Local College Hero vs Pro Star, Where do your loyalties lay?

[Chronz]

Say your a diehard hoops junkie, you watch or attend all the local games (Collegiate and NBA). Now imagine being put in a position where a local product youve been watching dominate and win NCAA titles 4 years straight, is now playing for the enemy and is making his debut in your town. Obviously you dont root for the enemy to beat you, Im only concerned with how the player is received when he is called out onto the court.

Do you still cheer his name for all that hes done? If yes, what about your teams current star? Who do you cheer for louder?


The reason I ask is because its happened before, when Kareem(Then Lew) made his debut in LA, the crowd cheered him on louder than they did for Wilt. I could understand why they would cheer for KAJ but I think I would draw the line there.

Ive been watching Love and Westbrook come to LA quite abit over the years, but I never cheered for them over CP3 or Blake.

Thats just me tho, where do your loyalties lie?

[Greet]

Hometown hero

[mightybosstone]

As a UT grad and diehard basketball and football fan, this comes up quite a bit for me. I loved Durant when he played for the Longhorns and was devastated when he left after one year, but I still consider my loyalty to the Rockets above all else. When the Thunder play Houston, in fact, I often find myself loathing him. But when he plays pretty much any other team (except for maybe the Heat, because of my Lebron man crush), I always root for him. It's the same for other guys, too.

I think it's especially cool when a college player you really liked gets unsuspecting minutes in an NBA game. For example, I loved Royal Ivey when he played for UT, so I love it anytime I see him get minutes and hit a big shot or make a play on defense.

However, it can also work on the flip side. For example, Avery Bradley was supposed to be a huge player for UT a couple of seasons ago, but he never really developed and left after one season with UT to be a late round draft pick instead of sticking around to help the program and being a top five pick the next season. I hate his guts now and can't stand that he's becoming a decent NBA player after totally flopping in burnt orange.

I also despise Dexter Pittman, because watching him in college was infuriating. He turned the ball over and missed more wide open shots within five feet of any decent college center I've ever watched. So, I can't stand watching him get NBA minutes.

[Hawkeye15]

my loyalties lie with my pro team. Besides, there hasn't been a good Hawkeye for yearrrrrrrrrs.

[Chronz]

my loyalties lie with my pro team. Besides, there hasn't been a good Hawkeye for yearrrrrrrrrs.

You guys need to immerse yourselves into my hypothetical tho.

The fact that there hasn't been a relevant collegiate should only strengthen the attachment you would have if one ever did exist. Say there was a Hawkeye who won 4 straight NCAA titles, played the same position as Love but played for the Atlanta Hawks. Who do cheer for louder?


And why do you like them hawks?

[lakers4sho]

I root for guys like westbrook and love and jrue to do well individually, but for their teams to lose against the lakers. Ive invested so much in rooting for them during college that its impossible for me to drop them just like that.

[Hawkeye15]

You guys need to immerse yourselves into my hypothetical tho.

The fact that there hasn't been a relevant collegiate should only strengthen the attachment you would have if one ever did exist. Say there was a Hawkeye who won 4 straight NCAA titles, played the same position as Love but played for the Atlanta Hawks. Who do cheer for louder?


And why do you like them hawks?

sure. I mean, Reggie Lewis when I was a kid I cheered for over Doug West lol, but I see where you are coming from. For me, I really think the Wolves are just more important to me. For instance, while KG wasn't a high school/college hero of mine, I was 20 when we drafted him, and was a MONSTER KG fan. The first year he was with the C's, I watched a lot of their games, and pulled for him against the Wolves. But after a couple of years, I became indifferent to him.

I was obviously a big BJ Armstrong guy during the Bulls run.

My family is from Iowa. I went to Hayden Frye and Tom Davis camps every year for years. Multiple trips to Iowa City to watch games growing up. Plenty of family that went to Iowa. Even have the Iowa logo on my arm. I guess it was a born into type thing.

I can not stand Reggie Evans btw.

[Bravo95]

Loyalty with my pro teams, but still support the hometown guys to some extent. Dwight Howard is kind of a local hero but he got booed and cussed as much as anyone, especially during that Hawks-Magic playoff series when Nelson guaranteed the win to Rose. Same for other guys who played locally like Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson, Matt Harpring, Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, etc.

On the other side, I hated Christian Laettner's Duke teams and Al Horford's Gators teams, but both players wound up playing for my team. Not including Sheldon Williams because I never thought he had any talent.

[Chronz]

I root for guys like westbrook and love and jrue to do well individually, but for their teams to lose against the lakers. Ive invested so much in rooting for them during college that its impossible for me to drop them just like that.

Well since your a fan of the team in my hypothetical, putting yourself in a Lakers/Bruins fan shoes back in the day should be easier than most. If you had just seen KAJ dominate at UCLA, would you hold him in higher regard than a Wilt Chamberlain that had yet to bring LA a championship and hadn't really been there that long?

[king4day]

Bobcats fans are split between Duke and UNC fans. So when guys from those schools appear for the away team in the NBA, they usually get a nice ovation (or jeer) depending on who people root for in college.

[Hawkize31]

my loyalties lie with my pro team. Besides, there hasn't been a good Hawkeye for yearrrrrrrrrs.

Reggie Evans, the Happy Gilmore of the NBA.

"Yeah I hold 2 records. I'm the first NBA player to be fined for flopping and I grabbed a guys nuts."

[Hawkize31]

And Iowa is unique, we have the hometown heroes, but no real pro team. So its not like a basketball or football star will make the pros and come back to town as the enemy. The closest thing would be Greenway on the Vikings since a lot of Iowans are Bears fans, but Iowa isn't united enough behind any pro team to have this type of scenario happen.

[lakers4sho]

Well since your a fan of the team in my hypothetical, putting yourself in a Lakers/Bruins fan shoes back in the day should be easier than most. If you had just seen KAJ dominate at UCLA, would you hold him in higher regard than a Wilt Chamberlain that had yet to bring LA a championship and hadn't really been there that long?

Well for me personally, since im a big bruin fan, I would put kaj over wilt. Some laker fans arent bruin fans or dont even follow college ball in general, might have a different opinion.

If i was old enough to see them live, in terms of rooting, i would probably still root for alcindor to do better on the H2H against wilt, because he is such a hometown hero (at least to those who supported the bruins, who i supposed had a greater percentage of the laker fans then compared to now).

Jabbar's accomplishments are far and away from what love and westbrook have done (none) so its easier for me to answer the question for kareem.

[Hawkeye15]

Reggie Evans, the Happy Gilmore of the NBA.

"Yeah I hold 2 records. I'm the first NBA player to be fined for flopping and I grabbed a guys nuts."

like I said above, I have come to hate Reggie Evans.

[Hawkeye15]

And Iowa is unique, we have the hometown heroes, but no real pro team. So its not like a basketball or football star will make the pros and come back to town as the enemy. The closest thing would be Greenway on the Vikings since a lot of Iowans are Bears fans, but Iowa isn't united enough behind any pro team to have this type of scenario happen.

this is very true, but there are a ton of people who attend or love Iowa, that get jobs elsewhere. Like all of them haha