What to do when the team you like are dirty cheaters?

The Game Room
1

I like Bayern Munich. I also like Real Madrid, so seeing them play each other in the Champions League caused a lot of cognitive dissonance for me. But I was soon rooting only for Real Madrid, due to Bayern’s diving.

I have known for awhile that Franck Ribéry, Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben are all frequent divers but until now I have tried to ignore it. It is such a shame because they are so talented, they really don’t need to do it.

Does the coach tell them to dive?

Real Madrid can be overly rough but they don’t dive. Well, other than Ángel di María occasionally.

What have you done when you realized a team you liked were cheaters or bad sports? Did you have the integrity to drop them or did you just rationalize it?

2

Find someone more worthy of your adoration? A team with upstanding citizens with a good sense of morality and sportsmanship?

3

You’re such a joker.

4

This is why I’ve basically stopped caring very much for team sports - any given club may consist of assholes, cheaters, or uninspiring players, lumped in with a couple that you like. I mainly root for individuals, be they solo (in tennis and the like) or on a team. The concept of a team is basically completely mercenary at this point anyway - there seems to be very little connection of a player to where he plays. It’s just about teams filling holes and athletes getting the best deal. I don’t need to root for a jersey, so I’ll just root for players I like such as Ichiro and Albert Pujols. If I’m feeling particularly invested, I’ll root for the team those players are on, at least until they get a championship. But my loyalty would of course move with the player.

5

I started a thread here blasting my beloved New Orleans Saints for the bounty scandal. What they did was wrong, and they’ve been hit with severe penalties for it, which they richly deserve.

But they’re still my team. I hope they clean up their act in the future.

6

A well done dive can be a thing of beauty. Look at it that way.

7

This is the team that still employs Cristiano Ronaldo, isn’t it? Just seemed like an unusual statement to make. I don’t follow La Liga, so does he dive more or less than the average Spanish league forward? More or less than the average Premier League forward? Or am I just over-remembering some of his World Cup antics?

There’s dirty cheating and then there’s dirty cheating. Diving, for better or worse, seems to be a part of football, unfortunately.

At least, as Oakminster mentions, your team didn’t get caught setting up a system to reward players for intentionally injuring the other team.

8

I went to the University of Kentucky, whose basketball coach, John Calipari, does not have the finest reputation. Am I going to abstain from rooting for my alma mater until the day they decide to hire a choirboy? No. I’m going to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

9

Oh. Dirty cheaters.

I thought I read “dirty cheerleaders.”

10

One fan’s way of coping with Shoeless Joe Jackson’s banning:

11

Which will be only until UK becomes the *third *team Cal’s taken to the Final Four, only to have all record of it formally expunged, Soviet-style. He already has the record, with two, so it stands to reason he’d want to put it out of reach.

12

Perhaps this question should be posed to our resident Pittsburgh Steelers fans. I do often wonder how they justify their fandom to themselves.

:smiley:

13

Simple solution… You aren’t allowed to like two teams.

14

But… just playing hard… never charged… Goodell conspiracy… six rings… SIX RINGS!!! EEEEEEEEEE HAAAAWWWWWWWW!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!

15

Its just good, tough Steelers football. The Steeler way.

16

I can’t believe I forgot “classy!” :rolleyes:

17

You console yourself with 28 championships and Yankee Tradition, that’s what.

18

:rolleyes:

19

<insert video of Granero getting called for diving in the Bayern box>
:rolleyes:

20

Back at you. (=