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What's the story behind you becoming a Jaguars fan?

#1

I know most probably just live in Jacksonville and became fans because they were the home team. I myself don't and actually I've never even been to Florida. So what is your story?


In 1995 I was 10 years old. That's when i made my decision to become a fan and have stuck with them this whole time. My father wasn't in to sports at all, he was just a car guy. So I didn't have a favorite team the family cheered for or anything. Every saturday we would go to a local auction that sold a bunch of over stock items, typically bought in bulk and they would try to auction them off individually cheap. Being 10, i always thought i needed to buy something every time we went to an auction. So here i am begging for this and that, dad telling me no each time. Finally up came a lot of sweatshirts. 2 different teams, i had no clue who they were. Dad said i could pick one. I was so excited, i had to choose between a Jaguar and a Panther. I picked the Jaguar, not knowing the pain i was gonna face for pretty much the rest of my life... lol From then on i did my best to follow them every chance i got. Being from Ohio, it was quite nice when they moved to the AFC South, because it allows me to at least go to a Jags/Colts game every year.
In Dougie I Trust!
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#2
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2020, 10:44 AM by Kane.)

Grew up force-fed the Dallas Cowboys through the early 90s as a kid since my dad was from there. When the expansion happened my dad said it was a good chance to get my own team to follow for my life like he did the 'boys. He told me since I was born in South Carolina that the Panthers would be a good choice but we were living in Florida at the time and I had no real ties to Carolina (moved from there when I was still a baby) I picked the Jaguars and haven't looked back. I was a bit too young to really enjoy the earliest years. I was 10 in 95 as well... but I watched when I could catch them on TV in NWFL. Once the 99 season came around I was more of a football fan, really understanding what I was watching. That great (and terrible) year really hooked me and I've been die hard ever since. Still chasing the dragon it would seem.
But it is great to actually have a team I've been watching since its inception. A team I grew up with. I get to know that I've been a fan, through good times and bad (mostly bad) and when/if they ever win the big one I'll know I was there from the start.
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#3

Pretty simple I was 9 when the Jaguars started...my favorite animal was a jaguar and my color teal.
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#4

Born in Jacksonville in 1988. Essentially grew up on them. My dad was a Steelers fan all the way up until the 1994 season. My mom and her side of the family were mostly Dolphins fans. They instantly took up the Jaguars the moment they were here.

With the exception of my weirdo Uncle and Cousin. Uncle's a Vikings fan and cousin is a Packers fan. They'll keep up with the Jaguars. But they fall back on those teams.
[Image: 4SXW6gC.png]

"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."
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#5

My wife's business that she worked for in the early 2000's got group tickets for a home game for the whole company and their family members.  Had not been following the Jags, and had been keeping a distance from the NFL, since my favorite team at that time was the Redskins and they had regressed to being perennial losers.  

I actually had never been to an NFL game, as I was always of  the mindset that watching it on TV was better than see a bunch of ants from the nosebleed sections. But we were all in the Bud Zone. Leftwich was taking over the reigns as starting QB, and we were playing against Peyton Manning and the Colts. Peyton was working in the Red Zone that we were sitting in, and the whole stadium was yelling, trying to keep him from calling and audible. It worked! Peyton got exasperated and threw his hands down in disgust and the Colts got a delay of game penalty. Drive stalled. Leftwich threw a bomb later to Jimmy Smith and scored the winning TD.

In the following days, Jack Del Rio credited the Jacksonville fans for essentially being the factor that halted Manning from scoring. I felt responsible for the win.  I had contributed. I was hooked from that time on. Became a fan of the Jags and the stadium experience. And it's been 20 years of complete bliss  Laughing

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#6

Jason Taylor vs. Tony Boselli

I didn’t know much about football then, and I had never seen an OL completely dominate someone before. It was such a spectacle, and Boselli was game-changing, so I was hooked ever since.
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#7
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2020, 03:18 PM by PF*.)

Grew up 16 miles north of Boston and still live here. Had ST to Patriots in the 80s for 10-12 years.

Bought a condo in St. Augustine in '99 and one Sunday on the way to the airport to head home we were passed by a dozen vehicles with Jags flags flying and Jag head magnets...on the way to a home game. I got to thinking about tickets and looked online at work the next day.

Was surprised at how cheap they were and bought 2 in Sect. 414 for the rest of the year. Have bought them ever since (now in better seats) and arrange my Fall schedule around home games, spending 2-5 weeks at a time in FL. Have had the same parking space in Tailgaters with the same great group for 17 years.

Win or lose, it's such great fun 6-8 times a year.
Season Ticket holder since 2004. Smile

 

        
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#8

I was force-fed the Vikings for most of the first decade of my life despite never having lived in Minnesota, and Jacksonville got a team a few years after I moved to the city. My family adopted the Jaguars immediately, although that kind of waned as my family all kind of went our separate ways shortly after I graduated from high school and started moving across the country. I tried several times to "quit" the Jaguars, first with a half-hearted attempt to become a Broncos fan while living there, then with a quarter-hearted at best effort to pick up the Chiefs while living in Texas..long story. I keep coming back, despite the commitment to losing and the ever-increasing signals that Khan really would prefer the team be in London.
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#9
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2020, 11:42 AM by The Real Marty.)

I was at Colt Fever Night.  I was wanting a team long before we got one.  So of course when we got one, I gave my everlasting undying loyalty to it.
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#10

I was a Cowboy's fan until Jerry Jones bought them in the late 80s and fired Tom Landry and Tex Schramm. For a couple of years I didn't have a team but was very interested when the Oilers and Saints flirted with Jacksonville a little bit. I'd lived here for over a decade at that point so it seemed the natural thing to do, especially since the Jags coming to be was such a Cinderella story anyway.
I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.
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#11

I moved here in Oct of 1994 when the team was getting set up. Followed ever since. Fortunately my first love, Tampa Bay, is in the other conference so I don't have to choose sides too often.
“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

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#12

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Who says I'm a fan?
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#13

I posted this in another thread but once more cos I'm very egocentric lol.

I'm British, but I now live in Mexico. My aunt married a US navy guy and ended up living in Jacksonville, so I would visit at least once a year for my entire childhood pretty much. I remember being there at Christmas 1996, and being in the Landing with everyone wearing Jags gear and celebrating after a win, I think. I was 11 or 12 and had no idea about the sport, and didn't really care much tbh, but I guess it left an impression. I started really following the NFL in 2001, partly due to playing fantasy football, and obviously the Jags were my team. Terrible time to become a fan really, right after the early success of the 90s, leaving me to endure the past 20 or so lean years... Anyway, managed to attend many Jags games whenever we would visit the family, usually around Christmas... My first three games were a terrible loss to the hated tacks with Eddie George running us into the ground, another terrible loss to the tacks, and then the Christmas eve (?) game against the tinhorns when if we won we would have made the playoffs... (of course, we got shutout and absolutely creamed). I should probably have just picked another team at that point, but I was already hooked. Plus I had my Freddy T jersey. Eventually I saw them win a game, absolutely stomping the Raiders in 2007. I was so drunk I barely remember the details, but man it was fun!

Hardly been to any games at all for ten years or so now, what with family and me living in a bunch of different countries. That will change very soon though when my son gets old enough for it.

Despite the absolute misery we have to endure as Jags fans, I wouldn't and couldn't change teams even if I wanted to.
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#14
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2020, 02:31 PM by JagFan81.)

Sorry may be a bit of a long post

Being in the UK, no one i knew watched football, one day in 1999 i turned on a game and the Jags were playing. Loved the teal and name. Started getting more intetested and learning the game, very hard in pre internet days. 

Where my love took off, there used to be NFL Europe, and one year the World Bowl was in Scotland. I used to be on a UK NFL forum that had about 20 users and we all decided to meet up for the game. One of the guys was called Bill and lived in South Carolina. He travelled over and i got to know him well. I was desperate to travel to Jacksonville for a game and Bill offered to drive to Jacksonville from South Carolina if i ever made it over.

I decided one day to just book flights. So in 2003, at 19, on my own, i flew to South Carolina to stay with Bill and his wife Becky for a week. The way they treated me, the hospitality, the whole week was everything i loved about America. The US gets a fair bit of negative press from the outside looking in but i know what real US people are like.

When we got to the stadium for the game, Bill had contacted the Jags before hand and they allowed me to walk around the field during warmups, saw a 12 year old kid telling a Houston D lineman that he was going to 'bang his momma'. These are my people! I got to quickly meet a few players and was on the field for player introductions. The whole day was a blur of incredible experiences.

Just an amazing experience that took the Jags from a team to MY team.
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#15
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2020, 02:02 PM by Black and Teal.)

I grew up in Jacksonville but not in a sports home. My dad literally never watches sports but one day I was playing with my toys in the living room and my dad just so happened to be randomly watching the Jaguars versus Eagles on tv. This was the year 2002, the year the Eagles went 12-4. Even at that age, I knew they were hot stuff. Knowing what I know about my dad, I’m assuming he was only planning to check out the local team and see how they’re doing while flipping though channels and then go back to whatever adult thing he had going on. But I started asking him “what’s that?” “How’d they get the ball?” “How many points is that worth?” And then we ended up watching the whole game together. We won that game 28-25 in exciting fashion. The rest is history. That day honestly changed my life
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#16
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2020, 02:16 PM by Talented Kalamari.)

Growing up in St. Simons GA (45 min. North of JAX.) became a fan back in 2010 and have averaged attending about a game or 2 per season since. Also have always loved the idea of a Jaguar as a mascot, as well as the teal colors. It’s just my squad. Till death (or a move to London) do us part. Lets [BLEEP] go jaggies.
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#17

When I was a kid I was very much a contrarian. Still am, kinda...

Grew up a Niners fan because my father and brother were Cowboys fans... when the Jags came to town I bought a Carolina Panthers hat (because they entered the league the same time) because I thought Jacksonville didn't deserve a team...

A few years later I came to my senses and became a Jags fan...
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#18

I started playing Madden early on and got into NFL and was following Vick and Falcons. Then me and my brother in law caught the Jaguars vs Green Bay where DD almost ripped Ferguson head off on a crossing route... year later we were hardcore fans... next season we were season tickets holder.
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#19

Nothing better to do on Sundays.
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#20

I have been an NFL fan since the early 1970's.  In 1989 I was stationed here in Jagsonville during my time in the Navy, and when the city was awarded the franchise I "jumped on the wagon".  The first few years I got tickets through the USO and would attend games as I could.  Around 1999 or so I made the plunge to buy season tickets.  Not long after that (I'm guessing possibly around 2000 or so) I joined the original message board.


There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.
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