Who do ya love, who do ya hate?

[steve B]

Cool topic.

I'm originally from western Connecticut, an area that's in both the Red Sox and Yankees areas. (Mets too, but not as much)
Moved to western Mass, just in time to discover sports, 73 world series, Aaron setting the record, Rice and Lynn and the whole 75 season and series. Dad is also a Red sox fan, so I guess it's natural. We moved near Boston just in time for the 78 season, and at the time you could just get on the T - Bus stop was less than a mile from home - and go in for a game. There were usually tickets available if you weren't too picky about seats, and a high school kid could afford an occasional game.
Of course I hate the Yankees. It's sort of required.
For the better fans, the rivalry is just that. The Yankees have had a load of great teams, and back then were usually just a bit better late in the year. Lots of great debates over the years, Fisk or Munson? (They were pretty evenly matched, Munson was a bit more durable. I really wish we'd gotten to compare them both over a long career. ) Nomar or Jeter - (In his prime Nomar was a bit better I think, but wasn't the same after a broken wrist and faded pretty fast. Jeter is obviously the better of the two, and while I rarely bought the hype that came with some of his great plays he was just too good to actually hate. )
Since I like the crazier aspects of baseball that are sadly gone now, I always liked the Brewers home run slide. Not the new one, but the old beer barrel and mug.

Football it's been the patriots since the early 80's. They usually looked like they'd be a good team but just weren't. Lately though.... at least now I know how Yankee fans feel.

I don't really follow Basketball or Hockey much anymore. But I was a Celtics/bruins fan, and like those teams most of the time.

In all sports I don't really dislike most teams. I've had some favorites that have come and gone, more certain players I liked than teams.

[KMayUSA6060]

Teams I Love: Cleveland Indians, University of Akron Zips, Columbus Blue Jackets

Teams I Like But Am Growing Less Fond Of: Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers

Teams I Like b/c of Family Connections: Michigan Wolverines, Syracuse Orangemen

Teams I Hate: Motor City Kitties (Detroit Tigers), Can't State Golden Showers, Ohio State Suckeyes, Ohio Bobkittens, Pissburgh Steelers, Faultimore Ratbirds (Baltimore Ravens), Cincinnati Bengals, Golden State Pansies (Warriors)

Players/Coaches I Love: Jim Thome, Most of the Current Cleveland Indians, Most of the 90s Indians, Jordan Spieth, Coach K, John Tortorella, Bill Belichick, Peyton Manning

Players/Coaches I Hate: LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, Tiger Woods, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Gregg Popovich, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Steve Kerr

[edjs]

Growing up in Southern California, I always have been a Dodger fan. More because of my older brother, who I absolutely adored growing up, and to this day is the biggest baseball fan I have ever met. Everything we did had to do with the Dodgers, we would sneak out little transistor radios under out pillows at night to listen to the game when we had to go to bed before the game was over. This was in the mid 70s, so we had guys like Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker, Reggie Smith, etc. The one guy on the Dodgers that I just could never like was Davy Lopes. We used to hang around after a game until the players came out and try and get autographs. Lopes would come out and run to his car like he was trying to steal a base, he would never sign more than one or two, if even that. He drove a gold Corvette, and would take off out of the parking lot, leaving behind a lot of disappointed little fans. I remember one game after the Giants, Jack Clark from the Giants came out, the absolute enemy San Francisco Giants, and he stayed around about a half hour signing and posing for photos, and here comes Lopes running for his car. It was hard to hate the Giants after that. As far as another Giants player I really like, Brandon Crawford is one of the nicest, most humble guys you could ever meet. A great guy, with a really awesome family. From the Dodgers, Terry Forster was an awesome guy. He lived next door to a kid I knew, and we would go knock on his door and ask his wife if Terry could come out and play, and he would. It was pretty awesome to be a kid and get to play catch with a pro ball player.

As far as the NFL, I grew up a Raiders fan, probably because the Rams were so bad when I was a kid, and the Raiders from those years were so much fun. Ken Stabler, Fred Bletnikoff, Dave Casper, et. al. When they moved to LA I was thinking this was just for me, my reward for having been such a great fan. I also was a USC fan, and we drafted Marcus Allen, so what could be better? Well, they treated Allen pretty bad, which soured me on the team, and having them in LA, you started hearing the rumors of what the guys were like. Then when they moved back to Oakland, I figured good riddance, and decided to find another team. I finally started following the Packers, and have been a fan ever since. Brett Farve was the guy that cemented me as a fan, he would take you on such a roller coaster ride every game, making such amazing plays and then throwing an interception, it just kept you in suspense. USC died for me too, amid all the scandals, recruiting violations, etc. I lived for awhile in Idaho, and started watching Boise State, but never really got back into NCAA.

Hockey is my favorite sport, which is weird since I knew nothing about it until I was in my 20s. As a kid I thought it was up there with roller derby and professional wrestling, more of a staged event than a sport. When I was in the army, my roommate was from Michigan, and his mom would record a bunch of Red Wing games off the TV and send him the tape. We would get pizza and beer and watch game after game on a weekend, he explained how the game worked, and I was hooked. I think Nick Lidstrom is the perfect human. Steve Yzerman, Gordie Howe, and Pavel Datsyuk are right up there, too. However, my favorite Wing has always been Darren McCarty. From other teams, Teemu Selanne is super cool. I went to a fan fest for the Ducks once. As you can imagine, Teemu's line was forever long. The people running the event came up and said that the event was ending and there was not enough time left for everyone to get up and get Selanne's auto. He saw what was happening, came over and told them this was his booth, we were his fans, and the event would be over when he decided. All matter of fact, leaving no room for any other option. He stayed until everyone was done. Really classy, nice guy. As a retired military guy, I can tell you George Parros and Brent Burns are really amazing in their support of the troops. I tried to get Parros to take a photo with me when I was in uniform, and asked if he would pull my top over my head and act like he was punching me. He thought about it really hard, but just couldn't do it in the end.

I never liked basketball at all.

[Snapolit1]

Never liked Jeter. Though his whole much heralded persona was fake and completely uninteresting. His non-answers and fake smiles always left me cold. Never showed anything close to real. And somehow his lack of actual emotion and thoughtful comments was what established him as such a great guy. Never understood it. In all his time in NY showed slightly more personality than Kevin McReynolds. Just uttered the most tired baseball canards and clichés over and over. And people ate it up. (Maybe there is some genius to that. What do I know.)

He was a very good player and got the typical Yankee 25% premium on how good he actually was. And he will be a horrendous business executive. Nice wife though.

[Snapolit1]

I tend to dislike any player who says things like " . . . I really don't care about personal achievements. The MVP award is ok but we didn't win a ring this year so it means nothing."

Total 100% unadulterated canned horsesh*t, yet some people eat it up.

"I'd give away all my batting titles if only I could have gotten to a World Series. . ." Oh, sure. I believe that. Give me all your houses, cars, vacation homes, and cash too and I'll get you that ring.

[bravos4evr]

I was born in Opelika while my old man was at Grad school at Auburn so there's that, and I presently live on the Ms Gulf Coast so...

Teams I Love: Braves, Auburn, Saints

Teams I really like: Raiders, Lakers

Team I hate: Cowboys, Yankees, Nationals, Bama, Mets, Phillies

Teams I kinda dislike a lot: Marlins, Chiefs, Falcons

[dclarkraiders]

My favorite Teams are the Balt Orioles, Oakland Raiders, OU Sooners and Edmonton Oilers.

I try not to hate anything. Therefore, I loathe the Yankees, Steelers.

Over the years I have decided to be die hard fans of players not teams. Current players that I really like are:

Mike Trout

Derek Carr

Jonathan Schoop

[Snapolit1]

A fan of only one professional sports team: the Mets.

It's a cross someone has to bear.

Don't hate the modern day Yankees but despise about 96% of their arrogant fans. (No, the fact that the Yankees have a long esteemed history doesn't mean squat as to you personally.)

I'm a NYer, so zero interest in college sports.

And with the Mets I have enough heartache . . .don't need to really add the Jets or the Knicks.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Never liked Jeter. Though his whole much heralded persona was fake and completely uninteresting. His non-answers and fake smiles always left me cold. Never showed anything close to real. And somehow his lack of actual emotion and thoughtful comments was what established him as such a great guy. Never understood it. In all his time in NY showed slightly more personality than Kevin McReynolds. Just uttered the most tired baseball canards and clichés over and over. And people ate it up. (Maybe there is some genius to that. What do I know.)

He was a very good player and got the typical Yankee 25% premium on how good he actually was. And he will be a horrendous business executive. Nice wife though.

In part it went over so well because of the contrast with ARod, who was by far the better player but got a huge asshole deduction.

From a bit of a distance, I didn't mind Jeter's act, he always seemed gracious to me if controlled. If he was a phony, he was, as my Mom used to say, a genuine phony.

[frankbmd]

Arod’s canard is tilted for descent.

Jeter’s canard is designed for stability.

[steve B]

A few things to add, and of course a Jeter comment.

With Jeter it was the overdone acclaim that I didn't like. "he dove into the Fenway stands and hit his head on a seat! Greatest play EVER!!!"
No, not even close.
But that play was interesting on other levels.
One, that the fans didn't obstruct him shows how much respect he had even in Boston. I'd seen another Yankee player go well into the stands in the same area years before (some rookie third baseman or shortstop I forget who) and it was practically a mugging. Went into the crowd for a ball, came out with no ball, no glove, no hat, and a torn jersey. (We like our souvenirs! ) It took security to get his glove back, but the hat was long gone.
On a different level, it may have also indicated the changing times with a crowd that was more subject to being tossed and had paid much more for the ticket behaving a lot better. I suspect that not getting in his way probably is what led to him hitting the seat, so maybe the crowd just got smoother.

The bits to add are

My wife is from near DC, so we have an agreement. I'm also an Orioles/Redskins fan as long as they're not playing The Sox/Patriots. (Hey, the skins were a Boston team, so it's totally ok)
And my brother went to West Point, so I'm a bit into Army football. Great games in a really neat small old fashioned stadium. If you get the chance to go you should.

[gopherfan]

Great topic.

I was born in MN in 1970. I have always loved all of the MN teams, except for the North Stars and the Wild. (I played basketball through college and didn't have time for hockey)

The Vikings were the first team I really loved. I remember playing as a young kid and pretending that I was Fran Tarkenton, Chuck Foreman or my favorite, Ahmad Rashad. I faintly remember my heart being broken losing to the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. Then when those damn cheating Cowboys got away with "The Push", and beating them in the NFC Championship. I have hated the Cowboys ever since. The Herschel Walker trade only cemented that hate.

The Twins came next. I went to a game at the old Metropolitan Stadium when I was 7 with the Park and Rec. A friend and I snuck away from the group and tried to get some autographs after the game. We got lost, and couldn't find the group. Back then, they just left you even though we were 7. We found someone that called my mom to come and get us. She had to leave work an hour early, and drive an hour to come get us. She wasn't really all that happy with us.

When I turned 21, I was invited to go have some drinks with a coworker and some "friends". Her husbands best friend was the equipment manager for the team and the other "friends that came out were Tim Laudner, Dan Gladden, Al Newman, Gary Gaetti, Kent Hrbek and best of all Kirby Puckett. I remember others buying rounds and after 4 or 5 drinks, I ordered a round from the server. When she brought them, I was trying to pay, and Kirby looked at me and asked what I was doing. I said that I was paying for the round, and he told me he just signed the biggest contract in the history of baseball and I should put my money away. I thought he was the greatest thing ever. I thought Hrbek was rude that night, but everyone I have ever talked to that knows the players since has always said Hrbek is a great guy and Puckett was not as great. First impressions I guess.

MN didn't have a pro basketball team when I was growing up, but I remember loving the Lakers, Celtics and Sixers. They were the teams always on TV, so I didn't have too much of a choice other than them. Andrew Toney was my favorite, since I was a shooting guard. He was silky smooth from the 3 point line.

And my first love. The Minnesota Golden Gophers. My dad graduated from the U and had season tickets for football on the 45 yard line about 20 rows up. And more importantly for basketball. 12 rows up on the free throw line behind the gopher bench. I can remember Jim Dutcher yelling at his players when they weren't playing well.

I went to every home football and basketball game from 1976-1989. I left the Twin Cities in 1989 and went to play basketball for MN-Crookston. I still record and watch every game even if I attend in person.

My daughter was born in 1997 and the Gophs were going to to Final Four. My (Now ex) wife and I didn't really have the money at the time, and it was tough for her to stay at home and take care of her by herself, but I was going to the Final Four. I told her the day we met that if they ever made it I was going. Of course all that was wiped away.

My dad's best friend said in 1976 that the next time the Gophers made it to the Rose Bowl, he would pay for all of us to go. 41 years later and he hasn't had to pay up. I still see him once in a while although my dad has passed, and I always remind him of that promise. Hopefully PJ Fleck can get us there eventually.


Now for some teams I hate.

NFL-
Packers-actually just their fans. The team is pretty fun to watch.

Cowboys-I outlined above why they need to be hated.

Seahawks-I watched them play in a half empty stadium for so many years. Then they become good and all of a sudden they have the 12th man, and they have been the best fans forever. I call BS

MLB-
Yankees-I just haven't ever found even a single player that I enjoyed watching.

Red Sox-I really started hating them when they called out the Yankees for their payroll and then within a few years had a payroll as high or higher.

NBA-
Knicks-People say the NBA is better when they are good. They haven't been good since the early 70's. They were okay for a few years with Bernard King and a couple years with Ewing, but they haven't been a serious title contender in forever. I think the NBA is still doing fine.

College sports

Any team from the SEC. If for no other reason than whenever a team in the SEC loses to another SEC team, it's because they are sooooo good that anyone can beat anyone at any time. But when it happens anywhere else, it because the team getting beat just isn't that good. And when bowl season rolls around, those SEC teams don't do so well overall. That's because they don't care unless it's for the National Championship. I call BS on this as well. Maybe they just aren't that good.

Wisconsin- they have dominated my beloved Gophers for too long. That needs to change.

USC- I spent a lot of time in LA growing up and the family I had there made it very clear that we are UCLA fans and we don't cheer for the damn Trojans.


Sorry for the long post.

Rob A.