Thirty years ago much like today in that sense? I don’t know.
And, off the cuff I’m going to make some suppositions, AND they may be outdated. But.
This is the viewpoint of my Midwest near the South, Ohio, and Cincinnati kid viewpoint:
There are probably some Irish American fans all over the place for the Celtics. Notre Dame and Catholic all the same. And going back to my youth, that seemed the case for the African Americans for Raiders and Niners and Bulls. Oh my. Pop culture too. The Bulls were everywhere though. Jordan was that big. And really, whatever Starter brands were available for wear, poor kids wore it all. I think it’s worth exploring loyalty along racial lines.
Speaking for myself and central Cincinnati late last century, the vibe of tension felt more like caste than color - that being more meritocratic: are you athletic (tough) or not, or are you a mark/nerd? Athletic kids got tested way less. Also, having old black women as teachers, and old people in general, discipline did not get tested often at all. Those old folks came up in no-nonsense. School-in -session was conducive to minding your business. Sounds better than today’s climate
Anyhoot,
Yankees weren’t good enough in the 80s to be trendy in the Midwest. As a big sports fan I even enjoyed picking a second team to follow the box scores for. Also enjoyed following a second player.
Growing up in Cincinnati, pretty much dead center of the city/county, we all saw kids wearing starter jackets and coats of not-Cincinnati teams. For baseball there were more Reds jackets, but for football you’d see Raiders and Niners galore. Then there were those Hornets jackets and coats, our intro to the teal palette in big teams. Every once in awhile we’d see Tar Heels stuff. Around the turn of the ‘90s decade, it probably was an access issue. There were catalogues, but even those had limits and seemed to leave out small market options (or ran out).
I’m too embarrassed to say which coat I ended up getting, but the other choice I had at the time, from Sears, was the Browns, and back then that was the equivalent of me sporting Steelers as a Bengals fan. One of my junior high teachers had a Browns. He was from Cleveland. We didn’t live in Cleveland. We lived in the actual Cincinnati. I would stare at catalogs of choices. Monetarily that wasn’t an option. 5 folks in a 1 bedroom apartment type options. Later, in the suburbs, my brother got a Cowboys coat. I got a Reds Jacket. Some people like color. I liked the team. I suppose I’m casting indictment on “traitors”, but I cannot argue power or freedom of choice.
Outside market fans bothered me. I get why we as kids took whatever we could get. It was the 1900s, for God’s sake. But Cincinnati kids, many who I presume were at least second or third generation Cincinnatian were even verbally preaching fealty to outside market. I was taking second hand clothes from cousins. I remember a Rams sweatshirt. Not sure where I got the Tasmanian devil NY Giants shirt from. But I liked football enough to watch and root for second-teams when the Bengals weren’t on. It helped for awhile that the Bengals were great then, during peak childhood for baseball and football.
It’s also worth mentioning that the suburbs is where I incurred folks with fealty to Ohio State. Maybe that’s the reason the Buckeyes never jived for me. Cincinnati feels like it’s in a different state than Columbus, or really even in Cindi’s surrounding counties sometimes.
Having no NBA team left me victim to the Jordan era. I clung on to Reggie Miller and the Pacers out of proximity. Big networks shoved Lakers, Bulls and Celtics down our gullet. And while on the tv subject, cable networks broadcasted about every Braves and Cubs game into the Cinci and American market. Smart move for them. Old timers like my retired grandpa had cable. Many times they had to catch the Reds flick in the ear (radio), and wind down nights with an Atlanta or Chicago game, those markets being king of the Midwest and South.
What do we see these days?
- A lot of Yankee fans transplants in Florida, and probably Phoenix and Vegas as well. Folks were warning Florida had too many Yankeebaggers decades ago. Probably too many Sox fans now too.
-ditto across the country for Raider and Cowboy nation. I’ve spied west coast old timers staying married to power houses of the 70s, like the Steelers. That and Hillbillies from Ohio with families out of Middletown Steel latching onto that same franchise. Winning pays.
I’m spurning off more questions than answers here.
How much of society only does winners anymore?
