backthatSASSup wrote:
I actually have defended Philly fans in at least one thread I can think of, I will be glad to dig the thread up for you. I just don't see why it matters what team someone follows if there isn't a local sports team. Not everyone is interested in minor league sports. I know I'm really not. And there's really nothing wrong with having pride in one's city, which you always seem to nitpick that about Syracuse fans. I know you dislike Syracuse, but you have a lot of pride in Buffalo, and that's no different for Syracuse fans. Not everyone feels its their duty to follow the team closest to them geographically, so I'm not really seeing your point about that. Look at Tom, he's a Red Sux fan.

Also, some people are just die hard college sports fans. Syracuse isn't the only city where people have a huge following of their college sports teams where people aren't alumni. Again, not really seeing why that matters. It gives cities something to be prideful in and cheer about. I loved being in Syracuse during March Madness. I thought it was really fun to see the city show their pride.
To me, your comment implied that he wasn't a genuine fan of the team and that he was only a fan because of Donovan McNabb, and that he would change his allegiance depending on where Donovan ended up. You can't tell me it wouldn't come off that way, especially coupled with your comment on Facebook.
Honestly, I'm just sick of the general attitude I feel this place exudes sometimes that some fans are inferior to others simply because they don't fit into this mold of a perfect sports fan.
Well like I said, I feel a lot of the energy in Syracuse is misplaced. The Crunch are a perfect example to me. In a city like Syracuse, relatively isolated from professional sports cities, they could be billed as a main draw and I feel like they get the shaft to the university too often. The outdoor game as great an event as it was, I felt could have done so much better if the Crunch had a bit more consistent publicity. One of the reasons I chirp Syracuse fans a lot is because my best friend is a transplant living in Syracuse and is almost always willing to go at it with me (he's the guy I tagged.)
I think it's funny to point out things like the fact that SU can't even sell out the Carrier dome (when they perennially rank second in the NCAA in attendance) because it's such an inaccurate way of looking at it. (And let's be honest, with the quality of some of their opponents early in the season, I wouldn't go either.) (It would probably surprise you to know that I've been to the dome a bunch of times and never rooted against SU, either rooting for them, or rooting for myself to be entertained.)
Yeah, I'll admit I just don't get college fandom, even though I grew up in Syracuse. I like college fans because it's easy to get an entire student section going with some pretty vicious stuff (something you can't get out of a pro crowd) but for whatever reason I never really was a part of that until i went to Clarkson and started watching D1 hockey.
Nah, I figured there was more to his fandom than just McNabb, was poking for an explanation in a somewhat abrasive way. I've made the same comment to the aforementioned friend in fun knowing that he's always liked other players way more (B. Dawkins for example) and McNabb is very low on his radar. Kind of figured I'd get a similar response, though I should have worked to be a bit friendlier in my comment.

Like you said I have a lot of pride in being from Buffalo and I wouldn't deny that that often presents as a fan superiority complex. I don't feel much different than most other fans though since pretty much every team says they have "the best fans in the league." So maybe we all have that complex in some regard.
I think part of the problem in this thread is varying definitions of "rooting." I think some people take that to mean that Sabres fans (or any other fans) can't have a passing interest in any other team and have to hate everyone else, which I don't believe was the intent of the thread. Certainly there are plenty of reasons one team is a more palatable option for us than another and causes us to "root" for them. I think Phil is asking what people think of those that would whoop it up for a championship like it was their own for more than one team in a given sport, something I would never do. After Buffalo, St. Louis is my next favorite team in the league, but if they won the cup, I'd just be like oh that's cool and definitely wouldn't take to the streets in jubilation.