Most hated teams ever in sports

[Alps]

For the next two weeks, the Tampa Bay Lightning will top my list of hated teams, but the following list is more of a regular basis.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins
2. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State (SIC) University Hoakies (they themselves misspelled it that way on souvenir cups, so I prefer to honor their own mistake when I use that name)
3. Philadelphia Flyers
4. New York Rangers
5. Maryland Terrapins
6. UNC Tar Heels
7. Dallas Cowboys
8. Philadelphia Phillies (primarily due to fan behavior when they visit DC)
9. McLaren-Mercedes
10. Los Angeles National League Franchise (my parents, and all my other relatives except two cousins younger than me, grew up in Brooklyn)

The Yankees, Orioles, Red Sox, etc. do not make my list because I do not watch American League baseball except when the Nationals play an AL team. When I was a kid I liked the idea of the DH because I thought more offense was good, but I didn't appreciate the strategy that goes into the traditional rules, and I definitely didn't understand how much the DH unnecessarily prolongs AL games.

You hate the Rangers, Penguins, and Flyers... are you somehow a Devils fan? The Crapitals are fortunately not near that division.

[rickmastfan67]

You hate the Rangers, Penguins, and Flyers... are you somehow a Devils fan? The Crapitals are fortunately not near that division.

Trust me when I say this, the Penguins and Crapitals have a major rivalry.  We met them a lot of times in the playoffs in the '90's.

[Alps]

You hate the Rangers, Penguins, and Flyers... are you somehow a Devils fan? The Crapitals are fortunately not near that division.

Trust me when I say this, the Penguins and Crapitals have a major rivalry.  We met them a lot of times in the playoffs in the '90's.

That much I understand, but why Flyers and Rangers also? There's no rivalry there with Washington that I know of.

[1995hoo]

You hate the Rangers, Penguins, and Flyers... are you somehow a Devils fan? The Capitals are fortunately not near that division.

Trust me when I say this, the Penguins and Capitals have a major rivalry.  We met them a lot of times in the playoffs in the '90's.

That much I understand, but why Flyers and Rangers also? There's no rivalry there with Washington that I know of.

When I was growing up, the Capitals played in the Patrick Division: Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Devils, Rangers, and Islanders. It was a GREAT division in terms of rivalry and in terms of geographic compactness. Back then the NHL scheduled a lot more Friday-Saturday home-and-homes where, say, the Caps would play in Philadelphia on Friday night and the following night the Flyers would return the visit here. The playoffs were division-based until Bettman came up with the NBA-style conference-based system in 1993 or so. Most hockey fans agree that true rivalries are built in the playoffs, and for much of the 1980s the same four Patrick Division teams made the playoffs every year (Washington, Philadelphia, the Islanders, and the Rangers), with some variation in who played whom. You had to win two series against division foes to advance to the conference finals. It made for a lot of great divisional rivalries in those days. The reconfiguration of the league coupled with the conference-based system means that it's harder to develop a rivalry these days if it didn't already exist–thus, most of us who have been Capitals fans for 20+ years still hate the old Patrick Division rivals more than we do the Southeast Division teams.

[NWI_Irish96]

1) University of Michigan
2) New England Patriots
3) Green Bay Packers
4) Oakland A's
5) Boston Red Sox
6) Detroit Red Wings
7) New York Yankees
8) Chicago Cubs
9) Los Angeles Lakers
10) Boston Celtics

[triplemultiplex]

Speaking of most hated teams, HA HA to the LA Lakers!  All I cared about regarding the NBA playoffs was that the Lakers lose and boy did they ever.  To quote the movie The Hunt for Red October, "Way to go Dallas!!"

[mightyace]

I expressed my preferences long ago, but here is a local list:

NFL
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts (kinda sorta, UT Alum Peyton blunts this some)
Baltimore Ravens

NHL
Detroit Redwings
Columbus Blue Jackets
Anaheim Ducks
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks

College Football
Alabama
Florida
Arkansas

College Basketball (Men's)
University of Kentucky

(Women's)
University of Connecticut

[Desert Man]

It's gotta be the Yankees (AL) and Dodgers (NL) in baseball, Lakers and Celtics in basketball...and Cowboys in football. The problem is, the underdog teams get abit more sympathy for disastrous postseason losses or failures like a dreaded curse is a tradition (esp. the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs). Luckily, the SF Giants won last year's world series, though they almost lost the division title (NL West) to the Padres by a game...the outcome would been totally different.

I root for the Angels in baseball and the Ducks in hockey. Anaheim is expected to have a NBA team in the near future, yet they hadn't had football since the Rams left L.A. They played in pre-2002 Angels' Field (then Anaheim stadium) in 1995. The Angels were first "L.A.", "California", "Anaheim" and once again "Los Angeles of Anaheim" without really moving out.

[golden eagle]

If you hate the Heat, they're just over eight minutes away from going cold. I don't really like Dallas either, but I find myself pulling for them because the media crowned the Heat as champions the minute LeBron James announced he was going to Miami.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

If you hate the Heat, they're just over eight minutes away from going cold. I don't really like Dallas either, but I find myself pulling for them because the media crowned the Heat as champions the minute LeBron James announced he was going to Miami.

Dan Gilbert must be smiling now.

[Mr_Northside]

If you hate the Heat, they're just over eight minutes away from going cold. I don't really like Dallas either, but I find myself pulling for them because the media crowned the Heat as champions the minute LeBron James announced he was going to Miami.

Yeah... I bet there are a lot of people in the Cleveland area that are pretty happy right now.

[74/171FAN]

If you hate the Heat, they're just over eight minutes away from going cold. I don't really like Dallas either, but I find myself pulling for them because the media crowned the Heat as champions the minute LeBron James announced he was going to Miami.

Actually they crowned themselves....("not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7")

[formulanone]

9. McLaren-Mercedes

This one caught me by surprise; I'd really expect that most people hate Scuderia Ferrari for more political whining, rule-bending, and unsporting twists than every other team put together. In short, they're the New York Yankees of Grand Prix racing, but the truth is they are the one racing team with a mythos and legend that few other teams have. Having utterly dominated the sport from 2000-2004, and playing games with team orders, doesn't help either.

McLaren started the trend of the corporate-branded, new-speak press conference heralded, everything-run-by-a-perfectionist, racing team that eventually everyone copied (save maybe Red Bull and the lesser teams)...which is kind of reprehensible and annoying in its own right.

Truth is, I don't really hate teams anymore, but more of what sports is becoming, or at least, most sporting media: Twitter is not a medium used well by people with a 10th-grade education. ESPN gives 30-minute/hour-long soul-less press conferences, which are generally free from content. Players that generally spout the same tired phrases and bland cliches that we've heard a million times. We hear more about a contract re-negotiation and fantasy scores than about someone busting their hump in some other form of competitive sport. Non-competitive stuff like essentially meaningless NFL combines, draft predicting (never mind I totally do not understand the mindset of someone watching hours of draft-day coverage), OTAs, et cetera. It's like the gathering of minutia has become a sport in itself.

Then again, I'd really prefer the SEC football conference just becomes its own football league.

[ctsignguy]

I expressed my preferences long ago, but here is a local list:
.
.
.
NHL
...
Columbus Blue Jackets  (Ummm, what did WE do to offend anybody?)
.
.
.

(Women's)
University of Connecticut (THIS i understand...although a shame we dont play Tennessee anymore, it was a great game for womens basketball..)

[mightyace]

^^^

I don't know what's at the root of the Predators/Blue Jacket rivalry (besides intradivision) but it's there here in greater Nashville nonetheless.

[pianocello]

For some reason, I hate Ohio State. It must be the Michigander in me.

Also in colleges, my most hated teams are the ones who play Iowa in football and Michigan State in basketball. Other than that, I'm indifferent.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

^^^

I don't know what's at the root of the Predators/Blue Jacket rivalry (besides intradivision) but it's there here in greater Nashville nonetheless.

<Shrugs shoulders in return> Blue Jackets do as well in Nashville as the Browns do in Pittsburgh

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Personal lists:

NFL:
1. Packers
2. Jets
3. Pats
4. Bears
5. Cowboys/Steelers

MLB:
1. Yankees
2. Red Sox
3. White Sox

College:
1. Wisconsin
2. Iowa
3. Notre Dame
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
I also hate Duke with a passion, but only in basketball.

NBA:
1. Lakers

In terms of national hatred, I'd include this year's Heat, recent Lakers teams, Yankees, and most Cowboys teams since the late 70s.

[njroadhorse]

I think I can add Ohio State to my list of teams now. Thanks for not only being crooks, but also for handling it terribly. If for nothing else, I hate them because of their pure stupidity and how everything blew up and cast an enormous dark shadow on college basketball.

[mightyace]

^^^

I don't know what's at the root of the Predators/Blue Jacket rivalry (besides intradivision) but it's there here in greater Nashville nonetheless.

<Shrugs shoulders in return> Blue Jackets do as well in Nashville as the Browns do in Pittsburgh

Well, in the first few years of the Blue Jackets existence, they had our number.

Anyway, this is sports fandom, who says it has to be rational? 

[PAHighways]

^^^

I don't know what's at the root of the Predators/Blue Jacket rivalry (besides intradivision) but it's there here in greater Nashville nonetheless.

<Shrugs shoulders in return> Blue Jackets do as well in Nashville as the Browns do in Pittsburgh

Ouch!  That bad.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

^^^

I don't know what's at the root of the Predators/Blue Jacket rivalry (besides intradivision) but it's there here in greater Nashville nonetheless.

<Shrugs shoulders in return> Blue Jackets do as well in Nashville as the Browns do in Pittsburgh

Ouch!  That bad.

Yeah, "Three Rivers jinx" bad (C-bus finished the season on a 0-16 string at Nashville)

[mightyace]

^^^

I honestly didn't realize how much it had swung in our favor.

I stopped following the Predators closely a few years ago as the team's modus operandi seems to be:
1) Get a few hot, young players
2) Barely squeak into the playoffs
3) Get bounced out in the first round
4) Trade or don't resign players when their contract runs out.
5) Repeat ad nauseum

And while doing so, rely heavily on your goalkeeper because you can't score to save your life especially on the power play.

Most years, the Preds are in the top 5 or 10 in penalty killing but in the bottom five or ten in power play goals.

This mode of operation may make the team money, but gives us no real chance at the Cup.

[ctsignguy]

^^^

I honestly didn't realize how much it had swung in our favor.

I stopped following the Predators closely a few years ago as the team's modus operandi seems to be:
1) Get a few hot, young players
2) Barely squeak into the playoffs
3) Get bounced out in the first round
4) Trade or don't resign players when their contract runs out.
5) Repeat ad nauseum

And while doing so, rely heavily on your goalkeeper because you can't score to save your life especially on the power play.

Most years, the Preds are in the top 5 or 10 in penalty killing but in the bottom five or ten in power play goals.

This mode of operation may make the team money, but gives us no real chance at the Cup.

But i figured Nashville fans would LOVE the CBJ...afterall, there arent many guaranteed wins on a typical NHL schedule, and we provide the Preds with a few every season!

[ftballfan]

I think I can add Ohio State to my list of teams now. Thanks for not only being crooks, but also for handling it terribly. If for nothing else, I hate them because of their pure stupidity and how everything blew up and cast an enormous dark shadow on college basketball.

I think you mean college football.