mets could be my second favorite.

But since these teams rarely DO play each other, I generally consider myself an equal fan of both.

[brewcrew82]

My brother is a Cleveland fan so I keep an eye on them throughout the year and generally hope they do well so I'll say there as close to a second team as I can think of.

That said, if the Brewers ceased to exist I doubt they'd be the team I switched to.

[Shea Knight]

Notice they are all AL teams? I always felt uncomfortable rooting for an NL team besides the Mets.

Same here, hence the reason the Red Sox are so perfect for me--they're anti-Yankee, in the playoffs a lot, they remind me of that old Piazza-era/2004 Sox scrappy-team-swagger, and they're in the AL, so unless I'm lucky enough to have the Mets and Sox both in the World Series, no conflict.

(And if the Mets DO play the Red Sox in a World Series...well, we all know how this joke ends, right?)

I'll also pull for the Angels from time to time, as they're local for me, and I have fond memories of the family rooting for them against Barry Bonds and the Giants in '02.




The closest I have to another NL team would have to be the Giants, just because I love pitching and they're anti-Dodger and, as we all know, unless it's a Brooklyn Dodger, Sandy Koufax, or Vin Scully, Dodgers=The Enemy.

(This is a hard position where I live in LA County...)

[Cubsfan97]

I dont have one. If the Cubs are out of it, Ill look at the big picture, and see which team I want to win. This year, it was the Rays cause they lost some star players, and I wanted them to prove free agency wouldnt bring them down. Year before it was the Twins, cause I visited Minnesota that spring and bought a Joe Mauer shirt.

[Tenorman]

I am also one who doesn't really have a 2nd favourite team per se. I am a loyal Blue Jays fan but if they are not in the postseason, I tend to root for -- or against -- teams depending on who is playing, what league, the teams' circumstances, etc. There are a lot of teams I like (Cardinals, Mariners, Diamondbacks, Twins) for various reasons, and a few I dislike, again for various reasons, but none are what I would call a second favourite. I think I have probably rooted for just about every team at some point (well, except maybe the Yankees and Braves).

[SamtheBravesFan]

My second-favorite team is the Rangers and it's been that way pretty much ever since Nolan Ryan pitched for them. That helped take the sting out when the Braves pulled the Mark Teixeira trade at the 2007 deadline.

EDIT: When it comes to an NL team, I do have respect for the Cubs, because my grandfather and great-grandfather were such big fans of them when they were growing up.

[runningshoes]

Phillies since I saw them in game one of the '93 series against the Jays. Before that it was the Reds which was my team before I found the Red Sox in '75, oddly enough.

[bluesky5]

Athletics. When I was a kid I liked the uniforms and when I found out they used to be in Philly they were firmly entrenched as my #2. Plus they had one of my favorite players ever, Eric Byrnes. I can't hate the Braves. My grandfather is a Braves fan since they were in Boston and I spent my summers with him so I watched every game from May til August. Also watched a lot of Cubs and White Sox on WGN due to my towns awful "home spun" local cable with 25 channels. Only got to see the Phils on sundays. Amazing I made it through all the Atlanta/Chicago indoctrination at age 8 - 13.

[cdove72]

Well my top teams are AL: Baltimore Orioles and NL:Atlanta Braves....both pretty much equal in my book, maybe the Orioles with the slight edge being the area team. So my second team beyond my favorites would be the other hometown team for me the Washington Nationals.