This is the second in a running feature at ECB. We'll be rating NFL Fanbases by annoyingness and picking a winner for each division. After that, we'll select wild card teams, and have ourselves a little playoff. If you have suggestions for upcoming divisions or wildcard selections, send them to [email protected].
St. Louis Rams
Quick Reaction: Seriously, Google Image the phrase "St. Louis Rams fans" and see what you get. You find one picture of St. Louis fans holding fake Lombardi trophies from a 1999 home game and a few pictures of St. Louis fans wearing paper bags on their heads at a road game in Arizona last year. That's it. That about says it all.
Rams fans enjoyed the "Greatest Show on Turf" and a Super Bowl win. They were out in droves after the team moved from L.A. and replaced the relocated Cardinals. Lately they've suffered nothing but pain, victimized by the fact that Kyle Boller is their fill-in starting QB and now dealing with a bid by Rush Limbaugh to purchase the team. And the worst part for the Rams is that even a 2-14 or 1-15 finish this year might not get them the #1 overall pick next year.
We feel for Rams fans. That's why we'll just give them the picture above and end this discussion.
Arizona Cardinals
Quick Reaction: It's understandable that the Cardinals had trouble filling Sun Devil Stadium in September when it was 110+ degrees and fans got to sit on metal bleachers. However, the above picture was taken at a game in November. Arizona in November = beautiful.
Suddenly the Cardinals become decent, enjoy a flash-in-the-pan 9-7 season and Super Bowl appearance and the NFL can't sell Boldin and Fitzgerald jerseys fast enough. I'd venture to guess most Cardinals "fans" couldn't tell you where the team used to be located. Or who Kurt Warner won a prior Super Bowl with.
Wait until the 6-10 seasons start up again. That flashy new stadium will only be filled for Super Bowl games.
San Francisco 49ers
Quick Reaction: You really do have to admire 49ers fans, even though there are many jokes that I could make about the picture above given San Francisco's stereotypical acceptance of alternative lifestyles and the presence of 9 men squeezing up against each other while wearing leather.
They stuck with the team through the really down late 90s and 2000s after the insanely good Montana and Steve Young years. They still fill the decrepit Candlestick Park (formerly Monster Park, formerly 3Com Park, formerly Candlestick Park) Sunday in and Sunday out.
And 49ers fans can take solace that no matter how bad things get, Al Davis is safely ensconsced across the Bay in Oakland, running that team into the ground.
Seattle Seahawks
Quick Reaction: You'd think that Seahawks fans would be latte-sipping alt-rock loving peaceniks. Not so fast, my friends.
Seahawks fans turn Qwest Field into one of the loudest, if not the loudest and hostile venues for opposing teams to visit. A friend of mine who visited Qwest Field for a Redskins-Seahawks game a few years ago swears that he was treated more harshly by Seahawks fans than Eagles fans. Not in terms of physical assaults, but in terms of constant verbal barrage of creative and well-thought-out insults, both personal and addressing the Redskins.
Plus, there's serious Microsoft money behind the Seahawks. I'm a PC, so I like that.
The Big Winner
Arizona Cardinals - In a division that is largely irrelevant and not known for its rabid fanbases, somebody has to be the "winner." We at ECB have no tolerance for bandwagon fans who couldn't give the time of day to a team for year after year, then suddenly profess long-standing fandom for that team as soon as they enjoy a modicum of success.
Next week one of us will tackle the AFC South.
October 14, 2009
NFL's Most Annoying Fans - NFC West
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Wow, your ignorance is blinding. 4th straight year of season ticket sellouts. Do your research punchy.
It must be our East Coast Bias at play. And where were your "fans" when you were playing in Sun Devil Stadium with Jake the Snake at QB?
It's easy to fill a new stadium. When the luster starts to wear off, things change quite a bit.
And Jeremy, you were way too easy on the Seahawks fans who still haven't stopped complaining about the officiating in their Super Bowl loss to the Steelers.
I would have picked 49ers fans here, but that's just because, having lived East of the Mississippi all my life, I have met plenty of 49ers fans who were all products of the 80's/early 90's bandwagon with no actual connection to San Francisco. They always struck me as spiritually related to other bandwagon non-New-Yorker Yankees fans or state-school-attending Duke fans in that regard.
I accept that this opinion may be biased and outdated, but hey, you've got "Bias" right in the name of the blog.
As always stated since the Cardinals moved to Arizona, build a stadium, and they will come. 11 years later, we got a stadium. Every ticket in the history of the new stadium has been sold. I suggest you spend 4 hours soaked in butter... in a flying pan... in the Sahara desert. Then come explain why no one went to the games at Sun Devil. As far as NFL knowledge, I'll take Cardinals season ticket holders knowledge of the NFL over the knowledge of a "bias" website any day.
To be fair, these four teams all lack annoying fans. I think I might agree with Brien that Seattle edges out Arizona just because I'm not annoyed by Cardinals fans. Frankly, I never encounter them.
That being said, Roethlisberger did not score.
You're right, webdefender. When I think of passionate NFL fan bases, the Arizona Cardinals are one of the first that come to mind. Just like the LA Clippers in basketball. Man, those Cardinals have such a rabid following. What was I thinking?
ECB is right about how hard it is to fill a stadium year after year. Although Arizona has sold out for 4 straight years, gone to a super bowl, they have a hard time convincingly selling out, without NFL extensions on the Black Out. Solution: Maybe the 2 million snow birds and transplants from the East, who ditched their home towns for some decent weather to live here, could step it up for the home team and buy a season ticket. If you were so loyal (which every east coaster says they are), you wouldn't have moved here to Phoenix. Become a AZ fan ... they are proving themselves.
The biggest annoying (alleged) "fans" are Seattle fans who won't make noise and yell...which is MOST...ONLY 10 to 15% of the fans are making all the noise for everyone, the rest suck, I've been to plenty of 'hawks games and it is always the same, people not wearing our colors or trying to make noise, people leaving early if we're winning big or down big, others selling their tickets for resale to opposing teams fans, I hate all those people
I'm obviously a little behind on this, but give me a break with the garbage about Cardinals fans being disloyal -- what did the Cardinals do to breed any sense of loyalty from 1988-2006?
Shameful drafts, absurd ticket prices, a terrible venue, Scrooge-level cheapness, coaches who weren't qualified to play a coach on TV, quarterbacks who doubled as punters, quarterbacks who should've been in the arena league, quarterbacks who never played again ... I could go all day.
The fact that anyone remained loyal is a testament to Cardinals fans.
I lived in New York City in 2006 and, for some inexplicable reason, was dragging my ass to bars with the NFL package to watch Matt Leinart blow games for us every damn week.
You don't meet Arizona fans because people move TO Arizona -- they don't move from it, generally, and, if they do, they don't go to the east coast (unless they are me).
In five years of living in in New York and DC, I watched every single Cardinals game at bars and never once ran in to another Cardinals fan.
People in the east misconstrue this to mean that there aren't Cardinals fans, because people in the east like to pretend that this country has no West.
NFC Championships, 2005-Present:
NFC West: 2
NFC North: 1
NFC East: 1
And the West would have one Super Bowl -- and possibly two -- if the NFL didn't consistently make teams facing the Steelers play against the refs, as well.
It sucks when you root for a team that has no tradition, because the league tends to favor the logo that won Super Bowls in the old days when push comes to shove. East coast guys wouldn't know about that ...
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