By Kevin Rutherford

You probably wouldn’t peg One Direction‘s Harry Styles as an American football fan at first glance, and no one can blame you. The British boy band heart-throb comes from a country where the type of football known as soccer Stateside is the chief focus, with the American version paid little mind.

And yet, Styles’ Twitter account was punctuated last Sunday (Nov. 9) with retweets from his favorite football team, the Green Bay Packers. A normal tweet from the NFL team’s official Twitter might normally garner around 300 retweets and 400 favorites when it’s game time. Once a Styles retweet comes into play? Try 15,000 retweets and 40,000 favorites.

Call him the Packers’ best hype man—and perhaps, simultaneously, the Packers social team’s best and worst enemy; sure, there’s more social interaction on the account, but boy, those replies to the tweets in question.

The One Directioner isn’t the only high-profile sports fan whose fandom brings even more attention to their favorite sports team than what they might’ve experienced before. Here’s a few other musicians whose love for their teams knows no bounds.

 

Basketball

 

Jay Z – Brooklyn Nets

 

Beyoncé & Jay Z at the Brooklyn Nets game tonight http://t.co/kbGSuWDKAC

—
Beyoncé Lite (@BeyonceLite) May 13, 2014

Well, yeah, because the rapper owns the New York basketball team, one would imagine he’s got some love for his hometown squad. But Hova isn’t just a silent observer from afar — you can find him at a number of Nets home games at Barclays Center, seated in the front row, Beyonce usually by his side.

 

Drake - Toronto Rappers

 

Again, sort of obvious. Drake’s love affair with the Raptors is well documented, especially since being named the team’s global ambassador earlier this year. Of course, he hasn’t yet suited up in a warmup — that honor resides solely with the Kentucky Wildcats, with whom he warmed up this year and tossed up an air ball. Better fan than player? His “0 to 100″ boast (“Steph Curry with the shot”) props him up, but that air ball suggests otherwise.

 

Kid Rock – Detroit Pistons

 

The country rocker won’t let you hear the end of his love for Detroit, so it’s only natural he’d be a fan of Stan Van Gundy’s squad. Most recently, he performed at halftime in the Palace of Auburn Hills in what the venue called “one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced halftime shows in sports.”

 

DJ Khaled – Miami Heat

 

When the Heat made it to the NBA Finals earlier this year, Khaled, a Miami native, was front and center, even appearing on ESPN’s First Take to dispense his hot take on how the playoffs would go for his squad, because sometimes you just really need to fill a few minutes of airtime. The producer made a harrowing accusation as the series against the San Antonio Spurs went into its third game: the Spurs won the first game in San Antonio by cheating,  because they turned the air conditioning off. He also predicted the Heat would win the next three games. They lost all three.

 

Football

 

Wiz Khalifa – Pittsburgh Steelers

 

What, did you think it was mere coincidence “Black and Yellow” came out and climbed the charts — eventually hitting No. 1 in the country — as the Steelers ascended to Super Bowl XLV? That Khalifa, a Pittsburgh native, just so happened to pen a track using the colors of his hometown team? The song isn’t explicitly about the Steelers; it’s an homage to a car he owned with black and yellow stripes. But why’d he buy said car with said colors? The Men of Steel, baby.

 

Harry Connick Jr. – New Orleans Saints

 

in my hotel room at #foxwoods - gotta watch my @Saints before my show tonite... #whodat #NOvsSF instagram.com/p/vMBIvUvKdb/

—
Harry Connick, Jr. (@HarryConnickJR) November 09, 2014

The crooner and American Idol judge has a lot of love for his hometown. When it’s game day, you’ll be hard pressed not to find some sort of Saints mention on his timeline, whether he’s on the road or not.

 

Snoop Dogg - Oakland Raiders

 

(Warning: explicit language in the above video)

Snoop likes sports, especially if they’re based in Southern California. Case in point: his stanning for the Raiders, which included some thoughts on the team’s quarterback situation earlier this year. Of course, check out his Instagram feed, and you’ll see commentary on all things football right now — dude just loves the pigskin. However, these days there’s more Steelers than Raiders. Perhaps allegiances are shifting a bit? If the Instagram video above is any indication, he’s not too happy at a lot of his teams.

 

Lil Wayne – Green Bay Packers

 

Hats off to the Packers O Line!

—
Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) November 10, 2014

What do Lil Wayne and Harry Styles have in common? Little else aside from their fandom for the green and yellow squad coached by Mike McCarthy. In addition to creating a “Black and Yellow” spoof for the Packers a few years back, the rapper can be found on Twitter cheering on his crew each and every Sunday. Between Weezy and Styles, the Big Bay Blues have quite the cheering squad.

 

Baseball

 

Ben Gibbard – Seattle Mariners

 

Just how big a fan of his hometown baseball team is the Death Cab for Cutie frontman? When Ichiro Suzuki was traded to the New York Yankees in 2012, Gibbard felt so sentimental that he wrote and recorded a tune called “Ichiro’s Theme.” In 2008, the Seattle native threw out the first pitch of a game, and then in 2010, he performed both “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” with his Death Cab bandmates. It sounded exactly like you’d expect a Gibbard-led “Ballgame” to sound, for better or for worse.

 

Dropkick Murphys – Boston Red Sox

 

What bigger fans of the Red Sox could there be than one of Boston’s beloved bands? The Dropkick Murphys have been some of the most vocal supporters of the team in recent memory, even penning the song “Tessie,” which was based off a Sox anthem of the same name, that coincided with the team’s first World Series title in 86 years in 2004. That’s not all: the band’s “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” has been a more recent rallying cry for the Red Sox, particularly in 2013′s World Series-winning campaign.

 

Nelly – St. Louis Cardinals

 

Nelly’s just an all-around big sports fan, but his heart remains in his hometown of St. Louis. Consider the video for his first major single, “Country Grammar”: dude was decked out in Cards gear. Today, the team even has a Nelly theme night, and he was with them up until their National League Championship Series loss to the Giants this year – though he kept his allegiances close in proximity, defecting to the Kansas City Royals for the World Series.

 

Eddie Vedder – Chicago Cubs

 

He might be best associated with Seattle, but the Pearl Jam frontman grew up in Chicago and has strong allegiance to its teams — most prominently the Cubs, for whom he’s thrown out the ceremonial first pitch and done a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” In 2008, he released a solo track called “All the Way” at former Cub Ernie Banks’ request that anticipates a World Series title in the boys’ future. Billy Corgan was not amused.