Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

After last week's lighthearted joke about the Overbay Game in reference to Fitz's repost of a regular season Cards-Cubs game, I just noticed in the comments section that Fitz "assume[s] that [I don't] truly HATE any team in sports."

And I've come to the conclusion that just maybe he's right, but it's not my fault. Blame it on the great state of Wisconsin and my age.

The NFL

Hailing from Wisconsin makes 99.99% of us Green Bay fans by birthright, and understandably so (Nasty Naus, actually, is one of the .01%ers). No Homo Juelz Santana, as a typical but not rabid Packers fan, I'm well aware of the history of the Bears-Packers rivalry. Since these are two of the oldest and most successful franchises in NFL history, and given their location, the rivalry makes sense. And there was certainly some bitterness in the 80s, with highlight reel replays like the Packers lineman bodyslamming Jim McMahon after a play.

The problem is that the Bears haven't been good since approximately 1987. I was simply too young to follow the NFL at that point; I only began to follow the NFL with the ascension of Don Majik Man Majkowski in the early 90s when the Packers made the playoffs for the first time in forever. That gets to the root of the problem: the Bears have been so laughably bad for nearly all of my existence that it's impossible to hate them. In fact, I find myself rooting for them once in awhile, and Nasty Naus is a big Bears fan.

The team I probably do come closest to hating is the Minnesota Vikings. But my disgust with the Vikings is shared by most people, thanks to:



Thankfully, the Vikings have either been laughably bad or the biggest chokeartists in any sport during their existence. Seriously, their NFC Final loss against Atlanta was one of my top 5 favorite sports moments of all time, which says a lot about our teams.

The NBA

The Bucks have actually been consistently good but never great since the 80s, except for 5 terrible years under Mike Dungleavy in the 1990s. Their biggest rivalry in that period has probably been the 76ers, who I definitely don't like, but don't hate either.

If the team I dislike the most is the Vikings, the Jordan Bulls run a close second, but that was general disgust at the dickriding (no homo) of Jordan and the Bucks being terrible.

The MLB

When you're a Brewers fan, the only individuals you hate have Selig in their names. For example, tonight the Brewers are losing 3-0 after 7 innings despite only giving up one hit, which just so happened to be a 3 run shot by pitcher Brad Hennessey.

With that said, I loved rooting against the Angels and Red Sox until they won World Series, if only because they had it worse off than Milwaukee fans. Luckily, that leaves the Cubs, and now that I think about it that Bartman episode may be one of my Top 5 sports moments of all time as well.

The NHL

Wisconsin is one of the coldest states in America. Phoenix is one of the hottest places on the planet. We have the Milwaukee Admirals from the IHL, but since I'm not Fly, I don't care about minor league sports.

Sans an NHL team, I've rooted for the New Jersey Devils since my family's originally from there. But I don't watch the NHL until the playoffs anyway.

The Rest

I can't think of any other high profile sports teams, since Milwaukee's not affiliated with any of them. In fact, our most successful team is the Milwaukee Wave from some sort of soccer league. They keep winning their title. The fact that Milwaukee's best team kicks the ball on grass (no jokes about the Brewers here please) is almost enough to bring me to tears.

So forgive me if I don't hate a team. Blame it on the Badger State.