5 Things I've Learned About Boston Sports Teams And Their Fans

Monday, January 14, 2008


If you ever get the chance to watch a Patriots' Playoff Game in Boston I suggest you jump at the chance. It's like nothing else I've ever witnessed. I got the pleasure of heading to a local Irish Bar (McSomethings) and enjoyed Tom Brady's surgical destruction of the Jaguars with some of Boston's finest on Saturday Night and here's what I learned......

1. They don't really like it when you root for the other team: A "Let's Go Jaguars....Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap cheer I tried to start didn't go over so well.

2. Every single Pats player has a jersey: It's beyond description how many different player names I saw out in the city. Here's the list as I can remember......Brady, Maroney, Moss, Welker, Matt Light, Vince Wilfork, Rodney Harrison, Bruschi, Vrabel, Kevin Faulk, Adalius Thomas, Colvin, Randall Gay, Ben Watson, and Ellis Hobbs

3. The Pats have a ton of Women Fans: I think this is more than likely due to Tom Brady, but every single girl in the city had some sort of Pats' garb on. My personal favorite was a blonde 20-something in a throwback Ted Johnson jersey.

4. Pats Fans cheer for everything: And when I say everything....I mean EVERYTHING. A negative four yard screen to Wes Welker.....WHOOOO! A four yard run on first down by Fred Taylor.....OH YEAH!

5. Their Postgame cover bands are terrible: It was about 12:30 when I wished I was back in DC watching the class of cover bands Mr. Green Genes.

Yep that about sums it up. I'll tell you how annoying Celtics fans are now after attending the Wizards-Celts game at the Garden (I refuse to call it the TD Bankwhatever Thing) tonight. I'm out for the rest of today and will be traveling most of tomorrow, so I'll see you all for a full day on Wednesday.

P.S.- All of this is in jest Boston fans.....sort of.

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 3:09 PM

52 Comments:

Glad you could hear them cheering in the stadium, they sounded awful on the TV. Completely quiet for most of the game, and even when they did cheer it was pretty tame. Maybe it was because they had to follow up the crowd at Lambeau, but I was disappointed.

Mike Maloney said...
Jan 14, 2008, 3:33:00 PM  

Or at least listening to the Backyard Band with Big G wearing a throwback Patrick Ramsey jersey.

Jarrett said...
Jan 14, 2008, 3:41:00 PM  

Did the girl with the Ted Johnson jersey also have crippling depression???

GMoney said...
Jan 14, 2008, 3:52:00 PM  

I used to see Mr. Green Genes down at Fred's in Stone Harbor...

E Buzz said...
Jan 14, 2008, 3:59:00 PM  

On another Boston sport-related note.

I saw a highlight of a Celts game a few days ago and Paul Pierce had the ball at the point, stopped dribbling, held the ball over his headand I swear he took ten steps right in front of the ref.

That game is a joke.

E Buzz said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:01:00 PM  

The lack of crowd noise on TV at Gillette is often commented-upon by Pats fans who have attended games. I don't know if it's something about the shape of the stadium (with its open end) or the way it's miced, but it isn't the funeral TV makes it out to be. I have no idea how it compares to Lambeau in person, but I can't imagine the difference is as night and day extreme as it appears.

Unknown said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:03:00 PM  

I say it-
Isn't a "Gay" Patriots jersey redundant. I'll show myself out.

Ryan said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:07:00 PM  

Kristin and the Noise > Mr Green Genes

Pettey said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:08:00 PM  

LMAO @ pats fans wearing Randall Gay's jersey. Seriously, who would want a jersey that say GAY in the back of it?

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:08:00 PM  

Pat fans are horrible bandwagoners. Can't stand them.

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:30:00 PM  

(Coming from a Boston fan)

1. I tolerate it? There's nothing wrong with rooting for the team you want to win.

2. Okay, yeah, pretty much. It's ridiculous.

3. Yes.

4. Not all of us do, but it's funny to see cheering for absolutely everything, especially by fans of the team you're for.

5. ...Yeah.

Not much to disagree with there. Did you ever do a post on Sox fans? Just curious. Well, can't wait to see what you come up with for Celtics fans.

Unknown said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:41:00 PM  

Boston is a bunch of front running clueless morons.

Go CHARGERS!

Jan 14, 2008, 4:44:00 PM  

Take back that Kristen comment right now. Greengenes sets the standard for cover bands. Kristen maybe comes in eighth on the list of cover bands I've seen in the DC area. I listened to them once when she tried to cover 311 (unsuccessful) and I almost threw my beer at her.

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 4:53:00 PM  

All Boston fans are extremely obnoxious and front runners. 8 years ago you could go to a Pats or Red Sox game with ease. I used to walk up to the ticket office a few weeks before a Yanks/Sox and get tickets. Now everyone is a Sox fan. Forget about getting tickets. 9 years ago when I moved here not all Pats games were on local TV because Foxboro wasn't sold out. Now everyone is a Pats fan. Ask this simple question to a Sox fan - Who was the SS before Nomar? You'll instantly find out if they are a bandwagon jumper or a true fan.

Unknown said...
Jan 14, 2008, 5:07:00 PM  

yea...frontrunner...rooting for a team that hadn't won in 86 years and still selling out every game...yea, sounds like a frontrunner to me

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 5:32:00 PM  

Pats fans, Joel. If the Patriots still sucked, no one would go. Not a person. And while they are a ton of loyal Red Sox fans, the bandwagon has gotten very large since '04.

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 6:00:00 PM  

You anonymous commenters have changed my mind. Boston fans are great. I suck.

Ryan said...
Jan 14, 2008, 6:12:00 PM  

"yea...frontrunner...rooting for a team that hadn't won in 86 years and still selling out every game...yea, sounds like a frontrunner to me"

idiot...the team didnt start selling out til they started winning. again, you are an idiot.

Jan 14, 2008, 6:18:00 PM  

Aren't those the most annoying accents in the states? Did you pull any wool? Boston chicks are notoriously terrible lovers. "Could you like MOVE or something?!"

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 6:52:00 PM  

you constantly slag any band that you've never heard of and you fluff a cover band?

I'm not sure you should be allowed to listen to music ever again.

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 7:32:00 PM  

Jeez, this sounds(or looks, rather) like your typical MLB.com message board, but more juvenile.

UnHoly Diver said...
Jan 14, 2008, 7:52:00 PM  

i went to school in Mass. and was constantly annoyed by Boston sports fans.

Honestly, the best thing the Red Sox had going for them was that they hadn't won a world series in forever, so you sort of felt sorry for them. Once they won, they were just as bad as yankees fans.

My description was that yankees fans are like pit bulls and red sox fans are like terriers....nobody really likes either one, but for different reasons. The pitbulls are loud and aggressive, but the terriers are little whiney yippers that you want to kick down the stairs.

The people there are typically very awesome people...but once they start rooting for their teams, they are almost intolerable :P

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 7:53:00 PM  

Anyone who has actually been to a Sox game @ Fenway Park, knows how awesome Sox fans are...
And don't u dare compare sox fans to those arrogant piece of crap Skank fans...
I didn't see Sox fans throwing down bottles on the field during the 04 ALCS...
Plus, Red Sox Nation is EVERYWHERE! All you people are just jealous...they also get the highest road attendance...
You can't call the mass following frontrunners, when they've won 2 titles in 90 years...give me a break...stop hating...
Not my fault Boston is owning the sports world.....

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 8:20:00 PM  

Joel, the shortstop before Nomar was Johnny Pesky. Everyone knows that.

Jan 14, 2008, 8:49:00 PM  

hey joel, the pats have sold out every game since 1994 so basiclly you lied, but good try

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 9:12:00 PM  

The Red Sox have been selling out forever...it's not been easy to get Sox tickets in my lifetime (and I'm 43).

The Pats have been selling out since the mid-nineties, which is more than 9 years ago. Before that? They were one and freakin' 15! If they were selling out at 1-15 (in a stadium that is a pain in the ass to get to) the fans would be complete idiots. There's a difference between 'jumping on a bandwagon' and 'not wanting to watch a plane crash'.

Oh, and the shortstop before Nomar was John Valentin, you sanctimonious asshole.

Unknown said...
Jan 14, 2008, 10:19:00 PM  

jerry said...
LMAO @ pats fans wearing Randall Gay's jersey. Seriously, who would want a jersey that say GAY in the back of it?

Wait until they draft Decody Fagg in a couple years.

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 11:04:00 PM  

Kit is so right. Red Sox fans have become the new Yankee fans, only with more ugly women with pink gear horrible accents getting plastered the entire game, then acting like they know something.

Thankfully, I'm from the only part of the state where the Patriots come before the Red Sox. The Foxborough area itself. Boston didn't want the Patriots when Bob Kraft was willing to spend his own dough in South Boston to build a stadium. They wanted an $800 million dollar White Elephant Convention Center instead.

Patriots fans from Boston are pathetic. The only real Patriot fans are from the towns surrounding the stadium itself.

Anonymous said...
Jan 14, 2008, 11:50:00 PM  

Yup, Mr. Greengenes are the 'class of cover bands.' I've seen them live three times, and they put on a hell of a show.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 12:00:00 AM  

Joel

All Patriots games since 1994 have been on TV (304 consecutive) they have sold out their last 149 home games. 2008-1994=14 years.

Steve M said...
Jan 15, 2008, 12:46:00 AM  

As a Sox fan I implore Sox fans everywhere to stop using the term Red Sox Nation. No teams fans are a nation. And anyone who is a card carrying member should be forced to wear a pink hat and have their ass beat by some guys named McMurray and O'Brien and then set on fire on Lansdowne Street.

Steve M said...
Jan 15, 2008, 12:53:00 AM  

As a photographer I can attest the Patriots games I have shot have gotten very loud. Much more noticable though at the closed end of the stadium.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 12:54:00 AM  

There were two clear bandwagon loading points in Patriots history: 1993ish, when Kraft, Parcells, and Bledsoe all came to town, and 2001, when Brady and Belichick lucked into a Super Bowl win and douchebags such as myself came out of the woodwork and started following the team.

What most people fail to realize is that much of the Red Sox pre-Y2K fan base had roots with the Impossible Dream bandwagon from 1967. Attendance at Fenway Park more than doubled, if memory serves, between 1966 and 1967, and didn't drop significantly for awhile. A second group came aboard in the early 2000s. I don't know where they came from, or why, or if they're ever going away, but my impression is that they like to wear pink stuff and travel to road games.

Jan 15, 2008, 12:58:00 AM  

Steve - I also hate the term "Red Sox Nation". Every so often, I'll be typing a post and it'll just pop into my head, unannounced and unwelcome. Makes me want to slam my brain in a car door.

The worst thing is that the local sports radio hosts constantly refer to their listeners as "Game Nation". This is a regional radio station in southern New Hampshire. I'm not sure their signal even reaches Maine, let alone anything that could be considered a "nation".

Jan 15, 2008, 1:03:00 AM  

Thank the Raider fans for adding 'Nation' to describe a group of fans, maybe it was a decade or so ago. I don't know why it became synonymous with the Red Sox all of a sudden, but like 'walk-off home run,' or 'The Association' to describe the NBA (Kevin Frazier?), it's gotta go, for any team, not just the Red Sox.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 1:17:00 AM  

John Valentin doesn't appreciate the disrespect handed out here.

You're going to find dumb fans with any team you support. Depends solely on the situation. Went to a spring training game a few years ago for Red Sox vs. Dodgers and got told I was going to get my ass kicked if I didn't stop rooting any home run that was hit by a Red Sox. Fine. I can deal with that. But the very next weekend I found myself sitting next to this middle aged Yankee fan discussing the dominance of the AL over the NL in an calm and gentle manner.

Irritation only gets to you if you let it.

Jan 15, 2008, 2:44:00 AM  

A Dodger fan threatened you? Wow must have been in innings 3,4,5 because they're always late and miss the 1st and 2nd and then they leave early.

OMDQ - I remember the Raider fans being called Raider Nation in the 80's. I hd a co-worker then who was a huge LAR fan.

And don't forget the Pats first bandwagon loading in the mid 80's when they went to their first Super Bowl.

As for the Sox I went to my first game in 1973 I was 8, I remember games in the 80's and early 90's you could walk up to the window on a Saturday and get a decent pair of grandstand seats. I used to do it quite often with a friend of mine. The worst bandwagoneers though are the latest goup of late teen's early 20 somethings who have come onboard since 2003 (same for the Pats fans too).

I cant tell you how many games Ive been to at Fenway its somewhere around 200 or so and the crowd has definately changed and its not been all for the better. Conversely Ive been to Camden Yards about 15-20 times and I dont recall a bad experience in fact have had some great convo's with O's fans.

Steve M said...
Jan 15, 2008, 11:31:00 AM  

haha grown men wearing jerseys....

Smitty said...
Jan 15, 2008, 11:58:00 AM  

steve says it all.

here are the thing about the 'new' breed of pats/sox fans: they sucks. All of them (not you steve, the new ones).

Three things I know about frontrunner pats/sox fans:

1- you all have jerseys, the ones that don't have jerseys have pink shirts. pink is not a red sox color, but I suppose I understand.

2- they dont know anything about the sport. this is why the cheer when their teams lose yards. if they had ever watched a football game before buying a TB jersey this wouldn't happen.

3- they want to make sure everyone knows they are serious. Conversation at the post office with a random 20-something who needed to borrow my tape:
me: ya, there are some interesting games this weekend
her: there is only one game that matter in our house
me: really, which one?
her: (snooty gasp) the Pats game.
me: Are you from Boston?
her: (hesitating) well, ya, i mean i was born in NY
me: NY, oh, that seems kind of stange, did you go to school in boston?
her: no, no, i went to school in DC, but i lived in Boston for a couple of years after I graduated.
me: right after school?
her: no, a couple years later, then we moved down here.
me: so you were born in NY, went to school in DC, worked down here, moved to Boston for like 2 years and you think you can gasp at me like you are a fan and I should know that just by looking at you?
her: tom brady is soooo good at passing.
me: i hate you

TheFolkist said...
Jan 15, 2008, 12:32:00 PM  

I must defend the Steelers' right to use Nation to describe their fans.

After the Steel Mills shut down, many a Steeler fan moved away to find jobs. That's why the Steelers always have a shitload of fans at other stadiums. They're everywhere...hence Nation

tecmo said...
Jan 15, 2008, 1:16:00 PM  

you are mixing up the term. By your description, you would have to call them "steeler national" as they are a national fan base. the term 'nation' just means that condensed group of fans. so, if anything, steeler fans are the last people that can claim that word. if, in fact, steeler fans are all over the country, there is no steeler nation.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:07:00 PM  

Burnt Sienna > Mr. Green Genes > Kristin and the Noise

However all are reminiscent of my U of D and Dewey Beach Days, therefore the above simply chronicles levels of spectacular

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:12:00 PM  

Burnt Sienna > Mr. Green Genes > Kristin and the Noise

However all are reminiscent of my U of D and Dewey Beach Days, therefore the above simply chronicles levels of spectacular

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:13:00 PM  

How you know you aren't a bandwagon fan for the Pats: You stuck with them through Rod Rust and Dick MacPherson

How you know you aren't a bandwagon fan for the Sox: You're a fourth-generation fan. Or you stuck with them through the Butch Hobson-as-manager years.

Dave said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:39:00 PM  

The guy who runs the Kissing Susie Kolber Blog got arrested for running a prostitution ring.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:43:00 PM  

Dave I go back to ron erhardt being the coach and quitting before the season ended to go coach a college team. I remember when Matt Hasselbeck and Lofa Tatupu's fathers (Don and Mosi) were Patriot players.

I also remember when Luis Aparicio was the Sox short stop and Eddie Kasko was the manager.

The wagon jumpers have no clue who these guys even are.

But all that said I still have a few jersey's and they aren't pink.

Steve M said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:49:00 PM  

You're all so right because teams that are good in other cities never have bandwagon fans. Only the Patriots and Red Sox. When the Angels won the World Series and there were a bunch of thunder stick pounding, rally monkey cheering fans packing their stadium they were real fans right?

When a team is good it's inevitable that new fans will come out of the wood work to support them. It's happening right now with the Celtics. It's the way things go. It just happens that right now just about every team in Boston is winning.

Bandwagon fans happen everywhere. Saying it's only in Boston is lying. Now, if you want to call the bandwagon fans annoying go right ahead. I agree completely. But they don't bother me. It's the mindless college students that think celebrating a Red Sox win means you have to torch something that bother me. People can wear pink hats all they want, just don't destroy things and act out of order.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:50:00 PM  

Oh and at the same time you don't have to suffer and then enjoy the good times to be a "real" fan. That's dumb too. Just be a real fan of the team, that's all. Be knowledgeable about the sport. Just because you know exactly where you were when the ball went through Buckner's legs doesn't mean you are a real fan. Anyone that still harps on Buckner or even says his name when trying to prove he is a "real" fan didn't actually suffer, it's just a cliche for them.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 4:53:00 PM  

Anon I agree that bandwagon jumpers are everywhere, just look at the Colorado Rockies fans.

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 5:05:00 PM  

If you actually even know who the horrendous slouch that is Butch Hobson is, you're a true Red Sox fan.

Jan 15, 2008, 5:35:00 PM  

Ahhh, Butch Hobson. I love driving by the Comfort Inn in Pawtucket and pointing out, "Here was where Butch Hobson was busted for cocaine possession."

Of course the frontrunning Red Sox fans have no idea who the guy is, so I get a blank look.

And yes, I'm one of those early 20 somethings. Born and raised here, unlike most frauds. I know who Rod Rust is, Lisa Olsen, I remember when the team was about to move to St. Louis and Hartford. The only thing worse than sharing the same air as these people is being labeled as one of them.

I've also been to 10 Bruins games this year. Those are where the real Boston sports fans are...

Anonymous said...
Jan 15, 2008, 8:13:00 PM  

haha, that's funny. i'm only a celtics fan tho. (paul pierce jersey included)

Tina said...
Jan 16, 2008, 12:36:00 AM  

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