Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
i'm born and bred caps fan before i ever was football fan. with that said noone outside of pittsburgh likes the penguins and it seems fans around here in the dc area treat the penguins as if they were part of the original 6 and deserve more praises.
i still think the nhl favors certain teams like the penguins and are blantant about certain games for ratings.
with that said.... i'll gladly go into the consol energy center rocking the red when the caps plays there next season.
i'm born and bred caps fan before i ever was football fan. with that said noone outside of pittsburgh likes the penguins and it seems fans around here in the dc area treat the penguins as if they were part of the original 6 and deserve more praises.
Why do the "Original Six" necessarily deserve praise? The circle jerk between those fan bases rivals the one in the SEC during college football season. You think Penguins fans are entitled and arrogant? Fans of the Original Six act like their teams deserve special treatment simply because they existed first. They're very provincial fan bases with blatant hostility toward newcomers.
Perfect example of Crosby being a baby- at the end of the game last night, when many of the pens were clearly sincerely congratulating the bruins players, patting them on the back, etc, Crosby was barely touching their hands and looking angry. I understand that he's disappointed, but that's just childish and totally unsportsmanlike. He's not the only one doing it, but extra scrutiny goes with the territory of being team captain, and one of the most famous and well paid players in hockey.
I agree that being one of the "original 6" means nothing though. No one should expect to be handed wins or respect, not because they're original 6 or even because have some of the best players in hockey.
There's a massive amount of disrespect directed not just at Sidney Crosby, but the Penguins and the fans as well. Lots of revisionist history as well.
The way people outside of Pittsburgh tell it, the Penguins declared bankruptcy and almost left town because all the fans are front-runners who didn't care to support the team during its lean years in the early 2000's, but the Penguins deliberately tanked for draft picks, and Gary Bettman rigged the NHL Entry Draft in 2005 so the Penguins could draft Sidney Crosby and get all the fans back in the stands, and then ordered the referees to favor the Penguins so they'd win games and give the team and fans a Stanley Cup that wasn't deserved.
Gnutella, I think you are *delusional* to think that people outside of Pittsburgh actually have enough time to even seriously suggest what you just said they do.
Trust me, I'm from Minneapolis: a pretty darn good hockey town. Like, 20,000 butts in the seats for HIGH SCHOOL hockey tournaments good. And we didn't even have a big enough obsession with Pittsburgh hockey to spin some elaborate web of lies about the Penguins, so what makes you think that in markets where the fanbase is mostly casual, that they would even bother with it???
Why do the "Original Six" necessarily deserve praise? The circle jerk between those fan bases rivals the one in the SEC during college football season. You think Penguins fans are entitled and arrogant? Fans of the Original Six act like their teams deserve special treatment simply because they existed first. They're very provincial fan bases with blatant hostility toward newcomers.
Provincial? Leafs fans are provincial? Some of the most knowledgeable in the world, who could probably tell you more about your team than you even know? You're inducing hearty laughter from me with every new post, Gnutella...
Gnutella, I think you are *delusional* to think that people outside of Pittsburgh actually have enough time to even seriously suggest what you just said they do.
Then you'd be wrong, and apparently you don't discuss hockey on the internet. The narrative on the Penguins is one that began in 2009 shortly after they won the Stanley Cup, and has (d)evolved since. Spend some time in the comments sections of Penguins-related articles on NHL.com and ESPN.com, and you're bound to encounter every bogus talking point I've highlighted -- repeatedly. Some fans even proclaim that Pittsburgh doesn't deserve a hockey team, let alone a successful one. The worst offenders tend to be fans of the Bruins, Capitals, Devils, Flyers, Islanders, Rangers and Red Wings, but I've seen people from nearly every otherhockey fan base parrot that stupid ****. It's proof that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by srsmn
Trust me, I'm from Minneapolis: a pretty darn good hockey town. Like, 20,000 butts in the seats for HIGH SCHOOL hockey tournaments good. And we didn't even have a big enough obsession with Pittsburgh hockey to spin some elaborate web of lies about the Penguins, so what makes you think that in markets where the fanbase is mostly casual, that they would even bother with it???
You don't have to be "obsessed" with Pittsburgh hockey; you simply have to believe the stupid narrative that some fans who don't like the Penguins have created about them in the last four years. As for the more "casual" fan bases, I've seen fans of Avalanche, Coyotes, Ducks, Kings, Lightning and Predators start the "bandwagon Penguins fans" crap as recently as last week. Are there bandwagon Penguins fans? Yes, same as there are for any other team that wins a lot in any sport. But the anti-Penguins bandwagon is much bigger now. Bandwagons don't have to be driven by fanaticism; they can be driven by hatred as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by srsmn
Provincial? Leafs fans are provincial? Some of the most knowledgeable in the world, who could probably tell you more about your team than you even know? You're inducing hearty laughter from me with every new post, Gnutella...
"Original Six" fans might know more about hockey than I do, but I guarantee you not a damn one of them knows more about attendance trends by team in the last 20 to 25 years. I'd post all the data right now, but I'm not done updating it to include the 2012-2013 season, and the formatting I've done on the Notepad file would have to be edited a lot in order to make it readable here.
By the way, if you're still not convinced that there's an irrational hatred of the Penguins permeating through the NHL, then here's some reading material for you:
So, is there anyone out there who doesn't hate Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins?
Coaches, assistant coaches, failed GMs, ancient Canadian broadcast icons and random tweeters have been lining up in recent days to get their kicks in at Crosby and the Penguins.
Sitting in a suite above the ice at Consol Energy Center, the "Stanley Cup Playoffs" logos freshly painted, his team working out in advance of Wednesday's opening game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Penguins GM Ray Shero admits to being puzzled at what has taken place the past couple of weeks.
For a year and a half, Shero was dogged by questions from around the hockey world about his captain.
The hockey world waited with bated breath for his answers, for news on Crosby, the face of not just the franchise but the game. When was Crosby coming back? Would he come back at all?
And now that he's tearing it up with 25 points in 14 games -- and 12 in his past five -- since coming back March 15, many can't wait to tear Crosby and his teammates down.
Sometimes I just can't understand a fan's mind. It's one thing to be passionate in not only supporting your favorite team but also disliking your most-hated team, but it's another to lose objectivity.
I'm a fan and I cheer for my alma mater in sports like there's no tomorrow, but I can admit when they're an underdog or just simply not as good as our rivals, which I hate.
Anyway, this brings me to the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a completely unscientific poll here, but I get the feeling this is the NHL's most-hated team. I could rank the Penguins 30th out of 30 teams and some would find that ranking too high.
If I were to guess, I would assume it has to do with fans' dislike for Sidney Crosby and the feeling that the team gets a lot of cachet just based on the logo on their sweater. It's "the Penguins are always overhyped" type of thinking. But it's probably mostly Crosby.
The Pittsburgh Penguins came under fire in the weeks leading up to the playoffs. First, there was the Peter Laviolette incident, where the Flyers bench boss accused Penguins coach Dan Bylsma of putting out his checking line to injure his players, nearly jumping the glass to scream at him. Then, there was the John Torterella incident, where the Rangers head coach blasted the Penguins organization as being one of the "most arrogant organizations in the league."
So what's with all the Pittsburgh hate?
If you want to know why the Pittsburgh Penguins are the league's most hated team, it's because it's also the one with the least amount of class, the one with a hypocritical owner and the one with players who play with an intent to injure when they can't handle getting destroyed by the opposition.
Yesterday, Sports Illustrated posted their "25 Most Hated Teams of All Time" list yesterday with the 1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers coming in at No. 4 behind the '92 Dallas Cowboys, 1988-89 Detroit Pistons and the 1986 University of Miami football team.
But who would be candidates for the most hated teams in the NHL today?
Our choices are after the jump.
Pittsburgh Penguins. When you've won a recent Stanley Cup and are the center of various conspiracy theories ranging from the rigging of the 2005 NHL Draft to referees turning a blind eye every chance they can to Gary Bettman somehow being Sidney Crosby's(notes) father, you're not going to be very popular by fans around the league. This business of them being involved in yet another Winter Classic ain't helping things either.
Whenever Sidney Crosby gets a concussion, I laugh. As for the rest of the Penguins...who knows? Nobody ever reports on the rest of the team, only Sidney Biebersby. If the Penguins get eliminated again, I hope he cries like a whimpering douchebag again then gets dizzy from his past concussions and barfs on himself from the vertigo. That would be fun!
And here's exactly the misinformation I'm talking about on a topic asking which team is the most hated in the NHL:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beleafer
penguins because they were a dieing franchise about to move from pittsburgh then all of a sudden they win the cup and everyone becomes a fan of them. doesn't seem like real true pens fans to me and i think that aggravates people and make them hate the team
kind of sucks for the actual fans that were there through the tough times cause no one believes them
It even comes from -- -- an all-knowing Maple Leafs fan! Apparently he's one of the (too) many who don't understand that the team was "dying" because of the arena they played in, not the fans.
Now are you gonna keep claiming that I'm delusional? Quite frankly, if you haven't noticed the vitriol directed at the Penguins in the last few years, then you just haven't been paying attention.
For what it's worth (which probably isn't much), here are the ten NHL teams with the most "likes" on Facebook as of June 1:
1,378,709 - Detroit Red Wings
1,355,792 - Boston Bruins
1,292,397 - Pittsburgh Penguins
1,288,109 - Chicago Blackhawks
1,012,001 - Montreal Canadiens
1,029,984 - New York Rangers
858,602 - Philadelphia Flyers
814,622 - Vancouver Canucks
695,108 - Toronto Maple Leafs
546,519 - San Jose Sharks
This includes all of the Original Six, one third of the Next Six, plus the Canucks and Sharks.
The Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets, by the way, have fewer "likes" than the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL.
I get what you're saying, Gnutella, in that the Penguins are "hated" because they have been so successful recently, but I think you have a huge selection bias here as well:
"Spend some time in the comments sections of Penguins-related articles on NHL.com and ESPN.com, and you're bound to encounter every bogus talking point I've highlighted -- repeatedly"
People on Penguins related forums are of course going to discuss the Penguins, and the internet will bring out some of the crazies. I will reiterate that the vast, vast majority of hockey fans in this country don't buy into the narrative you posted. Most of us really don't care enough about the Penguins to follow them that closely or actually believe conspiracy theories, even if we may have heard them mentioned before....
i'm born and bred caps fan before i ever was football fan. with that said noone outside of pittsburgh likes the penguins and it seems fans around here in the dc area treat the penguins as if they were part of the original 6 and deserve more praises.
I know a ton of Penguins fans in Ontario. Sometimes a second-tier favourite to MTL/Toronto/Ottawa, but quite popular nonetheless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by groar
Perfect example of Crosby being a baby- at the end of the game last night, when many of the pens were clearly sincerely congratulating the bruins players, patting them on the back, etc, Crosby was barely touching their hands and looking angry. I understand that he's disappointed, but that's just childish and totally unsportsmanlike. He's not the only one doing it, but extra scrutiny goes with the territory of being team captain, and one of the most famous and well paid players in hockey.
Oh please. Amazing how much insight you have from short video of Crosby in a handshaking line. Ever considered that you see what you want to see?
Oh please. Amazing how much insight you have from short video of Crosby in a handshaking line. Ever considered that you see what you want to see?
i really don't have a dog in this fight; certainly not enough to "see what i want to see". it's not hard to see someone's facial expressions and the fact that they're touching people for like 3 seconds with a limp hand and not shaking hands. i am not a big hockey fan, the only team i really rooted for was the whalers and they don't exist any more. and that was only because we went to games when i was a kid. some years i pay more attention to hockey than others and this was a year where i paid attention.
i have never had anything against the pens. i actually loved them when i moved here (late 2000) cause i liked that the owner of the team played on the team. i really haven't followed the political stuff that people were talking about earlier as a reason that people hate the pens. but i've seen crosby pulling this kind of stuff over and over. he's just a sore loser, and he acts like everything should be handed to him because he's been told his whole life that he's the greatest. he's a great player; he just needs to grow up and have some humility and class.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
-- an all-knowing Maple Leafs fan! Apparently he's one of the (too) many who don't understand that the team was "dying" because of the arena they played in, not the fans.
