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.