why do so many fans of other teams hate us?

[Eja117]

My anti-Boston friends pretty universally claim that Boston is a racist city.  With continued criticisms within the media (e.g., SNL comedian recently identified Boston as the "most racist city" he has ever visited; A 2015 BU study that reported a life expectancy of 90 years for residents of Back Bay compared to a life expectancy of 59 years in nearby Roxbury), celebration of the predominantly white Celtics teams of the past, and the Brady/Belichik era of dominance, etc., I assume this is an ongoing narrative. Hopefully I'm speculating inaccurately, though.

Dio they ignore the part where Boston had the first black basketball player? Or do they discuss that this is what you see when you walk down the steps of our state house?  I agree Boston can be a cruddy hypocritical place. But so can other places.

Boston also had the first black pro head coach. But these are facts and facts aren't important these days. People go by their gut and many peoples guts say bad things about Boston and race.

Aren't we one of only 4 states that had a black governor? Chief Justice of our Supreme Court too

Quit playing their stupid game by pathetically reaching for info to say, "See, we're not so bad."

I'm not saying we're not so bad. I'm saying we're better. 

[Roy H.]

This doesn't help:

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones says he was subjected to a torrent of N-words and other racist taunts at Fenway Park during Baltimore's game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

"A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,'' Jones said, according to USA Today. "I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome.''

Jones, one of just 62 African-American players on the Opening Day rosters of the league's 30 teams this year, said he was the target of further taunts as the game continued.

"Very unfortunate," Jones said. "I heard there was 59 or 60 ejections tonight in the ballpark. It is what it is, right. I just go out and play baseball. It's unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being. I'm trying to make a living for myself and for my family."

He said it was not the first time hecklers in the stands at Fenway had targeted him with a slew of racist abuse, but Jones told USA Today and The Boston Globe that Monday night's taunts were among the worst experiences of his 12-year big league career.

That's not from 1960. It's from last night.

[staticcc]

It's not about racism per se. You will experience that anywhere in the country. But people from New England are maybe the least shy in expressing their feelings - bigotry included - so it rubs off the wrong way.

[RockinRyA]

Success breeds Envy. Envy breeds Hatred. Simple as that.

That, and Marcus Smart 

[Somebody]

Other places have "southern hospitality" or they're "progressive" or they have family values or some sort of BS. This is Boston. Do your job. We do not care about your feelings. We started a world war with the strongest power in history because we didn't feel like paying taxes on tea any more.  Some people have a hard time with being #2. That's not my problem because I'm from New England.  If you don't like it look around you. I had a grandmother that moved NORTH when she retired. Lived alone till she was 92. She gave birth to 4 girls. The guy who is the second longest tenured employee down at the hardware is mentally and physically special. What's your excuse? When terrorists mess with us the whole city plays a day long game of hide and seek and encourages cops to come into our basements. And we do it without thinking about it. Yeah we fudge up all the time. We reelected a guy 7 times that drove someone off a bridge, walked across an island, and couldn't find the phone to call the police. But when your senator needed something done who did he go to?  You think Boston Celtics fans have problems? We're Irish. We'll live with a problem our whole life.

The meme that best sums us up is the one I can't put here where it shows an overhead of the NYC grid and says "New York because we want you to know where you are and how to get where you're going" and underneath has an overhead of the Boston streets and says "Boston. Because ....."

Hey would we tolerate a coach for two minutes that complained about the other star player palming the ball? Have we ever done that?

Irish as in northern or southern? I'm definitely not knowledgeable in this but I went to Northern Ireland once and learnt a bit about the history of Ireland.

[Eja117]

This doesn't help:

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones says he was subjected to a torrent of N-words and other racist taunts at Fenway Park during Baltimore's game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

"A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,'' Jones said, according to USA Today. "I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome.''

Jones, one of just 62 African-American players on the Opening Day rosters of the league's 30 teams this year, said he was the target of further taunts as the game continued.

"Very unfortunate," Jones said. "I heard there was 59 or 60 ejections tonight in the ballpark. It is what it is, right. I just go out and play baseball. It's unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being. I'm trying to make a living for myself and for my family."

He said it was not the first time hecklers in the stands at Fenway had targeted him with a slew of racist abuse, but Jones told USA Today and The Boston Globe that Monday night's taunts were among the worst experiences of his 12-year big league career.

That's not from 1960. It's from last night.

Was this caught on video?  I'm not seeing any statements by the Red Sox.

[Moranis]

In terms of Boston sports, my wife moved to Boston with no sports allegiances of any kind.  We went to a few games at Fenway, but she found the fans obnoxious at best, and passively racist at worst, and we stopped going.  We went to minor league games instead.  Pawtucket was great, but New Hampshire was as bad as Fenway, and this was AA baseball.

We didn't go to any Celtics games while she was there, but my one Celtics game in 2002 left me with a similar bad taste (except the fans were blatantly homophobic instead of passively racist).  Despite them being my favorite team, and living in Boston for another decade, I never returned to the Garden (or Fleet Center/whatever name it went by.)

We moved to DC in 2012.  Nats fans are much nicer than Sox fans.  I can show up to a Wizards game in a Celtics shirt, and no one says anything, except maybe some playful banter.  Minor-league baseball is as family-friendly as it should be, unlike we found it to be at the games we went to in New Hampshire.

Maybe for some people there is a history that goes back decades, but our exposure to and knowledge of Boston fandom is largely from the last decade or so, and even though I'm a fan of the Celtics, my opinion of Boston fans isn't that far off from those who root for rival teams.

Mind you, I don't think it's all fans, and it's probably not a majority of fans, but there are enough to create a very off-putting atmosphere in a way that we haven't experienced elsewhere.  (We've also been to MLB games together in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the Mets.  We haven't seen the Yankees because we imagine it would be similar to Boston.)

And that's not to insult Boston.  We'd move back tomorrow if we could.  But it is real.

this is spot on. Arrogant egotistical fans that when drunk take it too far.  You can see plenty examples from sober people in this thread of the arrogance. It isn't success it is the way success is handled.  No one hates Spurs fans for example.  Certain fan bases are just obnoxious, Boston is one of them.  I'm in Ohio and Ohio State fans (of which I'm one) are also that way.  It also doesn't help that the Patriots are run by a coach that had consistently played fast and loose with the rules with multiple fines and rule changes resulting from his actions.  Couple that with arrogant obnoxious fans and it is pretty easy to see why Boston fans aren't well received nationally.

[chilidawg]

Because of whiny, butthurt threads like this?

[Granath]

1. Obnoxious Boston fans. If some Philly fans are violent drunks, some Boston fans are unsurpassed in being arrogant Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.s. Look at what happened in Fenway last night. 'Nuff said.

2. Boston has had a lot of winning teams lately. Every major sports team has won a title since 2000. The Patriots are a dynasty that ranks up there with the Steelers in the 70s and GB in the 60s. The Cs won a title and almost won a second. The Red Sox broke their 86 year streak and then won 2 more. Even the Bruins won. There's no sympathy anymore for Boston fans and there's an element of "give someone else a turn".

3. The Cs play hard. Some teams and fans don't like it when a winning team plays scrappy. There's a reason why the Pistons were hated. They played hard, borderline dirty at times and teams hated not only losing but getting physically embarrassed on the court.

4. Backlash from liking the Celtics. A few years ago I think there were a bunch of people rooting for KG, PP and Allen to win a title. A couple of years ago I think there was some head nodding and respect given to Brad, Danny and the team for getting the maximum out of a bunch of role players. That tends to turn eventually when that team continues to do well.

5. Not only is this team very good but also has massive assets to improve. It's an embarrassment of riches and there's an element of jealousy from the other fans. Not only do they see the Cs as good or better than their own teams but they know that they have an incredible opportunity that their own teams don't have.

[Moranis]

1. Obnoxious Boston fans. If some Philly fans are violent drunks, some Boston fans are unsurpassed in being arrogant ****s. Look at what happened in Fenway last night. 'Nuff said.

2. Boston has had a lot of winning teams lately. Every major sports team has won a title since 2000. The Patriots are a dynasty that ranks up there with the Steelers in the 70s and GB in the 60s. The Cs won a title and almost won a second. The Red Sox broke their 86 year streak and then won 2 more. Even the Bruins won. There's no sympathy anymore for Boston fans and there's an element of "give someone else a turn".

3. The Cs play hard. Some teams and fans don't like it when a winning team plays scrappy. There's a reason why the Pistons were hated. They played hard, borderline dirty at times and teams hated not only losing but getting physically embarrassed on the court.

4. Backlash from liking the Celtics. A few years ago I think there were a bunch of people rooting for KG, PP and Allen to win a title. A couple of years ago I think there was some head nodding and respect given to Brad, Danny and the team for getting the maximum out of a bunch of role players. That tends to turn eventually when that team continues to do well.

5. Not only is this team very good but also has massive assets to improve. It's an embarrassment of riches and there's an element of jealousy from the other fans. Not only do they see the Cs as good or better than their own teams but they know that they have an incredible opportunity that their own teams don't have.

there is a bug difference between hating a team and hating a fan base.

[Alleyoopster]

1. Obnoxious Boston fans. If some Philly fans are violent drunks, some Boston fans are unsurpassed in being arrogant ****s. Look at what happened in Fenway last night. 'Nuff said.

2. Boston has had a lot of winning teams lately. Every major sports team has won a title since 2000. The Patriots are a dynasty that ranks up there with the Steelers in the 70s and GB in the 60s. The Cs won a title and almost won a second. The Red Sox broke their 86 year streak and then won 2 more. Even the Bruins won. There's no sympathy anymore for Boston fans and there's an element of "give someone else a turn".

3. The Cs play hard. Some teams and fans don't like it when a winning team plays scrappy. There's a reason why the Pistons were hated. They played hard, borderline dirty at times and teams hated not only losing but getting physically embarrassed on the court.

4. Backlash from liking the Celtics. A few years ago I think there were a bunch of people rooting for KG, PP and Allen to win a title. A couple of years ago I think there was some head nodding and respect given to Brad, Danny and the team for getting the maximum out of a bunch of role players. That tends to turn eventually when that team continues to do well.

5. Not only is this team very good but also has massive assets to improve. It's an embarrassment of riches and there's an element of jealousy from the other fans. Not only do they see the Cs as good or better than their own teams but they know that they have an incredible opportunity that their own teams don't have.

I'd like to read some of the hate-Boston post the OP is referring to. Anyone have any links?

I am a bit skeptical as to how widespread this hate is. Has this disdain for the Celtics been very noticeable while watching the games on TV this year? In the past it was quite obvious....not sure it's the same anymore.

I agree mostly with Granath's second statement. If there would one thing that might be turning people sour on Boston it might be the hate for the success of the Patriots rubbing off on the Celtics. 

[Roy H.]

This doesn't help:

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones says he was subjected to a torrent of N-words and other racist taunts at Fenway Park during Baltimore's game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

"A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,'' Jones said, according to USA Today. "I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome.''

Jones, one of just 62 African-American players on the Opening Day rosters of the league's 30 teams this year, said he was the target of further taunts as the game continued.

"Very unfortunate," Jones said. "I heard there was 59 or 60 ejections tonight in the ballpark. It is what it is, right. I just go out and play baseball. It's unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being. I'm trying to make a living for myself and for my family."

He said it was not the first time hecklers in the stands at Fenway had targeted him with a slew of racist abuse, but Jones told USA Today and The Boston Globe that Monday night's taunts were among the worst experiences of his 12-year big league career.

That's not from 1960. It's from last night.

Was this caught on video?  I'm not seeing any statements by the Red Sox.

Yeah, I'm sure he's lying. Because his motivation to do so is what, exactly?

Anybody who has been in the bleachers at Fenway knows how obnoxious those drunken idiots can be.

The Red Sox believe it happened. Why don't you?

“The Red Sox want to publicly apologize to Adam Jones and the entire Orioles organization for what occurred at Fenway Park Monday night. No player should have an object thrown at him on the playing field, nor be subjected to any kind of racism at Fenway Park,” Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said in a statement. “The Red Sox have zero tolerance for such inexcusable behavior, and our entire organization and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few.”

[saltlover]

In terms of Boston sports, my wife moved to Boston with no sports allegiances of any kind.  We went to a few games at Fenway, but she found the fans obnoxious at best, and passively racist at worst, and we stopped going.  We went to minor league games instead.  Pawtucket was great, but New Hampshire was as bad as Fenway, and this was AA baseball.

We didn't go to any Celtics games while she was there, but my one Celtics game in 2002 left me with a similar bad taste (except the fans were blatantly homophobic instead of passively racist).  Despite them being my favorite team, and living in Boston for another decade, I never returned to the Garden (or Fleet Center/whatever name it went by.)

We moved to DC in 2012.  Nats fans are much nicer than Sox fans.  I can show up to a Wizards game in a Celtics shirt, and no one says anything, except maybe some playful banter.  Minor-league baseball is as family-friendly as it should be, unlike we found it to be at the games we went to in New Hampshire.

Maybe for some people there is a history that goes back decades, but our exposure to and knowledge of Boston fandom is largely from the last decade or so, and even though I'm a fan of the Celtics, my opinion of Boston fans isn't that far off from those who root for rival teams.

Mind you, I don't think it's all fans, and it's probably not a majority of fans, but there are enough to create a very off-putting atmosphere in a way that we haven't experienced elsewhere.  (We've also been to MLB games together in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the Mets.  We haven't seen the Yankees because we imagine it would be similar to Boston.)

And that's not to insult Boston.  We'd move back tomorrow if we could.  But it is real.

Following up on this -- my wife, who again doesn't really follow sports except for when I make her watch the Celtics, just texted me about the Adam Jones situation.  "More likely in Boston than here" was what she said, and I couldn't do anything but agree.

[Somebody]

1. Obnoxious Boston fans. If some Philly fans are violent drunks, some Boston fans are unsurpassed in being arrogant ****s. Look at what happened in Fenway last night. 'Nuff said.

2. Boston has had a lot of winning teams lately. Every major sports team has won a title since 2000. The Patriots are a dynasty that ranks up there with the Steelers in the 70s and GB in the 60s. The Cs won a title and almost won a second. The Red Sox broke their 86 year streak and then won 2 more. Even the Bruins won. There's no sympathy anymore for Boston fans and there's an element of "give someone else a turn".

3. The Cs play hard. Some teams and fans don't like it when a winning team plays scrappy. There's a reason why the Pistons were hated. They played hard, borderline dirty at times and teams hated not only losing but getting physically embarrassed on the court.

4. Backlash from liking the Celtics. A few years ago I think there were a bunch of people rooting for KG, PP and Allen to win a title. A couple of years ago I think there was some head nodding and respect given to Brad, Danny and the team for getting the maximum out of a bunch of role players. That tends to turn eventually when that team continues to do well.

5. Not only is this team very good but also has massive assets to improve. It's an embarrassment of riches and there's an element of jealousy from the other fans. Not only do they see the Cs as good or better than their own teams but they know that they have an incredible opportunity that their own teams don't have.

I'd like to read some of the hate-Boston post the OP is referring to. Anyone have any links?

I am a bit skeptical as to how widespread this hate is. Has this disdain for the Celtics been very noticeable while watching the games on TV this year? In the past it was quite obvious....not sure it's the same anymore.

I agree mostly with Granath's second statement. If there would one thing that might be turning people sour on Boston it might be the hate for the success of the Patriots rubbing off on the Celtics.

Just go on YouTube highlight vids of the Celtics in this year's playoffs and other teams' forums. The comments there about the Celtics by non Celtics fans are mostly negative. Oh, if you were here in '15 (I think you were, although I did not have an account I was a lurker), that Cavs fan coming here to Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. on us is another prime example lol

[RJ87]

My anti-Boston friends pretty universally claim that Boston is a racist city.  With continued criticisms within the media (e.g., SNL comedian recently identified Boston as the "most racist city" he has ever visited; A 2015 BU study that reported a life expectancy of 90 years for residents of Back Bay compared to a life expectancy of 59 years in nearby Roxbury), celebration of the predominantly white Celtics teams of the past, and the Brady/Belichik era of dominance, etc., I assume this is an ongoing narrative. Hopefully I'm speculating inaccurately, though.

Dio they ignore the part where Boston had the first black basketball player? Or do they discuss that this is what you see when you walk down the steps of our state house?  I agree Boston can be a cruddy hypocritical place. But so can other places.

Boston also had the first black pro head coach. But these are facts and facts aren't important these days. People go by their gut and many peoples guts say bad things about Boston and race.

Aren't we one of only 4 states that had a black governor? Chief Justice of our Supreme Court too

Quit playing their stupid game by pathetically reaching for info to say, "See, we're not so bad."

I'm not saying we're not so bad. I'm saying we're better.

"I'm not racist, I have friends who are black."