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The 11 worst fan bases in sports

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The most insufferable fans in sports? Here are the worst of the worst. By Dan Roche

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1/12
<p>Eagles fans don’t have the best reputation. But there are bad fans in every group, some worse than others.</p>

<p>With that in mind, in no particular order, here are the worst of the worst.</p>

Eagles fans don’t have the best reputation. But there are bad fans in every group, some worse than others.

With that in mind, in no particular order, here are the worst of the worst.

2/12
<p>The sense of entitlement from fans of “America’s Team” is suffocating. Especially when you consider their last Super Bowl win was before the invention of the DVD. Twenty-five years since their last title, not even a conference championship game since, and they strut around like God’s gift to football. “How ‘bout them Cowboys?”</p>

<p>What’s worse, they’re everywhere. Somehow, they’ve infected every corner of the country. They’re much more annoying when their team is winning, so I guess we should enjoy the peace and quiet this year.</p>

The sense of entitlement from fans of “America’s Team” is suffocating. Especially when you consider their last Super Bowl win was before the invention of the DVD. Twenty-five years since their last title, not even a conference championship game since, and they strut around like God’s gift to football. “How ‘bout them Cowboys?”

What’s worse, they’re everywhere. Somehow, they’ve infected every corner of the country. They’re much more annoying when their team is winning, so I guess we should enjoy the peace and quiet this year.

3/12
<p>They’ve won 17 titles, and to hear them talk, it's like the Celtics and their fans invented winning basketball. C’s fans are aggressively hostile about their fandom. There’s no “agree to disagree.”</p>

<p>But the tough persona took a big hit back in January when <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/news/sports/celtics-fan-arrested-for-throwing-drink-near-spurs-bench-wednesday/2059578/">a fan fired a can of hard seltzer on the court during a game</a>. Hard seltzer? Really?</p>

They’ve won 17 titles, and to hear them talk, it's like the Celtics and their fans invented winning basketball. C’s fans are aggressively hostile about their fandom. There’s no “agree to disagree.”

But the tough persona took a big hit back in January when a fan fired a can of hard seltzer on the court during a game. Hard seltzer? Really?

4/12
<p>Speaking of that part of the world ... the Evil Empire itself. I think NFL fans can almost universally get behind this one.</p>

<p>We will see how long Pats fans hang onto their struggling bandwagon now that Tom Brady skipped town. I can’t imagine how tough it is for them right now. They haven’t won a Super Bowl in *checks watch* at least a few hours.</p>

Speaking of that part of the world ... the Evil Empire itself. I think NFL fans can almost universally get behind this one.

We will see how long Pats fans hang onto their struggling bandwagon now that Tom Brady skipped town. I can’t imagine how tough it is for them right now. They haven’t won a Super Bowl in *checks watch* at least a few hours.

5/12
<p>For their obnoxiousness, Yankees fans are the barometer by which fans of all other sports teams are measured. The Yankees spent the last 30-plus years buying championships, so their fans feel they have the right to cram it down everyone’s throat.</p>

<p>The phrase “act like you’ve been there before” doesn’t register with them. So much so that a 2017 survey of baseball fans ranked the Yankees the most hated team. They had <a data-timestamp="1604363465" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/america-has-spoken-the-yankees-are-the-worst/">nearly three times as many votes as the next most-hated team</a>.</p>

For their obnoxiousness, Yankees fans are the barometer by which fans of all other sports teams are measured. The Yankees spent the last 30-plus years buying championships, so their fans feel they have the right to cram it down everyone’s throat.

The phrase “act like you’ve been there before” doesn’t register with them. So much so that a 2017 survey of baseball fans ranked the Yankees the most hated team. They had nearly three times as many votes as the next most-hated team.

6/12
<p>I’ve had a beer or two in my day, but the Bills' fans are the dangerous kind of intoxicated at their tailgates. The kind of stunts that even Vince McMahon is looking at thinking, “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”</p>

<p>Do a quick search of Bills Mafia on YouTube and you’ll see what kind of lunacy I’m talking about. Men, women, doesn’t matter. And fellow tailgaters gather around by the hundreds! Not to give medical attention, this is more like rubbernecking a car accident. I can’t imagine first responders enjoy working home Sundays in Orchard Park, New York.</p>

I’ve had a beer or two in my day, but the Bills' fans are the dangerous kind of intoxicated at their tailgates. The kind of stunts that even Vince McMahon is looking at thinking, “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”

Do a quick search of Bills Mafia on YouTube and you’ll see what kind of lunacy I’m talking about. Men, women, doesn’t matter. And fellow tailgaters gather around by the hundreds! Not to give medical attention, this is more like rubbernecking a car accident. I can’t imagine first responders enjoy working home Sundays in Orchard Park, New York.

7/12
<p>Here we go. The Steelers are good again, which means they’ll all be coming out of the woodwork. A fan base that seems to have representatives in every corner of the planet, despite the team representing a city with a population smaller than Henderson, Nevada.</p>

<p>They’ll wave their Terrible Towels at you and snarl about their six Super Bowl rings, when most of them have likely never been to Pittsburgh, let alone gone to a single game.</p>

Here we go. The Steelers are good again, which means they’ll all be coming out of the woodwork. A fan base that seems to have representatives in every corner of the planet, despite the team representing a city with a population smaller than Henderson, Nevada.

They’ll wave their Terrible Towels at you and snarl about their six Super Bowl rings, when most of them have likely never been to Pittsburgh, let alone gone to a single game.

8/12
<p>Classic bandwagon college sports fan base. Duke is one of the top basketball programs in the country, so I get it. But does it mean that you’re supposed to get <em>every</em> call from the officials? Come on.</p>

<p>And your team has been in the top 10 for about the last 30 years ... could you cool it with storming the court? Show a little class.</p>

<p>Couple all that with their undying love for wildly overrated players like Steve Wojciechowski, Chris Collins and Grayson Allen, and I think you get what I mean.</p>

Classic bandwagon college sports fan base. Duke is one of the top basketball programs in the country, so I get it. But does it mean that you’re supposed to get every call from the officials? Come on.

And your team has been in the top 10 for about the last 30 years ... could you cool it with storming the court? Show a little class.

Couple all that with their undying love for wildly overrated players like Steve Wojciechowski, Chris Collins and Grayson Allen, and I think you get what I mean.

9/12
<p>You know how fans pray to themselves, “If we win this Super Bowl, I don’t care if we stink for the next decade!” That’s a Giants fan. Right now. Except for the fact that they will still wear their worn-out Michael Strahan jerseys to this day, with the sleeve torn and the numbers hanging off.</p>

<p>That jersey is what the team looks like nowadays. Since winning Super Bowl XLVI nine years ago, the Giants have been to the playoffs once. And a trip to MetLife Stadium is not exactly for the meek. My 9-year-old learned several new words that day, most of them directed at him, none of them printable.</p>

You know how fans pray to themselves, “If we win this Super Bowl, I don’t care if we stink for the next decade!” That’s a Giants fan. Right now. Except for the fact that they will still wear their worn-out Michael Strahan jerseys to this day, with the sleeve torn and the numbers hanging off.

That jersey is what the team looks like nowadays. Since winning Super Bowl XLVI nine years ago, the Giants have been to the playoffs once. And a trip to MetLife Stadium is not exactly for the meek. My 9-year-old learned several new words that day, most of them directed at him, none of them printable.

10/12
<p>You have to hand it to Raiders fans, they dress the part. I mean, they get into it. Fans show up to games dressed like they’re auditioning for the entourage of the old Road Warriors from wrestling back in the day. I think the fact that they dress up makes them think that transforms them into some alter ego, like a superhero form of themselves; only it’s just loud and abusive.</p>

<p>The Raiders are in Las Vegas now and I can’t wait to see what Raider Nation looks like with the Vegas treatment.</p>

You have to hand it to Raiders fans, they dress the part. I mean, they get into it. Fans show up to games dressed like they’re auditioning for the entourage of the old Road Warriors from wrestling back in the day. I think the fact that they dress up makes them think that transforms them into some alter ego, like a superhero form of themselves; only it’s just loud and abusive.

The Raiders are in Las Vegas now and I can’t wait to see what Raider Nation looks like with the Vegas treatment.

11/12
<p>I don’t know when Notre Dame became the end-all, be-all college football program, but I never got it. If you went to the school or have a family member who has, that’s cool. If you’re a fan because they’re on TV every week or because you have Irish blood, that’s unacceptable.</p>

<p>A lot of ND fans probably couldn’t find the campus on a map. "Meet the Press" is on TV every week. You don’t see many people rocking a Chuck Todd tattoo.</p>

<p>And the Irish thing is just silly. Why do you root for Notre Dame, but not the Celtics? Their mascot is an actual leprechaun!</p>

I don’t know when Notre Dame became the end-all, be-all college football program, but I never got it. If you went to the school or have a family member who has, that’s cool. If you’re a fan because they’re on TV every week or because you have Irish blood, that’s unacceptable.

A lot of ND fans probably couldn’t find the campus on a map. "Meet the Press" is on TV every week. You don’t see many people rocking a Chuck Todd tattoo.

And the Irish thing is just silly. Why do you root for Notre Dame, but not the Celtics? Their mascot is an actual leprechaun!

12/12
<p>Another group who looks down on the rest of the league’s fans for its past glory. Nearly 30 years since the Canadiens' last title, and their fans can’t wait to shower you with all of their (former) great players.</p>

<p>Maybe it’s for the best that their team doesn’t win anything. When they beat the Penguins to make the Eastern Conference Final in 2010, the fans tore the city apart.</p>

Another group who looks down on the rest of the league’s fans for its past glory. Nearly 30 years since the Canadiens' last title, and their fans can’t wait to shower you with all of their (former) great players.

Maybe it’s for the best that their team doesn’t win anything. When they beat the Penguins to make the Eastern Conference Final in 2010, the fans tore the city apart.

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