I love sports, especially baseball and hockey. I was born in Boston in Beth Israel Hospital right behind Fenway Park. I grew up in Rhode Island and go to school in Maine. After 22 years of living in New England, I have realized one thing: I absolutely hate New England sports fans, with a passion.
Before I explain my reasoning, I will come out right now and say it: I am a diehard Yankees fan. Yes I understand they are the rivals of the Boston Red Sox, and no I am not obligated to root for the Red Sox because I live in New England. That’s like saying you have to vote Republican simply because you live in Texas or the Deep South. I do not care for football much and really don’t have a team. I used to like the Rams and Eagles but if the Patriots go 19-0 or 0-16 in a season, I will be going to bed just the same. With regards for basketball I don’t have any team. I follow certain players but again I don’t care about the Celtics. Or the Lakers. Or any other basketball team for that matter. As for hockey, I am a *sigh* Edmonton Oilers fan. Since their season ends before the first period is over of opening day, I kind of become a bandwagon Bruins fan, mostly to keep people from harassing me and asking why am I not a Bruins fan.
So let’s give credit where it is due: Boston has achieved a level of dominance no other major city or geographical area has. I’m talking about the fact the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox have all won championships within their respective leagues (Stanley Cup, NBA finals, Super Bowl, and World Series.) Since 2002, Boston has won 9 championships, 4 from the Patriots, 3 from the Red Sox, and 1 each from the Celtics and Bruins. They are the only region to do so in less than a ten year time period and with the Patriots victory over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX they have won a championship in each major league of professional North American sports in 6 years. (2008 Celtics, 2011 Bruins, 2013 Red Sox, 2014 Patriots). If we compare lifetime totals, Boston ranks second for total sports championships only behind New York.
Now debating a New England sports fan is about as tiresome and frustrating as trying to disprove God to the Westboro Baptist Church. Let’s start fresh with the most recent victory, Super Bowl XLIX. The Patriots have been the greatest team in the NFL for almost the past 10 years. Sure it is easy to hate on the New England Patriots, they are difficult to beat, they constantly win, and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are more egotistical than Kanye West. But every time they’ve won a championship, some kind of controversy has followed them there whether it be the tuck rule, spygate, or deflategate. To me, it seems that if not for bending the rules or breaking the rules or having the rules interpreted in a way that makes no sense to logic and reason they’d be lucky to have one Super Bowl win let alone four of them. How many controversies need to happen before people question the Patriot’s methods? I know some fans will put asterisks next to their Super Bowl wins as it is. But Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft are such great and close friends it doesn’t matter.
The Patriots response to critics have been vain and immature like “they hate us cause they ain’t us.” This answer doesn’t even deny the allegations. It is not a clear no we didn’t deflate the balls or we didn’t cheat, but rather it’s a fancy take of “haters gonna hate.” Enough about the Patriots this article is about the fans. When deflategate happened, I heard more than enough fans around me complain and moan that the Colts were upset they lost. The instant defenses of “well the Colts should have had the same advantage if the ball was deflated” or “even if the balls were properly inflated, the Colts wouldn’t have had a chance of winning.” I agree that the game was a blowout and that the Colts got rocked. But after their most recent Super Bowl win? Pats fans still tried convincing me they were the best football team; they rocked the Seahawks in a blowout much like the Colts. Four points in football is a very close game. Honestly it wasn’t even the Pats game to win, rather the Seahawks game to lose. Pete Carroll made one of the worst calls in sports history, yet somehow the dominance of the Patriots offense and Tom Brady are the reason they won? The Patriots’ Super Bowl wins came down to one field goal by Adam Vinatieri 3 times then Pete Carroll’s blown call. The highest score they won by was 4 points in the past 4 Super Bowls and somehow that was New England offense destroying the other team?
Pats fans were quick to declare themselves the “Yankees of the NFL”, especially following deflategate. That everyone hates them because they win; they have money, can afford good players, and as a result are subjected to many accusations of cheating because the other teams are sore losers. The problem I have encountered is that most Red Sox fans hate the Yankees more than they like the Red Sox. Yankees are easy to hate for the same reason as the Patriots. Alright New England fans please tell me more why the Patriots are like the New York Yankees. But wait, what do you think of the Yankees New England? “Yankees Suck!” Oh that’s right the Yankees suck according to most of New England. Well now I’m confused are the Patriots the Yankees of the NFL because they constantly win and are hard to beat which makes them suck, or do they suck because they are a bad team, or is it because the Pats have so much money and buy good players from worse teams who can’t afford to keep them?
Like it or not, you can’t really say the Yankees suck as in they are a bad team. The team has won 27 World Series Championships and 40 American League Champion pennants. Is it that they suck because those damn Yankees constantly win and are hard to beat? Maybe they suck because they are evil by swiping players from the Red Sox (and other teams) by offering more money, like Babe Ruth (except had that not happened Sox would have gone bankrupt), Johnny Damon, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kevin Youkilis. Yet the fabled Patriots did the exact same thing the Yankees have done with several players, most notably Wes Welker. After the 2006 season the Dolphins offered Wes Welker a one year $1.35 million contract. All of a sudden, the Patriots entered the picture and made a deal to Welker they knew Miami couldn’t match. The Pats were free to negotiate but essentially, New England was looking to add a stipulation stating that if Welker played a certain number of games (around 5) in the state of Florida, a huge bonus would kick in. That bonus would prevent the Dolphins from being able to match the offer, and New England would be able to sign Welker. The more I write this article the more I agree the Patriots are the Yankees of the NFL, however New England sports fans will be the first to tell you the Yankees suck (and not define the term suck) and use it negatively, but when you put down their beloved Patriots, their counter is simply that of you are jealous we are the Yankees of the NFL. The hypocrisy doesn’t stop here, as New England fans have the most selective memories in sports.
I often get reminded of the 2004 ALCS series between the Sox and Yankees. Yes I know the Yankees were up 3 games to none. All they had to do was win one more game, but quite honestly if the Yankees couldn’t manage one more win then they didn’t deserve to go to the World Series. We lost to the World Champions in one of the biggest chokes or upsets in sports history. Yet I get called words and names that rhyme with masshole when I bring up Bucky Dent’s walk off home run, Bill Buckner in the 86 World Series, the 2003 ALCS involving Grady Little and Aaron Boone’s walk off home run. Furthermore, I constantly get reminded that Yankees fans live in the past by Sox fans yet they constantly remind me of the 2004 ALCS, which happened 11 years ago! As much as the 2004 ALCS hurt, Boston fans get angry when I mention the 2010 Bruins. In case you’re a New England sports fan and don’t recall the Boston Bruins met the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The winner would go on to play for the Stanley Cup. The Bruins won the first three games and needed one more win to make it. Just like the 2004 Yankees they managed to choke and blow this lead and lost the next four games to let the Flyers advance. Yet as far as I’m concerned the biggest choke in sports history (or at least in recent baseball memory) was the 2011 Boston Red Sox. The Sox were 84-54 on September 3, 2011 half game out of first and had a comfortable 9 game lead over the Rays for the wild card spot. The odds of making the playoffs were about 99.6%. By the 27th of September the Sox has scraped together a measly 5-16 record and watched their nine game lead evaporate to a tie. It literally came down to the final game of the season as they faced the Os and the Yankees lost to the Rays. Despite being 89-0 when leading in the ninth inning or later in the 2011 season, the Sox lost the final game and finished September with a 7-20 record or .259 win %. They managed to blow a nine game lead in 23 days to a team that only went 15-10 in the same month.
I don’t normally like to argue which city is better for sports: New York or Boston but here is my argument/ the truth: Overall, New York has more championships as a city/state but Boston has been much more dominant in recent memory. Don’t get me wrong, New York fans are far from being saints in sports. But I hate New England sports fans I really do. They have the most selective memories in all of sports; they pretend it didn’t happen and don’t talk about it then it didn’t happen (Bobby Valentine or Super Bowl XLII or Super Bowl XLVI). The level of hypocrisy they bring is unmatched except by politicians. Yankees suck says New England, except when we complain that the Patriots are being treated unfairly and everyone hates on them because they are the Yankees of the NFL then the Yankees don’t suck. Before 2004, Red Sox fans were going around claiming they were the Cubs of the A.L. and who doesn’t love an underdog. They win one World Series in 2004 (which was well earned) and aside from the band wagon filling up; all of a sudden the fans declare the Red Sox are the Yankees of the 21st century. How does New England explain not winning a championship in 86 years? The curse of the Bambino. Did that curse return for another two years till they won again in 2007? When a New England team wins it is always because they were the better team. Not because the other team made a mistake or screwed up (i.e. the Seahawks or 2004 Yankees). When they lose it is literally everyone and everything’s other fault but their own. Every New England sports fan has an excuse for why their team did badly. The referees are biased against Boston, there was a curse, the other team is a sore loser and accusing us of cheating or playing unfairly, etc. Please Boston sports fans take responsibility when you need to, look at the numbers, and stop accusing other fans of the exact things you are doing. That’s all I ask.
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