# What to do when the team you like are dirty cheaters? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652 "2012-04-23T02:11:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/1 "2012-04-23T02:11:37Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/2 "2012-04-23T02:12:25Z")
Find someone more worthy of your adoration? A team with upstanding citizens with a good sense of morality and sportsmanship? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/3 "2012-04-23T02:41:31Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Find someone more worthy of your adoration? A team with upstanding citizens with a good sense of morality and sportsmanship? You’re such a joker. ---
**Author:** ![Shooby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Shooby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shooby)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/4 "2012-04-23T08:04:58Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/5 "2012-04-23T10:39:19Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > 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? 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. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/6 "2012-04-23T10:49:55Z")
A well done dive can be a thing of beauty. Look at it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/7 "2012-04-23T11:34:48Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > …Real Madrid can be overly rough **but they don’t dive**. Well, other than Ángel di María occasionally… 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. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/8 "2012-04-28T01:19:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/9 "2012-04-28T02:06:50Z")
Oh. Dirty _cheaters_. I thought I read “dirty cheerleaders.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/10 "2012-04-28T12:41:20Z")
One fan’s way of coping with [Shoeless Joe Jackson’s banning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoeless_Joe_Jackson): > [@](#): > > Legend has it that as Jackson was leaving the courthouse during the trial, a young boy begged of him, “Say it ain’t so, Joe,” and that Jackson did not respond. In an interview in SPORT nearly three decades later, Jackson contended that this story was a myth. A contemporary press account does refer to an exchange of Jackson with young fans outside of the Chicago grand jury hearing on September 28: > > When Jackson left criminal court building in custody of a sheriff after telling his story to the grand jury, he found several hundred youngsters, aged from 6 to 16, awaiting for a glimpse of their idol. > > One urchin stepped up to the outfielder, and, grabbing his coat sleeve, said: > “It ain’t true, is it, Joe?” > “Yes, kid, I’m afraid it is,” Jackson replied. The boys opened a path for the ball player and stood in silence until he passed out of sight. > “Well, I’d never have thought it,” sighed the lad. > > Even though Jackson’s exchange with the shocked young fan was most likely not a true historical event, but rather a fabrication by a sensationalist journalist, the “Say It Ain’t So” story remains an oft-repeated and well-known part of baseball lore. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/11 "2012-04-28T12:43:49Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/12 "2012-04-28T13:06:58Z")
Perhaps this question should be posed to our resident Pittsburgh Steelers fans. I do often wonder how they justify their fandom to themselves. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/13 "2012-04-28T14:51:31Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > 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. Simple solution… You aren’t allowed to like two teams. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/14 "2012-04-28T16:36:00Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Perhaps this question should be posed to our resident Pittsburgh Steelers fans. I do often wonder how they justify their fandom to themselves. > > 😃 But… just playing hard… never charged… Goodell conspiracy… six rings… SIX RINGS!!! EEEEEEEEEE HAAAAWWWWWWWW!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/15 "2012-04-28T17:11:39Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > But… just playing hard… never charged… Goodell conspiracy… six rings… SIX RINGS!!! EEEEEEEEEE HAAAAWWWWWWWW!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!! Its just good, tough Steelers football. The Steeler way. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/16 "2012-04-28T17:15:34Z")
I can’t believe I forgot “classy!” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/17 "2012-04-28T17:32:15Z")
You console yourself with 28 championships and Yankee Tradition, that’s what. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/18 "2012-04-28T23:55:08Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > 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. > … > > Real Madrid can be overly rough but they don’t dive. Well, other than Ángel di María occasionally. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yuntzm9K-Uw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/19 "2012-04-29T00:00:30Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > 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. > > Real Madrid can be overly rough but they don’t dive. Well, other than Ángel di María occasionally. \ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652/20 "2012-04-29T06:49:21Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-JLCQy01Q0) Back at you. (= [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-the-team-you-like-are-dirty-cheaters/619652.md?page=2)