I feel a little bad because I’m doing a little hating. In sports, that’s when a fan roots against another team because he or she just does not like that team. Most of the time hating on a team is motivated by the number of headaches the hated team gives your favorite team. For example, I am a Lakers fan so I have a tendency to hate on…that’s right, the Celtics. The Celtic vs. Lakers is one of the greatest rivalries in team sports and it continues today with the current Lakers and Celtics as both teams are very good and are the last two teams to win the NBA Finals. I was a teenager back in the day of Kareem, Magic, Worthy, on one side and Parrish, Bird and McHale on the other. Societal politics played a big part in this rivalry. Boston represented the White Boy team and the Lakers were the Black man’s team. Bird and McHale were like the Great White Hope for professional basketball.
Another intense rivalry from my sports fan past that does not have the same significance today was the Dallas Cowboys and my favorite team the Pittsburg Steelers. This was a super intense rivalry in the 70’s as they met in the Super Bowl twice and people called Dallas America’s team while Pittsburgh was winning more rings. The rivalry cooled off for some time as the two teams lost their dominance. Dallas gained back its winning ways in the 90’s while Pittsburg languished in rebuilding the franchise purgatory. Today the Steelers are back on top having won 2 of the last 4 Super Bowls while Dallas has not been able to get past the 1st round of the playoffs I believe for nearly a decade. Of course, this makes me very happy.
People also like to hate on winning teams. The Lakers, Cowboys, Celtics, Bulls, UNC Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils and New York Yankees (another team I love to root against) have all been targets because they are so good and people just love to hate them. This is one of the reasons some people hate on the Patriots.
The Patriots’ winning ways only adds fuel to the fire of my dislike for them. My feelings are a story of politics and sports. It really begins with my general bad feeling about Boston stemming from my childhood experience of hearing that Boston area teachers were going on strike because of racial integration. I was hurt as a child by the idea that teachers, people who are supposed to look out for children, hated me as a Black child so much that they were refusing to teach kids that look like me and go on strike to keep kids like me out of their schools. My mother is a retired teacher, so I had a clear idea of how teachers should treat their students and striking because they did not want to teach kids was not it. It was 1975. I was 11 years old.
However, I did not hold anything against the Patriots. I rooted for the Bears in the 1986 Super Bowl XX, because I thought the Bears were a better team and I liked Walter Payton who I thought deserved a ring. My attitude changed towards active dislike of the Patriots in 2001.
After September 11, 2001, millions across the country started a patriotism mantra of how the world had changed and now we are all united flag wavers ready to roll. You are either with us or against us. I had a negative reaction to this outburst of blind patriotism. Most repugnant was the attack on people like me who questioned U.S. foreign policy and if war would be the best response. According to the “Super Patriots,” I was not sufficiently patriotic because of my questions and expressions of dissent. That year the New England Patriots had an 11-5 season and won their first Super Bowl on February 3, 2002. A lot of people jumped on the Patriots’ bandwagon. I could feel this idea of destiny for the Patriots to win the game because it was America’s time and Patriots would come out on top. This simplistic blind patriotism was disgusting. All you have to do is root for team USA. Forget the hard work of educating yourself so that you can evaluate cause and effect in an effort to determine the right course of action. Let the so-called leaders tell us what to think and do.
So from then on the Patriots became my favorite NFL team to cheer against. I was so unhappy most of the 2007/2008 season when the Patriots went undefeated until that final Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. I have never been so happy to see a team other than my own win or to see a team that was not playing my team lose.
I must admit my intense dislike for the Patriots has fallen off some. Hating is hard work and not really fun. I respect Randy Moss’ ability and would like to see him with a ring even if it has to be with the Patriots. But I still will not root for them. I felt a little bad when Tom Brady sustained a season-ending injury in 2008. A friend of mine accused me of wishing the injury on Brady. I felt a little worse when his injured knee became infected. But by the end of the season, I was ecstatic with the Pittsburg Steelers as Super Bowl Champions. I know it’s kind of sad. But that is how sports work.
The win by the Colts was great. It was one of the best games I have seen in quite awhile. The Patriots lost made it just that much better.
I feel a little bad because I’m doing a little hating. In sports, that’s when a fan roots against another team because he or she just does not like that team. Most of the time hating on a team is motivated by the number of headaches the hated team gives your favorite team. For example, I am a Lakers fan so I have a tendency to hate on…that’s right, the Celtics. The Celtic vs. Lakers is one of the greatest rivalries in team sports and it continues today with the current Lakers and Celtics as both teams are very good and are the last two teams to win the NBA Finals. I was a teenager back in the day of Kareem, Magic, Worthy, on one side and Parrish, Bird and McHale on the other. Societal politics played a big part in this rivalry. Boston represented the White Boy team and the Lakers were the Black man’s team. Bird and McHale were like the Great White Hope for professional basketball.
Another intense rivalry from my sports fan past that does not have the same significance today was the Dallas Cowboys and my favorite team the Pittsburg Steelers. This was a super intense rivalry in the 70’s as they met in the Super Bowl twice and people called Dallas America’s team while Pittsburgh was winning more rings. The rivalry cooled off for some time as the two teams lost their dominance. Dallas gained back its winning ways in the 90’s while Pittsburg languished in rebuilding the franchise purgatory. Today the Steelers are back on top having won 2 of the last 4 Super Bowls while Dallas has not been able to get past the 1st round of the playoffs I believe for nearly a decade. Of course, this makes me very happy.
People also like to hate on winning teams. The Lakers, Cowboys, Celtics, Bulls, UNC Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils and New York Yankees (another team I love to root against) have all been targets because they are so good and people just love to hate them. This is one of the reasons some people hate on the Patriots.
The Patriots’ winning ways only adds fuel to the fire of my dislike for them. My feelings are a story of politics and sports. It really begins with my general bad feeling about Boston stemming from my childhood experience of hearing that Boston area teachers were going on strike because of racial integration. I was hurt as a child by the idea that teachers, people who are supposed to look out for children, hated me as a Black child so much that they were refusing to teach kids that look like me and go on strike to keep kids like me out of their schools. My mother is a retired teacher, so I had a clear idea of how teachers should treat their students and striking because they did not want to teach kids was not it. It was 1975. I was 11 years old.
However, I did not hold anything against the Patriots. I rooted for the Bears in the 1986 Super Bowl XX, because I thought the Bears were a better team and I liked Walter Payton who I thought deserved a ring. My attitude changed towards active dislike of the Patriots in 2001.
After September 11, 2001, millions across the country started a patriotism mantra of how the world had changed and now we are all united flag wavers ready to roll. You are either with us or against us. I had a negative reaction to this outburst of blind patriotism. Most repugnant was the attack on people like me who questioned U.S. foreign policy and if war would be the best response. According to the “Super Patriots,” I was not sufficiently patriotic because of my questions and expressions of dissent. That year the New England Patriots had an 11-5 season and won their first Super Bowl on February 3, 2002. A lot of people jumped on the Patriots’ bandwagon. I could feel this idea of destiny for the Patriots to win the game because it was America’s time and Patriots would come out on top. This simplistic blind patriotism was disgusting. All you have to do is root for team USA. Forget the hard work of educating yourself so that you can evaluate cause and effect in an effort to determine the right course of action. Let the so-called leaders tell us what to think and do.
So from then on the Patriots became my favorite NFL team to cheer against. I was so unhappy most of the 2007/2008 season when the Patriots went undefeated until that final Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. I have never been so happy to see a team other than my own win or to see a team that was not playing my team lose.
I must admit my intense dislike for the Patriots has fallen off some. Hating is hard work and not really fun. I respect Randy Moss’ ability and would like to see him with a ring even if it has to be with the Patriots. But I still will not root for them. I felt a little bad when Tom Brady sustained a season-ending injury in 2008. A friend of mine accused me of wishing the injury on Brady. I felt a little worse when his injured knee became infected. But by the end of the season, I was ecstatic with the Pittsburg Steelers as Super Bowl Champions. I know it’s kind of sad. But that is how sports work.
The win by the Colts was great. It was one of the best games I have seen in quite awhile. The Patriots lost made it just that much better.
