ESPN’s Terry Frei recently took on the topic of visiting fans. The Caps’ faithful are extremely familiar with this issue, especially when fans from Buffalo, New York, Pittsburgh, or Philadelphia are in the house. Every time I attend a game against one of those teams, I wonder about the masses of opposing fans who retain their loyalty despite living here — is it a sign of D.C.’s transience or a hometown habit? Frei’s take on it asks the question: at what point do the opposing fans merit scorn?
Yeah, sometimes — sometimes, not always — the relocated fans of the “other” team might deserve it. When they cross the line to obnoxiousness…When they come off as fans who might not even have cared as much about (fill in team name) when they lived in (fill in city) until they moved somewhere else and could flaunt their non-native status.
Harsh? Sure, but Frei might have a point. There’s nothing wrong with rooting for your home team, but there’s no need to be obnoxious about it.
Those “visiting team” fans deserve it when they’re obnoxious transplants whose retained childhood or family-roots sports loyalties are part of a more aggravating bigger-picture attitude. That attitude can be summed up as a complete lack of sensitivity or concern about how galling it all can be to natives who in their course of everyday life are reminded at every turn that 87 percent of their metro area can seem to be made up of transplants.
He lost me here. To relate this statement to Washington, while it’s irritating to hear “Let’s Go Rangers” in the Phone Booth, I’m not offended that D.C. is made up of people from other areas (after all, I’m a transplant too). That’s what gives the city a little personality. Plus, I doubt that most natives are so sensitive that they can’t handle the idea that people from other places move to their city.
I will concede there’s nothing wrong with — and it even can add spice to a game — having good-natured fans of the “opposing” team in the seats, and hearing the teasing go back and forth.
This can be one of the best parts of a game. During a Washington-Toronto game several years ago, some deaf Leaf fans and I had a great time taunting each other in sign language. Unfortunately, those types of harmless fan experiences are in the minority when the aforementioned Pittsburgh/Buffalo/New York/Philadelphia fans are in the arena; the good nature goes out the door as they’re walking in. I’m reminded specifically of a classless incident from the final game last season, when I saw two Sabres fans proudly wiping their feet on the Ovechkin giveaway banner. (I was tempted to “accidentally” spill my beer all over them, but then I’d be no better than they were — and I would never waste a beer.) In many ways, fans in cities that don’t see opposing fans take over the arena on a semi-regular basis are fortunate.
This might be the most significant point of all: They’re the most aggravating when their attitudes come with the kicker beliefs that their friends who dare to switch their loyalties to local teams, or have rooted for the local team or teams all along, are saps.
Admittedly, that’s a fair statement. Why someone can’t root for both teams (at least when their hometown team isn’t playing the local team)? Why is there an attitude that the two must be mutually exclusive? Is that really considered selling out?
Yet Frei’s position is a little confusing. Does he mean that every time someone moves to a different NHL city they should root for the local team? That’s just plain silly. Perhaps the distinction comes from the obnoxious opposing fan’s attitude: the smug superiority that nothing compares to the home team, the local team is inadequate, and thus deserving of disrespect. Again, there’s nothing wrong with cheering for the visiting team in someone else’s house, but why be a jerk about it?
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Last time I went to a game in DC, I had seats right next to some Sabres fans who were in town for the holiday. I couldn’t have had more fun at that game. From the 5 year old next to me to the pretty mid-20’s girl behind me, we had a great time trying to out-shout eachother, talking and taunting. Be peaceful and thou shall recieve peace.
Very timely article DCSC, as my wife and I are going to Raleigh for a weekend getaway and plan on catching the Caps / Canes on Saturday afternoon. I expect we will be on our best behavior, and make a good representation of Cap’s Fans.
We too are transplants from Nova Scotia where you either root for the Leafs or the Habs, but we had no NHL team of our own to cheer for and follow. When we first moved down here we only really followed hockey during the playoffs prior to the lockout. But we jumped on the Caps bandwagon in 05/06 and have enjoyed the ride ever since.
And I’m sure all of you Caps fans are 100% well-behaved at all games.
Hey, I live in Philadelphia and I actually don’t catch too much heat cheering for the Caps at Wachovia Center. I get a few ’sit down!’s and the occasional ‘Caps suck!’. However, I am not nasty or obnoxious and usually have some pretty good conversations with Flyers fans. So, it usually is OK. Of all places, I figure this one would be one of the worst.
I am from the Sterling, VA, and grew up as a Capitals fan, and still am, although I now live in Raleigh. However, my wife and daughter are both Canes fans, and we have a very explicit understanding: When the Caps are playing anyone other then the Canes, my wife will root for the Caps, and when the Canes are playing anyone else except the Caps, I will root for the Canes. But when it is head to head, all bets are off. The past 30 games have been quite interesting, to say the least. I still say that both teams will make the playoffs. Call it a hunch.
Back in 03 I saw the Caps play the Devils in NJ and it was one of the best times I have ever had at a hockey game, despite the fact that NJ won in OT, 2-1. I was about 8 rows from the ice and was screaming let’s go Caps the whole game!! When the devils scored in OT, the fans around me didn’t gloat, they actually consoled me a little bit!! I think the key is-Have fun, cheer loud, but don’t be a jerk.
I live in Chicago, and its always fun to be at the Wings/Hawks games. The house is always divided, and the “Lets go Red Wings” chant is always followed up with “De-Troit SUCKS”
Ive become a big Hawks fan now that Ive been here 7 years, and even bought season tix. However, the Caps will always be my #1 team, and when they come to Chicago next month, my loyalty to the Hawks is suspended for one night. In a perfect world, the Caps will in in OT. At least then the Hawks get a point.
My general rule on cheering for more than one team in a sport is that its only ok if they play in different conferences (ie: Caps and Hawks). You really cant be a Caps fan AND a fan of another Eastern team.
Being a Caps fan living in NC, I can relate. Nothing puts you in your place like a 12 year old in a Staal jersey pointing at you and screaming “you stink”.
The only annoying opposing fans at the Phone Booth are the Flyers fans hands down. Though, things are better now that we aren’t playing out in Landover. Much easier for the South Philly Superfans to get to the rink back then.
On the flipside, at the last Canadiens game here in DC, I sat next to two Habs fans who flew down from Montreal just for the game! Talk about dedication. Really cool dudes. Talked hockey with them whole time. Can’t say I’ve ever done that with a Flyers fan! haha
I’ve had some great times, and some awful times at the games because of opposing team fans.
I think it comes down to the people. Sometimes both side get along because they are just having fun at a game, both sides are loud, but friendly. We all just want our team to win. Other times, I’ve been confronted by fans who make it personal, and can’t just keep their fandom directed at the game.
Heck, one of the best times I had was a a game versus with my brother, who is a Red Wings fan.
Interesting article. I wonder how many of the season ticket holders are actually natives of the hated other cities. I grew up in SoCal and still love my Kings. (Yes, I know they stink, thanks for pointing that out again.) I also know there are a fair number of Detroit fans near me.
But I guess that’s the rub in the new-fangled NHL. You can be a fan of the Kings or Wings or any other Western Conference team and the Caps, because they only play each other .666 times a year (twice every three years, for those keeping score). Its hard to hate anyone you don’t see that often.
Should New Yorkers who live in DC be Caps fans instead of Rangers fans? I don’t see many people arguing that all the Bostonians who live here should be giving up on the Red Sox. You might as well ask people to stop being Catholic or something.
But, then again, you shouldn’t be an a-hole if you live here. But, I understand that many areas of this country breed a-holes like rats. For instance, the one and only time I saw a fight break out in my section, a Buffalo fan, annoyed that his team was losing through a beer bottle at the ice. It hit the net, spilled beer over all of us in the first few rows and hijinks commenced. By contrast, I have also had great conversations and good natured ribbing with TO fans. Maybe its the Canadian in them that prevents them from being a-holes.
There are two things that determine whether or not a fan is going to be a jerk.
One is how much perspective they have. If they can root for their team, but realize it isn’t the end of the world if the team loses, they will probably be fine. People who have deeply personal attachments to their teams to the point where whether or not they had a good week is based on the team’s performance, it’s going to be difficult to sit and have a nice conversation with them.
The other is how much they know about hockey. In my experience there are a lot of people in new hockey markets (Atlanta, Carolina) who don’t understand violence’s place in hockey and they think that an NHL game is the sporting event equivalent of a 1980’s punk rock show and that it’s cool to get in the face of other patrons or even to pick fights. I think you see this much less in, say, Minnesota, Boston or Canada because it’s not a cool holier-than-thou thing to be a hockey fan there because everyone knows the game at least a little.
I find that generally the most obnoxious ones are usually the ones doing it as a defense mechanism. Aside from New Yorkers, who I think do it because everyone else there does it and they don’t know any better, which hockey fans are the worst? Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Philadelphia. What ties them together? They’re all rust-belt towns with shrinking populations and little hope/positive outlook. As evidenced by all of them who end up in places with better economies. Like the DC-area, for example.
That’s also why they take it so personally when people say things like, “What do you call a Sabres (Penguins or Red Wings also works here) fan in Buffalo (etc.)? Unemployed!” Boy, does THAT get them riled up. Mainly because they know it’s true.
And I think that’s why they find themselves so tied up in how their team is doing, because it’s the only part of their hometown that still means anything. So when you’re insulting their team, you’re actually insulting them.
Of course, this also explains why teams here (aside from the Redskins) have such tepid fan support. Not because people don’t care, but because the people are tied in to so much else going on that their whole sense of worth and self isn’t tied up into how a specific sports team is doing.
(Now, for my next thesis…)
To me, it’s really just about being respectful. If you go into someone else’s building to cheer for your team, that is totally fine. But don’t start insulting the home team or its fans. In other words, keep it positive. The home fans will respect you and unless some drunk home team fan a-hole tries to start something, it is certain to remain peaceful.
And I have to agree, it’s fine to root for a Western team too, but I think it’s suspect to support 2 eastern conference teams simultaneously. I have no problem with people rooting for the teams of the places they’re from. I live in NYC now, and I sure as hell am not going to give up the Caps for any local team up here.
I grew up in DC and recently located to the greater Boston area. I have followed the Caps my entire life and thankfully for NHL Center Ice and blogs like this one, I can continue doing so up here. Given these advances in technology, it is now unnecessary to change team allegiances, given the fact that you are no longer confined to the local media coverage when relocating to a new area.
That being said, I can tell you that rooting for an opposing team, respectfully or not, in the city of Boston is frowned upon (to be kind) by the locals. Every time I have set foot in the Garden, supporting the Caps by only wearing a hat and standing during goals, I have had stuff thrown at me. Not to mention getting some choice words about my mother. Boston keeps it classy.
Without saying it directly, Frei is yet again complaining about all the Red Wings fans that come out when his beloved Avs host Detroit. It is a common whine that he offers from time to time. If you have chosen to live in Colorado for whatever reason- job, education, lifestyle– you must root for all of the local teams, or you face deportation to your previous city….
No, that’s not the issue here. Frei implicitly contends that if you move to another state (let’s say COL because after all this is Terry frickin’ Frei), you should give up your childhood team to root for the local team. That’s the problem he has with transplanted fans.
The whining little crybaby Frei can’t believe the audacity of the Wings fans invading his sacred Can house in numbers outflanking the local Slides fans. It pisses him off. THAT’s the basis of his grief.
We’re doing everything we can to be civil at the Slides games whenver the Wings roll into town to play the Slides. Unfortunately, the Slides ain’t got much to cheer about this year and he has to take it out on the Wings fans showing up at the Can to cheer for the team they grew…up…with and then expect them to give up their childhood teams?
I don’t think so, Frei.
You think its tough being a Caps fan in Boston? HAH!!!! Just try wearing a Senators hat on the subway in Toronto, or (better yet) a Heatley jersey in my local pub. It helps to have martial arts training, lets put it that way.
Of course, I wore my Sens jersey to the Phone Booth in DC (as a guest of none other than the great OrderedChaos himself) and had nothing but great–if slightly less than sober–conversation. It was fun. Hope I can scrape together the $$$ to do it again next season.
I’ve always had trouble even attempting to root for more than one team at a time. Maybe that’s because I live in the bermuda triangle of former Patrick division rivals. More likely its that I just can’t split my emotions between two teams. Either I care about every outcome of every game on a team’s schedule or I don’t.
In any event, with the way conference scheduling and playoff seedings are, I can’t see rooting for two teams at once, as a transplant to a new area, unless the two teams were in different conferences.
Honestly, the last couple of times I was at the V Center when the Flyers were there, their fans weren’t so bad. Even in winning, they didn’t make asses of themselves. Now, the Buffalo fans…wow. They really do make the Philly fans look good. Not that the Philly fans a really that bad, at least to us, but still.
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