I was thinking about the fan base and ownership quality of the final teams. I’m pretty much always going to support and favor the team with more history and have better fans. When it comes to quality of fans, I think in the National Hockey League fan bases must be evaluated relatively. For example, you can’t say St. Louis has a poor fan base because they don’t sell out every game. The fact is, hockey isn’t a tremendously popular sport and even the best fan bases don’t sell out every game. I believe St. Louis is a pretty good hockey city that supports the Blues despite being saturated with quite a few below average players recently.
In sports, fans are allowed to love and hate certain players, teams, and cities. It’s baseless and meaningless in real life but in the realm of sports, it’s different. As fans, we take offense when someone harms or disrespects a representative of our city. It’s never personal; it’s just the nature of sports and part of being a fan.
After having said all that, I don’t really want to see the Penguins win the Stanley Cup this year not because I have a particular distaste for the city, the fans, or the team, but for some very different reasons than people would otherwise think. Honestly, I respect the fans of Pittsburgh. They’re passionate and committed. My problem with the Penguins has more to do with the organization. » Read the rest of this entry «