Local readers: don’t hate me. I’m not a St Louis Cardinals fan. In fact, I root against them in the playoffs. I realize this will make me a very unpopular local blogger, but the fact is: I am not from here.
I’m an Atlanta Braves fan. I grew up in the South, and in my region, everybody was a Braves fan. The 90’s were a great time, and everything else has been a crushing disappointment. I mean really, crushing. I can’t even watch anymore. When I do get interested and excited, I just get let down. (and I became a Braves fan in the 80’s…which were pretty disappointing as well but at least we had Dale Murphy.)
Cards fans: It’s great your team is winning. It seems like they win more often than not. Be happy, root for your team! But do you have to go on and on about how you are the best fans in baseball? Perhaps you are just the ones who haven’t felt loss as much as the rest of us? It’s easy to root for a winning team.
When I first lived in Cleveland the Indians had a couple of years of sold out games. And then they just kept losing and losing. I thought at the time, huh, fair weather fans. But as my team started losing and choking and doing poorly when they should be doing well…I realized it was so much more than that.
When baseball makes you happy generally, you want to watch. When baseball just makes you sad, you give up. You move forward in life. You pursue other interests, and you stop caring about a sport that features grown men in silly costumes.
There’s enough sadness in life, isn’t there?
All of this is me being overly dramatic, of course. If the Braves had done better in the playoffs, you can bet I’d continue to be secretly rooting for them. I don’t watch the games anymore, but I occasionally look sideways at the league rankings and hope to see them at the top.
I did do a little research on the Wikipedia to back up some of this. I think that we can all agree that Yankees fans deserve no sympathy ever, but after that, the team with the most World Series wins is the St Louis Cardinals.
So by all means root for your team. But don’t put everybody else down for what you perceive as them not rooting for their team. Walk a mile in their shoes first.
Oh, here’s an interesting article my brother-in-law emailed to me the other day about the Atlanta Barves merchandise.
Edited to add: Saw this article today. Some language, but I appreciate the sentiment.
I can totally relate to this! I happen to live in Braves territory but I grew up in Phillies territory. Not that I am a baseball fan at all, but it transcends into all sports. We transplants often find a hostile fan experience in our new homes… And I find that the college team experience here in the south can be even more divisive. I went to GA Tech. I love my school. I love the history of my football team. And I know that we always hang around the standings but usually choke at some point during the season. On the other hand, UGA continues to beat us on the field and then verbally pummel us off the field. It seems Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets will never get along. I say, love your team and celebrate your wins, but don’t besmirch other teams and fans in the process. It’s simple sportsmanship.
I can relate. I’m from Detroit and have been a Tigers fan for a long time. Though we are currently doing well in a run for the World Series, we had a LOT of down years. A LOT. That said, I have to say that, since moving to St. Louis only three years ago, Cardinals fans are some of the most respectful fans I’ve encountered. I don’t meet many that say they are the “best” fans per say (I think that’s a media gimmick given to STL fans, tbh), but Cardinals fans (again, in my experience) are not entitled, are not selfish, and are not expecting. In my experience, they have been appreciative and hopeful, excited when we win, disappointed when we lose.
Since moving here, though I am of course a Tigers fan originally, I can easily see why people so quickly become Cardinals fans!
There aren’t perhaps many that say that, but they definitely do. I’ve seen plenty of looking down on Dodger fans in this particular series, and while I’m not a fan of the Dodgers…it still rubs me the wrong way. That being said, I’m sure playoff baseball is good for the city in some financial ways so I’ll root to bring the World Series here!
Um, I used to enjoy reading your blog.
I knew I’d lose some readers from this!