Sports teams you root against, and why

[Scepticalscribe]

I may have sung stand up if you hate the Arsenal on the odd occasion.
Mostly I just support my own team, but I prefer the big spending clubs to be beaten by the smaller, poorer clubs.

Well, as I have a lingering liking for Arsenal since childhood, obviously, I am of a different opinion. However, I am completely in agreement with you on the general issue of large, powerful, wealthy teams (especially if the source of that wealth will hardly bear serious scrutiny or investigation) being beaten by smaller, poorer clubs. I love to see it happen.

Any and every team from Boston, or surrounding areas.

I'm a New Yorker, so the hatred is in my blood!

Also, I'm a Manchester City fan (even before their "partnership" with the Yanks) so F*** Man U.

That is a funny post. Yes, agree with you re Manchester United.

Well the only clubs I actively root against ar Milan (Belusconi club, lived in Milan and everybody sane was/is rooting for Inter), Real Madrid, Man United and Bayer München.

It's funny watching myself having confused emotions when those play against each other (I do watch those matches mostly regardless).

Oh, gosh, yes, anything linked with Berlusconi had to be passionately opposed, always and forever. Agreed. Whole-heartedly.

Not exactly a Citizen, but agreed on Man U. Excited about Pep, Mo? Will work wonders at City imo.

Ah, yes, agreed, re the general dislike of Manchester United.

Very good thread title, by the way, @63dot.

My father used to watch football a lot, and in foreign leagues, he had to have a team he liked (and shouted for) in each league. However, his emotional commitment was incomplete unless and until he also found a team to happily hate. Then, he could watch with unalloyed pleasure, and passion, both positive and negative.

Actually, I have long been fascinated by these hierarchies of hatred, as well as by how people choose to construct their identities around bodies such as football teams.

Politics, local history, and indeed stuff such as ownership influence such choices. Here, not only do I agree completely with @twietee on the subject matter of Mr Berlusconi, and would happily shout myself hoarse against any team with any connection to him, but am equally passionately opposed to any team owned by such a complete criminal.

Moreover, for that matter, never mind Jose Mourinho a very talented but loathsome individual, but as long as Chelsea are owned by someone such as Roman Abramovich I will devoutly pray for their weekly defeat, and cheer if the fates, or the tallies in the league on the final day, consign them to a richly deserved relegation.

 

[ejb190]

Oklahoma City Plunder

View attachment 610105

Ah yes. The pain of losing your team. But at least they had the common sense to change the team from the Supersonics to the Thunder. I don't think Baltimore will ever forgive Indianapolis for stealing the Colts - franchise, team, logo, and all.

Being not a major sports fan, I don't really root against too many teams. Except Notre Dame. Notre Dame should never win.

 

[twietee]

Didn't know scepticalscribe being a such a competent and avid follower of the European football scenery.

Not exactly attracted to Chelsea = plenty opportunities to cheer these days.

 

[rhett7660]

Oh heck yeah! Mainly if they are in the same division or cross town rival.

Baseball:
Red Sox
Angeles (I more hate the fans... lord the year they won the WS... Ugh)


Football:
Eagles
Giants
and that team from D.C.
Other notable teams:
Steelers
49ers. Something about a "Catch". FU Clark and Montana.... FU! LOL

NBA: Not really.

College Football:
UAB.....
Ohio....

Roll Tide.
Go Blue.

Hockey.

I more hate the fans of the Kings. Like the team, but the fans kill it for me.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Didn't know scepticalscribe being a such a competent and avid follower of the European football scenery.

Not exactly attracted to Chelsea = plenty opportunities to cheer these days.

My interest - to be honest - is more cultural and political and historical - than sporting, and in that strange junction where cultural and political identity and sport intersect. (If you like that sort of stuff, - and I do - Simon Kuper's excellent book 'Football Against The Enemy' is well worth a read).

However, as a teacher of politics (and history) using examples drawn from football was a sure-fire way to capture the attention of a class mostly comprised of young males (and a surprising number of my classes fell into that category). They were invariably pleased and surprised that I exhibited a passing knowledge of this, and, as result, used to find it easier to master some of the other political and historical stuff that I was supposed to try to teach them. And they would talk about their interests with great enthusiasm as a result - I still remember a lovely Italian boy whom I taught over twenty years ago, whose twin loves in life were the Parma football club and the Italian communist party.

For me, it also offered a strange - yet very illuminating - perspective into reading a country's political nuances. And it taught me something - many somethings - new. So, nowadays, naturally enough, I keep abreast of such things, and these days, as I still often find myself addressing, or briefing, mostly male (but middle aged male) audiences, it is very useful to be able to inject such examples into a briefing, or lecture.

Recently, I watched a superb documentary on FIFA and Sepp Blatter - made by the outstanding Andrew Jennings for the BBC's Panorama - (entitled, engagingly, "Panorama: FIFA, Sepp Blatter And Me"); a really terrific documentary, and one well worth watching.

 

[Mousse]

I hate the Dallas Cowboys. With a passion. Absolutely no reason. I just do not like them.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Lakers
Dallas Cowboys
Duke Blue Devils
USC Trojans
Manchester City FC
Liverpool FC

Nice to see I'm not alone in my hatred of the Cowboys. I've got nothing against the team. Its their bandwagon fans--I hate, Hate, HATE fair weather fans. I'm a long suffering Texans fan and Oilers fans before that. I have a deep respect for Browns fans.

The other thing I hate about the Boys, is the obnoxious owner. Jerrah did Jimmy Johnson wrong after the man built him a super talented, Super Bowl winning team.

 

[MacNut]

**** the Red Sox, and screw you Patriots. Jerry Jones can take his Cowboys and shove it. Oh and Bama are the Patriots of college.

 

[Savor]

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Clippers fan here since 1992. That's why.

I hate bandwagon/fairweather fans even more. Stick to your teams through the good times and bad. Like a marriage. I remember a few years ago, I see people wearing Miami Heat jerseys. Now the new popular team is the Golden State Warriors. I hate fans like that. Fake loyalty.

 

[lowendlinux]

I'm not a big sports guy but I root against anyone playing against the Red Wings, Tigers, Lions, or Spartans

 

[maflynn]

I root against certain teams, and usually because of arrogance or some other facet that rubs me the wrong way. In football, I typically root against the cowboys. Something about being crowned America's team back in the 80s seemed to just annoy me

The past couple of years I rooted against the Eagles because of Chip Kelly and his arrogance, thinking his system was above the players and all he had to do was just keep swapping the pawn pieces and he'd continue to win. Now that he's gone, I'll not root against them.

As a Res Sox fan, I'm contractually bound to root for the yankees

 

[Huntn]

Against Dallas Cowboys because I grew up in DC (team rivalry) and generally I'm hostile towards any team which has the nerve to calls itself America's Team.

Of note, I don't have a team, because I've found the emotional and financial investment not to be worth the effort and dissapointment. And generally I view the false pride of living in a city with a winning team as a negative, along the lines of I'm a better person or better than you because I live in a city with a championship team.

This is liberating because I can sit down and watch a game to enjoy and appreciate outstanding sportsmanship and talent without the emotional investment. Do I pick a favorite in a specific matchup? Sometimes, but if they end up losing, it's not devastating.

 

[txa1265]

I am also NOT a 'root against' person ... I honestly try to live the mantra that 'you don't build yourself up by tearing others down'. Also - it is just a game.

Since I was born and lived in the Boston area for my first 42 years (and even worked at Patriots stadium when it was Schaeffer Stadium between 14-16 years old) I am a fan of the Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox, and Bruins.

Now that we live in central NY about mid-way between NYC and Buffalo ... still fan of Boston teams.

But now my older son is at NYU and rapidly becoming a 'real New Yorker' ... so THAT will be interesting

 

[JAT]

It's amazing, I estimate that 99% of all sports hate is caused by the media covering them. Easy example above: the Cowboys didn't make up the term "Americas Team".

I dislike fans more than teams. For instance, Green Bay Packer fans have completely lost my respect since they turned on Brett Farve, what kind of idiot turns on their own hero?

 

[twietee]

I think you have to differentiate, That goes for me at least, between rooting against a team in general and the players. There are certain players that I like that just happens to be on the wrong team - for those I always hope they still have some sunshine moments while the rest can go to hell.

General rule for me is that I don't wish injuries or something serious to any player - regardless the team. I think that is just poor taste and eventually mostly done by folks that never really did sports themselves. Only exceptions are those that try to injure other players on purpose - John Terry comes to mind for example.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I think you have to differentiate, That goes for me at least, between rooting against a team in general and the players. There are certaun players that I like that just happens to be on the wrong team - for those I always hope they still have some sunshine moments while the rest can go to hell.

General rule for me is that I don't wish injuries or something serious to any players - regardless the team. I think that is just poor taste and eventually mostly done by folks that never really did sports themselves. Only exceptions are those I see that try to injure other players on putpose - John Terry comes to mind for example.

I seem to remember the very gifted, but very flawed, Roy Keane doing something similar. Not nice at all, agreed.

 

[Possumgal]

I root against the Cowboys, just because they think they're it on a stick.

 

[Silencio]

I seem to remember the very gifted, but very flawed, Roy Keane doing something similar. Not nice at all, agreed.

Alf-Inge Håland? That was allegedly payback for a previous serious incident between the two, but yeah — no denying that Keano was/is a total bastard.

Oh, how could I leave Notre Dame off my list? Now there is a set of seriously entitled fans right there.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The hatreds that I find extremely interesting - if, intellectually, completely illogical - are those extraordinary close regional, or local, rivalries. The so-called 'local derbies'. Nothing beats the insane passions engendered by the 'local derby'.

(Unless it is history, and historical memory, when sometimes political differences can be safely expressed under the safe cover afforded by sporting events).

For, I find the intensity of these local hatreds baffling. Not only is there often some regional proximity, there are usually other factors, as well, such as, say, economic deprivation, or a shared history, which might suggest a possible common outlook.

But no. The local rivalries, and resentments, and hatreds, are usually a lot more deeply and intensely felt, for being all the closer geographically. These are the very places, the very ones, where, if you ask someone why they hate the neighbouring team with such a passionate intensity, you get the baffled, but heartfelt, response ,"I dunno. I just hate them."

This has always struck me as somewhat akin to Lenin spewing ghastly stuff in those illegal magazines of his, (say, for example, Iskra) about how he really wanted to slaughter the Mensheviks, and annihilate the Social-Revolutionaries - groups from which he barely differed, maybe by as much as an infinitesimal split infinitive - rather than the lot of them collaborating and combining to deal with their real opponents.

The intense fury at the expression of the microscopic differences between those to whom you are regionally close, when contrasted with the major differences between the pair of you combined with those from outside the region, has always struck me as faintly ludicrous, sometimes, hilarious, and sometimes, a little sad.

 

[mojolicious]

I may have sung stand up if you hate the Arsenal on the odd occasion.

The famous Apple fanboy went to Rome to see the Pope?

 

[haxrnick]

That team up north.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

That team up north.

North, as in geographically? North of where?

 

[haxrnick]

North, as in geographically? North of where?

My avatar. They know who they are.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

My avatar. They know who they are.

But those of us who do not hail from your continent don't, as your avatar makes little sense Across the Pond.

 

[rhett7660]

That team up north.

My avatar. They know who they are.

hahaha... Go Blue!
[doublepost=1452705718][/doublepost]

**** the Red Sox, and screw you Patriots. Jerry Jones can take his Cowboys and shove it. Oh and Bama are the Patriots of college.

How do you figure? They haven't cheated, they have lost and won. And please, there was a time when they were not even on the long list of good teams.

 

[MacNut]

hahaha... Go Blue!
[doublepost=1452705718][/doublepost]

How do you figure? They haven't cheated, they have lost and won. And please, there was a time when they were not even on the long list of good teams.

I think it's more Saban, he just comes off as a weasel.