Sports Rivalries: Stay Classy Everyone

Ravens Fan: God you suck. I’m gonna rip your head off douche. RAVENS 4 LYFE!
Steelers Fan: Hey, why don’t you kiss my ass, bitch. STEELER CURTAIN NATION!

I hate the Pittsburgh Steelers
I hate the New York Yankees
I hate the South Carolina Gamecocks

In case you haven’t guessed, I am a Ravens, Orioles, and Clemson Tigers fan. For those of you could tell just by looking at the above animosity, congratulations! You have entered the world of sports rivalries.

It’s a confusing way of thinking, no doubt about it. Just seeing certain colors (black and gold in my case), hearing certain cheers (U-S-C! Gooooo Cocks!), or just seeing an obnoxious fan in a jersey (pinstripes), can cause my blood to boil a bit. But in this ever increasing competitive climate of athletics, sports rivalries from a fan perspective have gotten completely out of control. And in particular, with the advent of social media, this nonsense has spread to more people than ever before.

For example, almost any time two rivalry teams play that my Facebook friends cheer for, I see numerous statuses and petty arguments that dissolve into pointless name calling and idiocy. Check out these little nuggets that I’ve seen over the past year.

Sports Media Scrutiny at an All Time High

With a face like this, who needs enemies?

(Repost from 2012)

It’s funny to me. After years of watching my beloved Baltimore Orioles flounder with failed prospects (Hayden Penn, Adam Loewen, etc…) and overpriced free agent signings (Kevin Gregg…), we are finally having a good year. More importantly, we are playing meaningful baseball, and it’s almost August. While yes I have been a little frustrated at our starting pitcher carousel and our offensive ineptitude, the fact remains; we are a winning baseball team. And I’m glad that when they do play poorly, I actually care. Every September, as we chug along toward another losing season, we seem to bring up players that have lurked in the depths of minor league baseball. At that point, you might as well wave the white flag because Chris Waters isn’t going to win you many ballgames.

But as I read any kind of Orioles article, it’s all negativity. The run differential is one of the worst in the majors. We shouldn’t trade anybody because we’re going to wind up under .500 anyway. Hell yesterday, I read someone actually advocating trading Matt Wieters, who has struggled at the plate lately but still remains the best defensive catcher in baseball. Can’t people, who are being paid to write about the thing they love, be a little more positive? I can think of two more examples just this week of overblown scrutiny.