I think it's fair to say that almost nobody who isn't a Pats fan wants New England to win the Super Bowl at this point. Neutrals have many reasons to root for the Jags, Eagles and Vikings, and the villainous narrative that has attached itself to the Patriots - mostly for bogus reasons, but still - means that you'd have to be a real front-runner to not be from New England and still want the Patriots to win.
But that's not really why I've created this thread. The Falcons-Eagles game on Saturday was a depressing experience for me, as I'm sure would be obvious to anyone who knows where my allegiances lie. But one of the most depressing aspects was a continuation in the Divisional Round gamethread of the the seeming random hate from several Patriot fans toward Atlanta and the Falcons. For example:
1) The other team is playing your team. Close enough to rooting for your own team to be indistinguishable in most circumstances...although particularly from my time attending and observing British soccer matches, it never ceases to amaze me how some fans seem to relish hating other teams and fans (in truly foul ways) much more than cheering their own teams.
2) The other team could be a future threat to your team. You wanted the Steelers to lose to the Jags (or even for the Falcons to lose to the Eagles) because you thought the Jags (Eagles) would give the Pats an easier route to the Super Bowl? Completely fair enough.
3) The other team is a rival (or arch-rival) for historical reasons. Humans are tribal, and sports are generally a more productive outlet for that tribalism than most. Because I'm a Falcons fan, the schadenfreude I felt in watching the Saints lose as they did last night was significant - just as Red Sox fans will always enjoy the Yankees losing, etc.
4) The other team has players or coaches who have misbehaved in some way. The other team's quarterback is a suspected rapist? The other team's front office hacked the computer systems of another team and got lightly punished for it? The other team's coach (or ex-coach) got wrapped up in an NCAA recruiting scandal? All fair enough, at least to some extent.
5) The other team has former players or coaches from your team who left on less than civil terms. Completely understandable.
6) The other team used to be your team before it relocated to a different city. Even more completely understandable - probably as good a reason as any on this list.
7) The other team is a Goliath playing a David. Everyone loves an underdog.
8) The other team is a David playing a Goliath. This can make sense if you're a front-runner and/or like seeing sport played at the highest level it can be played - e.g., maybe you like watching Barcelona or Spain at peak efficiency in soccer, and want their opponents to suffer brilliant defeats at their hands. (A lot of Tiger Woods fans seemed to feel this way about his opponents in a similar fashion when he was at peak form.)
9) The other team's fans are dicks. Subjective, of course, but it's like the tried and true definition of pornography: we know what dickish fan behavior is when we see it.
10) The other team, or a player on it, is in a position to create history at your team's expense. Maybe you were rooting against the Rams or Eagles at certain points this season because Todd Gurley or Carson Wentz were threatening to steal the MVP award away from Tom Brady, or maybe you want the Lakers to lose primarily because you don't want them to be thought of as on the same historical level as the Celtics.
11) The other team has offended you by not playing the game right in some way. I saw a lot of this in around the Falcons-Eagles game - the "LOL Falcons" (or "LOL Eagles") comments and their equivalents were off the charts at times, for both teams played pretty stupid football at times.
12) The other team suffered an epic loss to your team, and you delight in re-living the schadenfreude over and over again. I guess this is what's going on with some Pats fans and the Falcons? I suppose it makes sense, but it certainly isn't very nice.
13) The other isn't your team, period. Some people don't need a reason to be (M)assholes.
Now, I'd like to think that in an ideal world, the better your team is doing and the more games and indeed titles it is winning, your level of sporting malice and your desire to root against other teams for most if not all of the above reasons would wither. So, for example, when you're a fan of the team that has won five Super Bowls this century and two of the last three, and you have the best quarterback of all time and the best coach of all time still on your team and performing incredibly well, perhaps you might feel more charitable toward the sporting world and feel more love and less hate in general - particularly if you were a Red Sox fan 14 years ago who remembers what the shoe being on the other foot feels like. Alas, this clearly isn't the way fandom works for many people. The quote cited in All the Money in the World comes to mind - when J. Paul Getty is asked "How much is enough?", his response is simply, "More."
So, in addition to wondering if there are other reasons, valid or otherwise, for rooting against other teams that aren't listed above, let me ask this: what place does hatred of other teams (and/or their fans) have in your sporting fandom? Do you ever wish you personally could dislike other teams less? And with regard to the Patriots, to what extent - if any - do you think the Pats fanbase may have become too Yankees-like? (I have my own thoughts on these questions, but for now I'll hang up and listen.)
But that's not really why I've created this thread. The Falcons-Eagles game on Saturday was a depressing experience for me, as I'm sure would be obvious to anyone who knows where my allegiances lie. But one of the most depressing aspects was a continuation in the Divisional Round gamethread of the the seeming random hate from several Patriot fans toward Atlanta and the Falcons. For example:
Rooting for Philly to deliver some soul crushing misery to Atlanta because I'm just a mean person.
Now, it's hard for me to think of douchier, more Yankees-like fan behavior than this sort of entitled hatred of random teams for little or no good reason. Perhaps I should just steer of SoSH gamethreads involving Atlanta sports teams going forward, but I've certainly noticed other posters here take random shots at the Falcons and Atlanta throughout the season - some merited, some rather less so. And after a day or two of reflection, I've been thinking about why and how sports fans come to feel ill will toward other teams and their fans. So let me propose a baker's dozen reasons why one might root against or even hate another team, in a way which is fundamentally different from rooting for your own team, and open the floor to others to fill in any other reasons I might be missing:>I feel badly for people in GA.
Fuck those traitors. Let them crash.
1) The other team is playing your team. Close enough to rooting for your own team to be indistinguishable in most circumstances...although particularly from my time attending and observing British soccer matches, it never ceases to amaze me how some fans seem to relish hating other teams and fans (in truly foul ways) much more than cheering their own teams.
2) The other team could be a future threat to your team. You wanted the Steelers to lose to the Jags (or even for the Falcons to lose to the Eagles) because you thought the Jags (Eagles) would give the Pats an easier route to the Super Bowl? Completely fair enough.
3) The other team is a rival (or arch-rival) for historical reasons. Humans are tribal, and sports are generally a more productive outlet for that tribalism than most. Because I'm a Falcons fan, the schadenfreude I felt in watching the Saints lose as they did last night was significant - just as Red Sox fans will always enjoy the Yankees losing, etc.
4) The other team has players or coaches who have misbehaved in some way. The other team's quarterback is a suspected rapist? The other team's front office hacked the computer systems of another team and got lightly punished for it? The other team's coach (or ex-coach) got wrapped up in an NCAA recruiting scandal? All fair enough, at least to some extent.
5) The other team has former players or coaches from your team who left on less than civil terms. Completely understandable.
6) The other team used to be your team before it relocated to a different city. Even more completely understandable - probably as good a reason as any on this list.
7) The other team is a Goliath playing a David. Everyone loves an underdog.
8) The other team is a David playing a Goliath. This can make sense if you're a front-runner and/or like seeing sport played at the highest level it can be played - e.g., maybe you like watching Barcelona or Spain at peak efficiency in soccer, and want their opponents to suffer brilliant defeats at their hands. (A lot of Tiger Woods fans seemed to feel this way about his opponents in a similar fashion when he was at peak form.)
9) The other team's fans are dicks. Subjective, of course, but it's like the tried and true definition of pornography: we know what dickish fan behavior is when we see it.
10) The other team, or a player on it, is in a position to create history at your team's expense. Maybe you were rooting against the Rams or Eagles at certain points this season because Todd Gurley or Carson Wentz were threatening to steal the MVP award away from Tom Brady, or maybe you want the Lakers to lose primarily because you don't want them to be thought of as on the same historical level as the Celtics.
11) The other team has offended you by not playing the game right in some way. I saw a lot of this in around the Falcons-Eagles game - the "LOL Falcons" (or "LOL Eagles") comments and their equivalents were off the charts at times, for both teams played pretty stupid football at times.
12) The other team suffered an epic loss to your team, and you delight in re-living the schadenfreude over and over again. I guess this is what's going on with some Pats fans and the Falcons? I suppose it makes sense, but it certainly isn't very nice.
13) The other isn't your team, period. Some people don't need a reason to be (M)assholes.
Now, I'd like to think that in an ideal world, the better your team is doing and the more games and indeed titles it is winning, your level of sporting malice and your desire to root against other teams for most if not all of the above reasons would wither. So, for example, when you're a fan of the team that has won five Super Bowls this century and two of the last three, and you have the best quarterback of all time and the best coach of all time still on your team and performing incredibly well, perhaps you might feel more charitable toward the sporting world and feel more love and less hate in general - particularly if you were a Red Sox fan 14 years ago who remembers what the shoe being on the other foot feels like. Alas, this clearly isn't the way fandom works for many people. The quote cited in All the Money in the World comes to mind - when J. Paul Getty is asked "How much is enough?", his response is simply, "More."
So, in addition to wondering if there are other reasons, valid or otherwise, for rooting against other teams that aren't listed above, let me ask this: what place does hatred of other teams (and/or their fans) have in your sporting fandom? Do you ever wish you personally could dislike other teams less? And with regard to the Patriots, to what extent - if any - do you think the Pats fanbase may have become too Yankees-like? (I have my own thoughts on these questions, but for now I'll hang up and listen.)