Sports rants (WARNING: Pointless thread activity ahead!)

Yeah this is kind of minimal compared to other rants and in reality it shouldn’t bother me…but a rant is a rant

I have a few issues with sports to bring up

1. Bandwagon/fair-weather fans – Raven and I live in Chicago. I work security for a bank calling center. Dress is extremely casual so long as it isn’t obscene or offensive. Often depending on the season you will see Cubs/Sox for baseball season, Bulls for NBA and the Bears for the NFL season. Anyway, on to my point. By means of where I was raised when I took interest in certain sports determined who I ended up following. I was in Wisconsin when I started being shown football by my Wisconsin uncle and hence I am a Packers Fan. I was brought the love of hockey by my wife who is a Californian and a Ducks fan, hence I learned to love them and by virtue of my adoration for the suburbs and North Side I am a Cubs fan. I do not watch Basketball or Major League ‘Soccer.’ Don’t even get me started on what REAL soccer is…

Anywho in the last two weeks I have noticed a shocking rise in Blackhawks jerseys that look remarkably new. For those who don’t follow the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks haven’t won a Stanley Cup in near 50 years and this is huge for them. It’s also known to those who follow the NHL that Chicago is a mere one win from hoisting the trophy. They play tonight against Philadelphia and the general consensus is that Chicago will win either tonight or in the final game. As I mentioned suddenly everyone is wearing Blackhawks jerseys. These are the same people who seem to never discuss hockey and suddenly they claim they are huge Blackhawk fans. Interesting that….now ask them a question about Johnathon Toews or ask them who just got their teeth knocked out in game 2 and you’ll find a blank face. Bandwagon…fair-weather…yuck

I have followed my Packers for some time now. I have seen the Superbowl win and I have seen crappy seasons…still love em

I have followed the Ducks for a while now. I watched in 2005-2006 when they won it all and I watched them this year end in 23rd place…still love em

The Cubs…well that’s a different story :-p

still love em…

2. Crosstown Classics/Rivalries – There are typically between 4-7 states that will have 2 teams in different divisions of the same sport. To mention a few…

Illinois – MLB – Chicago Cubs / Chicago White Sox
Pennsylvania – NHL – Philadelphia Flyers / Pittsburgh Penguins
California – NBA – Sacramento Kings / LA Lakers
Texas – NFL – Dallas Cowboys / Houston Texans

and so forth…

Now this of course is up to you and you decisions. If you want to be a Texans AND Cowboys fans than so be it but I had a person ask me (a loyal Cubs fan) if I was happy the White Sox won the World Series and they were shocked when I said no. They asked why and said…’because I am a Cubs fan!’

3. Nicknames – Whether given to you by your city or yourselves, don’t give me that BS. I am sorry Dallas, I did not vote the Cowboys to be America’s Team and FYI Detroit, you can call yourselves Hockey Town all you want…last I checked Montreal has WAY more than you and you can barely fill your seats.

4. Wacky NFL stats – I am all for some statistics on players, I really am. It is nice to know Carlos Zambrano has a 6.14 ERA or that the Sharks lost 4 of 5 games to the Blackhawks. These are stats that mean a lot and have some bearing on the potential outcome of the game. If Zambrano is throwing 6.14 against some heavy sluggers of the Mets then you might agree the Mets have a good shot at putting men on home plate. The thing is gets deeper. Even when it gets deeper you still have some value such as saying the Ducks are 10-4 on the road when Hiller is in goal. Ok, getting deeper but that may have some merit.

Now with that said, for you NFL fans out there you’ll recognize what I am about to say. Have you ever seen some of the wacky stats the NFL has? It’s ridiculous how deep they go!

They’ll say the Cowboys are 2-10 in the last 12 meetings they had against the Dolphins (totally made up stat) WHO CARES! This is THIS year! 12 meetings with the Dolphins could mean anywhere from 6-12 years or more. The team is not the same as it was that long ago. Even worse is when they start pulling out the truly weird ones like…

“The Raiders are in for trouble. They are 1-6 when playing the Redskins at home in the rain on Monday Night Football” Do we need that in-depth of stats? Who keeps these?

Frankly I see a conspiracy here…I think the Library of Congress is ACTUALLY NFL stats…period

I am seriously expecting Troy Aikman one day to say this…

“The Lions are in good position. They are 6 and 1 against the Giants when it is 74 degrees with a light NNE wind after Cocach Jim Swartz eats lima beans on the Tuesday preceding the game”

GAH!!!

I know…this is all so worthless to rant over what with BP, the hotbed that is Korea and poison GMO crops…but dang it I wanted my rant!

-Kyo


[edit on 9-6-2010 by KyoZero]

To be quite frank with you......

I absolutely hated it here a few years ago when Ohio State beat the Miami Hurricanes for the national title in college football. Everywhere I went around this state, just about every person my age was either wearing an Ohio State jersey or an Ohio State hooded sweatshirt. It just made me want to say something to them about it. I know a couple of occassions that I did ask why Bo Schembechler of Michigan and Woody Hayes of Ohio State were rivals. Not much to my surprise, a majority of the people that I asked did not know who I was talking about.

As for really the off when it comes to bandwagoning. You should have seen how many people were wearing Steelers jerseys after their last two Super Bowl wins.

All right. I totally agree with the band-wagon thing. I've loved soccer since I was young and my entire family is involved with the sport in the US. During the world cup, I saw people who said they hated soccer and that it wasn't a real sport wearing Argentina and whatever jerseys. Then, when it came time for the final, the SPAIN jersey numbers were crazy. Now they are even worse. If you're going to hate an entire sport, at least stick to your guns about it. And the Packers, everyone hops on THAT bandwagon when they are up, and off it when they are down. Stick to your guns there as well. Finally, I am in a bit of a predicament. Ohio State or Penn State, whichever I choose to attend (most likely OSU), either one half of my family will hate me during football season or the other will. Just don't go against a team because you want to bother someone else. And another thing....Mets fans just stop hating Yankees fans or the Yankees. They have nothing to do with you and if you'd rather see the Phillies win than the Yankees, don't pretend to be a true-blue Mets fan. Please

Not much to add 'cept.

Go Steelers.


Cheering them on since 1977.