Philadelphia Flyers Fans are an Embarrassment
Written by B-Dub, Thursday June 10 2010
Philadelphia Flyers fans make the rest of the Philadelphia sports fans look bad. No, I'm not talking about some of the stuff that the national media sensationalizes at Philly sporting events. I've written countless articles proving that there are bad fans in every city. Montreal Canadian fans rioted and looted after they won a stinking playoff series and the national media barely even reported on it. Whereas, Flyers fans were well behaved during the team's Stanley Cup run that ended with a game 6 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. I'm embarrassed by what they have done since the loss.
These Flyers fans are all positive about the loss. They are actually happy about a season that ended in defeat. They are satisfied that the team simply got to the Finals and aren't angry that they lost. When the hell did I move to the mid-west?
This kind of carefree attitude is not normal for real sports fans. Especially not those fans that live in the northeast. When our teams lose we want someone to blame. When the Phillies lost the World Series last year, Cole Hamels took the blame because he pitched so poorly and was stupid enough to tell a reporter that "I can't wait for the season to be over". Hamels now has a reputation among Phillie fans as a soft player and will until he duplicates his NLCS and World Series MVP performances from the 2008 season. That's what Philly fans are all about. Effort is great, but results are better. When the Eagles lost the Super Bowl after the 2004 season, Eagles fans destroyed Donovan McNabb for literally choking during the game. And he never lived that down in all the years since then.
Both those teams could have and should have won the Championship, but they didn't because star players came up small. Now when a similar situation happens with the Flyers, the fans smile and say ridiculous comments like "Good run", "Great season", "I loved the playoff run", "What a great team" and other such nonsense. These people need to be checked for lobotomy scars. Or maybe St. Louis drivers licenses. I've been hearing these things on sports radio, on message boards and from people I have encountered in person and through email. What is wrong with these people and how the hell did they get into Philadelphia?
A real sports fan isn't happy when his team loses. A real sports fan gets ticked off when his team loses and wants somebody to blame. It's called being passionate. I know it's not entirely reasonable, but it's reality.
These Flyers fans are a different breed. Even though the team hasn't won a championship since the 1974-75 season, their fans insist that the team is the greatest. It's the same every year too. There is no logic behind the claims. Only that the Flyers are great and if you don't think so then you don't know what you're talking about. They're like Notre Dame football fans that way.
The Flyers are a team with unlimited finances since they are backed by media monstrosity, Comcast. Sure there is now a salary cap in the NHL, but that doesn't explain how the Flyers haven't won a Cup in the last 35 years when they usually had the highest payroll in the NHL.
I used to be a hockey fan, but the "Left-wing Lock" and the complete and total arrogance of the Flyers front office has turned me off of the sport. Comcast bought the team from Flyers founder Ed Snider, but left Snider in the role of "Chairman". That basically meant that the media company didn't want to have to run the Flyers, or the NBA's Sixers, who were also part of the deal, so they left it up to Snider.....sort of. Since Snider doesn't give a shit about basketball, the Sixers have fallen into a decade-long black hole. The last time the Sixers were relevant was in 2001, when Pat Croce ran the team and Allen Iverson led them to the NBA Finals.
Right after that, Croce wanted to take over both clubs, as had been agreed upon when he brokered the sale of both teams. Croce actually owned a small percentage of both teams and was put in charge of the Sixers side of the equation. Snider reneged on the deal and forced Croce out in a power struggle. That was the beginning of the end for the Sixers. This was barely reported since the local Philadelphia media kiss Snider's ass unlike any other person in the history of Philly sports. He can literally do no wrong in their eyes. I guess that helps explain why the fans only see the good in a team that hasn't won a thing in 35 years now.
I hate Ed Snider because I see him for the arrogant bastard that he is. He actually started the sports radio station in town and soon began berating them if they dared to criticize the team. He once famously yelled at an on-air host, "The name of the game is to win. W-I-N." The irony is that Snider hasn't won in 35 years, so maybe he should just shut the hell up and follow his own damn advice. The Flyers act like the Eagles front office in Philly, yet only the Eagles get criticized. Why is that?
The reason is the Flyers fans are mindless zombies. Or "Stepford fans". Not me though. I can actually see that the way to win a Cup is to have a great goalie. The Flyers went decades without one and instead went with "muckers and grinders", as ex-GM Bob Clarke used to call his type of hockey player. The last great Flyers goalie was Bernie Parent back in, you guessed it, 1974-75.
Arrogance, coupled with extreme stupidity by my hometown team has turned me off the entire sport of hockey. And I'm not alone. Nobody watches the NHL. Hell even these Flyers fans aren't really hockey fans, they're only Flyers fans. They don't watch the NHL playoffs if the Flyers aren't in them. The TV ratings each year prove that. I've had this argument many times with people who say I'm wrong. The problem with their argument is that I have the facts on my side. The NHL doesn't even have a national TV contract. Sorry, but Versus doesn't count. And having just your Finals on NBC doesn't count either. Especially when NBC doesn't even pay the NHL to put the games on TV.
Yes, that's right. While the NFL gets Billions of dollars from the networks to televise their games, the NHL has to give away their product for free just to get somebody to show it. NBC simply shares all the ad revenue from the telecasts with the NHL. I'm going to assume none of you die-hard hockey fans had a clue about that little fact did you?
Yes, that's right. While the NFL gets Billions of dollars from the networks to televise their games, the NHL has to give away their product for free just to get somebody to show it. NBC simply shares all the ad revenue from the telecasts with the NHL. I'm going to assume none of you die-hard hockey fans had a clue about that little fact did you?
Then there is the little fact that the NHL's ratings are so low they are almost negative. It's so bad the NHL Finals gets crushed in the ratings every year by the National Spelling Bee. Seriously.
Hockey is like soccer to 99.9% of Americans; it just doesn't matter. I heard the hockey crowd among the media touting the fact that the ratings for the NHL Finals were up 20% from last year. Well of course they were. When the ratings are regularly as low as they are for the NHL broadcasts, it's not hard to increase them. Plus this year's Cup Finals had the Chicago and Philadelphia markets, which are the 3rd and 5th largest respectively. Last year's Stanley Cup Finals had the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Detroit Red Wings. After the collapse of the steel and auto industries I'm not sure there is even anybody still living in either of those towns to watch TV.
Then there is the fact that Flyers fans insist that you root for the team. Hey I'm a huge sports fan, but I just don't care about hockey. Not since the late 80s anyway. Unfortunately that's not enough for these people. I was actually told that I couldn't go to the parade if they won. (I wouldn't have gone even if they had won, since I don't follow the team.) It seems the arrogance of the front office has rubbed off on the fans of the Flyers.
But that's the kind of attitude that doesn't make sense to me. I applaud fans who are passionate about their teams, just like I am with my Eagles and Phillies. But leave me alone if I don't care for your "sport". Should I have to root for the new Philadelphia soccer team, the Union, now too? I mean, until that league goes belly up like the 972 other soccer leagues that have come and gone in the United States in the last few years. No, of course I shouldn't.
The Philadelphia Wings won a Lacrosse championship a few years back and Philadelphia sports fans reacted with a collective yawn. No parade either. Same thing when the Soul won the Arena League Championship. I did find it amusing that the league folded after a Philadelphia team won it all though. And I think there may have been some sort of rally for the team where the team members outnumbered the crowd. So why do I have to root for the Flyers, when it is so obviously a second-tier sport in America? Again, that answer is I shouldn't.
That's what rally pisses me off about Flyers fans. Normally you have to win a championship or two to be a bunch of arrogant A-Holes. Think Dallas Cowboys fans in the 90s, or Red Sox fans when they finally won the World Series, or Yankees fans every single day. But Flyers fans have this air of arrogance even though most of them weren't even alive the last time the team won the championship.
I suppose some Flyers fans are the way they are because the team is normally "good". There is also a segment of Eagles fans who couldn't be happier about the team being "good" during the last decade even though it led to only one Super Bowl appearance and no championships.
Me, I want a friggin parade. I don't care about a "good" season. The Eagles had a "good" season in the eyes of some fans in 2009, while I ripped them all year. I took a ton of abuse from fans who told me I wasn't a real fan. Those idiots shut up once the Eagles got their asses handed to them by the Cowboys two weeks in a row and got bounced out of the first round of the playoffs.
Someone asked me if I tell the youth teams I coach that winning is the most important thing. I said that the difference there is that the 7 & 8 year old girls I coach in softball and the 9 & 10 year old boys that I coach in baseball are not paid professionals. Therefore, it's not their job to win. Kids should want to win and try to win, but the most important thing for kids that age is to learn how to play the game the right way and have fun. Professional athletes are paid ridiculous amounts of money to play a game, so you're damn right I expect more from them. Especially when I pay through the nose for season tickets like I do for the Eagles.
Someone asked me if I tell the youth teams I coach that winning is the most important thing. I said that the difference there is that the 7 & 8 year old girls I coach in softball and the 9 & 10 year old boys that I coach in baseball are not paid professionals. Therefore, it's not their job to win. Kids should want to win and try to win, but the most important thing for kids that age is to learn how to play the game the right way and have fun. Professional athletes are paid ridiculous amounts of money to play a game, so you're damn right I expect more from them. Especially when I pay through the nose for season tickets like I do for the Eagles.
What kind of professional sports fan is satisfied by just being good? I just don't understand that mentality. I want to win it all every year. That's obviously not possible, but that should be the goal. If my teams aren't going to have a shot at winning it all then I would rather they stink and get a better draft pick. It worked for the Phillies, who built their current team through the draft while they stunk for years. And the fans criticized the Phillies for years while they sucked. I don't expect the Eagles to compete for a championship for a few years with their young roster, so I'd rather they just lose and get a better draft pick. That was my opinion last year too, but the NFL was so damn bad the Eagles only beat one team with a winning record all year (A 9-7 Falcons team without their starting QB or starting RB) and won 11 games. Then they got smacked by the hated Cowboys. I would have rather not made the playoffs than have suffer that indignity.
Now I understand not all fans share that view, but they should. It's called common sense. Nobody remembers the "good" teams. But they remember the great ones who win championships. How will the Buffalo Bills teams led by Jim Kelly who lost all those Super Bowls be remembered? As losers. This Flyers team had a legitimate shot to win the Stanley Cup, but let's not forget they wouldn't have even made the playoffs if they hadn't won a stupid shootout on the last day of the season. That shootout crap is a rant for another day.
It was an exciting run for the minority of sports fans that follow the Flyers. I was happy for the Flyers fans that they got to experience a thrilling playoff run. I just didn't care about it myself. That doesn't make me a bad sports fan; it just puts me in the vast majority of Americans who don't care about hockey. The sooner Flyers fans come to grips with that fact and learn to simply enjoy watching a sport that they love and leave the rest of us alone, the better off we'll all be.
Now if we can only find a way to rid this great country of all those Douchebag soccer fans, then we'd really be onto something.
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4 comments
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B-Dub is actually 400,000 at the rally post parade, there roughly 2 million people at the parade. And it was fucking hell I work about 1/2 a block from where it started and it was a disaster going to my office at 7 AM. Not too mention I think the low number at the rally was due to the 85 degree heat with about a 90% humidity level
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As if I needed to prove my point that nobody cares about hockey, I just saw that Chicago only had 400,000 people show up for the Blackhawks parade. Chicago is the 3rd largest market in the U.S. That's pathetic.
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Careful Terp fan, agreeing with me can only lead to trouble for you. I supported McNabb for the first half of his Eagles' career, but his act just got old real fast. You'll see in Washington soon enough.
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Great rant B-Dub! I share your view on many of your points above and enjoyed the article! Boucher getting hurt was the only reason the Flyers made the Cup final. Leighton played great, the team ran out of gas at the end of the second period of game 6. TV Ratings were so bad game 3 was on VS instead of NBC. Season tickets are expensive, Donovan will be fired up coming to Phily to stick it up Eagle management and the fans who always badmouthed him since draft day ass.