Springfield Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 And mainly the ones that root for out of town teams. Why is that so? It really grinds my gears that at every Washington professional sporting event one will usually find a large amount of fans from opposing teams. Of the events that I have been to, the Redskins usually draw the most home team fans. Capitals games, Nationals games (haven't been to a Wizards game since they were the Bullets) are always ridden with opponent fans. It is often times so bad that the cheers for the oponent are louder than for the home team. Why does this happen? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a couple of theories... 1) The home teams are terrible, therefore out of town fans are likely to make the trip here to see their favorite team play because good seats are readily available. Example: Mets vs. Nationals (last year, as the Nats were busy ruining the Mets playoff hopes) 2) The issue is a problem of the dynamic of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The area if filled with thousands and thousands of jobs filled by military, political and general government people. These people move here from out of town with their favorite team already established and go to our home games to root for their favorite team. Example: Fort Belvoir (or one of the other military bases in the area) has a multitide of people who didn't grow up around here and has no desire to be a fan of any Washington team. 3) Many of the governmental "favors" in this area produces a high amount of season ticket holders that have no interest in attending all (or any) of the games. This results in those people just handing over the tickets to whoever they like. Example: Ted Leonsis needed a positive vote in something related to the internets so senator insert name here took some season tickets off of his hands for that positive vote (oh wait, that never happens!). Senator insert name here hands off a lot of his tickets to aides because he can't make the game/doesn't want to go/whatever. 4) A mix of the above reasons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Whatever the reasons may be, it really grinds my gears. I can't believe that this would happen all over the place, maybe it does. I'm not proposing that fans of other teams shouldn't be allowed at our home team games, I'm just bewildered by the amount of people from the opponents come to our home games by ratio. Any ideas? Does it happen everywhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mass_SkinsFan Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Springfield, I have to tell you that I think it's MOSTLY your second suggestion. The Washington DC area is a magnet for people from other areas due to its military, political, and governmental focus. Those people moving into the area bring their prior sports affiliations with them, and the fact that the Washington area sports teams haven't exactly been world beaters the last decade or so, lead to less "home town" fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stwasm Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 To piggyback on what you two have said, D.C. is a very transient city where you find VERY few people actually FROM the area. In fact, I'm the only native Washingtonian in my entire family. Thus, you'll often find camps of people at events who actually cheer for the visiting team. One factor for the number of Cowboys fans you see in this area -- specifically in the black community -- is that George Preston Marshall wouldn't put blacks on his team until Congress and President Kennedy ordered them to, while Dallas was one of the first NFL teams to actively recruit from historically black colleges and universities. A lot of blacks in this region never forgave the Redskins for that and, to this day, refuse to cheer for them even though Doug Williams won a Super Bowl for Washington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMK9973 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 It is number 2. Same reason I continue to root for the Redskins no matter where I live. #3 comes in to play, in the sense that lots of people buy tickets with the intent of giving them away. The people who ask, are those who want to go when "Their" Team is playing someone local. For instance - When ever the Nationals are in town against the Dodgers, I ask our company, who has season tickets, for those tickets. Of course -There is one more factor, at least when it comes to the Wizard's. When they were REALLY bad (90's), their Marketing team would advertise to come watch THE OTHER TEAM. You would see the big ads advertising the other teams stars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rincewind Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 I moved around a lot when I was young and ended in South Jersey - NO WAY IN HELL was I going to cheer for Philly teams. Redskins - lived here in 82-83. You do the math. Cap - same as above. Pistons - not a big basketball fan, but I like Isiah when I lived there 84-86 Yankees - Don Mattingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsHokieFan Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Its number 2 and number 3 A good example is the Caps-Penguins game today. 50/50 crowd mainly because everyone moves out of Pittsburgh and to places like DC. Do you realize how many people you meet here that are originally from Western PA? Number 3 also is a bigger factor, but none more then number 2. The population changes every election around these parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 So does this happen in other cities? Or is it a prominently Washington thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drockvb Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 The Nationals are relatively new, and many people already had become fans of other teams before they came into existance. So this is a good reason you see a lot of opposing fans at Nats games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsHokieFan Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 So does this happen in other cities? Or is it a prominently Washington thing? It happens around here because there is a small base of "native" Washingtonians It doesn't happen in NYC because that tri-state area is huge and is filled with natives. Same with Chicago and Philly The big thing is Washington DC draws people to it far more then any other city on earth. New York City is probably second and London right behind But considering our area may have a population of about 4 million, when you include DC, Fairfax, Montgomery, Loudon, P.G, Anne Arundel, Prince William counties, and a good chunk of that is people not born here, its easy to see why it happens To give you solace though, RFK was never invaded by opposing fans. Caps games in the 80s never had opposing fans there and neither did the Bullets back in the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVRedskinsFan Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 To give you solace though, RFK was never invaded by opposing fans. Caps games in the 80s never had opposing fans there and neither did the Bullets back in the day That's not true, me and my dad went to two games at RFK, one against the Giants and the other against the Eagles, the Giants game taking place during the '91 Super Bowl year, and I can tell you both times we were surrounded by fans of the opposition, although I think it's far worse now. Out here in Vegas there are a HUGE amount of Redskins fans, so I think the country in general is becoming a huge mixing bowl as far as team allegiance goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
909997 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 ur wrong about the wizards they have great fans plus they dont suck anymore they are pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsHokieFan Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 That's not true, me and my dad went to two games at RFK, one against the Giants and the other against the Eagles, the Giants game taking place during the '91 Super Bowl year, and I can tell you both times we were surrounded by fans of the opposition, although I think it's far worse now.Out here in Vegas there are a HUGE amount of Redskins fans, so I think the country in general is becoming a huge mixing bowl as far as team allegiance goes. Sorry I am calling BS on the 1991 Skins-Giants game at RFK The Redskins were 13-1 heading into that game, and the Giants were having a losing season that year. RFK only had 56,000 seats, its not like there were that many available for out of towners to buy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Brown #43 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 DC is the Ellis Island of American cities. People leave their hometowns where they can't find work, and come to settle here to DC. Most of them just continue supporting the teams of wherever they originally come from. It's sort of like some immigrants who come to the U.S. but don't assimilate into American society. Me, I'm a DC native and I pull for all the local pro teams (especially the Skins), plus my Alma Mater, GMU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 Might the emergance of StubHub have something to do with this (in particular at Redskins games)? Like I said earlier, Redskins games seem to be the least filled with opponents fans. But as an example, at every game last season there were two seats in the row in front of me that always had opponents fans. Just another posibilty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Brown #43 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Might the emergance of StubHub have something to do with this (in particular at Redskins games)? Like I said earlier, Redskins games seem to be the least filled with opponents fans. But as an example, at every game last season there were two seats in the row in front of me that always had opponents fans. Just another posibilty. Stubhub, ebay, etc., all play a part. But the bottom line is most people in DC are from somewhere else. Why do you think most conversations in this town begin with the question "where are you from?" That's not the case in most other cities. Seems like you're grasping for reasons, while the most obvious reason is staring you in the face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Hey SHF, thanks for being so quotable. :thumbsup: It doesn't happen in NYC because that tri-state area is huge and is filled with natives. Same with Chicago and PhillyThe big thing is Washington DC draws people to it far more then any other city on earth. New York City is probably second and London right behind After living in both I would have to say that NYC draws many more people, but a lot of people adopt everything NY as the are happy to leave what they left behind in the past. I also think people feel bullied by New Yorkers and such. Because so few people are really Washingtonians (incidentally, I'm actually third generation. but of course I don't live there now ) we don't have the numbers in the area to beef it up. I would also like to add that Washington is a white collar town and RFK was much more of a blue collar stadium than Fed Ex is. But considering our area may have a population of about 4 million, when you include DC, Fairfax, Montgomery, Loudon, P.G, Anne Arundel, Prince William counties, and a good chunk of that is people not born here, its easy to see why it happens I think you are right on with the population estimation. I'm pretty sure the metro area is 4 million people. To give you solace though, RFK was never invaded by opposing fans. Caps games in the 80s never had opposing fans there and neither did the Bullets back in the day RFK never had much, but Caps games have always been like being at a Flyers, Penguins, Islanders, Rangers, and Devils game depending on the day. I went to games probably starting around '85 and my fam used to have season tix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVRedskinsFan Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Sorry I am calling BS on the 1991 Skins-Giants game at RFKThe Redskins were 13-1 heading into that game, and the Giants were having a losing season that year. RFK only had 56,000 seats, its not like there were that many available for out of towners to buy Sorry if my post was misleading, I meant the year the Giants won the Super Bowl, the year before the Skins...The Giants won the Super Bowl in '91, the Skins in '92..I know it was the '90 and '91 seasons, I just got mixed up. But my point was that ther will always be a certain amount of fans from the other side, it's just gotten worse as time went on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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