Friday, June 13, 2008

Boston comes to town

In honor of the Red Sox coming to Cincy I will now give my thoughts on Boston fans.

I started college in 2001 and at that time Boston was a long suffering sports city who had not won anything since the 80's. They had some die hard Red Sox fans and a few Celtics fans still around but nothing too over the top. For the most part they acted like any other fan base by complaining about their managers, front office, bad karma. They were better than Yankee fans. Then, Bill Bellicheat started winning. They went on an amazing run that, at the time, made no sense. Now it does make sense because they were cheating the whole time. In response, many Red Sox fans who couldn't have named any Patriot except for Drew Bledsoe, suddenly became huge fans. This seemed to be just a blip on the radar because after winning the Super Bowl they failed to make the playoffs the following year and the Red Sox continued to choke, most famously blowing Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. When this happened a few more Red Sox fans came out of the woodwork but that is to be expected. They were just another suffering fan base. I enjoyed them more than Philly fans and Yankee fans.

Then 2004 happened. The Patriots became a dominant team and suddenly, everyone from Conn, RI, NH, VT, ME, and Mass were Patriot fans. This annoyed me because none of them could name a Patriot from before 2002 except Drew Bledsoe, and he was gone. This trend continued into the fall of 2004 when the Sox got bailed out by the Yankees choke job and some amazing luck. The fans came from everywhere to celebrate the breaking of the curse, only these weren't people from New England. They were people from elsewhere whose brother went to school in Boston(who didn't have one) or their Dad lived there 20 years ago and has always been a fan even though this had never been mentioned. Everyone became a fan and the Red Sox were shoved down everyone's throats, culminating in Fever Pitch. Sox hats were everywhere, as were T-shirts, sweatshirts, flags and anything else you can imagine. The Patriots continued to win, albeit with a little help that was unknown at the time and the bandwagon kept growing. Boston fans still took the "us against the world" angle even though they had the largest bandwagon since Pittsburgh in the 70's.

Then this NBA season pushed it over the top. The same fans who had jumped on the Patriot bandwagon in 2001 and the Sox bandwagon in 2004 needed a new team to go crazy over and shove down everyone's throats. The Celtics, helped by the second worst trade in NBA history, came to life. Now, anyone with any connection to Boston was a huge Celtics fan. The bandwagon gerw exponentially after the Patriots choked in the Super Bowl. They couldn't name a single Celtic from 2006 other than Paul Pierce but they were huge fans. They booed the team, didn't fill the arena, and wore paper bags over their heads last season but, this season they were huge fans and never lost hope. If you questioned them on this they would take offense and say you were jealous. These are not real fans, they are LA fans. They jump on whatever team is good and if they go bad, they move on. It sickens me.

Now, everywhere you go, people wear Red Sox, and Celtics hats, not so much Patriot hats now that all those Super Bowls are tainted. They talk about the great players Big Papi, KG, Tom Brady and the genius of Terry Francona, Doc Rivers, and Bill Belicheat. Nevermind that they couldn't name the previous coach because they weren't good under that coach so why would they care. I can't wait until these teams fall off, which they will because sports are cyclical, and all the new fans run for the hills. If I were a real Boston fan, and I know they are out there and actually not that bad, I would hate these people. They give all Boston fans a bad name and make people like me hate the entire city. But I'm sure it is just because I am jealous of the most obnoxious fan base in America. You have now passed Philly. At least Philly fans don't shove their teams down my throat and claim they are the greatest team ever. Congrats Boston fans, you are now the worst. I can't blame this Laker fan. I would have punched him out of principle.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Worst trade in NBA History? Gasol to Lakers?

Unknown said...

I also share with your sentiments regarding Boston fans. I posit a question for readers and the author. Can you describe the typical Boston fan? Give his/her biographical info. Age? Income level? Education level? Obnoxiousness quotient? Also any other pertinent details. Feel free to be as stereotypical as possible.

Anonymous said...

C'mon Boose, everyone knows before Belichick, Pete Carroll tried to ruin the Patriots.

The Bandwagon started long before 2001, it was starting when the Krafts bought the team and brought in Parcells. If you are going to criticize the "bandwagon" fans at least get it right.