I hate Boston sports fans

[indeedproceed]

I think the majority of Boston Sports fans are relatively level-headed, knowledgeable, and loyal.  Unfortunately, these are not the fans that often end up representing us.

Of course, I was generalizing (maybe I should have been more clear about that...). But how then do we stand up and represent the team? Can we be louder in a good way? I see it as a lose-lose.

It's just the way it is.  I don't think its that much of a Boston thing.  Anytime a city has that much success, it leads to those fans coming out of the woodwork.  You just have to ignore it.  They will be gone when the wins stop rolling in.

There is something non-threatening about an extremely passionate fan of a losing team. When my whole line was "well yeah they're losing, but they got this kid Al Jefferson, and mark my words he's gonna be a force in a year or two"...my friends either didn't care, mocked me but respected my devotion, or taunted me because their teams were better.

Now though, because the C's have won something...now Im the bad guy.

But heaven forbid one of them calls me a front runner.....

[RAcker]

Boy, you guys ought to meet Alabama football fans.  This just comes with the territory after you are spoiled by the likes of Bear Bryant and Red Auerbach.  Winning brings high expectations and often times extremely unrealistic ones.

If you guys get a chance, tune in via internet to The Paul Finebaum Show from Birmingham, AL sometime and listen to the southern football insanity that takes place everyday, 365 days a year. Worth a listen just to make you all feel better about Boston fans sanity.

[twistedrico]

I don't like most Boston fans myself, some of the biggest jerks you will ever meet. Especially Red Sox and Patriot fans.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think any fan base would be like this with a prolonged period of success.  I don't know many sports fans who are truly "just happy to be there"; rather, they want to win.  Maybe there's a different mentality elsewhere, but I know a lot of fans of other teams.  Chicago Bears fans and Nebraska Cornhuskers fans have the same "win at all costs" mentality.  Here outside of Philadelphia, Philly fans want to win every matchup. 

I don't know...  I like the passion.  I get put off by cockiness / arrogance, but again, I think that's only a small subset of people that is far from unique to Boston.

[ma11l]

We're united, passionate, and very, very knowledgeable. 

I can tell you, that as an outsider, the "very, very knowledgeable" part is far off of the perception of "Boston fans".  The general connotation that goes with Boston fans is that they are fair weather and don't know jack about what goes on outside of their own Boston sports universe.  Not my opinion, just the sentiment I know from most people... I think the same things can be said of almost any team's fans. 

Again, the people here are an exception... most regulars on this board are 1. Boston fans and 1a. Basketball fans. 

I understand where you're coming from, and I'm probably biased.  However, how many fans follow spring training enough to be up to date on the battle for Mark Kotsay's spot as a backup outfield and utility man.  We're talking about the 25th guy on the roster here, but many Sox fans know the names Wilkerson, Bailey, Carter, and McAnulty. 

How many basketball fans would know to give a good ovation to a Leon Powe when he's being subbed after only scoring a few points.  Most fans don't notice the 6 or 7 rebounds, and the extra hustle that he puts out on the floor. 

I think the national perception comes from the pink hats, bandwagoners, and new fans.  People over the age of 25 and who followed the teams when they were struggling through the 90's are the real fans.  They know their sports, and the rosters that they are putting out to compete.

[Donoghus]

Ughh...

10 years ago, this city hadn't seen a championship in 13 years.  6 championships later, things have obviously changed.

EVERY city has fair weather fans and bandwagoners.  This isn't a problem unique to the BOSTON sports fan.  I'm sorry, you see it in any city.  You also see some loud, arrogant, and incessant fans.  That comes with the territory.  Championships make these people even more insufferable.  The advent of the internet, sports radio, and all sports cable networks has provided more avenues for these very vocal fans to brag and vent.  

Once a team wins a championship, you have a lot of people wanting a piece of the action.  After the first championship, you want to see your team comeback and down it again...establishing a legacy.  You want your team to go on a historic run and be mentioned in the same breath as the '80s Niners, '80s Celtics, or '90s Yankees; not some one and down championship team.  This "thirst" for more makes many fans more critical and more "interwined" with their teams.  Thus, this leads to the complaining after losses and second guessing.  That can also rub people the wrong way.

The thing I love about this city is that there is passion for their sports teams.  When one of these teams makes a championship round, the city/area unites and that provides for some special moments.  You can walk down the street at lunch break and see guys in business suits rockin' Sox hats, sports bars are mobbed on Tuesday night for a game, people driving around honking and waving flags.  I love it.  These teams are very much a part of our conscience here in Boston.  Not every city can say that.  

Some other city will go on a run the next decade and I'm sure that you'll see "I hate (fill in the blank) fans". 

[Big Ticket]

We're united, passionate, and very, very knowledgeable. 

I can tell you, that as an outsider, the "very, very knowledgeable" part is far off of the perception of "Boston fans".  The general connotation that goes with Boston fans is that they are fair weather and don't know jack about what goes on outside of their own Boston sports universe.  Not my opinion, just the sentiment I know from most people... I think the same things can be said of almost any team's fans. 

Again, the people here are an exception... most regulars on this board are 1. Boston fans and 1a. Basketball fans. 

I understand where you're coming from, and I'm probably biased.  However, how many fans follow spring training enough to be up to date on the battle for Mark Kotsay's spot as a backup outfield and utility man.  We're talking about the 25th guy on the roster here, but many Sox fans know the names Wilkerson, Bailey, Carter, and McAnulty. 

How many basketball fans would know to give a good ovation to a Leon Powe when he's being subbed after only scoring a few points.  Most fans don't notice the 6 or 7 rebounds, and the extra hustle that he puts out on the floor. 

I think the national perception comes from the pink hats, bandwagoners, and new fans.  People over the age of 25 and who followed the teams when they were struggling through the 90's are the real fans.  They know their sports, and the rosters that they are putting out to compete.

I don't dispute that... and I should've been more clear.  The perception is that they certainly know their Boston sports, but know very little about other teams around the country.

i.e. if you asked the typical Boston fan about Eric Gordon or Joe Mauer or Marion Barber III, they probably can't offer much insight.  (Again, not saying it's a perception I agree with, just that it is the perception in my experience)

[xmuscularghandix]

Not one Boston sports team leads their respected league in salary, and they are all filled with young players that they drafted and developed. its not like we have the obnoxious players like the Yankees, we don't go out and sign the big name players every year. I want the Celtics to be JUST like the Red Sox and The Patriots.

and Boston sports fans ARE very knowledgeable. There are 8 year old girls that know more about baseball then some season ticket holders in other cities.

[Big Ticket]

Not one Boston sports team leads their respected league in salary, and they are all filled with young players that they drafted and developed. its not like we have the obnoxious players like the Yankees, we don't go out and sign the big name players every year. I want the Celtics to be JUST like the Red Sox and The Patriots.

and Boston sports fans ARE very knowledgeable. There are 8 year old girls that know more about baseball then some season ticket holders in other cities.

Well, I had a 20+ year old girl decked out in Red Sox gear at Fenway tell me that Jason Varitek was infinitely better than Joe Mauer.  I believe their respective batting averages at the time were .217 and .370 or so (and late in the season)...

My point?  There are extreme outliers on either side, with any team. 

[Mr October]

There are jerk fans and bandwagoners in all cities. And when teams win all the time, those fans are despised...

We're all not that much different from each other city to city.

[arctic 3.0]

I get the OP's sentiments.
after the pats and sox won, my interest in the teams began to wain. partly  because of the the behavior or the "nation", but mostly i've always been a fan of the underdog. but what else could i grow up to be, i was raised rooting for the sox and pats and watching the long slow decline of the celtics franchise.
winning it all seemed to take away the reason for rooting. luckily i still had the c's, moribund in the deepest funk in franchise history. they were my team, i lived for every game and died with each loss. i rooted for the kids and watched for their development. i spent endless hours on trade checker, trying to find the right combination of players and salery that would land the the big fish, then it happened, KG and Allen walked through the door and we were championship bound.

when  the c's were making their run last year i tried to prepare myself, i didn't want to loose interest in the team, my team, my last pro sports obsession.

it was tough work but i persevered, through all the victories and all the winning streaks...

we're in the toughest stretch we've seen in a while and i am all in.


 

[Celts1485]

Not one Boston sports team leads their respected league in salary, and they are all filled with young players that they drafted and developed. its not like we have the obnoxious players like the Yankees, we don't go out and sign the big name players every year. I want the Celtics to be JUST like the Red Sox and The Patriots.

and Boston sports fans ARE very knowledgeable. There are 8 year old girls that know more about baseball then some season ticket holders in other cities.

Well, I had a 20+ year old girl decked out in Red Sox gear at Fenway tell me that Jason Varitek was infinitely better than Joe Mauer.  I believe their respective batting averages at the time were .217 and .370 or so (and late in the season)...

My point?  There are extreme outliers on either side, with any team. 

Was this girl heavily intoxicated?

[BUTerrier]

I don't dispute that... and I should've been more clear.  The perception is that they certainly know their Boston sports, but know very little about other teams around the country.

i.e. if you asked the typical Boston fan about Eric Gordon or Joe Mauer or Marion Barber III, they probably can't offer much insight.  (Again, not saying it's a perception I agree with, just that it is the perception in my experience)

Why is that so shocking to you? Of course as a Boston fan I know more about the third-string QB of the Patriots than I do about Marion Barber III. Of course I know more about Bill Walker than I do about Eric Gordon. I read Sports Illustrated and ESPN regularly, but I'm not going to read every newspaper in every city in every league. I stick to the Globe because I like their columnists, and -- big shock -- they write pages and pages about every player in Boston's system and don't cover more than the basics about players in other cities. But it really bothers me that other cities' fans think that this is somehow unique to Boston. I live in Wisconsin at the moment, and I can assure you that NOBODY here could have told you what Jason Bay batted upon joining the Sox, whereas they could easily tell me who was winning the backup QB battle for the Packers.

But what bothers me even more than the above is the people who turn it around and assume I know nothing about BOSTON sports just because they have a different opinion than I do. Case in point: when the Sox made the three-team deal in which they gave up Manny and got Bay, a number of my friends (2 Tigers fans, 3 Cubs fans, and 4 or 5 Brewers fans) told me the Sox got fleeced by having to give up Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss in the deal. I commented that Moss was no better than a fourth OF on a contending team, Hansen couldn't get batters out, and that I preferred to have Jason Bay (who was cheaper, a better fielder and base-runner, and actually gave a [dang]) than Manny (who clearly proved to us that he wasn't going to do anything but pout if we kept him.) I was then soundly ridiculed, being told I knew nothing about the sport. Of course, when Hansen proceeded to go 1-4 with a 7.47 ERA and Moss went .222-6-23 in Pittsburgh, I was proven right, though they chalked it up to "bad luck" for the two prospects.

So, yeah. I don't pretend I know more about other people's teams than I do about my own, but I certainly wish people gave Boston fans some credit about knowing about ours.

[EarthBall]

It seems that the common response to my original post is that the annoying "fans" are around just because we are winning. That may be true, but who is to say that they are ever going to go away. The Yankees haven't won since 2000 and they are more annoying than ever. The Lakers haven't won since 2002 and they are equally annoying. Classic hysteresis. There's no going back to how it was.

[Big Ticket]

Not one Boston sports team leads their respected league in salary, and they are all filled with young players that they drafted and developed. its not like we have the obnoxious players like the Yankees, we don't go out and sign the big name players every year. I want the Celtics to be JUST like the Red Sox and The Patriots.

and Boston sports fans ARE very knowledgeable. There are 8 year old girls that know more about baseball then some season ticket holders in other cities.

Well, I had a 20+ year old girl decked out in Red Sox gear at Fenway tell me that Jason Varitek was infinitely better than Joe Mauer.  I believe their respective batting averages at the time were .217 and .370 or so (and late in the season)...

My point?  There are extreme outliers on either side, with any team. 

Was this girl heavily intoxicated?

No, but I do honestly think she had a slight mental retardation.  (Not saying that insultingly.)