Love To Hate: The Dark Side of MLB Fandom

Obi-Wan once warned Luke Skywalker by saying, "Don't give into hate. That leads to the Dark Side!". Obi-Wan's words still ring true to this day and if only his warning could be heard by current baseball fans. It seems as though the line between disliking a team and obsessive hate has been blurred. There is a dark side to baseball fandom, and I'm not talking about bandwagon fans.

A perfect example of this blurred line is the rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's. I've noticed that quite a few A's fans are more happy when the Giants lose than when the A's are win. And it's hard for me to view them as real A's fans when they seem to be so obsessed with hating the Giants that they ignore their own team's success. 

AJ Griffin could've pitched a perfect game, but the cliche haters have to tweet about how much they hate the Gnats (a term as clever as a Ke$ha lyric) and how much they hate the fact that the Giants are trending and the A's aren't (Really? You're team won and you're more concerned with trending topics?) or that the Giants get more exposure or have bandwagon fans (with memes that are as old and tired as Madonna's career).

Giants fans do it, too. I don't like the Dodgers, but I don't tweet "#BeatLA" daily when the Giants aren't even playing them. I'm more concerned with the game and seeing my team play, then letting my disliking of the Dodgers take over. I don't brag about how we won two World Series championships in three years. That was then, this is now. You can brag about how many titles your team has won but as Babe Ruth once said, "Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games". 

Newsflash: Any sports team that gains success, especially championships, will gain bandwagon fans. Whether it's the Giants, Angels, White Sox, ect…if they're winning, the bandwagon gets bigger. I'm all for civil trash talk, but there are some fans that have given into the "dark side", here's how:

1. Daily bashing of a rival team and/or their fans. If you tweet daily about how much you hate a certain team or player, it shows immaturity and that you're one dimensional. It's especially pathetic if the rival team that has earned your social media hatred isn't even playing your team (or playing at all). If you complain about a team and their fans everyday, it shows that you're a person who thrives on negativity. Your status updates, your tweets, memes, ect…we get it. You're the Taylor Swift of your team's fanbase.

2. A loss means more than a win. If a team's loss is your focus more than your team's win, how can you call yourself a fan? 

3. "All their fans are the same". This is seriously one of the stupidest thing I've read or heard people say about any team's fans. That's like saying all baseball players take steroids/PEDs. Every team (keyword EVERY) team has fans that represent the team well and fans that don't. If you had bad experiences with a team's fanbase, that sucks. Bringing it up every chance you get just makes you sound bitter. Move on with your life.
4. Celebrating injuries. If you get genuinely happy when a player gets injured, you're a whole new level of low and have no class. I don't care how much you hate a team, these guys are out there living their dream. An injury is serious and has the possibility to take their dream away and you're happy about that? 

I don't' expect Giants and A's fans to hold hands and sing "Give Peace A Chance". I don't expect Yankees and Red Sox fans to have a BBQ together. However, it would be nice to see more civility between rival teams and their fans.

Thanks For Reading,

Jordan

Things Baseball Fans Need To Stop Doing (Part 3)

This is the final installment in my "Things Baseball Fans Need To Stop Doing" trilogy. I hope you've enjoyed the previous two and I hope you enjoy this one.

1. Acting like you're better than everyone. I don't care if you are a Yankees fan, an A's fan, or even a Giants fan - you are not better than any other fan. My #1 team (Giants) have won two World Series titles in the last three years. Do I think I'm better than a Mets fan? No, I don't. I don't think I'm better than any fan of any team in Major League Baseball. Baseball fans need to realize that just because you wear a jersey of a team or have them as your Twitter avi, doesn't mean your better than someone who roots for a different team. Have some class. Nothing is more annoying than people saying "We're the realest fans in MLB!". 

2. Assuming that a few bad fans represents an entire fan base. I don't care what team you name, each team has their loyal, diehard fans that have decency and class and they also have their disrespectful classless fans. If you think your team only has respectable fans, then you probably still think Santa Clause delivers presents on Christmas Eve. Don't assume that just because you've seen (or heard) fans that are disrespectful and just plain stupid, it doesn't mean they represent the entire teams fanbase. Teams have a lot of fans from all walks of life and to throw them in with the bad apples isn't fair to them. It's like saying all guys are the same or all women are the same. They're not. Maybe it's just the people you choose to be around or experience.

I've experienced Giants fans who think they're better than everyone (98% of them being bandwagon fans that I wish were apart of the 78,000 people that signed up to live on Mars). I've harassed by A's and Dodgers fans. Do I think every fan of those teams are the same? No. I've met a lot of fans from all those teams that are genuine fans and awesome people. I know it's not going to bring peace between rivals and no people aren't going to think before they post their daily cliche "I hate Gnats" or "A's fans are jokes" tweets, but I hope at least there will be some that will use their brains - wishful thinking, I know.

3. Blaming umpires because your team is losing. I'll admit, MLB umpires this season have been, for the most part, terrible (i.e. that infamous Rays/Rangers game earlier in the season). I also know that they're human and humans make mistakes. However, blaming them for every time your team loses or is losing is stupid. You can't blame umpires if you're team isn't getting the job done. If a player swings his way to a strikeout, who's fault is it? The player. Learn the difference between a blown call and a team that's struggling.

4. Not paying attention the game. Every team's fanbase is guilty of this. You've probably seen them at a game. They're the people - usually with great seats - who are glued to their cell phones or some other mobile device. Why would you spend money on a game (or attend if someone paid for your ticket) if you're not going to watch the game. It's as bad as doing the wave. If you're that bored, leave.

5. Leaving before a game is over. Seriously? You're gonna pay money to go to a game and leave before it's done? That's like paying to go see a movie you really want to see and then leave half way into it. I don't care if you're team is winning by 15 or losing by 15 - if you're true fan, you should be there until the final out. Whether it's 9 innings or 20, leaving before it's over (unless it's because of an emergency) is ridiculous.

6. Complaining that your team isn't trending on Twitter. Really? Your team just won and you're complaining because they're not trending on a social media website? If they don't trend, does that mean they didn't really win? No, so stop. It's freakin' Twitter. Majority of trending topics have all the intelligence of Jose Canseco's tweets. If you want your team to trend so bad, add their hashtag to every tweet or subtweet. That should be enough tweets to get #Astros trending (besides when they're beating the Angels).

7. Disrespect for the A's. A's are my #2 and so this is a little bit biased, but the lack of respect for the A's is ridiculous. From people saying things like "They're doing pretty good, it looks like they'll be around for a while". Really? A's are one of the oldest teams in MLB. And for the people that down O.co and the lack of attendance. One section of O.co is louder than most "full" ballparks. Are far as passion, ask Jon Heyman. Aside from the death threats, A's fans showed their love for their team and ballpark. Wake up and realize A's are contenders. If you can't see that, your vision is worse than Angel Hernandez.