Is the fanatism for an US sport team as big as football (soccer) ?
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If there was a sports league that divided their teams into which ones hail from blue states and which ones were from the red states, you would see all hell break loose at the games.
I live in Michigan and I am a "homer" in every sport except the NFL. Michigan State, Tigers, Pistons and obviosly the Redwings are my teams. The only reason that the Lions aren't my NFL team goes back to childhood and a silly Super Bowl bet I made with my Dad when I was seven. He told me to pick a team and if they won I would win a candy bar. I picked the team with the star on their helmets, they won and for better or worse, I've been a Cowboys fan ever since. No matter what I want to see my "local" teams do well, even the Lions.
Michigan State can tell you about "rioting" after a big game. Actually I think they offer a course if I'm not mistaken.
Michigan State can tell you about "rioting" after a big game. Actually I think they offer a course if I'm not mistaken.
No firms, just hardcore fans. I dont think it the same, in England there is 4-8 teams in the area of 1 NFL team. Just a far different deal.....
I live in Michigan and I am a "homer" in every sport except the NFL. Michigan State, Tigers, Pistons and obviosly the Redwings are my teams. The only reason that the Lions aren't my NFL team goes back to childhood and a silly Super Bowl bet I made with my Dad when I was seven. He told me to pick a team and if they won I would win a candy bar. I picked the team with the star on their helmets, they won and for better or worse, I've been a Cowboys fan ever since. No matter what I want to see my "local" teams do well, even the Lions.
Michigan State can tell you about "rioting" after a big game. Actually I think they offer a course if I'm not mistaken.
I am a Ohio State, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, Pistons fan and a MSU to some degree. I understand oh too well with the Lions.....
Only riot I remember is the Malice in the Palace between the Pistons, the Pacers and the fans. Other than that, the US fans don't really start too many riots since there are so many sports teams around. I'm guessing its different in like Europe where soccer is pretty much the only sport but in the US, if the Red Sox lose, you just fall back on the Celtics and if they lose, theres the Patriots and if they lose as well, then theres always the Bruins. Theres usually one good team in each state and because there are so many sports and teams, some people support teams outside of their own state. Plus championships usually come around to each team so its just a matter of waiting. Heck the Saints just won their Super Bowl this year after god knows how many years of waiting. For the fans of sports in the US, its all about the wait. Wait long enough and there will be a cause for celebration. Only reason to riot would be if an opposing fan jumped on the turf, tackled your team's QB and injured him for the Super Bowl...oh hell then there will be riots..
I have found the average football fan has limited knowledge of the game of football. the league has done a great job marketing itself. there is more talk about football year-round than any other sport, and yet nothing is ever said of importance. Draft experts mouth of, insiders give spin and yet none of it has any substance.
American football is huge, but the average fan is a mouth-breathing idiot (and most likely ill-informed about important issues regarding his team)
American football is huge, but the average fan is a mouth-breathing idiot (and most likely ill-informed about important issues regarding his team)
Draft experts don't know shit. Reggie Bush was supposed to be a once in a lifetime talent, sure he has a hot babe to bone each night but hes about as normal as normal gets. Hell they once said Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning were about the same..so much for that. Oh and Tom Brady in the 7th round? Kurt Warner undrafted? Go Figure. Draft experts just evaluate based on stupid combine stats. Half the time, they get it wrong. Insiders are more reliable but half the time they spend wondering if Favre is coming back and the other half of the time they're talking about nonsensical trades. Not too long ago I heard the stupidest trade rumor I've heard in years...a Pujols for Howard trade..God knows what they were smoking when they decided to release that bit of "inside" info.
The late Steven Wells wrote about the crowd violence at Eagles games in Philly. Wasn't there a jail under the stands or something? Apart from that though I don't know of a set of fans with a culture of violence.
I've been to NFL games all over the US and the atmos is just different to Football games in England. I'm an Everton fan by birth. The passion is just as strong but somehow the animosity is missing. Sometimes I think it is because the distances between tems is so great that there aren't thousands of away fans. Yet, I was at the Sugar Bowl between Cincinnati and Florida recently, sat in the Florida end drinking with a gang of Florida fans. The banter was great. It is a real credit to US sports fans that they can behave like this. It just wouldn't be possible in England.
As an aside, some of the US posters here might like to know that people like myself get fairly passionate about rugby, it isn't just football in England.
I've been to NFL games all over the US and the atmos is just different to Football games in England. I'm an Everton fan by birth. The passion is just as strong but somehow the animosity is missing. Sometimes I think it is because the distances between tems is so great that there aren't thousands of away fans. Yet, I was at the Sugar Bowl between Cincinnati and Florida recently, sat in the Florida end drinking with a gang of Florida fans. The banter was great. It is a real credit to US sports fans that they can behave like this. It just wouldn't be possible in England.
As an aside, some of the US posters here might like to know that people like myself get fairly passionate about rugby, it isn't just football in England.
June 4, 1974: "Nickel Beer Night" - Cleveland Indians vs. Texas Rangers
"Desperate to draw fans to watch the struggling Indians, promoters decide to have a Nickel Beer Night. During the promotion beer would be offered for a nickel apiece. This would lead to one of the largest crowds at Municipal Stadium in years, and would be the recipe for disaster the fans ended up getting drunk on the cheep beer, and began to riot. This would lead to the Indians forfeiting the game against the Texas Rangers as players had to be rushed off the field to escape the flying beer bottles. The whole fiasco would end up in the cancellation of all future such cheap beer promotions throughout baseball. The Indians on the field were not much better as they finished in fourth place with a 77-85 record."
http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/clevind/indians.html
December 6, 2006: "Bottlegate" - Cleveland Browns vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQjaPVwmnAM
Summary: An alleged communications error allows the officials to flagrantly violate NFL rules and review a play after another play has already been run. The resulting riot results in a shower of bottles onto the field and violence in the stands. The game is ended by officials with 48 seconds left on the clock.
"Desperate to draw fans to watch the struggling Indians, promoters decide to have a Nickel Beer Night. During the promotion beer would be offered for a nickel apiece. This would lead to one of the largest crowds at Municipal Stadium in years, and would be the recipe for disaster the fans ended up getting drunk on the cheep beer, and began to riot. This would lead to the Indians forfeiting the game against the Texas Rangers as players had to be rushed off the field to escape the flying beer bottles. The whole fiasco would end up in the cancellation of all future such cheap beer promotions throughout baseball. The Indians on the field were not much better as they finished in fourth place with a 77-85 record."
http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/clevind/indians.html
December 6, 2006: "Bottlegate" - Cleveland Browns vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQjaPVwmnAM
Summary: An alleged communications error allows the officials to flagrantly violate NFL rules and review a play after another play has already been run. The resulting riot results in a shower of bottles onto the field and violence in the stands. The game is ended by officials with 48 seconds left on the clock.
I know I'm gonna get flak for this but Philly fans are kinda classless. Not surprised if they have jails under the Eagles stadium. But yeah as for those "riots" it really isn't much compared to european soccer, aren't there like hooligans who go to games just to try start a fight?. If I'm not wrong, was there not a war caused by soccer match once? I think it was called the Soccer War between erm Honduras and some other country. Plus people have died at soccer matches before. "A referee s call in a soccer match between Peru and Argentina sparks a riot on this day in 1964. More than 300 fans were killed and another 500 people were injured in the violent melee that followed at National Stadium in Lima, Peru. "
I would say a lot of time it's almost as big, but one of the factors that don't let it rise to the level of soccer is that the US has more major sports and a lot more quality teams in each sport that split fanbases and dilute the amount of collective fanaticism. It's not like other places where there is only one sport and then often with only a small handful of teams that are really good and have a reasonable chance of winning their league. Because our sport isn't like soccer where it's the single biggest worldwide team sport by far we also don't have any real fanaticism that comes from nationalist pride because of it. I would say that we are just as fanatical about sports but the fanaticism is never concentrated and we don't get the effects of that like other places do. It's more on an individual level.
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No. Hockey in Canada is about as close as it probably gets, but even then, they don't have to call in riot squads and they aren't nearly as racist as some of the European football fans.
More like SEC West teams. The east is consistently superior, and I can't remember USC beating anyone outta the east. But feel free to kick Tennessee's ass. And Georgia.
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