Where has all the love gone?

The other night I was over at Chris’ house watching the Falcons-49rs game.

Chris is a huge Falcons fan, and even though I considered the game over before it started, he was celebrating over a 20-yard run by a Falcons running back.

It struck me as a little strange. I don’t seem to get excited over my favorite teams anymore. Heck, I barely even have favorite teams anymore.

I consider the Buccaneers to be my favorite football team, but I actually caught myself rooting against them this Sunday when they played another one of my favorite teams, the Panthers.

Things change, but perhaps they are changing way too quickly in professional sports. Just like Chris, in what seems like just a year ago, the Falcons were one of my favorite teams.

That changed when Deion Sanders left for San Francisco, Andre Rison left for Cleveland and Chris Miller left for Los Angeles. I didn’t know any of the players that were leftover, and I didn’t have the time or concern to get to know any of the new ones.

Free agency is starting to kill the sports fan and the concept of being true to your favorite team.

Especially in cases where bad teams just get worse when a quality free agent leaves his team to pursue a championship or the almighty dollar.

Free agency is killing good teams, too.

There is currently one player, Kevin Johnson, on the Phoenix Suns remaining from the team who went to the NBA Finals in 1994.

I even watched my brother nearly destroy every piece of Magic merchandise he owns this summer … just because the Magic chose not to match the offer given by the Lakers to Shaquille O’Neal.

Players leaving teams is not the only loyalty problem professional teams seem to have.

There is also the annoyance of professional teams threatening to move to new cities at the drop of a hat in the name of more money or a better stadium.

In some cases, the teams actually do end up moving.

Cleveland had to be the biggest shock of all.

This team sold lots of tickets, had genuine fans, and huge community support, but the owner still packed up the team and left for Baltimore.

Every year there are at least two teams who are considering moving to another location for some money matter.

It is almost impossible to support such stability.

I bitch and whine, but there are still teams who seem to be doing the right thing. The Orioles and Twins are two baseball teams who have always stuck with their stars, and almost all the NFL teams that have had success in the ’90s have signed their big stars to huge contracts.

Hopefully, these are signs of a new trend rather than a passing fad. It certainly is nice to see refreshing signs of loyalty in an industry where loyalty is very quickly turning into a liability, even for the fan.

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Cade Remsburg is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Ames.