Why America Hates Boston
When the Colts ducked the AFC Championship Game with an indefensible choke job against San Diego, many die-hard Boston fans thought the same thing: Ralph Sampson.
After all, a heavily favored Lakers team pulled the same trick in the ’86 Western Conference finals, allowing themselves to be “shocked” by the upstart Rockets — with Sampson making the series-winning shot in Game 5 at Los Angeles — to avoid what would have been a ritual beating by an unstoppable Celtics team. …
Look, I’m not saying the ’07 Colts or ’86 Lakers openly chose to lose. They just took the easy way out. Subconsciously, they were probably thinking, “Deep down, we know we’re not winning the title this year,” and responded in crisis with the appropriate amount of urgency. In the process, they cheated two unforgettable teams of punctuating unforgettable seasons by topping their natural rivals.
Of course, fans of the Lakers and the Colts are to be forgiven if for some idiotic reason they thought their teams let them down those years. Clearly it was New Englanders who were stabbed in the back in ’86 and again this year, ‘cheated’ out of the theoretically reflected glory that comes with ‘ritual beatings’ put on by oversexed glandular carpetbaggers.
Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning owe the city of Boston an apology.
Bradrocket adds:
The AFC Championship game is this week.
Dood. I’m thinking you need to share whatever you’re drinking. Cause I’m pretty fucked up and I’m just not seeing it…
mikey
The mad geniuses over at Kissing Suzy Kolber are all over this.
Stone-cold sober, mikey … yikes. Anyway, the point is, I think, that for Simmons even some other town’s team losing and not facing Boston is about him as a Boston fan. Everybody else’s team is just in a supporting role that’s supposed to loyally and ass-facedly do whatever Boston requires of it. And they have no idea what jackasses they look like.
I’m pretty sure nobody but Bill Simmons thinks the Patriots are somehow victims of the Colts’ choke.
It’s all in the beans.
~Mendel
Hmmm…. Lets do math!
Larry Bird, 3 championships
Magic Johnson, 5 championships.
Dunno, sounds pretty stoppable to me.
Yeah, yeah, Simmons thought that the Pats blew everybody out this year because they were pissed off at the entire world for that camera thingy whatsis. Not that they had any other reason to want to win.
I need to check but I’m pretty sure quasi-Freudian analysis from sportscasters is Sign Five out of Seven.
Still, this serves as a reminder that fRightWank Loons aren’t the only people capable of sticking the finger o’ blame where no sane person would think to insert it while spewing piping hot drivel at 100 gal/min.
Teh Stoopid. It is everywhere.
Maybe Simmons and Stephen A. Smith can start a new TV program together.
Something like “Curveball! Featuring the Preacher and the Boston Tea Bag party dudes”
It’s a Politico-Deportivo-Porn-like view of the world from a guy who suddenly realized that the word Massasschussets contains the word “ass,” twice, and a man who purses his lips a lot.
Every now and then, Adam Corolla could stumble by mumbling something about hockey goalies and their water bottles.
Love. Them. Lightnin’ Bolts.
I think Bill went somewhat over the top on this. But as a Celtics fan, I did feel cheated that they didn’t have a shot at the Lakers in 1986. We had beaten them in 84, they beat us in 85 and then again in 87. So I felt “cheated” in that the Lakers were the ultimate test for the Celtics at that time, the way we were for them. And not getting to meet them at season’s end kind of sucked.
Whoaaaa… Doughboy was just on Daily Show. Ya’ll catch it again at 1am (Eastern)
Oh, and the Chargers are going down hard. Deal with it.
Doughy got his ass handed to him. Maybe they’ll release all 18 minutes on Youtube or something?
Blatantly stolen from coldhardfootballfacts.com:
You’re locked in a cage with a starving grizzly, a hungry tiger and a Steelers* fan. You have only two bullets in your gun. What do you do?
.
.
Shoot the Steelers fan.
.
Twice.
*insert name of whatever other sports team you prefer here
Somehow seemed appropriate.
If the Colts hadn’t somehow won that game against the Patsies last year (and a lot of shit had to go down just so to…), what would we be saying about Norv Dungy and Heath Manning now?
In other news, the Red Sox totally sweeped the Democratic primaries. But every team in Boston is a winner in some way.
I’m happy that Boston has a basketball team again. So there.
By the bye, The Editors is back. If the Patriots fail to live up to expectations this weekend I fear he may go away again and be gone forever.
how were you guys not first on the goldberg autopsy?
I expected you’d have the body cut and dismembered by now…
Seriously, it was amazing. And Jon Stewart wasn’t even trying very hard.
Is he retarded? Accusing the Lakers, of all teams, of ducking the Celtics???
The Lakers managed to steel themselves and do what it took to face Bill Russell’s juggernaut Celtics teams in the Finals. Year after year after fucking year. What an asshole, obviously projecting his personal cowardice onto somebody else.
Did I really just type “by the bye”? I suck. Truly,
Seriously, it was amazing. And Jon Stewart wasn’t even trying very hard.
Alas, the YouTubes are slow tonight.
I like the cut of your metaphorical jib.
This doesn’t even make any sense unless you put Pistons in place of Steelers.
Now that’s funny.
Just to be clear, that asshat does not speak for me.
Besides, everyone knows the only team to throw the game were the Cowboys, because they wanted to humiliate Peyton by letting his less-talent-more-nepotism-than-Jonah brother go deeper into the playoffs than he did.
(Did you like the little twist there, eh?)
Yeah, Bill Simmons sucks but the reason people really hate Boston is that stupid fucking accent. Why the fuck do they tawk like that?
Pistons fan . . .
By Gawd! You’re right! That does work much better.
Has something to do with delivery room doctors not being able to tell which end of the baby to slap, so a lot of ’em end up with broken noses right outta the womb.
how were you guys not first on the goldberg autopsy?
Mark Hemingway of The Corner is all over this one!
This post about football is not about World Of Warcraft, though both are games and therefore completely equal. This is central to my point, or would be, if I had one.
I hate to say it, but the Corner tool is partially right – the interview as edited was a choppy mess. Though in fairness, there’s not a way it could have been edited in which the Doughy Pantload would have articulated a serious, rather than seriously flawed, argument. If he couldn’t manage it in 450 pages – and he couldn’t – he sure as hell wasn’t going to do it in 18 minutes. It’s not as though there’s some Pantload trump card that regrettably ended up on the the Daily Show cutting room floor. Doughboy had 450 pages in which to anticipate and rebut every objection to his wankery. We were not obliged in the first case to indulge his pitiful attempt to both redefine the word “fascist” and rewrite history, and we’re certainly not obliged to offer him any additional opportunity to make his case.
This is funny. That is all.
Um, did he see the prayer volleyball shot Ralph Sampson made to win that series?
John Stewart is just another Jewish cog in the liberal fascist machine out to silence honest white guys* like Jonah Goldberg, because the white male is the Jew of liberal fascism, and Jonah knows the plight of the oppressed white male because he has been oppressed all the way to a column in that death camp of Liberal Fascism, The L.A. Times.
*Indeed, Jonah is a white dude, despite his last name. Lucianne is an Episcopalian and even Saul could tell you Judaism is, traditionally, matrilineal.
D.A. — At long last I can say I agree with your opinion on a sports topic!
No, I think Simmons is pretty much right here.
Maybe it’s my West Coast bias showing, but could someone please explain why Bill Simmons hasn’t spent the last decade washing cars for a living? My friends and I are totally baffled by his appeal and when we’ve asked people we’ve met who are fans, they say variations on “He writes like the average fan talks to his buddies about sports”. My reply once: “Well, if any of *my* friends started dropping Pearl Jam references in to our sports conversations, I’d punch them in the throat”.
“When the Colts ducked the AFC Championship Game with an indefensible choke job against San Diego, many die-hard Boston fans thought the same thing: Ralph Sampson.”
I’m sorry, but this is cheeto-stained in a dorkfest of sports talkitude.
Oh, and the only reason I give a f*** about the NFL is because it’s the “dead of winter” and baseball is two months away !
The Goldberg interview was an edit abortion. And I’m pro choice. I couldn’t call it, and I wanted to.
The amount of hypocrisy from the GOP operatives is getting ridiculous. Fear-mongering blogger worked for an indicted terrorist supporter? Check. Republican slime artists are angry that someone’s sliming a Republican? Check. And those two are just within the last 24 hours.
If Kiefer Sutherland were here, he’d probably try to string these clues together. You know, and try to figure out who is going to be the third boob to make the GOP look like the two-faced asses that they are. All within 24 hours!
Either that or he’d just jackoff at a late night diner.
Simmons’ well ran dry some time ago.
As has been mentioned, the two seasons bookending ’86 ended with the Lakers sipping champagne and the Celtics weeping into their towels, so fucking spare me, already.
Having lived through that time, I can attest that Larry Bird was the mancrush wet dream of every surly dimwitted white racist in these United States. It’s no relflection of his character or personal beliefs, but he was most definitely adopted by them as their shining prince.
who is going to be the third boob to make the GOP look like two-faced asses
Third boob? Two-faced asses? The_millionaire_lebowski, judging from your metaphors you spend too much time hanging out at teratology museums. Whatever the rumours may say, this is not a good way to meet babes, and the Hunterian Museum does not have Singles Nights.
Apologies if you were merely quoting one of the more outre verses from Revelations.
18 minute interview is now online in the 6 minute version cut for TV. The stupidity rang clear as a bell.
This just in…
Damn. Nobody’ll see this down at the bottom of a football post. 🙁
I heard the Hartmann interview w/ Goldberg. I am truly sorry to say that Goldbutt’s definition of “corporatism” in fascist Italy was more correct than Hartmann’s version. Hartmann was clearly unprepared for the interview.
Jonah combines occasional correct definitions with a breathless dedication to then simply pick and choose among whatever pleases him.
On Hartmann he defined “fascism”, and it was a totalizing and religious effort to forge a societal unity toward a certain vision — i.e., totalitarianism. Literally. That’s it. So his basic approach in writing a book titled Liberal Fascism is to, at the very outset, deny that there is any meaningful phenomenon whatsoever labeled “fascism”.
There is only totalitarianism, under different names, and no distinctions are real or matter, except those he finds interesting. Therefore there was no point whatsoever in even looking at fascism historically, because according to the definition at the outset, he could have looked at any totalitarian movement at any time in history — hence the application of the word “fascism” to the French Revolution.
The book could have been identical in purpose, just swapping out various monikers — Liberal Fascism, Liberal Communism, Liberal Stalinism, Liberal Totalitarianism, Liberal Maoism — it doesn’t matter, because none of the distinctions matter.
Goldbutt is even worse than I thought previously. There are apparently 3 aspects of his approach.
(1) Use of just enough historical references to make the uninformed believe that actual facts are under discussion, while maintaining an open commitment to fraud.
This was where he corrected Hartmann on the definition of “corporatism” in fascist Italy, while still lying about it. On the one hand, he accurately corrected Thom’s mis-interpretation of the simple-minded ‘fascism is the unification of state and corporations’, which it was formally NOT. It actually meant ‘corporate’ as in body or guild, in which the State would bring the formally conflicting sectors of society together into ‘incorporations’, which theoretically involved leadership representatives from the State, from Labor, from the fascist parties, and the owners of Private Industry.
However, in reality, labor had no say, and the decisions were coordinated between the State, which reigned over all, and the owners and managers. (The capitalists were eventually to realize that their lives were at the precarious whim of the State though, which was one reason why many capitalists learned to be wary of fascist totalitarianism.)
Jonah, however, feels free to accurately quote the definition of “corporatism” in fascist Italy to then suggest that the reality was similar to what was being mouthed — i.e., while workers & labor were completely crushed under, the fact that Mussolini’s formal theories (propaganda) suggested that labor really was valued is what gets to be remembered. He’s actually valuing Mussolini’s theoretical propaganda over actual reality — which makes me sense the input of Ledeen or a protege.
Therefore in Goldbutt’s view since the propaganda talked about unified planning & coordination, it was the same as New Deal approaches. Not just similar. Not just that maybe both governments followed similar impulses. But that therefore New Deal approaches to bringing in labor was ‘fascist’ just like Mussolini was.
What the f*** is that????
(2) Once it is (in his mind) established that “fascism” merely means Goldbutt’s version of “totalitarianism”, it may be freely applied anywhere to any point and any place in history.
So if New Deal technocrats end up endorsing policies which help concentrated capital over labor, but say that they are doing so for populist purposes, it isn’t elitism or capitalist manipulation of state power — it’s fascism. At one moment government is harshly manipulating free capital, and that is fascism, and at another moment capitalists are manipulating state power for their own advantage, and that is fascism, and it’s also Communism, and it’s also Stalinism…
(3) There is in effect no purpose whatsoever in studying history, because in Goldbutt’s view any distinctions which appear to be empirically grounded can be wiped away at any time for the purpose of any author.
It’s as though no one at the time of fascism’s rise and ascendancy were aware of the tensions between the ideologies and aims of fascism and Bolshevism or Marxist-Leninist revolutionism. It’s as if none of the fascists openly claimed that the socialists had made some good points but got the core wrong. It’s as if there were no particular reasons that any movement whatsoever with any totalitarian impulses should be in conflict — as if the problem between the fascists and the communists were that they failed to see that they should just get along.
And it’s “as if” that way because none of the distinctions matter. After all, anyone wanting to know why or how fascists differed from other forms of government or ideologies is obviously objectively pro-fascist. To seek a distinction is to be in essence immoral — it isn’t that fascism isn’t bad, it’s just that saying that there’s anything bad AND not fascist is also objectively pro-fascist.
Could an absolute monarchy impose its will upon the economy, and justify this by giving a vision of what society must achieve? Sure it could, and then it would be “fascist”. Could fascist revolutionaries then overthrow that monarchy? Yes, and then they might be fascist. Could then that regime collapse and lead to an elected government without the degree of power most recognize as totalitarian? Yes. But if they do *anything* which smells of wanting to do something, then they too are ‘fascist’. You could have decades, perhaps even generations of coup and counter-coup, but of course, none of it matters because in retrospect you ignore any distinctions you don’t care about and just pronounce them ALL ‘fascist’.
***********
What Jonah is repudiating is what he failed at academically. He is openly denying the idea of “method” — i.e., that you don’t simply amass evidence and then pronounce grand conclusions. With “methods” and “methodologies”, you have to be able to say what questions you will ask, what approach you will take, and how it is that your approach will actually be able to lead to an answer.
In the Jo’berg Variation, it’s like I were to take a phrase, say, “Neo-Confederatism.” And I declare this phrase of importance — perhaps finding a few historical instances in which the phrase was used.
Next, I define it in such a way that it means whatever I need it to mean regarding people and policies I don’t like.
Finally, I range back and forth through history and find any movements and policies I don’t like and discuss how it was that they came to embody “Neo-Confederatism”.
Simple historians might wonder why my definition might be valid. My response? Well, it’s tough, and people disagree, so I came up with my own. I just did. You may not like it, because you’re a big pointy-head, but I did. It means whatever I say it means, and it does not mean what I do not say.
It’s a simultaneous meeting of shallow, of fraud, and of stupid. Mind you, it’s a form of stupid that includes historical facts and quotes — but it’s stupid still.
Boston fans are irritating and whiny in defeat, but absolutely insufferable in victory. While I’m glad that somebody is shutting the ’72 Dolphins up, I wish to God it was anybody but the Patriots.
Even the Packers would be preferable.
Why exactly do we care what someone says on the Eastcoast SPorts Network again?
By Peter Gammons’ coif!
Oh hell. I’m a Bostonionian and I think this is ludicrous. It’s one thing to highlight a team that was superior, but quite another to say that the team’s superiority indirectly affected other games. You’ve got the dream job, Bill, stop making us all look bad!
I think living 3,000 miles away from the action is giving Mr. Simmons the vapors.
Now off to the bunker with Stephen King and the remaining Affleck brothers.
Maybe Bill was just being snarky? Why wasn’t this post “Shorter Bill Simmons?”
I don’t think Bill is a cheetos eater. I think he tries a little too hard to be funny. He knows he’s an entertainer, sports fan, and journalist, in that order.
Dangit, it’s bad enough getting so much shit from the evangelical anti-Catholic revival without attacks from the other sides…..not that I haven’t used some humor to give them the smackdown myself (I was then told that this was blasphemous….oh well, they can excommunicate me I guess. I think I was born blasphemous. What can I say, I’m an Azagthoth.).
That said, I want to see the fucking Pantload on Da Daily! Wo ist ihn, bitte?
Oh good lord, gee, so I guess that thrilling close game a few weeks back made Peyton Manning think “Well, that was the best shot I had at beating these guys, and I blew it! I might as well work on my golf game.”
And no doubt, Bill Buckner booted that ground ball because of his own sense of destiny.
Hey, don’t hate on me because Simmons is an A1 prime idiot. I’m still cute and sweet. Relatively speaking.
As a Denver transplant exiled to Boston for professional reasons, I want to make it clear that it’s much, much worse here than anyone imagines. Denver is a place where pro football has sold out for 45 years, even when the team was really, really bad. People know and like football and are smart about it. Here, everyone claims to be a die-hard, life-long Patriots fan. And nobody knows the first fucking thing about football. It’s unbearable.
Things I’ve learned listening to the radio:
1. The league has it in for the Patriots. They never get any respect. Calls go against them. And they’re on a witch hunt against the Coach and that classy Rodney Harrison.
2. Of course Tom Brady has to throw for the end zone with 40-point leads in the fourth quarter. How else are they going to keep him sharp?
3. Everyone knows that Linebacker is the Chargers’ strength. Therefore, their offensive line isn’t very good, and they’ll be manhandled by the Patriots.
4. The only players on the Patriots offense are those who touch the ball. Linemen don’t exist. Tom Brady has time to take off his helmet and brush his pretty hair before throwing because he’s really, really good. It has nothing to do with anyone else on the field.
That last point is what kills me. For fuck’s sake, people: Line play. At least pretend to appreciate it. That’s why you’re good.
Anyway, I’ve got lots more funnies from the radio if anyone else wants to chip in. It’s just unbearable.
Someone should remind that twerp Simmons about the 1985 Bears, whose only loss was to the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins “choked” in their AFC Championship game, denying the Bears their chance for revenge, and left the Bears to defeat their opponent in the Super Bowl as easily as someone getting lint off their suit.
Oh yeah…that opponent the Bears crushed in the Super Bowl was the New England Patriots.
And unlike Simmons, Bears fans don’t think their title is tainted in any way because they faced an opponent who was lucky to get there.
Gradishar said,
January 17, 2008 at 16:30
As a Denver transplant exiled to Boston for professional reasons
That must hurt.
Oh Gradishar, like the Boston Herald, WEEI is for comedy purposes only.
I’m not sure I would go so far as to say America hates Boston. As long as America continues to love apple pie, everything will be sweet.
And, BTW, sometimes apple pie is just apple pie 🙂
I’m not trying to hide behind an algebraic aka. It’s me, Dr BLT. I just stopped by to raise morale among sports fans and Dr BLT fans (all two or three of you).
I hoped no one missed me! I have been gone and working but don’t worry El Cid fans, I will be back with my brand of wacky satire and political insight to torture you or pleasure you, as your wont may be!
don’t worry El Cid fans
We have to attract more Jonah boosters. They’re so cute when they’re upset.
I love Simmons, but all the success of Boston teams has made him insane. It’s like a dictator who can’t handle the power. I fully expect a “World War II vs. Boston sports 2007-8: Which was the greater triumph for goodness?” Dr. Jack breakdown within the next year.
Also, while we’re here, it bugs me that he flirts with being smart about entertainment but then goes on a months-long vendetta against “English majors” because No Country for Old Men ended ambiguously (OH NOES, NO TRUCKLOAD OF MANURE OVERTURNING ON TEH BAD GUY!). Also, he argues that predictable fratboy T&A comedies should win Oscars.
We have to attract more Jonah boosters. They’re so cute when they’re upset.
Yes, any way to lure John Knight and mike s? I like these guys. They are funny guys.
OH, AND I hate that he’s a relentless misogynist who insults all women about 4 times per column and then turns around and thinks the public wants to read half-baked celeb gossip opinions from his friggin’ wife on a sports website.
I mean, it practically seems like a metaphor/analogy he would use in a column! “Larry Bird signing Austin Croshere to that awful contract was like Bill Simmons giving column space to his wife…”
I hate to interrupt another absolutely fascinating sports thread, but apparently the second-most-popular tag on Liberal Fascism, ‘doughy pantload’, has mysteriously disappeared despite several hundred votes.
It’s interesting how Amazon doesn’t care what you put in there until it gets popular.
Colts definitely did choke that game, but it wasn’t intentional or subconscious. They just reverted to form. Last year was an anomaly. Every other year they put in their choke job straight and true.
Also, the Chargers are the most unlikeable team in sports right now. They are total bullies, stomping around on tomato cans, Merriman doing that idiotic spastic dance, Rivers talking trash to fans (who does that?), not keeping their mouth shut, but always reaching for the smelling salts every time another team “offends” them (like when NE correctly did the idiotic spastic dance when they beat SD earlier).
They are perfect Republicans, am I right?
I hate to interrupt another absolutely fascinating sports thread
So don’t! Thanks for coming!
In fairness to Simmons, I wouldn’t read the “Colts/Lakers ducked the Pats/Celtics” thing as actual analysis. It’s just trash talk. He’s goading Colts and Lakers fans because he hates them. That’s all it is.
I think Peyton owes the entire world an apology–not for losing to the Chargers but for his mere existence. That’s just me. YMMV.
Ah. Memories. Abbie Hoffman was stopping by my campus to pick up a paycheck…errrr… motivate the youth of America back in the Spring of 87. Hoffman was a HUGE Boston fan so I got the pleasure of watching him cry in his beer after Magic ripped the heart out of the Cellbitch in Game 4. Anyone remember how many championships Boston has won in the intervening 20 years?
Simmons is actually pretty entertaining as sports writers go. Two problems are that he loves sports MUCH more than the average fan and therefore his columns can seem ridiculous at times (the current one is a textbook example). Also, decades of the Red Sox playing second fiddle to the Yankees (and Boston to New York as well) have seriously damaged the Boston sports psyche. That’s why you get the whining and the inferiority complex that leads to the paradox of Pats fans saying they get no respect when there have been volumes written about what a great team/dynasty they have been.
Go Giants!
Go Giants!
oooo BJS you’re in for a Bad Sunday.
“they cheated two unforgettable teams of punctuating unforgettable seasons by topping their natural rivals.”
11/04/07 – Patriots 24, Colts 20. Did you not see that one?
Simmons has played the “nobody respects us” shit for years. Then his teams go out and win a ton of championships, and he became reasonably cognizant of the need to be a gracious winner.
I think this year, with the Pats, he’s in full-on “fuck y’all, pussies” mode. Asshole.
Sports thread?!? Boston teams?!?
Go, Losters!!11!
Urk. I meant Lobsters.
I’m still dining out on the Cowboys win! I live in Houston so the teeth gnashing of Dallas fans down here has been pretty sweet.
The Giants are playing with house money at this point. Sure, they probably won’t win on sunday, but going forward they have a team that will contend regularly. They have one of the youngest rosters in the league and Eli seems to be starting to get it.
Anyway, Favre is due for a four pick game….
PS – Fully aware the same could be said about Manning…
Look, I’ve been waiting for fucking *hours* for someone to mock the holy shit out of Jonah Goldberg’s Daily Show appearance. This must be happening somewhere, so where is it? You Sadly, No! guys are really letting me down. Just for this, I’m not going to donate the last vet bill reimbursement the insurance company paid. Yes, you heard me, that fifty two cents is going somewhere else! That’ll teach ya.
Is that like that Burger King commercial where they pretend to discontinue the whopper? Maybe SN! is holding back on Jonah-bashing to see what the loyal readership has to say.
Having lived through that time, I can attest that Larry Bird was the mancrush wet dream of every surly dimwitted white racist in these United States.
Yawn. He was also one of the five best basketball players who ever lived. What’s your fucking point whitey? It’d be one thing if the Celtics sucked while having a bunch of average white guys on their team — but the thing is, they were a great team who had Hall of Fame-caliber, and other very good white guys, on their team that won 3 world championships. Oh, and they had a black coach.
What Simmons is saying here, you thin-skinned whiners, is that it would have been great theater for the Pats to have played the Colts (and the 86 Lakers to have played the 86 Celts), but the defending champs — in both cases — lost to inferior teams, depriving the Boston teams of revenge. Why is this difficult to understand?
The Lakers’ win against the C’s in 1985, caused management (like the Pats last year) to upgrade their already formidable talent. As a result, they brought in Walton (and a couple of of other guys) and played basketball at a level rarely seen. It would have been better for the game had the C’s and Lakers played in that final.
Wouldn’t you rather watch a Pats – Colts rematch?
Oh, and Denver guy? Scratch any sports fan and you get the same squaks. Really. Even Denver fans, whose display of baseball smarts and understanding during the World Series was so embarrassing as to be sad more than anything else.
You hate because you can’t be.
I think Jay B. just won this thread.
Bravo, Jay B !!!!!
And the homophobic, bible-thumping Tony Dungy needs to just go away.
Belichick might be evil. But at least he’s no homophobic bible-thumper. Evil wins over that any day.
Go Patriots.
Ah yes ,if only we were as classy as those corn-shucking hicks that booed a fourteen year old girl for wearing her Patriots jersey at the Rca Dome.Listen losers I know it sucks living in the vast wasteland where you need a sports team to provide that vicarious feeling of being somebody,but it’s not Bostons job to help you out with your feelings of inferiority.Throughout the sports media the prospect of a Patriots/Colts matchup was considered the “real superbowl”.Simmons,like many sports fans around the country ,was merely expressing his disappointment.I would return the hate for “D Aristophenes” but,and like most Bostonians,I really dont give a fuck;except to suggest that “D” write a book called “Boston Fascism”.You know,to get it all out,once and for all.It sems to work wonders for chumps of a certain stripe.
You hate because you can’t be
Be what? An NBA team that hasn’t won a meaningful game in 20 years despite playing in the J.V. conference? Next.
if only we were as classy as those corn-shucking hicks that booed a fourteen year old girl for wearing her Patriots jersey at the Rca Dome.
Oo, national tragedy. A teenager was predictably booed for wearing the jersey of a rival team at a sporting event (TEH UNPREDICTABLE!!111!!). I hope she has grief counseling and is on round-the-clock suicide watch.
What time do the Raiders play this weekend?
[goes back to rocking in the corner]
I remember exactly what prompted Patriots fans to complain about not getting any respect. While the Patriots were conducting a clinic in team football in the early 2000s, Peyton Manning got all the highlights with all the sports casters lying on their backs with their legs in the air saying, “How many touchdown passes did you throw for me today, big boy? Can we have a three-way with you and Marvin Harrison? Oh, and the Patriots won again.”
As for the Pats not getting a chance to beat the Colts in the AFC championship, just think how satisfying it was for the Giants to go to Dallas and beat the Cowboys in the playoffs. That’s basically what Simmons is talking about.
Oh, and Henry Holland, who would punch a friend in the throat for bringing up Pearl Jam in a sports conversation, boy does he sound like a winner!
From Denver Guy: That last point is what kills me. For fuck’s sake, people: Line play. At least pretend to appreciate it. That’s why you’re good.
I didn’t even realize you got your “analysis” from the clownshow at WEEI. Sheesh.
Try: http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com — started by Patriots fans from Boston who have a fetish for line play and have created stats to that effect. So, if you wanna cherry pick, go ahead, I can too. For intelligent sports commentary, also try firejoemorgan.com and deadspin.com — also started by Boston guys. Who are smarter than you. Which is why you hate us to begin with.
As noted above, I can tell you as an Indy native that it was last year that was anomolous. The Colts always, always choke in the playoffs, no matter how well they may do in the season. I thought everyone knew that. Even last year, no national sports journalists seriously covered the Colts until the Super Bowl.
When they lost this year, everybody just said “Back to normal.”
And we’re giving them a billion dollar stadium at 14 cents on the dollar.
Boston fans are the new Yankees fans.
Me: You hate because you can’t be
Chump trying to outwit: Be what? An NBA team that hasn’t won a meaningful game in 20 years despite playing in the J.V. conference? Next.
Title of Post: Why America Hates Boston
Subject matter of post: Because Boston teams are disproportionately successful, the most visible writer who deals with Boston sports is deemed insufferable because twice in his lifetime prodigiously talented Boston teams — who geared up expressly to beat champs who beat them the year before (including the best Celtics team of all time) — were denied that opportunity because said teams choked against inferior teams right before the globally-desired matchups.
Once again, teh totally pwnish comeback: Be what? An NBA team that hasn’t won a meaningful game in 20 years despite playing in the J.V. conference? Next.
OUCH! I wuz SKuLLED.
“Denver is a place where pro football has sold out for 45 years, even when the team was really, really bad. People know and like football and are smart about it. Here, everyone claims to be a die-hard, life-long Patriots fan. And nobody knows the first fucking thing about football. It’s unbearable.”
I feel your pain. I grew up in Denver in the 80’s and now live in Seattle. When the Seagulls made the Super Bowl a couple of years back, the level of excitement here was about the same as the first week of training camp back in Denver… there are very few places where football is universally taken as seriously as it is in Denver, where even 70 year old Sunday school teachers have strong opinions about the 3rd string quarterback (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, maybe Chicago). That’s probably a good thing, but oh how I hate instafans.
It’s there, with a vote-count of 1. You know what to do.
Patriots are being set up for a humiliating upset at the hands of a team that shouldn’t even be in the playoffs.
How’s that for flamethrowing?
<a href=”“Simply no comparison.”
har
har
har
Cellbitch won-lost record since ’92:
496-620
You keep using that word “success”. I do not think it means what you think it does.
Oo, national tragedy. A teenager was predictably booed for wearing the jersey of a rival team at a sporting event (TEH UNPREDICTABLE!!111!!). I hope she has grief counseling and is on round-the-clock suicide watch.
Notice that they failed to boo the kid wearing the Chargers jersey,you know,the team that was in the process of defeating the choking Colts in the most humiliating fashion possible.While at the same time Phillip Rivers was gettin’ all up in the grill of the cow milkers.This is evidence of being psychologically owned by the Patriots.The fact that they could not conceal it is just pitiful.Like team,like fans:a perfect match.
Why America Hates Boston…by Bill Simmons
I don’t need to read anymore.
Interestingly, it’s also why America Hates Bill Simmons.
I’m waiting patiently for the whole inteview to be posted online somewhere. The edited version sucks balls, and not skillfully.
———————————————————————————————————
Jon Stewart: “Wait, wait wait…” takes deep breath…
CUT
Stewart: “…had a picture of Mussolini in his office, it’s like, what the f*ck?!!”
Goldberg: “What the f*ck is the beginning of this interview!”
CUT
Stewart: “Can we air any of this?”
———————————————————————————————————
I guess not. I still want to see it though. Come on, interwebs, you let me see Paris Hilton’s vajayjay! *pouts*
Indeed, it is central to his point.
This Laker fan hates to admit Jay B. is right on the money, all fans of their teams are insufferable about the how everyone has it out for their teams, no more so than when they are on a title run. New Englanders are no more guilty of this now than the Laker fans I observed during the Kobe-Shaq-Phil years when they were racking up titles.
And I just don’t get the Patriot hate. I’m sorry, I don’t get it. If it’s about attitude and displaying airs and not envy of talent and success, then the guys you really should be rooting against are the Chargers. I would love nothing more than to see that little puke Philip Rivers crying on the sideline, wiping his tears on L.T.’s old jockstrap, after his team gets dumped in the biggest game in his life.
p.s.: Watching highlights of that Sampson shot still kills me, but the reality is the ’86 Lakers seemed to be sleepwalking through that Houston series (Remember they were already down 3-1 when Sampson hit that winner.) That was frustrating, and I’m sorry Bill Simmons, I much would have rather watched the Lakers play the Celtics than to be watching the Finals on the sidelines.
El Cid,
I caught that Hartmann interview also, and you’re right, he really seemed to be caught off guard, which is a shame because he’s a very informed, articulate and engaging commentator, in other words the complete opposite of Jo’Berg.
My Tauren Shaman is halfway to level 61! I’ve got almost 15,000 lifetime PvP kills, and I recently got an Epic High Warlord’s Shield Wall with the rewards I’ve gotten from kicking ass in Alterac Valley. With my Elemental specialization, I can use Elemental Mastery to guarantee a critical hit. Used with Chain Lightning, that means I can do upwards of 2000 points of damage in one shot!
Did you notice how your eyes started to glaze over about halfway through the second sentence? That’s how I feel about the opinions of third-rate sports journalists I never heard of. Now I’m going to cast Frost Nova, which will reduce your movement rate by half for the next eight seconds.
Boston fans are irritating and whiny in defeat, but absolutely insufferable in victory.
This is very different from all other fans from all other parts of the country. I am sure this is true. Yankees fans are great. The hogs are cute. Dog pound, lovely fellows. Tomahawk chops, awesome. Oakland Raiders fans, seriously WTF? Lakers fans, surely not a poseur among them.
I hate the way fans are happy when their team does well and snippy when it does poorly.
I call it “fan fascism.”
Listen losers I know it sucks living in the vast wasteland where you need a sports team to provide that vicarious feeling of being somebody
Indeed, this IS central to your point, Bill.
Johnny Coelacanth said,
January 17, 2008 at 20:34
My Tauren Shaman is halfway to level 61! I’ve got almost 15,000 lifetime PvP kills, and I recently got an Epic High Warlord’s Shield Wall with the rewards I’ve gotten from kicking ass in Alterac Valley. With my Elemental specialization, I can use Elemental Mastery to guarantee a critical hit. Used with Chain Lightning, that means I can do upwards of 2000 points of damage in one shot!
How is PVP in the 60s? I stopped caring about high levels way before expansion and started rolling low level twinks for BGs.
Boston? 1986?
And nobody’s mentioned the Mets, Mookie Wilson, and Bill Buckner?
Yet.
Muahahaha! Sorry, bradrocket.
D. Aristophanes said,
January 17, 2008 at 5:59
Okay, that helps clear it up, as does the Kissing Suzy Kolber post. Regardless, Sammons being completely full of crap came through.
This is all easily explained–Boston fans need their victimhood. It is an essential part of them. It’s really not hard to see that the current sports year has them confused about their identities.
Anytime you run into an insufferable Patriots fan all you have to do is remind them that they are cheaters. With documentation goodness straight from the big daddies at the NFL, making it undeniable.
Don’t say anything else, just make that point over and over. There is *no* comeback to that.
The only thing worse than a poor loser is a poor winner. And Boston has that department on lockdown.
Anytime you run into an insufferable Patriots fan all you have to do is remind them that they are cheaters. […] There is *no* comeback to that.
Steroids.
If you are supposedly the best team in the history of football, what does it say that you have to cheat?
I’m gonna have to agree with Jay B. (no relation!) and handy here.
All sports fans are irrational. Some are more irrational at times than others.
One thing everyone can agree on, though, is that Chris Berman is the worst.
1986 wasn’t a good year for them. The Celtics didn’t have the coronation they were entitled to thanks to the Lakers not being that great that year, Buckner, Stanley and Schiraldi boot away the series, and to top it all off, they have to start the crack hysteria after Len Bias died (on powder blow, even).
What a dumbass. He manages to insult both the Colts and the Chargers, by implying that one choked for fear of who they’d play next, and the other won only because the Colts choked. What actually happened is San Diego played pretty well, and beat the Colts. And seeing as how the Colts only barely lost to the Patriots earlier this season, they were probably more distracted by thoughts of revenge than humiliation.
The Colts always, always choke in the playoffs, no matter how well they may do in the season.
Man, you are some kind of bitter fan. If “always” choking means “winning a Superbowl after perennial playoff appearances with one of the best QBs in the league” then there are a few Cowboys fans down here in Dallas that would like to trade teams with you.
“How is PVP in the 60s?”
I’ve heard that the Horde consistently suck at 61-70 in Alterac Valley. I’ve only played AV from 51-60, so I can’t really say. Since the 2.3 patch, it has changed. It seems like the Horde loses more these days, but the Alliance is “boycotting” AV anyway, because they feel Horde has a terrain advantage and they don’t get enough honor points for losing. Check the WoW forums if you think I’m bullshitting.
So, everybody who doesn’t win the Super Bowl every year “choked” in the playoffs?
Or just the Colts?
“I’ve heard that the Horde consistently suck at 61-70 in Alterac Valley. I’ve only played AV from 51-60, so I can’t really say. Since the 2.3 patch, it has changed. It seems like the Horde loses more these days, but the Alliance is “boycotting” AV anyway, because they feel Horde has a terrain advantage and they don’t get enough honor points for losing. Check the WoW forums if you think I’m bullshitting.”
When I was hooked, it was the Horde were boycotting AV because of the Ally terrian advantage. I always heard that WSG and AB were biased towards the Hordies.
Anytime you run into an insufferable Patriots fan all you have to do is remind them that they are cheaters.
Anytime you run into someone who hates the Patriots or their fans and brings up cheating, all you have to do is remind them they’re whiners.
If you are supposedly the best team in the history of football, what does it say that you have to cheat?
If you think only one team in the history of football has tried to steal the other team’s signals, what does it say about your understanding of professional sports?
“Anytime you run into someone who hates the Patriots or their fans and brings up cheating, all you have to do is remind them they’re whiners.”
Sounds like someone is attacking the messenger, eh? Take a deep breath, it will be ok.
NoahC said:
“One thing everyone can agree on, though, is that Chris Berman is the worst.”
Joe. Morgan. Tim. McCarver.
What is it with PvPers anyway? The way they whine you’d think their testicles are actually in danger.
Yes the WoW boards are a sight to behold.
If you think only one team in the history of football has tried to steal the other team’s signals, what does it say about your understanding of professional sports?
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd how many of them went 17-0? And cheated to do it?
That’s practically a Republican thing to do, wouldn’t you agree? Cheat not just to get an edge, but to ram that edge down the innocent throats of some young men…
Buckner, Stanley and Schiraldi boot away the series
The Mets won 116 games that season. The Sox were lucky to hang on as long as they did.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
January 17, 2008 at 20:56
Boston? 1986?
And nobody’s mentioned the Mets, Mookie Wilson, and Bill Buckner?
*AHEM*
actor212 said,
January 17, 2008 at 16:23
Oh good lord, gee, so I guess that thrilling close game a few weeks back made Peyton Manning think “Well, that was the best shot I had at beating these guys, and I blew it! I might as well work on my golf game.”
And no doubt, Bill Buckner booted that ground ball because of his own sense of destiny.
“What is it with PvPers anyway? The way they whine you’d think their testicles are actually in danger.
Yes the WoW boards are a sight to behold.”
Agreed. Never again will I be stupid enough to pick up a MMORPG.
*crosses fingers*
OT, but I finally got to see Pantload on Daily! YES!
Yes the WoW boards are a sight to behold.”
Typical WoW forum thread:
OP: Hey guys, I’m wondering what enchant I should get for my Gorehowl Axe?
Responder: GTFO, type /quit and cancel you’re account. N00b.
There’s an inherit bias towards Aspergers in these kinds of communities, I swear.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd how many of them went 17-0? And cheated to do it?
Only cheated for one half! The other games were won fair and square!
And yes, I’m a defense lawyer, why do you ask? 😉
Specialist G said,
January 17, 2008 at 20:19
Cellbitch won-lost record since ‘92:
496-620
You keep using that word “success”. I do not think it means what you think it does.
Hey champ, the post and entire thread is dedicated to four things:
Why America Hates Boston (because one of our teams won the most recent World Series and the other one is sitting at 17 and 0 and we either can’t handle it, or are arrogant about it)
Why D. Hates Bill Simmons (because the two best teams of his lifetime — the 2007 Pats and 1986 Celtics — were unable to play their biggest rivals when they were most bulked up to do so and Simmons has the nerve to have wanted to play them and said the rivals bitched it up by choking.)
The 2007 Pats (who are ‘cheaters’ and who are 17 and fucking 0)
The 1986 Celtics (who had the white guy Nazis evidently loved and were indisputably one of the best NBA teams of all time.)
Your two responses seem to argue that this is all about the current Celtics team in some way. Or that the current Celtic team has some bearing on Why America Hates Boston. Or that it has some bearing on the 1986 Celtics. They HAVE sucked for 20 years, it still doesn’t take away the fact that they won 16 titles and their 1986 team was probably the best of the bunch. And, honestly yo, it has nothing to do with anything in this thread. Might as well bring up the Bruins.
Might as well bring up the Bruins.
The whosit now?
So who is favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year?
So who is favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year?
Either the Regina Saskatchewanians or the Tuscon Ice Novelties.
“The 2007 Pats (who are ‘cheaters’)”
The best part about the Pats being cheaters is that every Pats fan makes it seem like it is no big deal, hence the ‘quotes’.
Which, of course, is why the NFL penalized them to the tune of their first round draft pick. (which is, also, no big deal).
Ah, man. The right wing has everything.
Now somebody has found out that even their trolls are getting paid.
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/12224
Many, to think that idiots like Gary Ruppert and Dr. Bukkake Loser Twit are quite possibly get ting paid for their worthless comments, and all my brilliant friends here don’t get a nickel.
It’s like finding out that fat girl in high school you thought was just a desperate-for-attention slut is, in fact, a professional whore.
Very disillusioning.
Regina has a Yacht club?
“Might as well bring up the Bruins.”
Bobby Orr kicked ass, though my favorite player on that 70’s team was Johnny McKenzie. I loves me them hatchet men.
Regina has a Yacht club?
I think they spell it “Yak”…
I think they spell it “Yak”…
I wouldn’t know anything aboot that.
RE: Jonah bashing. I am eagerly awaiting the full 18-minute interview which was so shamelessly cropped by Stewart to make Goldough looke bad.
John Mckenzie!!!! You are making this Blackhawk fan weep. Esposito, Hodge, Stanfield… gone, all gone.
Your two responses seem to argue that this is all about the current Celtics team in some way. Or that the current Celtic team has some bearing on Why America Hates Boston. Or that it has some bearing on the 1986 Celtics.
Everything descended from the 1986 Celtics, or sharing with that team certain telling qualities, is the poison fruit of that poison tree. That’s just the way Celtic Fascism works. That’s not to say that Celtic fandom is the same thing as fascism. Indeed, that is central to my point. Read all about it in my new book. The cover has a smirky leprechaun with a Hitler mustache.
Why D. Hates Bill Simmons (because the two best teams of his lifetime — the 2007 Pats and 1986 Celtics — were unable to play their biggest rivals when they were most bulked up to do so and Simmons has the nerve to have wanted to play them and said the rivals bitched it up by choking.)
The bulk of your comment is accurate, Jay B. … but why I hate Bill Simmons has more to do with him strongly, strongly, strongly implying that the chokes by the ’86 Lakers and ’07 Colts should somehow be seen as terrible tragedies for the Boston teams and their fans. Instead of disappointments for fans of those actual teams.
Hey, I understand that when your team(s) win, it’s natural to gloat and talk shit. I’m a lifelong Niners fan … believe me, I understand it. But what Simmons does here is just so far beyond gloating … it’s just gormless navel-gazing, an ‘Are We Rome?’-esque obliviousness to the existence of actual independent actors outside the echo chamber of one’s self-impressed parochialism.
I work with a Boston Sawx fan. Great guy, but a little loony when it comes to sports.
Lets remember that Boston is the city that wet itself over the freakin’ Aqua Teen Hunger Force ‘bomb hoax’ (LOLzers!!!1!).
Those signs were up in 9 other cities, but only the Bostonians had a cow, man.
Is it the water?
slow day at SadlyNo!
go over to Balloon Juice and read Great Moments In Race Relations while S/N get’s it goin’
But what Simmons does here is just so far beyond gloating … it’s just gormless navel-gazing, an ‘Are We Rome?’-esque obliviousness to the existence of actual independent actors outside the echo chamber of one’s self-impressed parochialism.
Doesn’t that crystallize sports irrationality, though? At least it’s coming from a not-objective-at-all columnist as part of his shtick, rather than from the Olympian heights of Easterbrook-land (although it’s almost that bad, when considering how Easterbrook threw a paranoid shit fit over the spy incident).
Hell, I know hockey fans who view the league’s new salary cap as a nefarious plot to disarm the Detroit Red Wings, as coastal elites were jealous of their success.
Doesn’t that crystallize sports irrationality, though?
Yes, and it should be picked on for chuckles.
People still play hockey? Who knew?
My god, I can onl pray that LT somehow averts the Mediapocalypse that would be a Pats-Pack Superbowl, seriously it woiuld basically be a new low in thinly veiled homoerotica, (maybe not even veiled, I mean a can see Peter King running around asking for a Farve/ Brady bukkake). Oh, and I think the funniest thing about Simmons is how he’s come to embody, much of wha the origially decryed (seriously read his preview of Jacksonville/NE, and then Google his Pats v. Rams Superbowl piece) or look at his general disdain for college football (basically serving as a figurehaed for anyone wanting to prove the whole East Coast v. Resst of America dichotomy– where virtually everyoen outside of the Boston-NY-Philly corridor cares far more about CFB then the NFL but the NFL is given more hype.– seriously If I could get away would it this would be my thesis subject, look at the South, or the Midwest, and copmpare the following of any profootball team outside of maybe 3– Dallas, Chicago, Pitt– and you will find it dwarfed in the smae region by the follwoing of the local college team, a fact especially evident in the South).
Add, GB to that assesment (the most college-like following in terms of atmosphere).
Am I the only one who’s watched the Pats vs. History’s greatest teams bit on Sportscenter, and thought all the way back to 2005 when they ran a virtually identical thing about USC– also before USC won the title– then had to spend the following 8 months steadfastedkly ignoring it after Vince Young torch the Trojans.
“If I could get away would it this would be my thesis subject, look at the South, or the Midwest, and copmpare the following of any profootball team outside of maybe 3– Dallas, Chicago, Pitt– and you will find it dwarfed in the smae region by the follwoing of the local college team, a fact especially evident in the South”
And I would have to point out the serious flaws with that thesis. The Bronco are bigger than CU, CSU and Air Force combined. The Vikings are bigger than the Golden Gophers could ever be. Same goes for the Chefs and Mizzu (up to this year perhaps).
Oh, and Henry Holland, who would punch a friend in the throat for bringing up Pearl Jam in a sports conversation, boy does he sound like a winner!
You might want to look up “hyperbole” in a dictionary, if you own one, mouthbreather.
actor212, I searched for “mets”. Didn’t double check for ‘buckner’.
It slipped through the wickets.
The Bronco’s and The Vikings are Valid arguments, in terms of KC I would argue that that Oklahmoma and Nebraska have a deeper following outside of the ring-cities surrounding KC, but I may be mistaken, the only place where I feel could easily prove this with empirical evidence would be the South, where there is not a single NFL team with the drawing capactiy of the hold that equals the college teams in the same area (though Miami and the Dolphins are debatable– but fan attendence appears to be roughly apathetic for all sports teams college or professional– only rising above a central obsessive core in good years).
It’s a simultaneous meeting of shallow, of fraud, and of stupid.
Perfect epithet for the last seven years of Oval Office Occupancy.
It’s a simultaneous meeting of shallow, of fraud, and of stupid.
Perfect epithet for the last seven years of Oval Office Occupancy.
Or if my lawyer and accountant got together and started their own company….
mikey
The only decent sportswriting, for my money, was Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing at the SuperBowl XYZ.”
Tens of pages of pithy observations, with one small paragraph about the actual game (Miami vs ??) buried deep within.
You might want to look up “hyperbole” in a dictionary, if you own one, mouthbreather.
The Pearl Jam throat-punch seemed reasonable to me.
Okay, Ralph Samspon… but Vernon Maxwell, now that was a game winning shot.
Gradishar, my CO exile, people who listen to Radio ‘Tawk’ Shows deserve to have their intelligence insulted. Enjoy the Game!
And Rightwingsnarkle, right on! I haven’t read HST in years, but I still remember some of those passages, in particular the one about the Miami Dolphins precision jack hammer attack stomping on the balls of the Redskins. Or maybe it just stands out because it harkens back to a time when the Redskins had balls *to* stomp on.
As someone who spent 40 years living around Detroit and watching the Lions, I’m kinda curious about this “insufferable winners” phenomenon. How does one achieve that? Is having a professional football team a requirement? Does anyone know how Detroit can get one of those?
It’s a two part process sxwarren. First you have to be really bad at the game for a long stretch. Paying your dues. And then by divine intervention you suddenly get good. Really good. It’s hard not to be insufferable when you’re this good after being sooo bad for sooo long.
I’d say you’re just smack dab in the middle of part one, that’s all. Patience my good man. You might be stuck in that phase longer than most though, because the recent successes of the Tigers, Red Wings, and Pistons count against you with the Divine Scorekeeper.
As someone who spent 40 years living around Detroit and watching the Lions, I’m kinda curious about this “insufferable winners” phenomenon.
See: Detroit Red Wings, Yzerman era.
Now shut up.
Hell, I know hockey fans who view the league’s new salary cap as a nefarious plot to disarm the Detroit Red Wings, as coastal elites were jealous of their success.
Yea, that’s why Anaheim won.
Hey. Wait….
Never was into the Wed Wings..Thot it was mostly crazy (ay?) Canucks (ay?) from Windsor (ay?).
Now, with the Pistons during the Bad Boys Era, ya gots a point.
BTW, Mr. Belichick (Sir!), my hypothesis is that the Lions started sucking dead bears the moment the Fords bought the team and will continue to suck dead bears as long as someone named Ford owns them. Sir!
We all have our crosses to bear sx. We called ours the Sullivan Family. Hang in there and your Krafts will eventually come.
socraticsilence–
You do know that Nebraska is not really close to KC, right? Like Iowa, North and South Dakota, they don’t have a professional team of their own and therefore no real fan base that supports one team in the majority.
The other example I left off was the Colts. Definately bigger than IU or Purdue. Now, Notre Dame is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.
t4toby, the water is fine. At least as it starts it’s journey from the pristine Quabbin. I’m not sure how often they inspect the pipes around here though.
I’ll tell you why everyone else hates those of us from Massachusetts, and why we have a superiority complex. They’re all jealous of the fact that you can’t go 5 blocks without seeing a Dunkin Donuts. And I mean a real Dunkin Donuts store, where they serve the real stuff, not some schleppy place that sells cold boxes of dead donuts. So, ha ha, ya bastahds!
p.s. I had originally written “you can’t go 5 blocks without running into a Dunkin Donuts,” but maybe that’s just me.
As someone who spent 40 years living around Detroit and watching the Lions, I’m kinda curious about this “insufferable winners” phenomenon.
See: Detroit Red Wings, Yzerman era.
Now shut up.
Whoa. Hold up one second.
There were a LOT of years before that stretch of titles where they were affectionately known as the ‘Dead Wings’. The top line had Yzerman, Ysebaert, and some random noodnik. And they sucked. Hard.
Does any Boston team have a tradition as cool as throwing an octopus?
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd how many of them went 17-0? And cheated to do it?
So, let’s review the bidding here:
1. Every team in the NFL spies on their opponents’ signals. Doing it with a video camera is against the rules, but it’s almost certain that many, if not most or all, teams have done it.
2. The Patriots got caught doing it in the first half of Game 1 of the season (and that only because Eric Mangina (did I spell that right?) — who got caught later in the season doing the same damn thing — was eager to rat out his former boss).
3. The Patriots are therefore likely the one of a very few teams in the NFL that went the rest of the season without using this particular, illegal method of signal-grabbing.
4. The Patriots went 17-0 in the regular season and are poised to go 19-0 through the Super Bowl.
Just wanted to be sure how that all fits together.
Also, to whoever said the cheating was so bad the Pats had to give up their first-round draft pick… Where in the first round does a 19-0 Super Bowl winning team pick, anyway?
NobodySpecial said,
January 18, 2008 at 20:13
There were a LOT of years before that stretch of titles where they were affectionately known as the ‘Dead Wings’. The top line had Yzerman, Ysebaert, and some random noodnik. And they sucked. Hard.
Yea, and I’m a Mets fan. That doesn’t excuse the fact that the Wings (or Mets) acted like asses when they were on top.
Octopi? Please.
[…] In response to this heresy, I give […]
Nice D, Aristophanes!
Go Bolts.
Major, you may be onto something. But I think your theory took a hit when Dunkin Donuts stopped making the donuts fresh every couple of hours, even if they weren’t moving. Some of that stuff nowadays looks and tastes like it’s been there since the last time the Dallas Cowboys won a playoff game.
The Patriots got caught doing it in the first half of Game 1 of the season (and that only because Eric Mangina (did I spell that right?) — who got caught later in the season doing the same damn thing
Really? When did Mangini get caught? Got a link for that assertion?
Some of that stuff nowadays looks and tastes like it’s been there since the last time the Dallas Cowboys won a playoff game
Ouch.
I’ve been a (Anaheim of California) Angels fan since 1974 –thanks Nolan Ryan!– and gawd it’s been grim going most of the time. 1979: ended in playoff disaster against Orioles. 1982: blew 2-0 lead in best of 5 to Brewers. 1986: Angels fans don’t mention 1986. 1995: Angels lead AL West by 12 1/2 games and have odds of 8,332 to 1 to collapse. They do, lose the playoff in that scumhole the Kingdome. 2002: The Promised Land.
In between those times, they fielded some of the worst teams in baseball. Most Angels fans I know have remained humble and grateful because we know we’re a Vlad Gurrero ACL tear from third place.
At some point, the Red Sux and Pats are going to be mediocre and I’ll dance on their graves and sing hallelujah when they do.
Oh Henry! Your last sentence comes close to explaining our insufferable nature. Sports Fans everywhere invariably end up with their hopes crushed. It’s our lot in life no matter who you cheer for. The Red Sux (is the Writers Strike over? Such wit!) and Pats will certainly come back down to Earth soon, which is why you have to milk it for all it’s worth while it’s here. When they do I bet you find yourself surprise that you don’t even care all that much.
Lawnguylander, Mangini WAS taping last season at Gillette. Maybe you missed it because the Patriots simply gave the Camera Man the boot and let it go, which was the traditional way these things were handled, until Mangini decided to break protocol and whine to the NFL this season.
Here’s one of many links you can find with a very basic Google search:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-jets-videotaping&prov=ap&type=lgns
The severity of the penalty had more to do with a clash of Ego between Belichick and Roger Goodell, than with any perceived advantage NE was to have gained. I’m not happy with Belichick, but then again all the asterick talk doesn’t bother me much either. Here’s why: All these NFL teams are wired up like some sort of Borg Collective. Armies of Guys with Computers, Binoculars, and Radios on top of the Stadium, radios in the helmuts of the QB’s, two legal cameraman taping the games from various angles. All this technology which is allowed, and still it wasn’t enough for Belichick. Okay, he deserved what he got. And that’s the end of it.
Coach,
Did you read the article you linked to? I’m aware of that incident even without the basic google search. What I was disagreeing with was that “Mangina” got caught doing the “exact same thing”. He didn’t. The Jets got permission to film from the end zone and the Pats decided during that game to revoke the permission. At least that’s how the story has been reported. Including in the link you provided.
And was it the ego battle between Goodell and Belichick that caused the NFL to destroy all the tapes that the Pats had amassed without revealing what was on them?
Ah, so when Mangini says “he had permission” there’s no reason to disbelieve, and when Belichick says he “misunderstood” the rules there’s no reason to believe him. Personally I think they’re both full of it. Keep in mind that Mangini learned everything he knows under the Great One.
I’m sure there’s a tremendous conspiracy going on there with those destroyed tapes, but you know what, it’s the NFL. Who the eff cares? Seriously, who the eff cares about a frickin sporting conference, does it matter which particular City is currently sucking the bux from your wallet in the long run? Save your outrage for those other destroyed tapes, all those WH backups that somehow were overwritten.
Ah, so when Mangini says “he had permission” there’s no reason to disbelieve, and when Belichick says he “misunderstood” the rules there’s no reason to believe him.
Yes. Because we’re weighing the word of a proven cheat vs. that of a great American. The Mangenius.
And Belichick did deny that the Jets had been given permission to tape from the end zone but read between the lines. It sounds like something a White House attorney would come up with:
And don’t worry dude. I live in a perpetual state of outrage so there’s plenty to go around. No need to ration it.
Yes. Because we’re weighing the word of a proven cheat vs. that of a great American. The Mangeni
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