Haterade
by Gary Gambino

Toward the end of the 2007 football season I joined the Facebook social networking group. I was just sitting there perusing the features Facebook has to offer when I stumbled upon something called "1,000,000 Strong Against The New England Patriots." This is a site devoted to "Cheaters. Liars. Terrible sports. Cry babies. Ungraceful winners...The New England Patriots. This group is for all football fans who absolutely despise the most unethical football team in recent sports history. This team has managed to drastically overshadow any talent they might have by taking part in a weekly tradition of running up the score, leaving their starters in after running up the score, only then to complain about how the opposing team did something to disable them from running the score up any further."

Also, when Spygate broke in a big way, hundreds of photos were posted, some embarrassing in their own right, like Patriot players in seemingly compromising positions during games, and many Photoshopped ones, such as one of Tom Brady in a Pats halter top, as well as the one of a Patriots logo with a spy camera that adorns The Sports Courant's home page.

There are many such groups on Facebook and Myspace, sports-related and otherwise. The only bad thing is that one has to be a [free] subscriber to participating in social networking "haterade" groups like "1,000,000 Strong Against Hillary Clinton."

Not too long ago I received an invitation from Mr. Aaron Blaylock to join the Myspace page of "2BigBaldGuys.com", the latest video venture of Aaron and Jason Day. I watched the videos, was informed and entertained, until one day I got something from "San Antonio Sucks." (http://myspace.com/sanantoniosucks) Curious, I clicked on it, and have been hooked ever since.

What follows is an email I received from the husband of the site owner:

"I'm 31 and a Technologies Director for a Fortune 500 company in Phoenix. Nicole, my wife, is 25 and was a Project Manager for a local roofing company, but stopped working just before Christmas in preparation for the birth of our daughter.

The idea of this design came as a result of a "gag gift" a friend made for a friend-of-a-friend, who is a Spurs fan. After the Suns were eliminated from the playoffs last year, he made up an exact replica San Antonio Spurs logo shirt, but it instead read "SUCKS". It was hillarious, and all the Suns fans we knew wanted one.

Now that Nicole is temporarily "retired", she wanted some non-mommy responsibilties and decided to start a home-based business. So we decided to alter that original San Antonio Sucks design enough to not be a copyright infringement (it's close, but not over the line) by changing the colors, fonts, and making some other minor detailed changes. The concept of her company (still to be named, officially) is to produce merchandise that enables sports fans to taunt fans of the opposing team. Obviously here in Phoenix, the San Antonio Spurs were an easy first target.

More designs are in the works for commonly hated teams in MLB, NFL and others in the NBA. We will also have this design availble in the other NBA team colors (who doesn't hate the Spurs?).

Thanks a lot!
- Chris Walker"

The Internet has made it easier than ever to love -- or hate -- a particular sports team. My personal list includes the aforementioned Cheatriots and Spurs along with the ever-obnoxious, classless, championship-buying Yankees. Conversely, I have for 37 years been a "got five?" Lone Star shirt-wearing fan of arguably the most despised team in pro sports, the Dallas Cowboys. The abuse I have been forced to endure is palpable. Oh, the humanity!

Do you hear violins? I do.

Why is there so much animosity against recent multiple-championship teams? My previous columns have helped, I hope, to explain things. Another thought is that, as the money in pro sports has become astronomical, fans expect more. They expect more than spy cameras or point guards being slammed into scorer's tables by goons or Hank Steinbrenner's recent elitist rantings. Can you really blame sports aficionados for feeling this way? I certainly can't.

Now it's your turn. What team or teams do you really hate? You may either respond directly to this column or email me directly at gambz1964@hotmail.com where I will definitely respond. If I get enough responses, this poll may even have some scientific validity. Woo-hoo!