Worst Sports Fans

by Cliopatria

My last post got me thinking: Who are the worst sports fans in the country? Let's stick with cities with multiple teams. Here are the nominees:

Miami

Atlanta

Los Angeles

Miami and Atlanta teams routinely cannot sell out playoff games, plus Atlanta has the Tomohawk Chop. Los Angeles fans are notorious for coming late and leaving early and mainly being seen in between (and I don't want to hear the traffic excuse -- traffic in LA is no worse than that in Boston, New York, DC, or San Francisco).

I almost want to include Philly on that list -- they are knowledgable and passionate, but this whole tough Philly fan thing is vastly overrated. Being Grade A jackasses is different from being good fans. Remnember the Michael Irvin injury? It ended the guy's career. It was obviously a neck injury. They cheered his being hurt. They also take such pride in booing everything (ignorance as badge of honor) that they booed the Donovan McNabb selection.

My vote is for the aforementioned cities, in that order. Miami fans are almost comically bad. Atlanta fans don't even support winning teams. LA is an enormous market that is blase to the point of somnolence about sports.

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Derek Charles Catsam - 5/17/2005

Tom --
Modell is not sui generis though -- Bob Irsay belongs on any list of owners who simply screwed the fans of a city. Historically Marge "Hitler had good ideas he just went too far" Schott belongs on there too.

Jesse --
I am pretty sure that tampa probably should not have gotten a team. It always seemed to me that Florida got half or so of the spring training, and that is what made the state special. An mlb team seems almost redundant. As for Bucs fans, they have always seemed ok to me. I've spent a lot of time in central Florida since my grandparents moved down there when I was a teenager and my Dad lives there half the year. And given that hockey does not belong South of mason and Dixon's line, fans down there did an ok job of supporting the Stanley Cup winning team. Tampa probably belongs in that next tier of bad sports fans -- bandwagon jumpers extrordinaire. Atlanta and Miami cannot even be bothered to jump on the bandwagon when things are going well. LA fans need to know who else will be on the bandwagon and if there will be bean sprouts served before they will make the leap.

dc

Jesse David Lamovsky - 5/17/2005

Derek,

I think you nailed it the first time around. And of your original three cities, I'd put Atlanta at the top (or the bottom).

To Chris- I can understand why people wouldn't come out to watch the D-Rays. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Bucs fans at least were passionate about their team. BTW, the White Sox can start losing whenever they feel like it.

Jesse

Tom Bruscino - 5/16/2005

As far as owners go: Art Modell. 'nuff said.

Derek Charles Catsam - 5/16/2005

A student peeked his head in my office and had a one word answer: Atlanta. But Tampa seems to be picking up momentum. I think you all are underestimating how colossally bad Miami fans are, but Atlantans are pretty wretched too.
dc

Steven Heise - 5/16/2005

If Malcolm Glazer screws up Manchester United I am going to be unhappy. As for Tampa: their fans are nearly as fickle as LA from what I understand. Bucs won the Super Bowl on season and struggled to fill the stadium the next.

Steve

Derek Charles Catsam - 5/16/2005

Tampa's a pretty good choice too.
Bad owners -- eesh, we could go on for a while with this one. Half of MLB qualifies. Donald Sterling of the Clips? Has to be top five with a bullet. I'm not a big fan of Peter Angelos either, though I will give him props for refusing to go with eplacement players in 94-95.

dc

chris l pettit - 5/16/2005

having gone to HS and part of college in Sarasota, an hour south...i would definitely submit Tampa as worse than any of those mentioned. one question...can we factor in the abysmal ownership and give the fans a bit of credit if they don't support it? THis is about the only way Tampa earns points.

THe Devil Rays draw next to no one to the games...an old friend i played with in High School pitched for them and was just astounded by the lack of fans (although having Dick Vitale...a Sarasota guy, sadly, at every game means it will at least be obnoxiously noisey) and the lack of baseball knowledge. The Bucs had no fans until everyone suddenly jumped on the bandwagon (was it the new unis?) when they started winning...and now that they are back in difficulties fans are starting to shy away again. Anyone remember the Tampa Bay Mutiny? THey had the golden Afro of Carlos Valderamma, won the MLS, and still had to go out of business. I played in front of more fans in some of my HS tournament baseball games than attend some of the D'Rays games...disgraceful.

I think we should do the worst fans, but also the worst ownerships that are responsible for the most cynical and worst fans...or who make the best fans suffer...nominate my White Sox, Bears, and Blackhawks...worst.owners.ever or most.stingy.owners.ever...

I am still trying to figure out when Ken Williams went from a total chump to a genius GM though...

AND - the contribution of the day...DC, you can beat Luker to the punch on a quiz...

http://film.guardian.co.uk/quiz/questions/0,5952,1485136,00.html

Cheers...

CP