Assume it’s the last day of the season. Your team has mad it to a mid-table finish. A win may make them 1-2 places higher than a loss, but nothing real is at stake for your team. Your most hated rival though is bucking for glory. Their last game is likely to be a pretty easy walkover, whereas your team’s last game is against their only competitor for the title. If your rivals win , then the title hinges on the outcome of your team’s game. If your team loses, your rivals are denied the title, if they win or draw, your rivals win the title. Who do you support for that one game?
I still want my team to win. Who wins the title if it isn’t us is immaterial. If we wanted to stop them we had our chance before then. Nowl it is a bit trickier in a sport with a draft. I still want my team to win but I can understqand why most fans wouldn’t and I wouldn’t be upset if we lost.
I know this because it happened to my team last year and the player is looking like he may wellb be the real deal and the future looks much brighter than it would have if we had indeed won. This is about team improvement though not rival bragging rights.
–Herm Edwards
NEVER pass up a free shot at the enemy. If my team is already out of it, take solace in spoiling the other guys season.
Rivalries are generally overrated. I’ll take the win. Besides, the deeper the other team goes into the playoffs, the more holdouts and free agent departures they’ll have to deal with in the offseason.
I’d say that the hypothetical would be clearer if you said something like:
"Your rival, having won their last game, is in contention for the league title/conference title. However, your team plays their only competitor for the title. If your team wins, you also push the competitor out of contention, guaranteeing your rival the title. If your team loses, then the competitor wins the title, based on the way the rules are written. Winning or losing has no material effect on the placement of YOUR favorite team- they’re a game or two over .500 either way.
Do you want your team to win, thereby guaranteeing that your hated rivals win the title, or do you secretly want your own team to sacrifice themselves, to guarantee that your hated rivals don’t win the title?"
I have to say that in my experience (Texas A&M grad, University of Texas is our big rival), I’d want both teams to win, mostly because in an odd way, despite being our biggest rival, UT used to be my second-favorite team back when we were in the same conference. Far better for UT to win the conference and for A&M to win a game, than to lose a game and give the conference championship to a gang of assholes like Texas Tech or Oklahoma.
There are no playoffs. In this scenario the rivals win the championship.by being top of the league.
The last games of the season are always played simultaneously. But you can assume we’re at half time, our team is 0-0 and the rival is 5-0 up so their victory in their game is pretty inevitable.
Indeed, rooting for the team you hate is almost as much fun as rooting for the team you like. In the OP’s example, I don’t know if I’d actively root for a loss, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if it happened.
I certainly wasn’t trying to suggest anyone should want their team to throw the game, that would be very bad indeed, just some might hope that on this ocassion, their best isn’t good enough to avoid defeat.
It depends on the sport. Generally I’d take a win for my team, but if the Indians losing knocks the Yankees out of the playoffs, then sorry Tribe, I don’t want the Yankees in the playoffs – and the Yankees are really the Indians’ main rival; they’re just the most hated team.
In other sports, I think I’d always take the win.
Hell, every season the Rams’ final game would determine which one of their rivals would make the playoffs. What would be the point of rooting for the Rams to get beaten by Arizona just so Seattle can win?
The US soccer team had this scenario. They were losing to Panama late in the game, all they have to do is not score and Mexico is eliminated from the world cup. The US scored two goals to win. I’ve never seen a more defeated group of people. A Mexican announcer has a great rant about it too.
Ah. If we’re talking about a round-robin type league like the Premiership or something, and Man U can clinch, I’m rooting for whatever it takes for them to not do so.
What’s it matter? You’re probably talking about some European football league, and I’m more or less conceiving of the question as a college football conference championship question in a conference without a title game, or of a divisional title championship to determine who makes the title game.
Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not you value your own team getting a “meaningless” win that also gives your hated rivals the illustrious championship, or whether you value your rival not getting to win more than your own team winning a game that doesn’t have any import for them.
If the last game of the season means nothing to Spurs, and a loss is the only scenario under which Arsenal might not win, I would say that is a great opportunity to get some of our 15 year old prospects some playing time. And ideally get them good and drunk the night before.
There is no excuse for not doing your best in every game. Anyone who tanks a game should be out of the game.
When Liverpool played Blackburn Rovers in 1995 there were relatively muted celebrations at Anfield when Liverpool scored a goal that could have given their bitter rivals Man Utd the title instead of Blackburn, managed by Kenny Dalglish, regarded almost as a Deity in the red side of Liverpool. News came through seconds later that United had only managed a draw at West Ham and that was good enough to secure the title for Blackburn.
Play to win, so that, even if the Hated Rivals win the championship this year, it will make Our Heroes trouncing them next year all the sweeter.
True, but this is about fans, not players.