Now that the Celtics have won the NBA title I can say something I don't think I've ever been able to say before: The last championship in each of the four major sports was won by a team I hate. Sure, I've watched teams I hate win championships before, but I've always had other sports with champions I liked to cheer me up. No longer is that the case. Over the last eight months there's been a clean sweep of championships won by teams I make a point never to root for.
I knew it was going to happen once the Lakers and Celtics clinched their respective conference titles, as I despise both teams. I had a feeling back in December that David Stern was going to orchestrate a Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals, so I can't say I didn't see it coming. I didn't watch one second of the phony Finals, but I had to hear about the results of each game due to a co-worker who was rooting hard for the Celtics and couldn't stop talking about them. I tried to explain to him that most of the Boston fans you come into contact with on the internet are insufferable jerks who think the world revolves around them, but he cared more about seeing Kevin Garnett get a ring than the sickening idea that those loudmouthed New Englanders (and the bandwagoners they've picked up over the last six years) get to experience the height of success yet again.
At least one good thing came out of this NBA season: I finally got the courage to accept that the NBA was a sham and to stop holding onto it because of the love I had for it in my younger days. David Stern, you can engineer all the Lakers-Celtics Finals you want. I'm not wasting anymore time watching this façade o####enuine competition until you're out as commissioner. Any league where two teams have won half its titles has something wrong with it.
Then there was the NHL. This was my first year following hockey closely, and I think I've found the sport that will replace the NBA in my heart. Hockey has players that are passionate about the game and generally focused on the team first, which is more than I can say for basketball. The only downside to this season was that the Stanley Cup was won by the Detroit Red Wings, a huge rival of my Chicago Blackhawks. Despite the fact that I'm an all-Chicago fan, I don't really mind the Lions, Tigers or Pistons that much. It seems that the Blackhawks-Red Wings rivalry is taken most seriously of all the Chicago-Detroit feuds though, so the Red Wings are on my "always root against" list. Admittedly, I haven't developed a real hatred for them yet, as I'm still new to hockey fandom, but they're about as close as you can get in my situation.
How about that Super Bowl? I heard about the outcome, but like the NBA Finals I didn't watch a nanosecond of it (except to see that play everyone was talking about on YouTube after the fact). I hate both the Giants and the Patriots, so I decided to spare myself the agony of watching one of them win it all.
What? The Boston hater didn't want to see the undefeated Patriots lose and all the smiles wiped off the faces of the arrogant Beantowners? Sorry, but not if it had to be at the hands of the Giants. Not only do they represent New York and have plenty of obnoxious fans of their own, but their quarterback is Eli Manning. The guy whined his way out of playing for the Chargers and has now been rewarded for it. When someone like Eli Manning wins a Super Bowl after four years in the league it only perpetuates the idea that big market teams with lots of historical success are somehow more important and worth playing for than teams that haven't yet reached that level. It makes me sick. John Elway had to pay penance for doing the same thing with three Super Bowl losses and the question of if he'd ever win the big game for over a decade. Eli got off with only a few years of doubt from the New York media and some criticism from his former tailback.
Then, of course, we have the most important sporting event of them all: the World Series. I threw all my support behind three different teams over the course of the Playoffs, but the one that ended up holding the trophy was the Red Sox, the team the evil city loves most. I could try to recapture my feelings about it here, but I think my post from after the Series ended says it better than I could right now.
If we end up with a Cardinals-Red Sox World Series or some such abomination 2008 will officially be the worst year in the history of sports. Of course, I'll probably still watch the World Series even if it features two teams I hate just because I love the game of baseball so much. After the way the past year has gone though, a team I can be happy for winning the World Series would do a lot to keep me from sinking into sports depression.
With ya on the NBA Finals. Didn't watch a single second of any of the games. I don't think I missed all that much, as I didn't watch any of playoff games in the NBA. That was partly due to my Penguins making a run in the NHL playoffs, but also due to the fact I just couldn't care less about NBA basketball. But you should have watched the Super Bowl. To see the Pats lose and Golden Boy get thrown on his #### all game was a thing of beauty. Bob Ryan said today that Boston isn't as arrogant as New York or some other towns. Yeah, whatever. A fanbase that couldn't give a #### about their team until they started winning thinks they are God's gift to football. But, Boston is winning, and their fans can be that arrogant. Doesn't mean I have to like or respect them, which I do neither.
You have always been one of my favorite people since I stumbled onto this site almost 2 years ago; so please know that I only mean the best for you when I say that it is time that you get past this. Take comfort in knowing that everything is cyclical. Fifteen years ago all these teams from Boston sucked. It's just kind of freaky that they all have blossomed at the same time.
I do however agree with you on the state of the NBA. I won't pretend to say that I wasn't delighted with the Celtics winning the championship but the only game I watched in its entirety was the last one. Quite frankly, I totally lost interest in the NBA in '97 after the Sprewell/Carlissimo incident. The only thing that has caused me to reconsider this position is LeBron James.
I've really enjoyed the NBA the past 8 years, it's so much better than in the 90s when there were only 2 or 3 teams that had any players that could take a team to an NBA title.
I enjoyed the Super Bowl and World Series this past year.
I enjoyed the BCS title game very much.
Yeah, it's better now than it was in the 90s, which I consider the low point of sports in America.
i would just like to say i've been a patriots/red sox/pawsox fan since the late 60's early 70's.all them years with no titles and now i'm rewarded.growing up in new england i've seen the non support when things were bad for both teams.it was great for me because i could go to see games and pretty much sit where i wanted.i also liked the 76's and the canadians from the 70's to mid 80's.i remember larry bird saying "there's no other place i'd rather be than in french lick".didn't know it was a town in indiana til i move here in 1990.always liked larry hated the celtics.yea i thought he got away with something when he said it and they didn't beep him out.but i've seen and heard the so-called fans up there booing larry when he wasn't making points tossing the ball in,off balance,falling out of bounds.shameful to boo the likes of larry bird for any reason.those are the new england fans i remember.nowadays you cant get a good seat without taking out a loan.most of the time i went for free back then.
bosox61 - I didn't really mean to make this into another Boston-bashing post, it just sort of ended up that way because Boston has a few reigning champions. Thanks for stopping by. It's people like you that remind me to clarify that many, but certainly not all Boston fans are obnoxious.
Tate - The Bulls are my team, so I enjoyed the 90's. Still, I felt a little bad for the Jazz after the Bulls beat them in '98.
Ian, if several Chicago teams suddenly begin to win multiple championships, some in the same year, the Chicago fans will do exactly what the Boston fans do and everyone will hate Chicago.
That is the way of sports fandom. You waste you time hating the fans of teams that are successful. They are only folks like yoursel who are enjoying the moment.
The secret is to keep your "hate" lighthearted. Dream of seeing them boiled in oil, but don't be disappointed when it doesn't happen.
patsfan - I think your comment only proves that Boston sports and their vaunted history aren't so much better than everywhere else as the popular media would have you believe. Thanks for reading.
54 - Arrogant nicknames like "The Hub" do nothing to make outsiders love Boston.
Spurcse - Maybe I'm biased, but I just can't see Chicago fans becoming as bad as Bostonians in that situation. Chicago fans love their teams and take pride in them, but they generally don't seem to have an inflated sense of self-importance. I doubt the media would #### all over Chicago and its history like they do with Boston, so that'd be one less thing feeding that type of thinking. Chicago has its share of trash-talking jerks, but I think most Chicago fans are humble enough to appreciate anything good they get.
Ian, I love your David Stern jab. Are you conspiracy theorist? When you look at the finals last year with San Antonio vs. Cleveland, it was a yawner and not worth watching as TV ratings suggested.
broblog, if the names on the Jerseys last season had been the Lakers and the Celtics instead of the Spurs and the Cavs, the ratings would have been fine.
The games this season were almost carbon copy of Spurs games of the past finals. Supurb defense, unselfish team play, and some great guard play. Even the Celtics pick and rolls were almost identical to what the Spurs run. Tell me in what way the games themselves were any different.
The only thing different were the names on the Jerseys.
broblog - Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed this blog. I guess you could call me a conspiracy theorist in that I think David Stern fixes things. No, I can't prove it, but I'm tired of overlooking all the fishy stuff that goes on. Either way the end result is the same: I get basketball I don't enjoy watching.
Spurcse - Excellent point. I hate how people think certain franchises are more "worth watching" because there's more hype surrounding them. In reality there's little difference.
It reminds me of the 2004 Red Sox vs. the 2005 White Sox. Everyone raved about the Red Sox blowing out the Cardinals in a 4-game World Series sweep because there was a ton of hype surrounding the Red Sox. The next year the White Sox swept the Astros and each game was a nail biter. Because the White Sox don't get much hype though, everyone complained that it was a "boring" World Series.
ian2813: As A Detroit native,and die hard Wing fan, I welcome you to the list of people who do not like us. The longer the list gets the better we are doing. And we are doing GREAT. GO WINGS!!!!!
I'm a fan of all Chicago sports teams (including both the Cubs and White Sox). When one of my teams isn't playing I'm a big proponent of rooting for the underdog. I'm currently an inactive NBA fan and will remain so until David Stern is out as commissioner. I spend more time thinking about sports than I probably should, so I decided I needed a blog where I could share those thoughts with the world.
