are YOU a sports fan fraud?
The Juggler
Posts: 49,032
originally written 8 years ago...and it still holds true today (thank you chapman chevrolet). not sure i agree with everything in here, but the man is pretty much on point.
so, how do you stack up?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id ... type=story
Attire
1. You can't purchase a "blank" authentic jersey from your favorite team with no name on the back, then stick your own name and number on the jersey ... well, unless you want to be an enormous dork.
2. If you're attending an NBA game, don't wear the jersey of a team that isn't competing in the game. It's bad enough to see people wearing authentic NBA jerseys in public -- if they're wearing a T-shirt underneath it, they look ridiculous, and if they aren't wearing a T-shirt, usually there's flab and shoulder hair everywhere, and you're wishing that they were wearing a T-shirt. Besides, it's not like you need to wear an NBA jersey to get yourself in the mood for an NBA game, unlike baseball, football and hockey.
3. Don't wear cheap-looking replica jerseys or flimsy-looking bargain-basement hats. Come on. You're representing every fan from your team. Show some pride.
4. Don't wear replica championship rings as a conversation starter. Don't carry someone's baseball card in your wallet as a conversation starter.
5. It's OK to flagrantly show your contempt for the home team by wearing the colors of a hated rival, as long as you're not being obnoxious as you root for the visiting team. If you make a spectacle of yourself, all bets are off and you'll get what you deserve. Back in the late-'80s, I sat in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium -- during a Red Sox-Yanks game, no less -- wearing a Sox hat, Bruins jersey and Celtics shorts, and the Yankees fans left me alone. Why? Because I wasn't going overboard. There's a lesson here, and it's not just that I had a death wish back in the late-'80s.
6. When your team wins a championship, it's your civic duty to purchase as much paraphernalia as possible. Don't be ashamed. Hats, T-shirts, sweatshirts, videos, cards, magazines, books ... there's no limit. Gorge yourself.
Behavior
7. Be very careful when using the word "We" with your favorite team. Use it judiciously. Just remember, you don't wear a uniform, you don't play any minutes, and you're not on the team. And yes, this was an extremely tough line for me to straddle during the Patriots' Super Bowl run.
8. No hopping on and off the bandwagon during the season with the flip-flop, "I knew we were going to self-destruct! ... All right, we won six straight! ... I knew we wouldn't keep playing this well. ... I knew we would bounce back!" routine as the season drags along. Just for the record, this is probably my biggest fault as a sports fan -- I overreact to everything. I've already written off the Celtics three different times this season, and I've given up on Antoine Walker roughly 435 times over the past six years. Can I get some medication for this?
CHAT WITH SPORTS GUY
If you want to discuss the rules of fan conduct or anything else with Page 2 columnist Bill Simmons, you'll get your chance when The Sports Guy joins us for a live chat at 3 p.m. ET Thursday. Click here to send in a question to Simmons.
9. It's OK to root against your team, if they're hopelessly out of the playoff race and you want them to keep losing so A) they'll get a better draft pick, or
you're hoping the coach and/or GM will get fired. Don't feel bad about it.
(Note: It's also OK to wager against your team, if they're hopelessly out of the playoff race. But only then. And only if you don't make it a habit.)
10. If one of your fantasy guys is lighting it up against your favorite team (scoring goals, rushing for big yards, making jumpers, etc.), you can't pump your fist, high-five anyone or refer to the player in a "That's one of my guys!" sense, especially if it's a crucial game or a crucial juncture of the game.
(That's maybe the No. 1 problem for sports fans these days: When to draw the line between fantasy and real life. It's an ongoing battle. Even if you can't help getting secretly excited about your fantasy guys when they're thriving against your favorite team, at least make sure you feel guilty, too. Don't you hate that enthralled/guilty feeling? Is there anything worse? I'm babbling ...)
Knick fans
You can forgive Knicks fan for booing their brutal team this season.
11. Don't boo your team unless it's absolutely warranted -- like with the brutal Knicks situation this season, or if you're hoping to get a coach fired or a specific player traded or something. When you think about it, what's the purpose of booing your team? If you're trying to inspire them, usually you end up sending them into a deeper funk -- odds are, your team already knows it's struggling. And if you're trying to light a fire under a specific player, usually you end up making him even more nervous and tentative. So why boo in the first place? Trust me, dead silence sends a bigger message than anything. And it's not potentially destructive.
(There's only one circumstance where booing doesn't cause more harm than good: If you have a great team that seems to be going through the motions. For instance, the Lakers have a tendency to sleepwalk against inferior teams at home; As soon as the fans get a little restless, Shaq and company seem to wake up. Unfortunately for the Lakers, their fans aren't paying attention that closely because they're busy either trying to get on the Jumbotron, averting their eyes from Dyan Cannon, or trying to figure out things like "How many points do you get if you shoot one from half court?" or "How come that clock on the backboard keeps counting down backward from 24?")
12. After your team wins a championship, they immediately get a five-year grace period: You can't complain about anything that happens with your team (trades, draft picks, salary-cap cuts, coaching moves) for five years. There are no exceptions. For instance, the Pats could finish 0-80 over the next five years and I wouldn't say a peep. That's just the way it is. You win the Super Bowl, you go on cruise control for five years. Everything else is gravy.
13. You can follow specific players from other teams, but only as long as they aren't facing your team. For instance, it's fine to enjoy the Brett Favre Experience if you're a Jaguars fan ... just don't get carried away and start making a scrapbook, collecting all his football cards and so on. That's a little sketchy. And you can't purchase his jersey under any circumstances.
Patriots fans
Patriots fans aren't allowed to complain about their team for at least five years.
14. Just because you supported a team that won a championship, it doesn't give you the right to turn into a pompous, insufferable schmuck. Remember this.
Friendships and relationships
15. If your team defeats a good friend's team in a crucial game or series, don't rub it in with them unless they've been especially annoying/gloating/condescending/confrontational in the days leading up to the big battle. You're probably better off cutting off all communications in the days preceding/following the game, just to be safe.
15a. Along those same lines, if your team squanders a crucial game/series to your buddy's team, don't make them feel guilty about it -- don't call them to bitch about the game, don't blame some conspiracy or bad referee's call, don't rant and rave like a lunatic. In the words of Vito Corleone, you can act like a man. You have plenty of time to bitch in private.
15b. If your buddy's team loses an especially tough game, don't call him -- wait for him to call you. And when you do speak to him, discuss the game in a tone normally reserved for sudden, unexpected deaths.
15c. If one of your best friends loves a certain team that has a chance to win a championship, and your team is out of the picture, it's OK to jump on the bandwagon and root for his team to win it all. That's acceptable. Like Temporary Fan status.
16. If you marry someone who roots for a different team than you, you can't be bullied into switching allegiances. You'd be amazed how often this happens ... and how often it's the guy who folds. The power of women to whip men never ceases to amaze me. The funniest part is when the guy starts making excuses: "Well, once I moved to Boston from New York, I got caught up in this whole Red Sox thing and the American League, so I stopped following the Mets," or "I never liked the Browns as much as she liked the Bengals, so I'm taking one for the team," or even my personal favorite, "We wanted our kids to root for the same team as their parents."
(Don't you love when "The sake of the kids" becomes a reason? What is this, like a Jewish-Catholic thing?)
Janet Jones
Sports traitor Janet Jones should now spend all her time north of the border.
17. If you're an American woman and visible former actress, and you marry the most famous Canadian hockey star of all-time, and eventually he becomes the man in charge of putting together a Canadian Olympic hockey team, and they end up playing the Americans for the gold medal in a game that's taking place in a U.S. city, and you show up for that game cheering for the Canadians, and you're hugging everyone in sight as the Canadians are putting the game away in the third period ... well, you have to leave the country immediately. And you can't come back. Ever.
(Yes, I'm talking to you, Janet Jones. Nobody likes a Sports Traitor. Turn in your driver's license, turn in your passport and take a hike. If you like Canada so much, move there. How come nobody is making a big deal out of this? TRAITOR! TRAITOR!)
And the biggies ...
Loyalties
18. If you live in a city that has fielded a professional team since your formative years, you have to root for that team. None of this, "The Bengals weren't very good when I was growing up in Cincy, so I became a Cowboys fan" crap.
Also, you can't start rooting for a team, back off when they're in a down cycle, then renew the relationship once the team starts winning again. All those Cowboys fans who jumped off the bandwagon in the late-'80s, jumped back on during the Emmitt/Aikman Era, then jumped back off in the late-'90s ... you know who you are. You shouldn't even be allowed out in public.
Wrigley fans
You are required to root for the home team under almost all circumstances.
(There's nothing worse than a Bandwagon Jumper. If sports were a prison and sports fans made up all the prisoners, the Bandwagon Jumpers would be like the child molesters -- everyone else would pick on them, take turns beating them up and force them to toss more salads than Emeril Lagasse.)
19. Once you choose a team, you're stuck with that team for the rest of your life ... unless one of the following conditions applies:
# Your team moves to another city. All bets are off when that happens. In fact, if you decided to turn off that sport entirely, nobody would blame you.
# You grew up in a city that didn't field a team for a specific sport -- so you picked a random team -- and then either a.) your city landed a team, or b.) you moved to a city that fielded a team for that specific sport. For instance, one of my Connecticut buddies rooted for the Sixers during the Doctor J Era, then happened to be living in Orlando when the Magic came to town. Now he's a Magic fan. That's acceptable.
# One of your immediate family members either plays professionally or takes a relevant management/coaching/front office position with a pro team.
# You follow your favorite college star (and this has to be a once-in-a-generation favorite college star) to the pros and root for his team du jour ... like if you were a UNC fan for the past 20 years, and you rooted for the Bulls (because of MJ) and then the Raptors (because of Vince). Only works if there isn't a pro team in your area.
# The owner of your favorite team treated his fans so egregiously over the years that you couldn't take it anymore -- you would rather not follow them at all then support a franchise with this owner in charge. Just for the record, I reached this point with the Boston Bruins about six years ago. When it happens, you have two options: You can either renounce that team and pick someone else, or you can pretend they're dead, like you're a grieving widow. That's what I do. I'm an NHL widow. I don't even want to date another team.
# If you're between the ages of 20-40, you're a fan of the Yankees, Cowboys, Braves, Raiders, Steelers, Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Canadiens and/or Oilers, and you're not actually from those one of those cities ... well, you better have a reason that goes beyond "When I was picking a favorite team as a kid, they were the best team, so I picked them."
Young New York fans
If you live in New York, you can't root for both the Yankees and Mets. Pick a side!
At least give me a reason like "Reggie Jackson was my favorite player growing up," or "I always liked the red Bulls uniforms," or even "Everyone in my gang wore Raiders colors." Do you really want to be known as a bona fide Bandwagon Jumper?
20. If you hail from New York, you can't root for the Yankees and the Mets. You have to choose between them. Repeat: You have to choose between them. Don't give me this "As long as one of them is doing well, at least New York is winning" spiels. What is this, the sports fan's version of bisexuality? How about making a choice? Any New Yorker who said the words "It's the Yankees versus the Mets ... I can't lose!" during the 2000 World Series deserves to be tortured with a cattle prod.
Besides, as we mentioned in the beginning of this column, you shouldn't practice "Sports Bigamy" in general. Sports teams are just like wives ... you can only have one wife, you can only have one sports team, and for the love of God, I will not argue about this.
(And yes, I'm talking to you, KJ.)
so, how do you stack up?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id ... type=story
Attire
1. You can't purchase a "blank" authentic jersey from your favorite team with no name on the back, then stick your own name and number on the jersey ... well, unless you want to be an enormous dork.
2. If you're attending an NBA game, don't wear the jersey of a team that isn't competing in the game. It's bad enough to see people wearing authentic NBA jerseys in public -- if they're wearing a T-shirt underneath it, they look ridiculous, and if they aren't wearing a T-shirt, usually there's flab and shoulder hair everywhere, and you're wishing that they were wearing a T-shirt. Besides, it's not like you need to wear an NBA jersey to get yourself in the mood for an NBA game, unlike baseball, football and hockey.
3. Don't wear cheap-looking replica jerseys or flimsy-looking bargain-basement hats. Come on. You're representing every fan from your team. Show some pride.
4. Don't wear replica championship rings as a conversation starter. Don't carry someone's baseball card in your wallet as a conversation starter.
5. It's OK to flagrantly show your contempt for the home team by wearing the colors of a hated rival, as long as you're not being obnoxious as you root for the visiting team. If you make a spectacle of yourself, all bets are off and you'll get what you deserve. Back in the late-'80s, I sat in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium -- during a Red Sox-Yanks game, no less -- wearing a Sox hat, Bruins jersey and Celtics shorts, and the Yankees fans left me alone. Why? Because I wasn't going overboard. There's a lesson here, and it's not just that I had a death wish back in the late-'80s.
6. When your team wins a championship, it's your civic duty to purchase as much paraphernalia as possible. Don't be ashamed. Hats, T-shirts, sweatshirts, videos, cards, magazines, books ... there's no limit. Gorge yourself.
Behavior
7. Be very careful when using the word "We" with your favorite team. Use it judiciously. Just remember, you don't wear a uniform, you don't play any minutes, and you're not on the team. And yes, this was an extremely tough line for me to straddle during the Patriots' Super Bowl run.
8. No hopping on and off the bandwagon during the season with the flip-flop, "I knew we were going to self-destruct! ... All right, we won six straight! ... I knew we wouldn't keep playing this well. ... I knew we would bounce back!" routine as the season drags along. Just for the record, this is probably my biggest fault as a sports fan -- I overreact to everything. I've already written off the Celtics three different times this season, and I've given up on Antoine Walker roughly 435 times over the past six years. Can I get some medication for this?
CHAT WITH SPORTS GUY
If you want to discuss the rules of fan conduct or anything else with Page 2 columnist Bill Simmons, you'll get your chance when The Sports Guy joins us for a live chat at 3 p.m. ET Thursday. Click here to send in a question to Simmons.
9. It's OK to root against your team, if they're hopelessly out of the playoff race and you want them to keep losing so A) they'll get a better draft pick, or
you're hoping the coach and/or GM will get fired. Don't feel bad about it.(Note: It's also OK to wager against your team, if they're hopelessly out of the playoff race. But only then. And only if you don't make it a habit.)
10. If one of your fantasy guys is lighting it up against your favorite team (scoring goals, rushing for big yards, making jumpers, etc.), you can't pump your fist, high-five anyone or refer to the player in a "That's one of my guys!" sense, especially if it's a crucial game or a crucial juncture of the game.
(That's maybe the No. 1 problem for sports fans these days: When to draw the line between fantasy and real life. It's an ongoing battle. Even if you can't help getting secretly excited about your fantasy guys when they're thriving against your favorite team, at least make sure you feel guilty, too. Don't you hate that enthralled/guilty feeling? Is there anything worse? I'm babbling ...)
Knick fans
You can forgive Knicks fan for booing their brutal team this season.
11. Don't boo your team unless it's absolutely warranted -- like with the brutal Knicks situation this season, or if you're hoping to get a coach fired or a specific player traded or something. When you think about it, what's the purpose of booing your team? If you're trying to inspire them, usually you end up sending them into a deeper funk -- odds are, your team already knows it's struggling. And if you're trying to light a fire under a specific player, usually you end up making him even more nervous and tentative. So why boo in the first place? Trust me, dead silence sends a bigger message than anything. And it's not potentially destructive.
(There's only one circumstance where booing doesn't cause more harm than good: If you have a great team that seems to be going through the motions. For instance, the Lakers have a tendency to sleepwalk against inferior teams at home; As soon as the fans get a little restless, Shaq and company seem to wake up. Unfortunately for the Lakers, their fans aren't paying attention that closely because they're busy either trying to get on the Jumbotron, averting their eyes from Dyan Cannon, or trying to figure out things like "How many points do you get if you shoot one from half court?" or "How come that clock on the backboard keeps counting down backward from 24?")
12. After your team wins a championship, they immediately get a five-year grace period: You can't complain about anything that happens with your team (trades, draft picks, salary-cap cuts, coaching moves) for five years. There are no exceptions. For instance, the Pats could finish 0-80 over the next five years and I wouldn't say a peep. That's just the way it is. You win the Super Bowl, you go on cruise control for five years. Everything else is gravy.
13. You can follow specific players from other teams, but only as long as they aren't facing your team. For instance, it's fine to enjoy the Brett Favre Experience if you're a Jaguars fan ... just don't get carried away and start making a scrapbook, collecting all his football cards and so on. That's a little sketchy. And you can't purchase his jersey under any circumstances.
Patriots fans
Patriots fans aren't allowed to complain about their team for at least five years.
14. Just because you supported a team that won a championship, it doesn't give you the right to turn into a pompous, insufferable schmuck. Remember this.
Friendships and relationships
15. If your team defeats a good friend's team in a crucial game or series, don't rub it in with them unless they've been especially annoying/gloating/condescending/confrontational in the days leading up to the big battle. You're probably better off cutting off all communications in the days preceding/following the game, just to be safe.
15a. Along those same lines, if your team squanders a crucial game/series to your buddy's team, don't make them feel guilty about it -- don't call them to bitch about the game, don't blame some conspiracy or bad referee's call, don't rant and rave like a lunatic. In the words of Vito Corleone, you can act like a man. You have plenty of time to bitch in private.
15b. If your buddy's team loses an especially tough game, don't call him -- wait for him to call you. And when you do speak to him, discuss the game in a tone normally reserved for sudden, unexpected deaths.
15c. If one of your best friends loves a certain team that has a chance to win a championship, and your team is out of the picture, it's OK to jump on the bandwagon and root for his team to win it all. That's acceptable. Like Temporary Fan status.
16. If you marry someone who roots for a different team than you, you can't be bullied into switching allegiances. You'd be amazed how often this happens ... and how often it's the guy who folds. The power of women to whip men never ceases to amaze me. The funniest part is when the guy starts making excuses: "Well, once I moved to Boston from New York, I got caught up in this whole Red Sox thing and the American League, so I stopped following the Mets," or "I never liked the Browns as much as she liked the Bengals, so I'm taking one for the team," or even my personal favorite, "We wanted our kids to root for the same team as their parents."
(Don't you love when "The sake of the kids" becomes a reason? What is this, like a Jewish-Catholic thing?)
Janet Jones
Sports traitor Janet Jones should now spend all her time north of the border.
17. If you're an American woman and visible former actress, and you marry the most famous Canadian hockey star of all-time, and eventually he becomes the man in charge of putting together a Canadian Olympic hockey team, and they end up playing the Americans for the gold medal in a game that's taking place in a U.S. city, and you show up for that game cheering for the Canadians, and you're hugging everyone in sight as the Canadians are putting the game away in the third period ... well, you have to leave the country immediately. And you can't come back. Ever.
(Yes, I'm talking to you, Janet Jones. Nobody likes a Sports Traitor. Turn in your driver's license, turn in your passport and take a hike. If you like Canada so much, move there. How come nobody is making a big deal out of this? TRAITOR! TRAITOR!)
And the biggies ...
Loyalties
18. If you live in a city that has fielded a professional team since your formative years, you have to root for that team. None of this, "The Bengals weren't very good when I was growing up in Cincy, so I became a Cowboys fan" crap.
Also, you can't start rooting for a team, back off when they're in a down cycle, then renew the relationship once the team starts winning again. All those Cowboys fans who jumped off the bandwagon in the late-'80s, jumped back on during the Emmitt/Aikman Era, then jumped back off in the late-'90s ... you know who you are. You shouldn't even be allowed out in public.
Wrigley fans
You are required to root for the home team under almost all circumstances.
(There's nothing worse than a Bandwagon Jumper. If sports were a prison and sports fans made up all the prisoners, the Bandwagon Jumpers would be like the child molesters -- everyone else would pick on them, take turns beating them up and force them to toss more salads than Emeril Lagasse.)
19. Once you choose a team, you're stuck with that team for the rest of your life ... unless one of the following conditions applies:
# Your team moves to another city. All bets are off when that happens. In fact, if you decided to turn off that sport entirely, nobody would blame you.
# You grew up in a city that didn't field a team for a specific sport -- so you picked a random team -- and then either a.) your city landed a team, or b.) you moved to a city that fielded a team for that specific sport. For instance, one of my Connecticut buddies rooted for the Sixers during the Doctor J Era, then happened to be living in Orlando when the Magic came to town. Now he's a Magic fan. That's acceptable.
# One of your immediate family members either plays professionally or takes a relevant management/coaching/front office position with a pro team.
# You follow your favorite college star (and this has to be a once-in-a-generation favorite college star) to the pros and root for his team du jour ... like if you were a UNC fan for the past 20 years, and you rooted for the Bulls (because of MJ) and then the Raptors (because of Vince). Only works if there isn't a pro team in your area.
# The owner of your favorite team treated his fans so egregiously over the years that you couldn't take it anymore -- you would rather not follow them at all then support a franchise with this owner in charge. Just for the record, I reached this point with the Boston Bruins about six years ago. When it happens, you have two options: You can either renounce that team and pick someone else, or you can pretend they're dead, like you're a grieving widow. That's what I do. I'm an NHL widow. I don't even want to date another team.
# If you're between the ages of 20-40, you're a fan of the Yankees, Cowboys, Braves, Raiders, Steelers, Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Canadiens and/or Oilers, and you're not actually from those one of those cities ... well, you better have a reason that goes beyond "When I was picking a favorite team as a kid, they were the best team, so I picked them."
Young New York fans
If you live in New York, you can't root for both the Yankees and Mets. Pick a side!
At least give me a reason like "Reggie Jackson was my favorite player growing up," or "I always liked the red Bulls uniforms," or even "Everyone in my gang wore Raiders colors." Do you really want to be known as a bona fide Bandwagon Jumper?
20. If you hail from New York, you can't root for the Yankees and the Mets. You have to choose between them. Repeat: You have to choose between them. Don't give me this "As long as one of them is doing well, at least New York is winning" spiels. What is this, the sports fan's version of bisexuality? How about making a choice? Any New Yorker who said the words "It's the Yankees versus the Mets ... I can't lose!" during the 2000 World Series deserves to be tortured with a cattle prod.
Besides, as we mentioned in the beginning of this column, you shouldn't practice "Sports Bigamy" in general. Sports teams are just like wives ... you can only have one wife, you can only have one sports team, and for the love of God, I will not argue about this.
(And yes, I'm talking to you, KJ.)
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Comments
you may actually have a case, being from connecticut...according to this.
would you care to share you story?
5. One of my biggest problems with Eagles fans. In New York (Yankees and Giants at least) we don't give you too much shit if your are respectful. No so much at Eagles games, even wearing the wrong color and you are fucked.
7. My biggest fucking pet peeve in the world. I absolutely fucking hate it when fans use the word we. YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE FUCKING TEAM!!!!!
16. My mom was not a Yankees fan but was forced to switch when she married my dad. All good im my book.
18. I have lived in philly for the last 4 years but spent the first 25 in upstate NY and NYC, Does this mean I am supposed to be a Philly sports fan? Bill Simmons is better than that. In fact, this is another problem I have with Phillies fans, before the Phillies won the world series, why was EVERY fucking Phillies fan a die heard Red Sox fan? Does not make sense to me.
20. Bill Simmons knows more about sports and NY to accuse any Yankees fan of cheering for the Mets. He should be better than that.
Edit: Only responded to the ones that stuck out, I am sure I have a few more problems with the list but mostly fair points.
you must know some fraudulent people in this area man....die hard red sox fans?!?!!? i dunno bout that. i do know that phillies fans had a soft spot in their heart for sox fans up until 2004 because we could relate to them with their championship drought and their battles with new york. but after they won their fans became almost as obnoxious as fraudulent cowboys fans though.
Ok I'll bite:) ....as I asked my father awhile ago. He was a fan of Staubach when he played for Navy ( i think him going to vietnam had something to do with it as well) and when he went to the Cowboys I guess he followed him there. Like I said ever since I could remember I was a cowboys fan. *shrug*
I met quite a few. A guy I know from Fishtown talked shit to me two years in a row because his team won the world series, 2007 and 2008. He said the same type of shit about feeling for them and he became a fan. He will never live it down with me but I even work with people that will say some shit like "Phillies are my team but the Red Sox are my second team" What the fuck does that mean? There are 162 games in a baseball season, how do you have 2 teams?
The article made me laugh, though. I always liked Bill Simmons, even if he's a Boston fan.
This thing kind of reminds me of my mom, who picked her favorite teams based on how much she liked their uniforms.
ahhhhh yes, the "second team" guy. something the sports guy did not address. perhaps that needs to be looked a little closer. i can see having a 2nd favorite team (im hoping thats what he meant) as long as they are in the american league and you, under no circumstances will ever even consider rooting for them when they play your home town team. now, this theory would work MUCH better before inter league play came around thus ensuring these two teams would basically never play each other. it's an interesting one. the fishtown dude is a certifiable fraud. i'm really uncomfortable with him living in the tristate area. we may have to have him removed. i honestly do not know anyone like that. if i did, i would not be his friend for much longer. but the "2nd team" guy may have caught onto a loophole or something.....i dunno....
if your team is not playing, there is absolutely NOTHING fraudulent with rooting for the underdog. especially if you throw down on them.
i see...
did your dad grow up in ct too? and what's your/his proximity to nyc?
Yeah, the "second team" should be addressed and I must say there are certain NL teams I would cheer for if the Yankees were out of it. St. Louis for one since I am a huge fan of Pujols but I would never consider them my "second team". Simmons should get on this.
Fishtown guy is a huge fraud and I have exposed him as one many times. Probably won't make things better when I tell you the dude has a Dave Matthews Band tattoo. hahahahahhahah. I will say when I met him he was a die hard Red Sox fan....now he is a die hard Phillies fan.
He is the biggest Dawkins fan I have ever met though
my best friend roots for the dallas cowboys of college football: university of miami. i've been ripping him for this since i've known him. we both went to bloomsburg so its not like he went to school or is from there or anything. i'm a psu football fan. and he always says "they're nowhere near here! it's the same thing!" my retort is that i am from pennsylvania and i root for the pennsylvania state university. makes a helluva lot more sense than rooting for miami cuz he thought they were cool when he was growing up............i will say the rules for college fans can get a little blurry at times though.
College Football is a whole different story. There is NO reason for anyone from PA that went to Bloomsberg to be a fan of Miami but I have no problem with the gigantic PSU fanbase in Philadelphia that didn't go to PSU. If you are from the state, that states', state college is fair game to cheer for. I almostg don't have a huge problem with the large Rutgers fanbase in Philly although that seems like it popped up pretty quickly.
I am not from PA but am a huge PSU fan as we have had season tickets my entire life, as I said in another thread my grandfater is 98 and still goes every Saturday.
You mentioned family, so you automatically are saved from "fraudulent" status... you're cool.
I find it to be as influential a factor as area. If my family happened to all about the Tampa Bay Bucks or whoever, I'd most likely be all about them too. Football is a very much a family thing. A big reason the Cowboy's nationwide fan base has remained the nation's largest in the NFL.
For the record, I wish, for every single one of you that when your team finally wins a championship after many many long years of suffering, you have a cool, funny wirter like Simmons to put it all together like this ...
Yeah, I know, Yankee fans probably won't ever have something like this ... but, as a Sox fan ... this book is sheer fucking heaven.
"I don't believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass." --- Pedro Martinez
If you ever root for your "fantasy" over your team... I can't even talk to you. I don't do fantasy, but I could see rooting for a player if my team was out of the picture. Like, I've rooted for old man Favre when the game had absolutely no implications on the Cowboys.
Wearing jerseys.... I can't do it. I think its ok for kids, and sometimes girls look cute in them, but come on... to each their own, but a baseball cap is as far as I can go with it, may be a jacket if its looks cool to me.
Saying "we" doesn't bother me, I do it sometimes myself... unintentionally. From what I can see, the fans are the most important part of the team, they're the whole reason the thing exsists.
If you ever switch teams after age.... let's say 12, thats fucking weak. If you do it as an adult, I can't respect that at all.
If I went to game in Dallas, I might wear my D or Star hat, probably depending on my hair that day. If I went to a game somewhere else, you better believe I'm going to wear a Cowboys cap. If I ever see a game in Philly, I'll go back on my jersey thing and buy one just for the occasion.
The curse of trading ewing lives on
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
why would you possibly assume i was referring to you or other cowboys fans in this thread? i have not said anything of the sort. but if that is what you came to your mind when reading this....then....i wish you the best on your journey.
we called one of my friends patrick ewing because he prolonged his college career long enough to at last all of his friends...to the point where he even moved back on campus for this final semester. dude was 22 and had to abide by the ra's rules...haha
And, yes, the Cowboy did not sell out their building when they blew ass. That's a fact.
Fuck that fuckin star.
Haha, we got started on it pretty late last night.
I like Simmons, I don't always agree with him but he is a great writer and he does not drink the ESPN Kool-Aid.
I am looking forward to reading his new book, just need to get the motivation to pick up a 700 page book.
Yeah, I don't have the interest to read 700 pages on basketball, but that's just me. And I'm sorry, love the Sports Guy, but because of him there's a TON of copycat sites just ripping off his humor. And he writes WAY too much about New England sports in his NATIONAL ESPN columns. I don't need a 5,000 word column written about your theory on how Manny left Boston followed up by some lame article about the Pats. Love Simmons mostly for his Vegas articles - they're timeless.
And one more thing, because I'm an asshole, I'll never understand this feeling of lovable losers with Boston with the Sox up till 2004. I'll admit, I liked them up until then because they always went against the Yankees and I'll always despise the Yankees more. But for anyone in that city to feel like, "FINALLY we did it." Fuck that. Before then, you saw the Pat win 2 Super Bowls and the Celts win a shit load. The Sox are religion apparently up there, I get it. But don't gimme this shit that you've been living in torture for years because of it. I went 26 years on this Earth without seeing ANY of my teams win it. That's when you start to truly feel, "is it ever going to happen?" Other than being from Cleveland, who's got it wayyyy worse, no one could ever sympathize with our situation.
Boston's kitchey, apparently their accent has a charm, and all chicks want to go to school there. It's 'Good Will Hunting' in their heads(girls) at all times. Cliffy, THAT is why people became bandwagons of this team. And then when they won, I found out they were more condescending and obnoxious than any Yankee fan I ever came across. It's all bullshit tied together to seem like some kind of dream. This is where my distain for the Boston fan, for me, has come from. Whenever a Philly fan boasted for the last year like a pompous fucking ass, I supported it. Ya know why? We deserved to. We had NOTHING - absolutely nothing.
Oh, and Cliffy, those bandwagon fans in this area were the ones that couldn't stick it out. They still come to games when the Sawx are in town too. They come all the way down from .....Bucks County, and Gloucestah.....New Jersey. And it's all because of the reasons I described above. And I can't wait to go up to Fenway this year and be a total dick. No violence of course.
Breath in...breath out....ahhhh, much better.
welcome aboard my friend. have at it
.....I think I just did.
As a bettin' man, I cannot agree with this one even if it would be only 1 bet.
Wait, but my relatives from Tx are 2.5 hours away from the stadium. I must be fraudulent then :roll:
Gettin' pumped for Sat. night Jeags!!
This is true. During the 80s I had to travel to my grandparent's house 75 miles outside of Dallas to watch the games. I hate the blackout rule.
BOS-9/28/04,9/29/04,6/28/08,6/30/08, 9/5/16, 9/7/16, 9/2/18
MTL-9/15/05, OTT-9/16/05
PHL-5/27/06,5/28/06,10/30/09,10/31/09
CHI-8/2/07,8/5/07,8/23/09,8/24/09
HTFD-6/27/08
ATX-10/4/09, 10/12/14
KC-5/3/2010,STL-5/4/2010
Bridge School-10/23/2010,10/24/2010
PJ20-9/3/2011,9/4/2011
OKC-11/16/13
SEA-12/6/13
TUL-10/8/14
I admire your loyalty. But fuck Dallas.
I don't get fantasy football either. I guess it is fun but I have never showed interest in it. I just can't root for Eli Manning just because he is on my fantasy team. I can't watch the Vikings play the Cowboys and hope Peterson has a great day because I have him. Sorry, can't do it.
I say "we' a lot too. Just a habit. I know I am not on the team, but I have followed them my whole life, I go to games sometimes and buy all their shit so I feel like I own a piece anyway.
I don't wear Cowboys jerseys to games. I haven't had one since an Irvin jersey from back in the day. My kid has a Barber jersey though and breaks that out at school every Friday on "jersey day". I do wear my Stars sweater to Stars games though. I don't know why. I certainly wouldn't wear either one outside of watching a game.
BOS-9/28/04,9/29/04,6/28/08,6/30/08, 9/5/16, 9/7/16, 9/2/18
MTL-9/15/05, OTT-9/16/05
PHL-5/27/06,5/28/06,10/30/09,10/31/09
CHI-8/2/07,8/5/07,8/23/09,8/24/09
HTFD-6/27/08
ATX-10/4/09, 10/12/14
KC-5/3/2010,STL-5/4/2010
Bridge School-10/23/2010,10/24/2010
PJ20-9/3/2011,9/4/2011
OKC-11/16/13
SEA-12/6/13
TUL-10/8/14