Fanbase brings team recognition, haters make teams legendary

By Kevin Goode
Paraglide

January 12, 2012

	Photo courtesy of Metro Creative Connection

There’s perhaps one thing that sports fans like more than cheering on their own team and that’s hating on other teams.

Fans are loyal, but haters are rabid. Every sport franchise wants fans, but sport entities need haters. In order to gain global respect, sports entities must inspire haters to hate.
The haters of the sports world have just as much power if not more than that of a team’s most loyal fans.
When it comes to that, I’m just as guilty as the next fan.

Even though I love supporting my team, I can’t wait to root against rival teams, thus hoping against hope that they will fall short of yet another season of success.

Haters pay just as much attention to the teams they love as they do the teams they love to hate. Whatever caused them to hate their least favorite team has now made it fester.

Teams like the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys, have both been glorified by their storied history. But it is their haters who help bolster these franchises into legendary status.

These storied sports organizations are both world renown not just because their fans pay attention, but more importantly, because those who love to see them fail can’t stop watching either, and that gives them national relevance.

Dallas, love them or hate them, has won only one playoff game in the last 15 years and yet at the beginning of every football season, the only question asked nationally is how deep of a playoff run do the Cowboys make this year. Any other NFL team that goes 15 years with only one playoff win would fall into the media coverage abyss.

Cowboy fans make them relevant regionally, because of their detractors — very few teams can go 15 seasons with only one playoff win and still remain in the public eye. The fact is there is no middle ground when it comes to major organizations.

The sporting world cares a great deal about polarizing programs that evoke a reaction out of fans, whether it is love or hate.

Teams, or individuals earn fans, but haters are created. Fans are fickle too. In a down season, some fans may jump ship for greener pastures. But rest assured, haters will be there waiting patiently for the wins and will come out of hiding to toot their horns the moment any sign of trouble arises.

Their hatred has no logic or reason to it. Some individuals hate for reasons as simple too much individual or team showboating or they may feel that a team is just too celebratory, too self-congratulatory. But the most common reason and the most egregious sin to haters is — they win too much

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