@NinerWupAss What college football team did you support growing up and before 2013? Just curious
I grew up a chapel hill fan. Dropped them in the 90s. Adopted Oregon after going to a game at Autzen Stadium and stayed with them until our team started.
âŚsee this is why I donât think Charlotte has many âtrueâ fans before 2013. Itâs all people who allegedly switched. I canât imagine talking to someone about switching their club soccer team!! Haha. No matter what you stick with your team!
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I was a Charlotte 49er fan since the day I stepped in campus in 1991. I maintained chapel hill football until later in the 90s. Hard to be a Charlotte football fan when we didnât have a team.
But no one should stick with their childhood college team unless you go to college there. At 10 you likely pull for who ever your friends do or family does. Once you go to college you should boot the team out for YOUR school. You shouldnât stick with your first team at least not at the college level.
My daughters are huge Niner fans, but if they go to college elsewhere they shouldnât maintain being Niners because of me. They need to embrace their school.
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This exactly. Root for the school that admitted and educated you, where you benefit from their success
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Iâve got NWA beat having been a Niner fan since the Bill Foster era of MBB. Never really pulled for any particular school in football though I had attended games at Clemson, LSU, Wake, and even Davidson prior to 2013.
BTW, first ever college athletic event that I remember attending was a menâs soccer match with my mother while she was in grad school at the University of Denver in the late '60s. (The DU football program had already been discontinued for almost a decade by then, so college soccer in a 30,000 seat stadium was definitely overkill! 
)
Also recall going to the rodeo show while living in the Mile High City! 
Anyway, was really more of a pro football fan growing up. Primarily the Broncos but also the Falcons before the Panthers.
But, as always nowadays, go Charlotte 49ers!
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I was born up outside of DC was a redskins fan until 1995!
I do remember my mom giving a pair of Charlotte 49er socks in the early 80s after we moved to Belmont in 1980. That was the first time I recall hearing about UNC Charlotte.
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Before the Panthers, spent many a Sunday listening to Sonny Jurgensen, Sam Huff and Frank Herzog call games on the Redskins radio network. Really enjoyed that trioâs description of the action etc.
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They were the best! Great radio
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You seem like a good guy and Niner. However, you are on a Niner fan site questioning how many of us are âtrueâ Niners. Many of us have given thousands or more to get this football program off the ground, never miss a home game, travel to away games and support the university beyond athletics. I made a promise to myself in the 90s that if we ever got a football team I would support it. It is personal to me. While I donât like the results so far it is something myself and others I know and tailgate with prioritize and try to grow. No I donât tailgate at the Normbulance but appreciate what he does to grow the university and program. We need more like him and I donât even know him personally. I hope that makes me and others true Niners. I donât have another team and donât need one.
In a perfect world Biff would have gotten more time but he is gone now and so is the person that fired him. Letsâs move forward together and do what we can as fans to get this program back on track.
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The folks that were in the Charlotte Football Initiative and those first FSL owners. With them exists a level of fandom that many schools donât have because without them this football team literally doesnât exist.
The AD didnât want football. The chancellor didnât want to address it. The big donors didnât push for it.
This team exists thanks to those folks. I am one of them and so are you. Every single one of us should take pride in the role we played. Itâs a shame we donât tell this story louder.
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I agree, you canât compare CLT football fans to Premier Football Club fans. Those teams have been in existence for centuries, that means generations and generations of families have grown up rooting for that club. itâs engrained in them. Most on this board graduated from CLT and there wasnât a football team here. We supported basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, ect and still do. But if you are a sports fan and in the absence of a team on your campus, you will root for another colleges team. Probably one that one of your parents rooted for when you were growing up. When CLT got a team, most switched their main allegiance here but that doesnât mean you donât look at the scoreboard to see whatâs going on with the team you rooted for growing up. The Panthers have the same problem.
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Completely disagree.
Childhood fandoms are born out of many different circumstances, but I would bet mainly the visibility of a team. 10 years of fandom going out the window just because you pay for a service from a school seems odd to me.
That being said, if your alma mater has a sport you are interested in, I find it extremely odd that you wouldnât cheer for and follow that team after you graduate.
I definitely have a different perspective since I went out of state for both of my degrees.
Tend to agreeâŚgrew up a Navy fan (dad and grandfather both wentâŚmaybe a little of my own service too), U Tennessee (other grandfather played there)âŚafter all that, I went to Elon, ODU and Georgia State (getting a different degree at each), root for all three, BUTâŚ
When I started on faculty at UNC Charlotte, a colleague took me to a basketball game in 1997 and I immediately bought season tickets (and have ever since) and when football started, I became an FSL owner (and have ever since).
My point is, we can all have multiple allegiances, I never question anyoneâs supportâŚin fact Iâve considered several times dropping either FB or BB tickets, but I enjoy the games (at least until halftime it seems) so Iâve kept buying year after miserable year.
The fact that anyone is on this board demonstrates to me they care passionately about the 49ersâŚthatâs all I need to know even if I disagree with peopleâs comments or arguments.
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I would say its fine to maintain some feelings for that first team if you want. But that really is a marriage of convenience for whatever reason. I grew up a Reskins fan because I lived in DC. I moved to Charlotte and we didnât have a team so I kept Redskin fandom. Charlotte got a team and the Skins became #2. Now I donât even care about the NFL LOL.
For college IMO its a bit more complicated. Whoever your first team was, for whatever reason, is just you being a fan. Thatâs it. You arent a part of the family because you donât have any skin in the game since you donât have a degree from them. If you didnât go there you can always walk away if ya want. My niner experience though is part of me, I canât remove that even if I wanted to. I spent years on the campus. The school contributes to my career and livelihood. I am where I am literally because of the school. My daughters will likely always have a soft spot but if they go to App or ECU (I am praying they donât) I would expect them to at min drop us to #2.
If someone wants to maintain a secondary school fandom past the ones they attended that is fine, but maintaining fandom of a school that actively works against the school you went to - such as being a Charlotte grad/fan and being a Chapel Hill fan - that I just canât ever agree with.
Separate divisions also make some of that easier - if you go to a small D3 school it far easier to be a fan of some bigger program, but you are still just a fan.
Iâd also say thats what often separates grad degrees and undergrad. I think most people would say undergrad degrees are more than a service if you are getting it between the ages of 18-25ish. Folks that attend college later in life or who obtain grad degrees rarely have the same level of emotional connection as it is more of just buying a service.
Employment at the school I would also think is another dynamic for those employed, but thats a much smaller population.
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I had the most issue with âno one should stick with their childhood college teamâ.
Completely agree that changing to the school you attend over your childhood team is preferrable. I would also agree that if both are in the same state or conference, that makes it weird. I have the âluxuryâ of my three schools not really competing against each other for players/sponsors/etc.
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I donât have a problem with cheering for whomever they want. Unless itâs Chapel Hill. They just suck
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I push back mainly because I canât stand someone talking shit about our programs - even our academics, only to find out they went to App or Lenoir Ryne or somewhere or even no where and are talking about Chapel Hill or Clemson using âweâ. MF there is no âweâ.
Its usually at that point I say F you and someone has to escort me away.
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I tend to agree, but itâs a hard sell for some, especially if their childhood team is a perpetual winner. I grew up a Tar Heel fan. My first basketball memory is my dad squeezing me tight as he was so nervous before Jordanâs late game winner vs Georgetown. Today, I canât stand the Tar Holes and root against them to lose every damn game they play. That changed the day I enrolled at Charlotte.
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I graduated from Charlotte and it is my school period. However, I paid and sent my sons to other schools and I will also be a fan of those schools as long as they donât conflict with Charlotte.
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