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Post by TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out on Oct 17, 2015 11:46:20 GMT -5
The Jets had their training camp and corporate offices in Long Island until 5 years ago, so the area has become a Jets stronghold.
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Post by HMARK Center on Oct 17, 2015 12:29:57 GMT -5
I'm always fascinated by topics like this, because it digs deeper into sports fandom identity, rather than defaulting to the way Weird Al parodied things with his "We're great! You suck!" song. As a lifelong Northern New Jersey resident, I've always wondered what it was like to come up in a sports market where there was only one team for each major league, and what it would be like to see the entire population of the region united around a single club. We simply don't have that here, not even in MLS anymore now that NYFC has arrived.
Around here, the intra-regional rivalries vary a bit.
-NBA: I don't think Knicks/Nets has ever been all that intense considering, well...both franchises really suck. The Knicks are probably more capable than any other team around here with regards to potentially uniting the entire city/region around them when they go on a good run, but the Nets aren't afterthoughts, either. But in terms of identity, and picking why you cheer either team, I don't know; it just doesn't seem all that well developed. Hell, if there was even an old school "NBA vs. ABA" vibe to go by that'd be something, but that isn't even really a thing.
-NHL: Hockey thrives on rivalry, and having three teams in the area means you'll have tons of heated history. The Islanders were born due to an expansion threat by the WHA and invaded the Rangers' turf, so it was thought, and then dominated quickly with their 4 Cup/5 Conference run in the late 70s/early 80s. The Devils came in, and did something similar: within 15 years they had already won the Stanley Cup, and were poised to win more, and kept up a run of excellence until a few years ago. All the while, the Rangers have that bit of a chip on their shoulder because despite playing in Manhattan, hockey just isn't the biggest sport around here, so there isn't nearly as much attention on them...yet their fans still play the "we're more popular than YOU" card on Devils and Isles fans.
Anyway, for this league, it boils down to tons of playoff wars over the years, a NY vs. NJ and NYC vs. Long Island geographical/cultural divide, and Rangers fans seeing the two expansion clubs as undeserving little brothers and the two other clubs' fans viewing the Rangers as Yankees-wannabes who believe they've had more success than they ever really did. I'm a Devils fan, and get annoyed with the Rangers quite a bit over that factor: the NYC-driven superiority complex, coupled with an overblown sense of their own relevance to NHL history (along with the insane lack of respect they usually give Martin Brodeur and the dynasty Devils teams).
-NFL: There was a time when being a Giants or Jets fan was a big statement; perhaps more than the NBA vs. ABA, and more than the NHL vs. WHA, NFL vs. AFL had a lot of culture clash behind it, perhaps due to it being the culture-clashing 1960s during its heyday. Yes, there was geography involved, with the Shea Stadium-based Jets holding a lot of allure for outer borough and Long Island fans, but there was something of a rebel streak to being a Jets fan, encapsulated by not only Broadway Joe Namath's glitz and fame, but also in how shocking it was for them to win Super Bowl III for the AFL.
Yet, time went on; neither the Jets nor Giants were very good until the mid-1980s, and by then, the Giants had relocated to New Jersey. Suddenly, the old geographical divide began to fade, and so did the "old team vs. young team" cultural divide. By the time the Jets came over here, that was all out the window. The Giants and Jets simply don't compete with one another, and as the NFL has become more and more homogenous, it's not even like there's some great cultural divide in the way they play the game to distinguish one fanbase from the other. Sad, really. I'm a Giants fan, but consider myself a Jets fan, too, because why not? Most of my family likes the Jets, and I'm glad to see them happy, and enjoy watching a second team, as well.
-MLB: This is the big one.
Baseball is king in this area, and the NL vs. AL wars go back over a century to the days before the Giants had a name, when the Brooklyn team was still the Trolleydodgers, and the Yankees were still the Highlanders. When Babe Ruth was brought over and the Yankees gained considerable financial might, a trend began where the Yankees were perceived as the favorite team of wealthy Manhattan-ites and Wall St. types, while the Giants and Dodgers were the "blue collar" or "immigrant" teams.
After the Giants and Dodgers left for California, the Mets replaced them relatively quickly, and the appetite around here for NL baseball was fierce; even as the Mets were setting records in futility in the first five years of their existence, they were often out-drawing the Yankees, who were fresh off a 1962 World Series and the Mantle/Maris home run chase. Mets fans were rewarded quickly with the 1969 World Series title (same year as Super Bowl III), and once again, the 60s brought with it that aforementioned "old vs. new, old vs. young" cultural divide.
Things shifted by the 1990s, as the Mets 80s teams declined and the coming Yankee dynasty was born. I contend that if I had been born a few years earlier I wouldn't dislike the Yankees as much as I do, because I likely would've been in grade school while the Mets were still a good team. Yet, because I was there around the time of the Mets decline and the Yankees ascendency, wearing a Mets cap to school was grounds for pretty over the top bullying. Things only got worse, of course, once the Yankees were in the midst of winning four titles in five years, and the Mets would have a few good years here and there before screwing up again.
Like the other leagues, there might be some geography involved here: Yankees in the Bronx, Mets in Queens/Long Island, but it's hard to put a finger on all of that exactly. Some of it is actually ethnic: Joe DiMaggio made Yankees fans of an entire generation of Italian-New Yorkers, for example. Some of it is NL vs. AL, going back to the dozens and dozens of Subway Series back before the expansion era. Some of it is the modern divide between NL and AL fans about the DH. Much of it is the Yankees continued financial dominance, and a sense that some Mets fans feel the Mets are the more "New York" team, while the Yankees are more international.
Speaking as a Mets fan, I feel a rivalry due to a childhood of endless bullying about it, a sense that I disliked how much the Yankees were able to outspend every other team, and because I hate the goddamned DH.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2015 13:57:58 GMT -5
This White Sox fan is chanting "Let's Go Mets! Let's Go Mets, Go!"
I don't hate the Cubs. Just the majority of their wishy-washy fans who only show up when they win. (Looking at you, John Cusack.)
I know real Cubs fans and I told them I just can't root for your guys. They understand.
If it comes down to Cubs vs. Royals and you ask me at gunpoint...
Pull the trigger twice.
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