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Cheering for Other Teams Than Your Own


Keener@icejerseys

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Does it drive anyone else nuts to see people cheering for your team's biggest rivals?

I've been noticing a ton of Habs fans on Twitter cheering for the Leafs this week, cause they don't want Pitt or Wash piling up the points...

I don't care what points are at stake, I don't understand how Habs fans can get away with cheering for Toronto or Boston. In December. It baffles the mind, really.

I hope people agree with me, cause this is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Do any of you notice this with other teams?

thoughts???

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My only issue is when friends of mine will deliberately cheer for the other team the Flyers are playing, even though they have no vested interest. I feel unless they have ties to another team, they should support my team. When I first got into watching soccer with my one friend, I became a fan of Arsenal, as it was his team.

If he were to randomly pick the Rangers or something if I took him to a hockey game, I'd be furious.

When it comes to certain teams though, the only reason I would ever cheer for the Penguins is if it knocked out an opposing team and was a requirement for the Flyers to make the playoffs. When the SCF's were the Red Wings vs. Penguins, hockey was dead to me. I despise both teams.

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I personally do not agree with people cheering on their teams rival.

I counter this when a playoff race is going on by cheering against the team that would need to lose to help my teams cause. I am a huge fan of baseball and a bigger Cubs fan. I took my wife on a weekend trip in August a couple years ago to St. Louis that included two of three games between the then #2 in the Central Brewers and #3 Cardinals. Being a huge Cubs fan, I could not cheer for the Cardinals to win, so I chose to cheer for the Brewers to lose. We enjoyed some great baseball that weekend with great people in that stadium, and we saw two Brewers losses. Never did or would I say "Go, Cardinals". It even pains me to type those words. But I sure did love seeing the Brewers lose.

I do the same with the Blackhawks. Never will I cheer for Detroit or San Jose (any Central team and Vancouver make my short list) to win.

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMO people can root or cheer for whomever they like. But I agree that it makes little sense to cheer for your rival or most hated team. As a Penguins fan all I care about is my team, whether they win or lose, and nothing else. I don't care about the teams ahead of us in the standings or behind us. To me it's one game and two points at a time. This is one of the reasons I don't really watch the NHL on Versus or NHL Network because I really don't care about the other teams that are playing. Now when it's the playoffs, I'll watch the games of the other series going on that don't involve Pittsburgh.

But I will say that I do root for the opponents when rivals - Flyers, Capitals, and Blues play. I also root against Detroit because all they do is win. Wouldn't it be nice for them to NOT make the playoffs one season? :P

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I feel like I already posted this some other time on this board, but for me growing up in a non-hockey market (Dayton, Ohio) I was a fan of all hockey. I fell in love with the game at age 6 seeing the 1980 Olympic and then was hard pressed to find any hockey on local TV (no cable til I was in High School). I remember in grade school having an awesome notebook binder covered in stickers of the Rangers, Capitals, Canucks, Jets, Red Wings and Sabres. I became a Rangers fan after watching Mike Richter in the 1988 Calgary games when he signed with New York. I also became a partial Pens fan by proximity and it being the height the Mario vs Gretzky era. My best friend became a Pens fan and my brother as well (after a brief stint as a Flyers fan *shudder*).

So when I get to college, during the height of NHL on ESPN, I get to watch a ton of hockey (still being out of a hockey market) and luckily in 1993, then Rangers and Pens are put in separate divisions, so it wasn't as weird being a fan of both. But in 1998 they are both back in the Patrick err, Atlantic division. So I had to put my Pens fandom on the back burner. Luckily in my opinion the Pens are lowest on the rival list for the Rangers in that division.

So I think it is possible to be a fan of two teams, even two in the same division, but you always should have one solid favorite.

(I can already sense the "cool story, bro" reply from Guam :P )

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I have always had a Western Conference team, but if they beat the Flyers, it's over, we are never talking again. So the past few years, it was the Blackhawks, since I was still a fan of Patrick Sharp/Ben Eager but now that that is over. I really like the LA Kings. Hope to see John Stevens have some success and watch another American goalie have some success.

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So Flountown I guess its fair to say I wont be seeing you cheering the Pens on as they are dominating and the Flyers are looking like, well, the Leafs tonight. I cant remember the last time I watched a Flyers game this pathetic.

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That's a pretty neat story, akteon. :thumbsup: I have to admit, in Ohio you were kind of stuck when it came to a close NHL team. Back in the day the Jackets and Predators didn't exist, there's no NHL team in Indiana, but I guess the closest team to you was Detroit.

Flountown you make a good point about following a team from the other conference in addition to your favorite. You pointed out the exact problem, what if they do end up beating your favorite team? This used to not be an issue a few years back because not all 30 teams played each other during the season. That was when each team played 8 divisional games against each division opponent, and most but not all of the teams from the other conference. Personally I liked that format much better. I liked seeing the Penguins play each Atlantic foe 8 times instead of 6 which is what it is now.

Here's my feeling on following another team from the other conference, IMO it is frustrating if they beat your favorite team, but I think you have to look at the series and recent series history. If your favorite team has beat up on them overall or recently, then IMO it's alright to follow them. From my current hockey knowledge the Flyers pretty much have a leg up on nearly all the Western Conference teams in head-to-head record, so there's not really a team you should fear too much.

But I understand your point about Chicago, especially after last year's Stanley Cup. I would suspect the same for Detroit since the Flyers haven't won at The Joe since 1988.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Unless it is a situation where your rival winning the game will put your team in an actual playoff spot, I just can't cheer for a rival.

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Fortunately the teams I cheer for other than the Flames don't have to strong a rivalry with them. We did have a decent one when Gretzky left for LA and the small exodus of Oilers that followed him there. And in recent years, there has been a minor one with the Predators, but nothing that causes my allegiance to either to be jeoprodized. Unless any of my teams meet in the near future in the playoffs, I never have a problem with it.

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It's actually getting to the point where I am actively rooting for the 29 NHL teams not named the Washington Capitals to win. It's the quickest way to get rid of their useless joke of a coach.

Well, 28. Screw the Pens.

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I feel like I only put my radar on other teams for specific players, and that I couldn't muster up the time and energy to split my support amongst multiple teams. An example being: I keep a loose check on the LA Kings to keep up on Jon Quick, since he is a UMass alum, but I don't stay awake at night worrying about the Kings' playoff chances. The only time I could see myself throwing my support in the direction of another team is during the playoffs where you only have to be a 'fan' for a 7-game series instead of an 82-game season.

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