New York Rangers through geography and Mark Messier, USMNT and Watford FC through Sports Illustrated, and the Boston Red Sox through the family tradition. Never, ever, give up. (on your team) - Jimmy V
Mizzou Tigers basketball and football, my alma mater. It's surreal to beat Oklahoma recently and actually consider us a possibilty for the championship. We eventually choked on easier teams but still had a great season.
While I agree that you get a pass with exemption #3, I have a hard time believing that anyone can become a die-hard fan of a team without everything that goes into rooting for a team with other people. I'm also a Philly guy. So I've got that same background, with everyone around me rooting for our teams (by the way, fuck aussies telling me that rooting is slang for fucking, I always snicker now when people say they root for something). I just don't feel like it could possibly be the same if you randomly picked some team, watching them alone in your living room with no one else giving a shit, like you said. Also, a new york friend once explained that Jets-mets fans tend to be from Long Island, Giants-yankees fans from other parts of the metro area. But that apparently is just a guideline.
Zyron, can you give a breakdown of the proper geographical location for each New York franchise? I always heard it was Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Rangers, vs. Jet's, Met's, Islanders, Nets?? Wouldn't people who cheered for the nets also cheer for the Devils?
I'm glad, don't be salty because most of us still think NFL players are better athletes than rugby players. This fascinates me, are you exaggerating or is it really that bad? Is it the area of the stadium is located or is the team have mostly black fans? Do you guys also have front runners, people who like Manchester United for no reason at all? If so what team leads the pack in band wagoners? Again, do people mostly stick to the geographic region for who they route for? any frontrunners for no reason?
College: USC - Went to undergrad there. Ohio State - Grew up in Ohio and going to grad school here now, but I'll still pick USC over OSU when they play (was at the football games in 08 and 09). Baseball: Cleveland Indians - They were good in the 90s when I started following baseball. That, combined with the awesomeness of the movie Major League, made them my team NFL: I don't really have a team. I just like to watch a good game. NBA: Never really had a team, but if I had to pick it'd be the Lakers from watching games with my friends at USC who were big fans.
I think this thread is going nicely, without any city or fan bashing. Feel free to put the team you absolutely loathe in the thread as well. Football- The Cowboys. The whole point of starting this thread was to basically call out cowboy fans who live all over the nation and only like them because they had three superbowl wins in the 90's. I may hate this team more than any other team in sports. Baseball- The Mets. A very close second to the Cowboys. These past years seeing the Mets not make the playoffs has been absolutely wonderful. People seem to think Phillie and Yankee fans don't like each other, not true. I'm sure you had heated fans from the series two years ago but for the most part (a. we knew the yanks were better) and b. we never play each other, it's the Mets I hate. I really don't even mind the Braves that much despite being a division rival. Hockey The NJ Devils. Always seemed like cheap shot artists to me and of course they beat the Flyers all the time. The day Scott Stevens knocked out Lindros (again) was an awful, awful day for me. Basketball The Knicks. Just never liked them, they have been bad for so long my hate has been pretty simmered over the past couple years. Unfortunately they are getting better and I actually like amare stoudemire, the guy is a beast and is hard not to respect his game. Players I should hate but didn't 1. Troy Aikman- no reason. Except that I probably wished I could be him. He had to bang as many girls as Wilt and I did respect him as a player. 2. Most of Atlanta's pitching staff from their glory years- The guys were just way to good. They consistently ruined Phillies seasons but i couldn't hate them. I however had no problem hating Chipper Jones. 3. Sydney Crosby- most hockey fans hate this guy. I just can't help enjoying his play, he's fucking amazing.
Football- The Cowboys and Packers. Fuckin cheeseheads. Baseball- Nobody really. Used to be the Yankees, because that's what everyone else does, because they 'buy championships'. Then I looked at the Tigers with the 4th or 5th highest payroll, and the Red Wings (Who, by the way, are still kicking ass in the cap era, booya) Hockey- Avalanche. See: May 29, 1996 and March 26, 1997 Sidney Crosby. He's a little bitch, and scored and got all the glory for the gold winning goal in the olympics even though Iginla made that play. I don't mind the rest of the Penguins though, and liked Lemieux, Jagr and Stevens growing up.
In my experience, it tends to break down once you add New Jersey into the mix. Within New York, it's pretty much like you said. Giants, Yankees, Rangers and Jets, Mets, Islanders. Basketball's a bit of a crapshoot since they only have the Knicks. Out in New Jersey you get Devils fans fairly evenly split between the two. And nobody cheers for the Nets. As for me: NFL: This should be obvious. It's strange because the rest of my family are Giants fans. One of my earliest memories is when my dad took me to a Jets-Cowboys game in the early '90s when I was six. Of course anybody bringing a six-year-old into the upper deck in those days was certifiably insane and the Jets got destroyed, but I was hooked. Much misery and disappointment has followed. MLB: Yankees. This was where I actually had the good sense to root for my parents' team. Mattingly's last season was the first year where I really got into baseball and even in that short time he's one of my favorite Yankees. NHL: Devils. Neither of my parents were really hockey fans, but my dad took me to a bunch of their games in the 93-94 season and we both fell in love with the sport at the same time. (also, Fuck You Stephane Matteau. Fuck you hard). Having spent my whole time as a fan with Brodeur in net, it's gonna be bizarre seeing someone else starting in net every night but I couldn't be luckier to have seen the greatest goalie ever play out his whole career. Everything's gone to shit so far this season but I'm still hoping for a turnaround.
I'm going to get shit for this, Mike Ness already assaulted me via PM earlier and I had to fend him off. I have a feeling I was one of the contributing factors to starting this thread. Preface: No one in my family, immediate, or extended did ANYTHING related to sports. All of them were fair weather fans. My parents never bought me sports attire, equipment or anything. My dad is/was a dry business man who grew up in the 40's and my mom is an artist/creative minded person. I was taken to a Bears game when I was maybe one or two, a White Sox game maybe at 3 or 4. 90% of my sports knowledge comes from playing the video games. NBA: Chicago Bulls. I grew up during the Jordan Era. During the year he decided to play Baseball, my dad was given Box Seats for a game against the Nets. Amazing memory. Also had a few experiences running into Phil Jackson downtown around the city, it is shocking how many people have stories of how they'd catch him before or after meals and he'd just shoot the shit for a minute and go about his way. Ditto goes for Ditka. I also root for and watch Lakers games because of Phil Jackson and I'm a big fan of Kobe Bryant's Eff You Attitude. NFL: This is wear people get very upset with me. I'm primarily a Patriots fan. I paid so much attention to basketball, and ignored football until 2002. Being born in 86, I missed the Ditka/Walter Payton Era. The first Bears coach I can remember was Dick Jauron and you tell me which of the 25+ fucking QBs I'm supposed to care about. The first football game I watched from beginning to send was the 2002 Superbowl, Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams. A bunch of guys had a ton of cash from shoveling snow and somehow we put it on the game. Most of the people went for the Rams, but I looked at Tom and Bill and said fuck it, I'm going with them. $300 later I was a Patriots fan. Then I started playing Madden when I got to college, and betting on Madden games $10 a go. "BRADY TO GIVENS...TOUCHDOWN!" Paid for my alcohol and it went from there. So yeah, it's how I got into football and how I got here. I've stuck with them every single season since. I root for the Bears when they're playing, I watch all their games. I rooted for them to beat the Patriots. But the Bears did not inspire my love of football. MLB: Cubs fan. I can open my window and hear games. That's pretty much it. Got a bunch of tickets last year from my job to take clients to games. Couldn't be any better. All those people drunk, a bunch of girls from out of town and enough bars in walking distance to rival most college towns? Shittt.... Chicago update edit. Hi-Tops moved to Lincoln Park, much smaller location. This location became Harry Caray's Tavern, and now that's closed and there is now temporarily called "Benchwarmers". Harry Caray's is looking for a new location because apparently their relationship with the building owner has been like a "bad marriage."
I can go off on this topic, but I will do my best to be respectful. I have met great people in every fanbase, but there are some teams that just seem to have an overwhelming amount of douches that make up the majority of their fans. MLB: My absolute most hated team regardless of sport is the Red Sox. They are everything that everyone bitches about the Yankees being, but they like to think they're morally superior despite that fact. Back before they won in 2004, all their fans acted like it was a mortal sin if you didn't want the Red Sox to win it all because of how long it had been since they won. Frankly, I'd rather root for the Yankees, at least they embrace being all that is wrong with baseball, and they don't act all butt hurt at any and every negative comment about their team and fans. I hate whenever the Yankees and Red Sox play because ESPN seems to think the entire nation gets as into it as those teams fans, when really, we could give a fuck about the rivalry. There are plenty of great rivalries in baseball, including Cubs-Cards, Giants-Dodgers, and Phillies-Mets, but if you watch ESPN you wouldn't know it. NFL: I hate the Packers. I hated them when everyone was sucking off Brett Favre when he played for them, I hated them when Aaron Rodgers became their QB, and I hate them now that Rodgers is becoming one of the best QBs in the game. I love it when the Bears beat them. I even loved it when Favre came back last year and beat them twice, even though I hate Favre too. I hate the stupid cheeseheads, and the Lambeau Leap. But I really do love it when the Bears beat the Packers, and I'm hoping that this season will end with the Bears beating the Packers in Lambeau and the Packers missing the playoffs. NBA: My hate in the NBA is lessened anymore because the Bulls haven't been an upper echelon team in a while, but I still hate the Pistons and Knicks from the Jordan years. I remember going to a Bulls game during the shitty years, and John Starks was on the Bulls at that time. I didn't care, I booed and screamed and taunted that SOB. Because seriously, fuck that guy. NCAA: This is where most of my hatred lies (outside of the Red Sox). I love college sports, and the first weekend of the Tournament each year is like Christmas for me. I had the pleasure of going to the first 2 rounds in Kansas City for Spring Break in college one year. I really had no true rooting interest, my friends and I just went because the NCAA Tournament is the greatest sporting event, and we wanted to see it live. Unfortunately, that year the Kansas Jayhawks got to play their first 2 rounds in Kansas City, and with the campus only being 40 miles from Kansas CIty, their fans overran the place. They were obnoxious, awful, classless fans who I now hate with a burning passion. Every single one of my friends left with the same opinion, as a whole the Jayhawks fans were miserable to be around, and its always good fun when they get bumped from the tournament early. Like all rational, non-bandwagon fans, I hate Duke. If you went there, good for you, you're probably a douche, but you have earned your fandom. If you're some "fan" from buttfuck Indiana, Texas, or wherever, with no connection to the university at all, you suck as a human being and at being a sports fan. Finally, I also hate Ohio State. What is with that stupid chant? Why do all the people of Ohio feel the need to claim Ohio State as their own when most of them didn't go there? Especially when a lot of them went to schools that actually have a Division 1 team. Yeah, they may not be Big Ten teams since Ohio State has a monopoly on that, but still Miami-Ohio, Ohio U, Cincinnati, you guys have your own teams, stop being Ohio State fans. Michigan has this same phenomenon of bandwagon fans, but at least the students and alums of Michigan have the decency to disparage those people by calling them Walmart Wolverines.
I was trying to find a way to say this without getting to far into fan-bashing, so I'll just say I agree whole-heartedly, and add that a lot of those same Red Sox fans are also Patriots fans, which adds to my disdain for the Patriots (my 2nd most hated team, despite the fact that I respect Tom Brady for what he has accomplished).
I've always hated the cowboys for a few reasons. 1. Part of it is just left over from the rivalry in the 90s when the packers/cowboys were the best teams in the nfc. 2. What is this bullshit about them being America's team? There is no America's team. Why any team would randomly make that claim is beyond me. 3. They always seem to have a propensity towards signing the biggest douche bags in the nfl. Romo's awesome and undeserving of much of his criticism, but I'm looking at you TO and Roy Williams. Plus, the locker room drama their organization always seems to stir up is just pathetic. The only sports team I hate more is the French national squad for soccer. They're a disgrace to humanity.
Both. The old soccer stadium that was close by was demolished and Moses Mabhida Stadium was built in its place (that's the stadium used for the Soccer WC a few months back). AmaZulu F.C. is the only Durban-based side in the Premier Soccer League (S.A.'s top division), and they play in Chatsworth (a majority Indian-populated area but not safe for White folks). The only other team that's in driving distance is Maritzburg United, who play out of Pietermaritzburg - my mom went to Pietermaritzburg for a day to attend a work-related meeting a few months back and said the place reminded her of a war zone within a slum. So no, not cool to go there either. As for bandwagon fans, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City lead the way - most of their "fans" have fuckall knowledge of the teams and can't name more than 5 players. Arsenal's a pretty distant fourth I guess, due to the number of titles won over the last twenty years, but most bandwagon Arsenal fans have defected due to the club not winning a significant trophy for over 5 years. For rugby and geographics, HELL YES. It's very rare to find a Sharks fan in Johannesburg (home of the Lions), Cape Town (Stormers and Western Province), Pretoria (Bulls and Blue Bulls) or Bloemfontein (Cheetahs). Blue Bulls fans coming to Durban are lucky if they don't spend the night receiving verbal abuse from the Sharks fans. As for frontrunners, not really. Rugby fans are not too kind and will mock the unknowledgeable, so you don't get too many bandwagoners/lemmings/idiots. Now, as for teams I absolutely dislike: Association Football: Manchester United, Chelsea and (to a lesser extent) Manchester City, simply due to the idiot bandwagon fans. And, of course, Manchester United beat Arsenal 1-0 on Monday night. Fuck. On to individual players: Cristiano Ronaldo. FUCK YOU. I hope you cried (again) when Barcelona bent your team over in the Nou Camp. I don't hate Real Madrid, just C. Ronaldo. Didier Drogba: I'll admit he's trying not to foul as much as before because it's harder to get away with. Asshole. Watch him one-on-one with defenders - he'll aim to stamp on them or elbow them out of the way and then act innocent and shift blame. At least Bergkamp owned his fouls. Wayne Rooney: The last twelve months have been AWESOME. FUCK YOU you dirty cunt. I hope you keep playing like shit until you have a mental breakdown and go back inside your council house. Douchebag. Nicolas Anelka: You fucking twat fungus. I hope you get herpes. Wenger's finest ever move was to sell your ungrateful ass and buy Thierry Henry instead*. Rugby: Blue Bulls / Bulls: Fuckers. They have the most arrogant, asshole fans and their players (Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw in particular) get away with a lot of shit on the field. They seem to have a conveyor belt of robot players. I am still cheering that Ralepelle failed his drugs test... I also cheered when Habana left them for WP / Stormers at the end of last year. However, most Durban-based Sharks supporters seem to hate WP / Stormers just as much as the Bulls, but I'm pretty indifferent to them. As for international team I most hate? It's a tie between NZ and Australia, for obvious reasons. Formula One: Ferrari. I couldn't be more pleased that Alonso lost this year. Fuck you and fuck Ferrari. I like your road cars, but your F1 team (an eternal fuck you to Schumacher) and fans are a bunch of shitheads who believe victory is theirs just by showing up. Fuck off. Massa seems like an alright guy, though - pity he drives for them. *I hope you guys in NY go watch him at least once - he is awesome, despite the handball that got France into the WC. I think we can say Karma won out there.
Football I grew up near the San Francisco Bay area so I naturally have always followed the 49ers. I was always respectful of the Raiders until they moved to Los Angeles. Now I do not care for them one way or another. My most hated football team would be the Cowboys. In 1970, 1971 and 1972 the Cowboys eliminated the 49ers from post season and the 49ers now still trail 5 to 2 in post season wins against the Cowboys. Fuck em I hope they never go to the post season, fail to sell out the stadium and lose it to foreclosure. Baseball Oakland Athletics forever. I have respect for the SF Giants and even will go to their games when they are playing the A's or a team that has a player I want to see, but I am an A's fan. I cannot stand the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. Yankee hate was inherited from my father (a long time Cleveland fan) Red Sox for beating the A's in the 1976 ALS (I was at the elimination game) and the Dodgers for the 1988 World Series. Basketball The Golden State Warriors. Do not give me any shit, supporting them is punishment enough. I hate Celtics, Lakers and Knicks in that order. This is based entirely jealousy of their success and my teams lack thereof. Except for the Knicks, they are from New York and therefore suck by association with all other New York teams. Hockey Hockey is not a sport. It is soccer on ice and therefore is as boring as all things soccer. I do not watch, I do not care. College Ohio State, Arizona State, Fresno State and any college that has a local kid from where I live playing for them. My dad grew up in Columbus, Ohio and went to Arizona State for his undergrad work. I grew up watching those colleges. Fresno State is pretty nearby and quite a few local kids wind up playing there. I go to a couple of games a year. Motorsports MotoGP, World Superbike, AMA, F1 and ALMS. I do not have favorite rider or driver or team, I just enjoy watching how they can do something everyone else does everyday, just at a different level. NASCAR is now a joke and not really racing. I do follow it enough to try and be able to converse in it.
Sadly this is one of the reasons I started the threads. As a whole, I guess you should be able to cheer for whatever team you like, however if you read the above post you can see Parker likes the Pats and is a loyal Pat fan because they helped him win a bet. Maybe some of you think that this reason is ok, logical, maybe even admirable, not me. As a matter of fact if I was a Pats fan I would hate this guy. You see if I suffered through a 44-10 massacre by the Bears, Tony Eason and god awful uniforms I would not think that a person would deserve to cheer for my squad simply because they won a bet on them. Can this person really feel the same heartbreak as a guy whose whole family has cheered for a team? When the particular franchise is ingrained in all of his social networks, when entire social gatherings revolve around a specific game? We snuck away from my wives 30th birthday to watch 3 innings of a phillies playoff game, the only thing that got me out of serious trouble was my father in law and both brothers in law were with me. Things are different when an entire demographic of people all cheer the same team, if you get a chance read Durbanites post about how they treat fans who cheer for teams of cities they do not occupy. The worst thing is with Parker he lives in Chicago! Even though he didn't have the Bears growing up because his folks were not that into it it's still a great franchise to stick bye, great history and plenty of loyal fans. I'm surprised your boy's don't expel you from every Sunday get together. In defense Parker seems to be quite knowledgeable about sports and has had plenty of excellent posts dealing with the NFL. It was one of the main reasons I didn't hammer him, but it did intrigue me how he could like the Pats living in Chicago. It boils down to a question we could never have answered; would the Parkers of the world still like these particular teams if they were not so good? What if Parker had bet on a Cincinnati game and won $300, would he be a diehard Bengal fan? I would say no.
Teams I Hate Philadelphia Flyers: Constantly a bunch of cheap shot fucks. Always take blatant runs at goalies. Detroit Red Wings: Fuck the Wings. Words can't describe my hate for the players, team, and organization as a whole. I got a free t-shirt of theirs a week ago. Can't wait for a summer bonfire. This shit is gonna burn nicely. Toronto Maple Leafs: Congrats on filling all your roster slots. Now how about you field a fucking team and give some fucking respect to the sport. Indianapolis Colts: There's just a joy I get from seeing Peyton bordering on crying when he loses. I hate him, and his team. This season has just put a huge smile on my face.
NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs. Everyone in my family right up to my great-grandparents are die-hard Leafs fans. If I didn't like them I'd probably be disowned. CFL: I don't really give a shit about football, but I will wear green on game days to support the Saskatchewan Roughriders... so basically only because of former geographical convenience. NCAA: Michigan State. I remember watching March Madness when I was a young gun with my Papa and that's who he cheered for. I also became a Davidson fan a few years ago with the rise of Stephen Curry based solely on the fact that I love him.
NCAA: Michigan State also!! Went there for four years. Went to EVERY home basketball game for that time. Sat in the front row EVERY game. Cheered on the likes of Mo Ager and Shannon Brown. Even went as far as camped out for some games days in advance to secure my seats. Football was so-so, I got drunk at every tailgate and was half aware at the games. I bleed Green and White. NHL: Detroit Red Wings. Nick Lidstrom has been my favorite player for years and I've been to a few games in my younger years. Awesome, especially our sweet Avalanche fight all those years ago. Absolutely awesome. NBA: Pistons. DEEEEEE-TROIT BASKETBAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!! NFL: Don't really care much about this, but if I had to chose, it would probably be the Texans for no reason really.