Yeah. Agreed. When I hear people say they hate an athlete they don't know for some stupid reason, I tend to think they're rather, well, self absorbed or narrow minded or....whatever.
Perhaps it's because you don't feel the same about sports the way other people do, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, or that you're wrong. You feel your way, and most likely the
vast majority of sports fans feel the same way I expressed myself. The difference is when people say they
'hate' and athlete, it's in the context or sporting competition. A lot of players themselves even say they hate each other, in the moment. Vince Carter said he and Kobe at times
hated each other. I think you might be again, either taking things out of context, or misunderstanding, or perhaps don't have the capacity to understand it from the viewpoint of others. I'm not saying you lack anything, but I know for myself, with certain things, either people say, do, or behave, I just don't understands and can't comprehend their thinking, reasoning, motives, etc.
But instead, you choose to just
assume people are self absorbed, or narrow minded. It sounds like you are placing a lot of judgement on a lot of people. Just because people don't view things, say thing, respond to things in the same manner you do, doesn't mean they are any of those things you
assume, or have any ill intent.
I can't say Jordan was better, Kobe was better, etc. I know Jordan broke a lot of hearts and Kobe did the same. Both were fierce competitors, hard workers who gave it everything they had, among the greatest that ever stepped on to the basketball court, and, unless they did something really, really wrong that I don't know about, don't deserve anyone's dislike.
Again, I think you just have a different viewpoint, and opinion. Herm Edwards said it best, "You play to win the game." Therefore it's a competition, no one is happy when they lose, and no one is happy for the other people, not in the moment, and not immediately after. Not when the competition is on that level. And their fans (literally derived from fanatics) feel the same way. So again, I think either because you loved Kobe and are taking things perhaps a little too personal (again sort of like the majority of sports fans do), or you just view things very differently, and for some reason are choosing to hold other people in contempt.
I lived in the Bay Area/Santa Cruz area for about 30 years and in Los Angeles for an extended period of time. I don't want to over-generalize, but Bay Area fans (and I count myself among them) are a lot more, well, insecure about their teams. Sport fans in LA don't really worry about other teams as much. They tend to have more varied interests.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, so I think I have some room to debate your claims.
49ers 6 appearances 5 rings. 4th most appearances and tied 2nd most wins.
Giants 20 appearances 8 wins tied 2nd most appearances and 2nd most wins. 3 in 5 years recently.
A's haven't won anything recently, but overall they have 14 appearances and 9 wins, 1 appearance in 89, and 1 win in 90.
Raiders - 1 appearance in 2002 and 5 total, 3 wins total which is tied for 4th.
Sharks - Fair enough no titles, but went in 2016 and for the last decade have been one of the best teams in the NHL.
Warriors - 11 appearances, 5 wins, both 3rd most all time. Best regular season record.
Again, I think you're just generalizing, for millions of sports fans, and making assumptions. I'd almost go as far as to say that your statement about Bay Area sports teams being 'insecure' is completely incorrect, but I won't assume that it's not true for some people. I know a lot of fans of all of those teams, A's fans are probably the most elitist fans out of all of them, Raiders fans are similarly so arrogant. Sharks fan have a ton of pride, especially in the San Jose area. Sure 9er fans have been in a slump, while the last 20 years hasn't been nearly as good as it was the previous 20, it hasn't been without it's highlights and up years.
As for Warriors fans, things have changed. It's not even remotely the same crowd as it was 5-7+ years ago. But even when the Warriors teams were horrendous, and they were for a very long time, those fans were as about great a fanbase as they came. Games were always fun to go go, even if they were at far less than full capacity. Insecure? Not at all, we took a ton of pride just making it to the playoffs finally in 07. Perhaps in agony because of how bad they were for so long, with hopes of just having a .500+ year, and right back to agony when the playoff appearance was so short lived.
What fanbase isn't jealous of another team's success, especially when it's sustained for years like the Lakers, or the Patriots? When
someone else's team is winning multiple championship, and your team is perpetually stuck below a .500 winning record, who wouldn't be jealous? Insecure though? Not even remotely close.
Also stating that LA sports fans don't worry about other teams as much, and 'have other interests' comes off as an incredibly petty statement. You're right, what other interests could Bay Area sports fan's possibly have other than sports? Since they're so insecure, they must surely just fidget around nervously with nothing else to do. Which is why no one wants to live in the Bay Area, and Silicon Valley clearly has nothing going on for it.
If you take issue with what I said about Kobe, again, maybe it's because you're such a big Kobe fan, and you're being emotional, and choosing to be upset over a small piece of what I said about him. I
"hated" the man, because he was
so damn good. He
killed the Kings, a team I rooted for due to temporary ties to them. And the Warriors were at the bottom of the barrel at the time, so it was nothing but "already, let's get ready for this a** whooping". It wasn't because I had, or have any animosity towards him, it's because...it's sports! You're not supposed to like losing to anyone else, you're not supposed to like the other team in the heat of competition. And as Doc Samson pointed out about himself, I too was a Jordan fan, and grew up idolizing him. So my statement was of that in the moment about debates amongst myself and the kids at the time that were younger than me that didn't even watch Jordan play. Same could be said about the generation before me about Jordan, that to them Russell was the best to ever play (and he honestly might be, not even being remotely hyperbolic).
Lastly, if you take issue with me mentioning Kobe's off court controversies, then I imagine you have issues with a lot of the news outlets right now, and individual journalists. Hell, ESPN's very own tribute video mentions the case! I specifically went out of my way to say I
didn't hate him for any of that, the Shaq feud, or anything else. It was because he was a elite competitor, one of the best, that I was
supposed to root again. Kobe would know that better than anyone else. No one is not without their flaws. I'm not judging the man for his, but to deify him, and act like the man is was a saint would be wrong, and unfair.
I'm fine with everything I said in my tribute post to Kobe, I went out of my way to do so for an athlete, that I hated watching, hated seeing my teams get killed by. Because that's what we do in sports, we don't
want the other team to win, or the other players to succeed. Because if they do, that means our team loses. It doesn't come from a place of internal hate for the human being they are. I was, and still am in awe of Kobe's talent on the court. As much as I
didn't like Kobe Bryant the Laker, and he was a member of a team I directly rooted, and will always root against. Hearing about him passing hit me harder than I can remember hearing any celebrity (to which none of us have any personal attachment to) I can remember, and Robin Williams hit me heard, and was the first celebrity death that took me back, because I grew up knowing who he was.
I was, and am still shocked that it's real, and wish it wasn't. I'm deeply saddened by the loss of his life, the others on the helicopter, and of course his daughter. Again no ill feelings, but a lot of what you said seemed to place judgement on a lot of people, and you made a lot of assumptions. That's the last I will say of it, and on this.
