Sunday, December 30, 2007

Know Thy Enemy : Hate Breed

Round Two: The bain of my existence, the Ottawa Senators fan.

The Ottawa Senators fan is a curious thing, they probably encompass the largest range of fandom prototypes out there. They range from the passionate, honnest god fearing hockey loving, old school fans to the professional bandwagon hanger-on-ers to fans who you'd normally see cheering for the Buffalo Sabers (I.E. Jerks).
Most of the Senadroms of optimal fandom age (16 through Senility) are recycles. Former fans of other teams that have abandoned their previous affections for the newer, sportier model. Kind of like a mid-life crisis. A large percentage of these Benedict Arnold's are former Leafers or Habitants who grew frustrated within the late 90's and early 00's with the lack of results. Thus culminating in a bitter, yet fun set of rivalries.
Of course, much of this has translated into the famous 'I hate your team more than I like my own team' mentality that plagues many a Sens fan (though is not exclusive to them *cough*Sabers/Rangers*cough*) and can be seen daily in everyday hockey fan life, be it on the street or on the net.
Now, lumping all Sens fans in with those, lets say suspect hockey fans would be unfair. Many a friend I have is a Sens fan. Many of my favourite hockey blogs are run by and written about the Trojans. Some Sens fans are true fans of the game and while we don't see eye to eye on hockey teams, the debate is nothing short of fun and hilarious....most of the time. Of course that doesn't make them any less a treacherous entity in the hockey world.

The secondary Sens fan archetype is the new comer. The one that didn't start liking hockey, or was too young to have a favourite team before the Senators existed. Those poor misguided youths, I guess its better than the pot...but only marginally so.

Senators fans are a rabid breed, and are not to be taken lightly. In their short existence they have been subjected to a team that started out so bad that even the mighty Alexander Daigle could not save them. And finally when many consecutive low placing finishes had netted them enough young draft talent to become competitive, they gained the choke moniker that has followed them to this day.
They also face mass enemy invasion of their home barn when playing any other team with a significant fan base. This has made them very defensive, and of course the best defense is a good offense. Often the first fan to choke out '40 years absent' is wearing a condom logo on their chest, but then says we have no material when we bring up the 4 straight playoff losses to a certain team.

While, not the most creative as a group, there are several shining stars that make Sens fans not seem so bad. The fact that some of them are just so likable as people, that just makes me hate them all the more.

Part three next month, when we go on a Bear hunt.

8 comments:

Greener said...

Jared, just watch. THE SECOND that that team starts to fail, trades, after free agency loss, whatever, there will not be one single person in that building in the middle of nowhere.
I know some of them, who never uttered a peep until that team became good...and then, they start sending mocking emails? Please. 40 years? They won't survive 4 months.

Loser Domi said...

Ooh! Bear hunt! Can I come along? It sounds fun!

Jaredoflondon said...

of course you can, I could use all the help I can with Chara

kaytowne said...

The secondary Sens fan archetype is the new comer. The one that didn't start liking hockey, or was too young to have a favourite team before the Senators existed. Those poor misguided youths, I guess its better than the pot...but only marginally so.

A ha! So that's what happened to me. Maybe if I'd stuck with the pot I'd have turned into a Leafs fan.

Loser Domi said...

Maybe if I'd stuck with the pot I'd have turned into a Leafs fan. What if you're on other drugs? Do those change your fandom? Like does alcoholism turn you into, I dunno, a Habs fan? Does meth lead to Kings fandom? We need studies on these things! They do studies to find out why pregnant women don't tip over...

Jaredoflondon said...

"They do studies to find out why pregnant women don't tip over..."

I just had a hilarious mental picture.
Weeble Wobbles Wiggle But They Don't Fall Down!

Loser Domi said...

RE: why pregnant women don't fall over.

Seriously, this was a news item over the holidays. Apparently the spine manipulates itself or something like that: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22217822/

Senators Lost Cojones said...

Iz in ur blogz, pokin ur envyz

Yeah, I know. Lolcats is the interwebs version of a dead horse, but it just felt right.

And my original #13 Jamie Baker (Sens alum circa '92-'93) jersey currently residing in my closet takes umbrage at the Johnny-come-lately label.