The Fans I hate the most

I remember the call like it was yesterday, "Stockton, open, three, goooood! John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA Finals."  The call was made by Greg Gumbal on May 29th 1997 and for me that night the realization finally hit me that one of my favorite players at the time Charles Barkley would never win an NBA title having just been knocked out of the Western Conference Finals for the final time.  Those who knew me then knew that it took a while for me to get over that loss and now looking back I can honestly say that it took until 6/20/2006 for me to fully get over it.  The life of a true fan is full of emotional swings almost like one diagnosed as being bipolar.  Emotions can range from euphoric bliss to stomach churning pain and vice versa.

Throughout my life I've always followed two teams, one in each conference in the NBA and NFL but the pain had grown too much so I had to drop an NBA team, "the Houston Rockets" when Hakeem Olajuwon was traded away.  Let me be very clear on this, I am a legit Miami Heat fan since 1996, a Ravens fan since 1996, and a Washington Redskins fan since birth, with the Skins I had no choice in the matter, it's in my blood.  Those are the teams that I will ride and die for without thinking twice!  With that being said, I don't always agree with every decision that they make but my love for those teams will never disappear nor will it make me blind to the reality of what really is and that is what separates true fans i.e. me from those other fans, the ones I like to call the other type or some use the term band wagon fans, which I'll admit is a general term but it works here but since I'm so not politically correct I'll use my term which is, drum roll please.....fake ass fans!  Lets just be real about it!

An awesome Super Bowl ended last evening, great job to the Packers for winning but I'll be the first to say it, I was wrong, I picked the Steelers to win 31-25 but that doesn't mean I like the Steelers nor does it mean I hate them, I am a Redskins and Ravens fan in the NFL and I was astonished this past week when normal folk would say "I'm a Steelers fan or I'm a Packers fan", honestly half of these faf's I didn't even know liked football again lets be honest here!  Personally I know of two, dos Steelers fans; one would be my older brother and the other a neighbor who I love dearly....that's it folks.  Please let's cut out the bullshit!  I know people need something to believe in no matter what but it's called religion and not called being a fake ass fan.

In order to be a real fan you must deal with ups and downs for years!  My Redskins haven't been to a Super Bowl since 1992 which they won and I'm still a fan.  I was so young that I don't remember watching the game live, I've seen it on VHS tape...remember those...but I have no memory of the live game.  I'm still a die-hard fan and I'm blessed with my own personal Super Bowl twice a year...when we play those Cowboys!  I love my team, would die for my team but I don't live in a world of fantasy, the Redskins need tons more help before they can compete for another Super Bowl!  I don't wake up the start of every season and say hey, my skins are going to win the Super Bowl this year, that's asinine!  There are a fraction of fans in this world that are just lame, so lame that the start of every season until the end they think that their team are going to win it all every fucking year and they will fight you to the death to prove that their team will win and every time they set themselves up for defeat.  See these fans are worse than the fake ass fans, these fans are the delusional fans.  I debated one last week on facebook after my basketball team defeated theirs and this fan was so delusional that he completely ignored the many flaws of his team "and there are tons of them" and yet continued to bash my team blindly not even making much sense at times.  I'd bet everything I own that even after the defeat his team saw yesterday after shooting 3-24 from beyond the three point line which equates to 12.5% from a team that uses the three point shot as their primary weapon "are you laughing with me right now" that he would still tell me today that his team will win the NBA championship this year and finish better than my Miami Heat.  Say it with me....delusional!  To quote Bart Scott of the Jets, that team can't stop a nose bleed and you know who are!

When Lebron James stated this summer that he was taking his talents to South Beach, the arrival of new Heat fans began.  This is an extremely touchy topic for me because I bleed Miami Heat and I appreciate the love but I don't like fake love.  I'm not cool with these fake ass fans claiming the Heat like they'd gone through the playoff battles with the Knicks in the late 90's or gone through the dark ages after Alonzo Mourning went down do to illness.  You just got here YESTERDAY, please don't act like you've been a fan for years or that you know more about the Miami Heat than I do.  Eventually your love will be accepted but please don't mock the tradition of the Miami Heat and disrespect Heat dignitaries like Pat Riley, Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, or Udonis Haslem.  Learn Heat history; as much as I love Lebron, he didn't just walk onto the court and become the greatest player in Heat history, fuck no, he's not even the best player on the current team, Dwyane Wade is and the truth lies with the rings but both James and Wade are playing in the house that Alonzo Mourning built make no mistake about it.  These fake ass band wagon fans make me sick!

Despite enjoying the ups and despising the downs, the most important element in being a true fan is accepting the truth and most times that truth can be cold and hard.  Every team in each league can't be good all at the same time so there will be times when a team that you follow may be on the bottom of the standings, but the true fan will accept and appreciate the journey, still show their fandom by leaving the tag on their car or by still wearing team branded merchandise.  The true fan won't jump ship to the next best team or the hottest team in the league that year ditching their "old" team just for bragging rights.  The true fan will realize the true expectations of their team and not exaggerate them just to make themselves feel important or well liked amongst friends and finally the true fan, the real fan, the master of fandom will accept and cherish the orgasmic feeling of the win but also respect the growth that can be achieved from the loss.