Can someone be both a A’s and Giants fan? Cal AND Stanford!?!
(Written by kencraw)
Peter Hartlaub of the SF Chronicle is a Giants fan, but went to the A’s game yesterday and considers himself a fan of both (yet primarily a Giants fan). He wrote an article about it:
The rules of regional sports are much more flexible to me.
My favorite teams are the Giants, 49ers and Cal. When their interests don’t intersect — which is about 95 percent of the time — I also want good things to happen to the A’s, Raiders and Stanford.
Frankly, I’m mostly with him for the pro Teams. I’m an A’s fan first, but I don’t dislike the Giants and will root for them when it doesn’t affect the A’s. Same with the 49’ers, when they’re not playing the Raiders.
But obviously it’s VERY different when it comes to Stanford. Only time I don’t root for the Pac-12 to win the Rose Bowl? When Stanford is in it. Only team I don’t root for to beat USC? Stanford.
So I asked myself, what is it that makes Stanford different? A few possibilities:
- I’m a biggest fan of the Bears, thus the other team is less desirable: Perhaps this is a factor. My next team would be the A’s and it is the Giants who would be 2nd on my dislike list, if i had to rank them. But it’s so wholly different this doesn’t account for it.
- Other Bears fans feel strongly, more so than the A’s or Raiders fans: Eh, not sure about this one. Raiders fans generally hate the 49’ers. A’s fans are not as bad. Nevertheless there might be a factor here.
- They’re in the same league: Now this one makes a lot of sense. A’s and Giant’s are really competition for each other until the World Series (only happened once). Same for the Raiders and 49’ers (never happened). But Cal and Stanford play a meaningful game every year AND the other games we play affect each other too. This one seems like it makes a big difference.
- College is different than pro: This makes a bit of sense too. One of the things I like about going to Cal football games is the sense of ownership is MUCH higher than the pro teams. Too many pro teams have left too many towns for pro-fans to not have just a tid-bit of distance from their favorite team. Pro teams are a business and fans are just part of the bottom line. Not so with college sports. Cal football isn’t going to relocate. The goal of the team is to build up the University. One that many of the fans went to. The level of commitment is unparalleled. Thus by corollary, fans of the other teams are further away and more adversarial.
Those last two reasons seem most accurate to me. What do you guys think?
October 3rd, 2012 at 9:40 am
Following the A’s and the Giants gives a sports fan info about all the other teams. In a single team town like San Diego, we rarely hear about AL teams and players. In the Bay Area, you are exposed to AL & NL teams.
This discussion reminds of the joke that went around when the A’s moved to Oakland in ’68:
Are you going to be a Giants fan or an athletic supporter?
If you don’t get the joke, Google “athletic supporter”.
This was the state of humor in the ’60’s. I’m glad I’ve survived long enough to evolve.
October 3rd, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Uncle Rick, considering the Padres’ current record and Time Warner cable blackout situation, I’m shocked there is any baseball exposure in San Diego…
That being said, I have to disagree with both Ken and Peter. Part of me was happy for my friends that are Giants fans that they won the World Series. The other part me was super annoyed because I hate the Giants as equally passionately as I hate the Cardinal. And the 49ers. The only Californian sports team I like that doesn’t reside in the Oakland-Berkeley metropolitan area is the LA Lakers, because living in New England, I really really hate the Boston Celtics. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
October 3rd, 2012 at 12:41 pm
I must admit bro, when the Giants won the world series, I was kinda miffed. I liked them getting there, but it was so nice having bragging rights as A’s fans, world series wise. We still do of course… 4 to 1, but it was nice when the Giants rivaled the Bears for lack of success.
But with the 49’ers, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t root for them when the Raiders weren’t involved… minus the short period when I was a fan of anyone but the 49’ers just to get under my step-mother’s skin as a teenager.
October 3rd, 2012 at 9:13 pm
As a life long Giants fan, I hated the A’s until 2010. Once the Giants had theirs, I wasn’t so envious of A’s trophies and the snide remarks about the Giants never winning the WS. Now I wish them well. The bay area sports scene is better when both MLB teams are successful. I’m a total bandwagon fan this year enjoying their amazing run in the second half.
Also, what makes Stanford different and easy to hate? Here are a few things that come to mind:
-It’s namesake was a robber baron who exploited immigrant labor for untold riches
-It’s a private bastion of privlage that propagates inequality
-John Elway
-Their mascot is a tree
-The band
I could keep that list going all night. The point is, no Cal fan could ever root for the ‘furd except if a ‘furd win would send Cal to the Rose Bowl. That’s it.
October 4th, 2012 at 10:58 am
The band… if there’s one thing that makes Stanford a joke, it’s the band. I know that if I’m talking to someone who isn’t convinced Stanford is the evil joke that it is, all it takes is a couple of youtube videos of the Stanford Band and I will have won a convert to our cause.
October 8th, 2012 at 5:35 am
As much as I hate Stanford, I kind of respect their band for continuing to be as terrible as they are. I mean you’d think they’d eventually become self aware like Skynet, but they remain blissfully ignorant.