Don’t hate me because they win

Don’t hate me because they win

To the rest of the sporting world: I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that Boston sports fans are no longer the lovable sad sacks that you could take great joy in pouring your pity on. I'm sorry our teams have found success and have been better than your teams. But hey, if you want fans you can take pity on, there's always Chicago. (I kid, I kid.)

I've seen several articles and blog entries like this one from the Boston Herald that report an ever-increasing disdain and hatred of Boston sports fans by fans from other parts of the country because of the success of Boston sports teams, like the New England Patriots, the Boston Red Sox, the Boston College Eagles, and presumably the revitalized Boston Celtics. (Sorry Bruins fan; no hope for you yet.)

Apparently when our local teams were always losing, our collective anguish made for good feelings out there in the sporting world. You could even call it schadenfreude. But now, emotions have turned, as evidenced by this Sports Illustrated column quoted in the article above.

Enjoy it all, Boston, but understand that the rest of the sporting world is getting a little tired of your act,” Taylor wrote yesterday in his column. “Winning all the time gets on people’s nerves, especially when so many other fans would kill for a fraction of your recent success.”

Is this really what we've come to? It's not enough to be a fan, but now you have to be an anti-fan? Team rivalries I can understand. If Yankee fans hate the Red Sox or Jets fan hate the Patriots, that I get. (Although I saw on Jets fan blog recently that was full of vitriol and hate, I can't even link it for the terrible language; Dude, take some Xanax and get some perspective.) But why should, say, an Arizona Cardinals fan hate the Pats just because the Pats have won three Super Bowls in the past six years?

To my mind, it's even worse when a Steelers or Cowboys fan is in the same "the Pats are too successful" mindset because it wasn't long ago that their own teams had such success.

Maybe if the players were boastful--I'm thinking of some of the players on the 2001 St. Louis Rams--that would be just cause, but have any the Patriots or Red Sox been boasting?

Incidentally, I'm just as sick of Ben Affleck and his ubiquitous Red Sox cap and box seats as they are. Really, what has the guy done to deserve the attention but have a series of disastrous relationships and a series of box-office bombs? Can he just go away?

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