the internet has allowed countless bloggers and fans to write about and express their views in a way not previously available to them. People are able to share thoughts and exchange ideas. For those who don't live in the home-town or state of their chosen teams The internet is a great tool. The level of information now available to anyone, just for the taking, is incredible. In sports,, they can still connect with like-minded fans. The internet is creating a level of openness due to scrutiny that will, eventually, be great for sports.
It also has a dark side. It has created several types of internet jerk fans. Football fans who make being a fan hard for the rest of us. We are going to point out a few of them here.
The Jerk Nerd:
This guy thinks he is a genius. He is the smartest of smart fans. He knows all the rules. He knows all the stats. He knows all about everything. And he lives to shove it in others' faces. He lives to be condescending and belittling. He believes that if you're not a jerk to the people you disagree with then you're not doing it right. He has no friends on any message board. Sometimes, folks who agree with him, on a certain topic, may think that they are friends. But sooner of later, they say something he disagrees with and he treats them as badly as anyone else. This creature of douchbaggery is generally not to be bothered with. He will argue until he is blue in the face. He will never learn to be polite or considerate to others. He will continue on being the same way he always has. Eventually, however, enough people will turn against him that he will decide that said board or site is no longer worthy of him. He will move on to the next place to spread his "enlightenment" there.
The "Real" Fan:
stand to hear anything negative The "Real" Fan believes that any disagreement with the team line is treason. He is a total lemming. He cannotabout his team...even if the criticism is coming from another fan of the team. This, inevitably, will start him arguing that "real fans" support the team no matter what. To him support means never questioning anything the team, coach, owner, or A.D. does. Ever. If you continue to criticize the team, he will start to yell for you to leave: "What are you doing on our site if you hate this team so much?" Don't bother explaining to him that you love the team, but hate what they are doing, he can't separate the two. He and his lemming cronies will scream and yell for you to leave until you finally stop bothering with the thread or post.
The Coaches Personality Cult:
The Coaches Personality Cult is made up of fans who believe that the coach, owner, A.D. or players are the smartest people on the planet. Only they are smart enough to be allowed to have opinions on anything relating to CPC's team. These fans are closely related to the "real" fan; many times they are the same person. They argue that any opinion you have, that is against anything said by anyone involved with the team, is heresy. They use the argument "Well we don't know what they know, so we can't make those calls." They also believe in blindly following. They ignore the fact that they, themselves, are constantly posting opinions on a plethora of subjects and that by their own logic they shouldn't voice any opinion at all.
Of course all of these fans have one thing in common: if they can't argue you down using their preferred tactics, they resort to the grammar arguments. They simply go back into your posts or columns until they find a simple grammar or spelling error. They then tout this error as proof of their intellectual superiority.
The simple truth is sports are meant to be fun. Enjoy the games and enjoy debating all aspects of the game, but don't live and die by what you believe. Anyone can be wrong and anyone can be right. Opinions are a dime a dozen. Just don't loose sight of the real purpose of sports: entertainment and competition. Don't use sports as a reason to treat other fans poorly.
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