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NHL Playoffs

Tampa is likely worse though. The last time I cared about them was 2004.
I completely disagree. Bandwagon Tampa fans equal Bucs and Rays for sure; the Lightning has a very dedicated group of fans that show up whether they're in contention for the Cup or if some Hollywood nutjobs own the team.
 
I love when Chicago fans talk about how awesome they are as fans. It's like they're so insecure about everything else, they HAVE to remind everyone that they're superfans. No other cities could possibly have good fanbases, unless you're in the northeast and Midwest!

It's especially cute when they brag about how devoted they are to the shit Cubs.

The shit talking has begun. Good. Time to take these "Chicago fans" who haven't lived in Chicago in years (or ever) down a peg.
 
I am a "bandwagon" Tampa fan. I was huge Tampa fan back in the late 90s through 04 when Tampa won the cup. Then i forgot about hockey. I watched some and went to some games between 04 and now, but I wouldn't dare call myself a fan. I remember why I liked it so much now!
 
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Chicago has absolutely no bandwagon fans. Everyone is a diehard, and they show up to EVERY SINGLE Chicago sporting event. Always!!

wrigleyfield1975.jpg
 
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Ooooohhh!!! Attendance smack!! (Baseball attendance smack, in a hockey thread!)

The Hawks have the best attendance in the NHL almost every season. The Cubs are usually Top 10 in MLB, even when they are completely shitty.

Stop being such a douchebag.
 
attendance smack is so stupid. The lightning would draw 2500 people if they had the panthers on-ice history. Chicago has had a crazy decade-long run so of course its thriving and seems like it always has. Just ask Pittsburgh how things were post-Mario and Pre-Crosby.

Spoiler alert: every city in america is a "bandwagon town". Tickets to pro sports are too expensive to support shitty teams/organizations.

thing about hockey is that is also has the longest tail post-success before attendance drops off. Once you got the people in, they will stick it out for longer. So even though tampa has had some bad years between their last cup and drafting Stamkos, without looking im sure the dropoff wasnt as bad as say - the Bucs.

also not sure why anyone is talking to Sir G who obviously wanted to conduct a social experiment to see how long he could go faking his way through a hockey conversation. I guess he gets off on it? Who knows. Either way i dont care.

Anyway this final is going to be close. A lot of reasons to like both teams. So I'll just say Blackhawks in 7
 
Stop being so hard on the Chicago fans. They have to struggle through football and baseball season every year so they have to be a little more zealous when it comes to the other sports.
 
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When's the last time the "Chicago fans" of the board actually lived there?
 
Have you ever lived in St. Louis? If you have, great, just asking. Of course, you could lie and it's not like anyone would know.
 
I have a lot of respect for most fan bases because I am a fanatic for my teams. What is annoying are the guys who tout their fandom about being a fan of the original six as if they actually followed hockey back then. The original six stopped being six in 1967, I wonder how many of these Chicago super fans were around in 1967, let alone went to games.

The Lightning have been an NHL team for 23 years, that is longer than the NFL's Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars, MLB's Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins , Arizona Diamondback and the Tampa Bay Rays or the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors. Yet only in Hockey do you hear original team fans talk about their history as if they are better than the rest.
 
I was born in STL and most all my family is there. I like the Cardinals, but I would cheer for the Rays 100% of the time if they played the Cardinals. I grew up a Blues fan but adopted the Lightning when I realized that I live in Tampa and not St Louis.

My fiancé was a Sabres fan until she moved here 12 years ago. She's now a diehard TB fan.

It's just absurd to see people wear other teams stuff, shit talk the Tampa team, and then drive home to their residence in the Tampa area. All because they, or someone they know, lived in that city 15 years ago.
 
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Yes, shit-talking a local team is stupid. But you aren't going to change the wearing other teams' stuff. It's Florida--practically everyone here came from someplace else. It is what it is.
 
Yes, shit-talking a local team is stupid. But you aren't going to change the wearing other teams' stuff. It's Florida--practically everyone here came from someplace else. It is what it is.

Yea- the older generations. There are now TONS of younger people who were born here, or lived here from a young age. Yet their douchebag parents raise them to cheer for a team 3000 miles away in a city that they visit once every 5 years. They're brainwashed from a young age to not cheer for the actual local team.

I've personally met kids at Rays games, with Boston shit on, that were born here. Yet they're "Boston fans" All because their asshole dad lived in the "New England area" in the 70's.
 
I was born in STL and most all my family is there. I like the Cardinals, but I would cheer for the Rays 100% of the time if they played the Cardinals. I grew up a Blues fan but adopted the Lightning when I realized that I live in Tampa and not St Louis.

My fiancé was a Sabres fan until she moved here 12 years ago. She's now a diehard TB fan.

It's just absurd to see people wear other teams stuff, shit talk the Tampa team, and then drive home to their residence in the Tampa area. All because they, or someone they know, lived in that city 15 years ago.
Most people stay loyal to their upbringing. I dont see anything wrong with that especially in 2015 where we can stream every single game easily. From a home-viewing perspective, there is no difference between being a fan of the Lightning or the LA Kings anymore. Anyone can watch 100% of the games of whatever team they want.

While maybe 10-15 years ago it was easy to switch completely since you couldnt watch your favorite team as much - its just not the case anymore. You can still follow just like you live there, albeit going to less games.

That said, adopting the locals as a 2nd team is cool too. If the Thrashers were still here id probably have a partial season package or something. I dont mind watching the Falcons or Hawks have success. It makes the city more fun when sports things are happening.

But what i wont do is retroacrtively adopt a team from my former city if i wasnt a fan when i lived there. Prime example: f*** Orlando City or any future Miami MLS team. 100% on the Atlanta MLS 2017 train.
 
Yea- the older generations. There are now TONS of younger people who were born here, or lived here from a young age. Yet their douchebag parents raise them to cheer for a team 3000 miles away in a city that they visit once every 5 years. They're brainwashed from a young age to not cheer for the actual local team.

I've personally met kids at Rays games, with Boston shit on, that were born here. Yet they're "Boston fans" All because their asshole dad lived in the "New England area" in the 70's.
THIS part i totally agree with. My kids will be raised to be Atlanta fans (apologies to them in advance). You should enjoy the experience of rooting for the local teams.
 
I don't have a problem with Blackhawk fans suddenly popping out of the woodwork. They aren't a trendy team to root for like the Heat were or the Seahawks were and they aren't from New York or California trying to shove how awesome their area is in every sport. Add to that most of them are also Cubs and Bears fans that have to suffer through those seasons and they deserve their moment in the sun. And Ice is right, sports is all about the bandwagon fan.

I don't go to Magic games right now because they are unbearable to watch, but if they start putting something on the court that resembles NBA basketball, I will be back. That may make me a bandwagoner or just somebody who doesn't like watching shitty basketball.

I am however ready for the puck to drop.
 
When I was a kid, there were no Panthers, Lightning, Rays, Marlins, or Magic. I had WGN or TBS. The Cubs were on every afternoon on WGN when I got home from school, so WGN won. That, and the Braves were terrible back then.
That is the main reason why so many Floridians are Cubs/Blackhawks/Bulls/Bears fans. I don't really have an NBA or NFL team that I follow, because the two sports I watched on WGN were baseball and hockey.

I don't like the teams because I have some kind of allegiance to the city. I like them because that is who I grew up watching.
I lived in Chicago for one summer, 1998. Kerry Wood threw 20 Ks, Sosa and MacGwire were hitting taters, the Bulls won another Championship, and I got to enjoy it all.
 
Yep, here come the excuses,
Yep, here come the excuses,
So that was not a high stick just before chicago scored their first goal? I mean I know that I'm just a Floridian so I may not know all those confusing rules but when a player goes off the ice bleeding from his head and leaves his helmet and stick on the ice, I'm guess he got caught with a stick, but hey, it could just be me.
 
I imagine this series is going to go 6-7 games--at least I hope so. They seem pretty even. Chicago just seems to roll along and make the adjustments they need to. Tampa is very talented though.
 
Lightning looked content w just 1 goal in the 3rd, no aggression till the lead was gone
It looked like the prevent defense of the old UCF days. It was only going to be a matter of time and very frustrating to watch. Stamkos said after the game he felt they laid back too much, gee ya think.
 
It looked like the prevent defense of the old UCF days. It was only going to be a matter of time and very frustrating to watch. Stamkos said after the game he felt they laid back too much, gee ya think.
Still remember the motto from the Bolts' last Cup run: "Safe is death". Sounds like it may need to be revived. Though, if there's one thing about this team that I love it's their resiliency and ability to bounce right back. They've been doing it all year.
 
So that was not a high stick just before chicago scored their first goal? I mean I know that I'm just a Floridian so I may not know all those confusing rules but when a player goes off the ice bleeding from his head and leaves his helmet and stick on the ice, I'm guess he got caught with a stick, but hey, it could just be me.
And the Versteeg goalie interference wasn't interference either. Bishop did later interfere on Shaw which wasn't called. They play through it and none of them affected the outcome of the game.
 
Please don't be a typical Blackhawk douche.
Galahad has earned it. It'll still be a good series if Tampa can get more than 2 SOG out of the triplets. Also, the Blackhawks fans I know have been awesome and not douchey at all. But if you're going to say that People that have been Hawk fans longer than the Bolts have existed and have lived through some of the crappiest hockey ever played are bandwagon fans, then you need to look in the mirror when labeling someone a douche.
 
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