National Fanbases

[James]

[quote

Growing up in DC area in 70's and 80's I never met or saw a Packers fan. Saw very few Packers game on TV. During my youth, those who weren't Redskins fans in my area liked the Dolphins, Steelers, Raiders, and (yuck) the Cowboys. The Colts were nearby so they had their fans too. Also during that time, I don't recall seeing a lot of adults wearing team affiliated gear. Children yes, but adults no. That's one of the striking things when you look at games from that time too.

So true. I was born in 1967, so growing up in the 70's in San Antonio you never saw adults wearing team gear. Maybe the odd Texas Longhorns shirt, but NFL was mostly kids. I remember I had a Dolphins shirt and why, I don't know, a Cowboys shirt. Hell, I even had a Vikings wrist watch. Nowadays, you see just about every team represented when going to the grocery store or somewhere on a Sunday morning before the games begin. The Steelers and Cowboys are still big here in San Antonio, but when it comes to the Cowboys, you find just about as many people who HATE them as you do who like them. There in no in between when it comes to the Cowboys, you either love'em or hate'em. Thank god my wife is a Texans fan.

[Rupert Patrick]

[quote

Growing up in DC area in 70's and 80's I never met or saw a Packers fan. Saw very few Packers game on TV. During my youth, those who weren't Redskins fans in my area liked the Dolphins, Steelers, Raiders, and (yuck) the Cowboys. The Colts were nearby so they had their fans too. Also during that time, I don't recall seeing a lot of adults wearing team affiliated gear. Children yes, but adults no. That's one of the striking things when you look at games from that time too.

So true. I was born in 1967, so growing up in the 70's in San Antonio you never saw adults wearing team gear. Maybe the odd Texas Longhorns shirt, but NFL was mostly kids. I remember I had a Dolphins shirt and why, I don't know, a Cowboys shirt. Hell, I even had a Vikings wrist watch. Nowadays, you see just about every team represented when going to the grocery store or somewhere on a Sunday morning before the games begin. The Steelers and Cowboys are still big here in San Antonio, but when it comes to the Cowboys, you find just about as many people who HATE them as you do who like them. There in no in between when it comes to the Cowboys, you either love'em or hate'em. Thank god my wife is a Texans fan.

If you watch footage of the crowds at pro football (or baseball games) events thru the 1960's, you would generally see adult males often wearing suits and ties and hats (not ballcaps) or short sleeve dress shirts or on the weekends perhaps a polo shirt, never adults in t-shirts or some guy without a shirt with the Bills colors painted on his face and chest. The concept of adults wearing jerseys and ballcaps to games in mass numbers started at some point in the early 1970's, and I would think using NFL Films Game of the Week episodes you could pretty easily track down exactly where and when it first started. My guess is that it probably started in Pittsburgh during the latter stages of the 1972 season or the early stages of the 1973 season, when the Steelers fans started all those kooky player cliques like Franco's Italian Army and Gerela's Gorillas and they started wearing Steeler jerseys. The NFL also began to ramp up the merchandising of adult shirts/hats/jerseys about that time, and it quickly took off around the league.

[BD Sullivan]

For many years, leagues had the idiotic philosophy that fans "didn't have the right" to wear team gear because they weren't players. That changed when they needed new revenue streams.

[rhickok1109]

When I was a kid in Green Bay, Tony Canadeo lived a couple of blocks away, across the street from my aunt and uncle, so of course he was my first sports idol.

My mom made a jersey for me by cutting out a "3" (Canadeo's number) from a piece of heavy material and sewing it onto a sweatshirt. I always wore that jersey for our sandlot games in Marquette Park, right across the street from our house.

One day, I returned a kickoff for a touchdown and heard someone clapping. It was Tony Canadeo himself, out for a walk!

[nicefellow31]

[quote

Growing up in DC area in 70's and 80's I never met or saw a Packers fan. Saw very few Packers game on TV. During my youth, those who weren't Redskins fans in my area liked the Dolphins, Steelers, Raiders, and (yuck) the Cowboys. The Colts were nearby so they had their fans too. Also during that time, I don't recall seeing a lot of adults wearing team affiliated gear. Children yes, but adults no. That's one of the striking things when you look at games from that time too.

So true. I was born in 1967, so growing up in the 70's in San Antonio you never saw adults wearing team gear. Maybe the odd Texas Longhorns shirt, but NFL was mostly kids. I remember I had a Dolphins shirt and why, I don't know, a Cowboys shirt. Hell, I even had a Vikings wrist watch. Nowadays, you see just about every team represented when going to the grocery store or somewhere on a Sunday morning before the games begin. The Steelers and Cowboys are still big here in San Antonio, but when it comes to the Cowboys, you find just about as many people who HATE them as you do who like them. There in no in between when it comes to the Cowboys, you either love'em or hate'em. Thank god my wife is a Texans fan.

If you watch footage of the crowds at pro football (or baseball games) events thru the 1960's, you would generally see adult males often wearing suits and ties and hats (not ballcaps) or short sleeve dress shirts or on the weekends perhaps a polo shirt, never adults in t-shirts or some guy without a shirt with the Bills colors painted on his face and chest. The concept of adults wearing jerseys and ballcaps to games in mass numbers started at some point in the early 1970's, and I would think using NFL Films Game of the Week episodes you could pretty easily track down exactly where and when it first started. My guess is that it probably started in Pittsburgh during the latter stages of the 1972 season or the early stages of the 1973 season, when the Steelers fans started all those kooky player cliques like Franco's Italian Army and Gerela's Gorillas and they started wearing Steeler jerseys. The NFL also began to ramp up the merchandising of adult shirts/hats/jerseys about that time, and it quickly took off around the league.

ng

My dad used to take me to a lot of Washington Bullets NBA games in the 70's. When we went I had to wear my "good" clothes with dress shoes. No tennis shoes or jeans. LOL

[JuggernautJ]

If you watch footage of the crowds at pro football (or baseball games) events thru the 1960's, you would generally see adult males often wearing suits and ties and hats (not ballcaps) or short sleeve dress shirts or on the weekends perhaps a polo shirt, never adults in t-shirts or some guy without a shirt with the Bills colors painted on his face and chest. The concept of adults wearing jerseys and ballcaps to games in mass numbers started at some point in the early 1970's...

I can't find the quote online and my friend has my copy of the book it is in (Brain Droppings) but this remind's me of George Carlin's line that went something like...
"The good thing about looking at pictures of ballgames from the '50's and '60's is that the players are the only ones wearing baseball caps."

[JuggernautJ]

When I was a kid in Green Bay, Tony Canadeo lived a couple of blocks away, across the street from my aunt and uncle, so of course he was my first sports idol.

My mom made a jersey for me by cutting out a "3" (Canadeo's number) from a piece of heavy material and sewing it onto a sweatshirt. I always wore that jersey for our sandlot games in Marquette Park, right across the street from our house.

One day, I returned a kickoff for a touchdown and heard someone clapping. It was Tony Canadeo himself, out for a walk!

That's a great story, Ralph!
Thank you for sharing it.

[sheajets]

Remember Gerela's Gorillas. Loved that. How about these?