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Which Team Has The Worst Fanbase


JagerMeister

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Depends on what you mean by "worst."

When the Atlanta Thrashers still existed, I went to one of the games when the Red Wings visited. I ALWAYS came early and stood by the visitor tunnel, because there were just a hole bunch of Detroit fans, most of whom are at least relatively educated on hockey. Atlanta doesn't have very many hockey fans who know the game, so this was actually my favorite part of those games.

Anyway, one time, I struck up a conversation with a season ticket holder who had seats right next to the visitor tunnel. Nice guy. We talked hockey too. One of my questions to him was, "Since you always sit here, you get to deal with fans from all of the other hockey teams. Which teams' fans give you the most trouble?"

His answer: "Well, some Penguins fans can be obnoxious, and Rangers fans can be rude too sometimes, but the absolute worst fans--and there's not even a close second--are the Buffalo Sabres fans. I HATE when Buffalo comes to town. Their fans are rude, obnoxious, and horrible every time they play here. We don't come early for those games any more. It's not worth the trouble."

Don't shoot me, Sabres fans. I'm just the messenger.

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Always hated the fact that Colorado won a cup in their first year, smug nasty Aspen skiing yuppie jerks who suddenly 'found' the sport when it came out there and enjoyed the new found success built off the backs of proud industrious Quebec natives who understood the game and had to be sick to death. Well for over a decade they have suffered a bad and boring team so those who are left have been tested and are real hockey fans.

 

  Columbus Blue Jackets fans are pretty cool, all three of them, I met all three Jacket fans when I went to a Wings game at Nationwide, a heavy set guy named Shawn who was simultaneously sweating and shivering while wearing a parka, and two rabid fans who lived in their moms basement and plan on moving out after they graduate college (not Ohio State University, a city college) and who just turned 40.

 

  No, to me the worst fans are the fair weather fans, the ones who wear a Crosby sweater when the Penguins win, who still think Tim Thomas is in net for the Bruins and leading them to Stanley Cups, who wear a Kane jersey from Chicago and aren't sure if the first name is Patrick or Evander. You get the point.

 

  Most die hard rabid fans of their teams, frothing at the mouth types are pretty cool. When we meet (which is sadly not very often in central Ohio) we start with good natured teasing about wearing a jersey of our favorite team in public, and then it goes from there. Six months ago I actually had breakfast, my wife was along, (I have an unbelievably patient and understanding wife) with a real Bruins fan who was wearing a Chara jersey, I had my Wings 2008 jersey on and we started talking Hockey, the food was slow in coming and cold when it got there but we talked hockey, real hockey, for an hour and never noticed.

 

  So I don't think any real fan is bad, be it the overbearing Ranger fan or the laid back California fan, most of us have a look in our eyes signaling others that we love our team come hell or high water and that is alright by me.

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If you are talking least supportive, I think it would be The NJ Devils. They have trouble filling the arena for playoff games....Most obnoxious has to go to the Buffalo Sabres. Living in Florida, they come out of the woodwork anytime the Sabres are playoff contenders. The real nice thing is I have not seen a Sabres jersey for years now. :thumbsu:  As embarrassing as it is to say, I have met a few Flyers fans that I was ashamed to see wearing the crest due to the outright obnoxious/boorish/bigoted attitudes that they carried. Those types always seem to outshout and give the biggest black eye to their fellow fans. This is not something limited to the Flyers but why do the cameras always seem to find them.

Vancouver and the rioting they bring with their inevitable playoff loss is very sad too......

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How haven't the Panthers been mentioned yet??  Didn't they draw like 5,000 fans to a few games this year???   Not to mention that a huge chunk of their fan base aren't even permanent residents, but implants from Canada. 

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If you are talking least supportive, I think it would be The NJ Devils. They have trouble filling the arena for playoff games....Most obnoxious has to go to the Buffalo Sabres. Living in Florida, they come out of the woodwork anytime the Sabres are playoff contenders. The real nice thing is I have not seen a Sabres jersey for years now. :thumbsu:  As embarrassing as it is to say, I have met a few Flyers fans that I was ashamed to see wearing the crest due to the outright obnoxious/boorish/bigoted attitudes that they carried. Those types always seem to outshout and give the biggest black eye to their fellow fans. This is not something limited to the Flyers but why do the cameras always seem to find them.

Vancouver and the rioting they bring with their inevitable playoff loss is very sad too......

Ha, If you go to HFboards and somehow go to the NJD section, you will meet the most negative bunch of fans. Although i cant really blame them, with how the team has been goin in the last couple of years, mediocrity FTW

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How haven't the Panthers been mentioned yet??  Didn't they draw like 5,000 fans to a few games this year???   Not to mention that a huge chunk of their fan base aren't even permanent residents, but implants from Canada. 

 

Agreed. Florida and Arizona have the worst hockey fans because they don't support their team -- despite the fact that the tickets cost next to nothing (or are often free) and the on-ice product is no worse than what Toronto fans put up with!

 

Sometimes I think the only reason Florida and Arizona have teams is for Canadian snowbirds to watch hockey while they're down south for winter. They certainly don't have any local fans.  :unsure[1]:

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Well, in the defense of the Florida and Arizona fans, I don't see how you can blame the fans for the fact that their fanbase is small. If there were several million hockey fans in those areas that didn't go to the games, I'd agree. But I'd guess that a higher percentage of Florida and Arizona fans actually go to their games than many other teams, because the base is very small.

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Well, in the defense of the Florida and Arizona fans, I don't see how you can blame the fans for the fact that their fanbase is small. If there were several million hockey fans in those areas that didn't go to the games, I'd agree. But I'd guess that a higher percentage of Florida and Arizona fans actually go to their games than many other teams, because the base is very small.

I was thinking very much along those lines. Well said.

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In terms of Canadian-based teams, and defining "worst" as fans who just sit there on their hands and don't do anything for the home team, I'd say Edmonton. The place might be full, but you could hear a pin drop. Unacceptable. That's a young team with lousy management and they need all the support they can get from their fans.

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In terms of Canadian-based teams, and defining "worst" as fans who just sit there on their hands and don't do anything for the home team, I'd say Edmonton. The place might be full, but you could hear a pin drop. Unacceptable. That's a young team with lousy management and they need all the support they can get from their fans.

 

Post traumatic stress disorder...

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, this is a long term thing there, for those that remember the days when Northlands Coloseum was called Northlands Mausoleum. And you know what? The thing I noticed every single time that I went to a game, is that it's actually not really true at all. Remember how, at the old Chicago Stadium, the brick structure of the building accentuated every single noise and reverberated it around the building, causing the volume to be louder than expected? Due to the huge chunks of tile on the ceiling and walls, Rexall Place gets much of its noise absorbed and dampened. When attending a game in person, the crowd noise is fine, but on TV, it's much diminished by the time it gets to the microphones.

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Post traumatic stress disorder...

 

 

LOL

 

Actually, this is a long term thing there, for those that remember the days when Northlands Coloseum was called Northlands Mausoleum. And you know what? The thing I noticed every single time that I went to a game, is that it's actually not really true at all. Remember how, at the old Chicago Stadium, the brick structure of the building accentuated every single noise and reverberated it around the building, causing the volume to be louder than expected? Due to the huge chunks of tile on the ceiling and walls, Rexall Place gets much of its noise absorbed and dampened. When attending a game in person, the crowd noise is fine, but on TV, it's much diminished by the time it gets to the microphones.

 

 

That is interesting. And my observation is mainly based on TV viewings. I used to watch a lot of Oiler games - about 5 years ago - with a buddy of mine. We both moved away so I stopped, but it was very noticeable. 

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In terms of Canadian-based teams, and defining "worst" as fans who just sit there on their hands and don't do anything for the home team, I'd say Edmonton. The place might be full, but you could hear a pin drop. Unacceptable. That's a young team with lousy management and they need all the support they can get from their fans.

 

Bill Clement called out Vancouver last night in the first intermission - "a great place to make your NHL debut, it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. There's nothing intimidating about Vancouver at all."

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Bill Clement called out Vancouver last night in the first intermission - "a great place to make your NHL debut, it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop. There's nothing intimidating about Vancouver at all."

 

Unless you're a bus driver the night they get eliminated.

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Well, in the defense of the Florida and Arizona fans, I don't see how you can blame the fans for the fact that their fanbase is small. If there were several million hockey fans in those areas that didn't go to the games, I'd agree. But I'd guess that a higher percentage of Florida and Arizona fans actually go to their games than many other teams, because the base is very small.

 

:confused[1]:

 

I just look at the Marlins and Rays in baseball, and the Panthers and Lightning in the NHL. For whatever reason, Florida seems to be death for pro sports teams. Whether it's a smaller population, or an aging population, or a transient population, or whatever, teams never seem to draw well down there.

 

My question is: Why does the NHL put TWO teams in an area that has a small fan base? Wouldn't it make sense to have one team in Florida and two teams in Toronto? :huh:

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I HATED Avalanche fans in the nineties, the smug sons of ...... they won a cup their first year and WHAM freaking Forsberg and Lemieux and Roy and Sakic jerseys everywhere. I think a fanbase needs to suffer for awhile before wining a cup.

I hate Kings and Hawks fans, I cannot stand fare weather fans. As soon as the Kings and Hawks start slipping the jerseys will be put up.

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I'm going to go off the reservation and cast my vote for Habs fans.

 

Let's just start with the belief that if you're born in French Canada you have to play for the Habs or you're some sort of traitor.   (apparently spelled "trader" in Dallas)

 

Then, there's the looking down their nose at their playoff opponents even as they're losing to them.  It's always about how this that or the other thing the Habs did was wrong and never an acknowledgement that what the other team did was simply better.

 

I mentioned in the Maple Leaf's thread about a sense of entitlement.  After 24 Cup wins I guess that's expected in the case of Montreal, but it's been 22 years.  Guess what, Habs fans, France USED TO have an empire.  Now they lose wars to Greenpeace.

 

Lastly, their God awful song. 

"Oh hey, Oh hey, by the way, we're gay.."    NTTAWWT   The funniest thing ever is when Philly fans sang it back to them a couple years ago.  I was crying laughing hearing it on TV.

 

Yeah, put me down for the Habs fans being the worst.

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Lastly, their God awful song. 

"Oh hey, Oh hey, by the way, we're gay.."    NTTAWWT   The funniest thing ever is when Philly fans sang it back to them a couple years ago.  I was crying laughing hearing it on TV.

 

Yeah, put me down for the Habs fans being the worst.

 

Canadiens fans aspire to be European.  :lol:   (They picked that olay stuff up from European soccer.)

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I HATED Avalanche fans in the nineties, the smug sons of ...... they won a cup their first year and WHAM freaking Forsberg and Lemieux and Roy and Sakic jerseys everywhere. I think a fanbase needs to suffer for awhile before wining a cup.

I hate Kings and Hawks fans, I cannot stand fare weather fans. As soon as the Kings and Hawks start slipping the jerseys will be put up.

 

I have a certain amount of empathy for Hawks fans who, for decades, had a team owner that seemed to revile them. That there were any fans left by the time Rocky Wirtz took over the club seems like a miracle.

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