I am in New Orleans for the week, covering Super Bowl LIX. It’s the tenth Super Bowl that I’ve had the good fortune of covering, and make no mistake, New Orleans NEVER disappoints. The parties are great, the people are friendly, and the food is second to none. Unfortunately, eventually, the fans of the two teams involved begin showing up, and that’s when the scales of misery begin to tip against those of us with no rooting interest.
For this Super Bowl, for the second time in three seasons, we have the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, two teams whose fan bases, for entirely different reasons, are awfully tough to be around this time of year. Don’t get me wrong, there are individual friends I have, who are fans for each team, that I adore. I’m talking about the totality of the two fan bases.
The Chiefs fans have become almost New England Patriot fan-like in their arrogance over their recent success, and God forbid you mention any help they are getting from the referees. They HATE that. I’ll credit Patriot fans — they somewhat embraced their cheating rep. Meanwhile, Philly fans are just mean people. If you’re an opposing fan within a 50 foot radius of an Eagles fan, bless your heart. They are coming for you!
So as I strolled done Canal Street last night, dreaming about how peaceful the pre-fan arrival portion of the trip is, it got me thinking — the last eight months or so have to comprise the worst sports year to be an average fan, with no dog in the fight for the final rounds of our major sports. Stay with me on this:
NBA TITLE — Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks
No team in NBA history has won more titles than the Boston Celtics, so if you’re not a fan of their team, I would imagine you despise them. If you don’t, then I’ll remind you that the same people who root for them also root for the Patriots. Does that help conjure hate? Good! The Mavericks, similarly, are a product of Dallas, and we hate Dallas, although we thank the Mavericks for trading away Luka Doncic over the weekend and ensuring they won’t be back in the finals anytime soon.
WORLD SERIES — New York Yankees vs Los Angeles Dodgers
Are there two teams that epitomize the “evil empire” mode more than these two? Like the Celtics, the Yankees have won more titles in their sport than any other franchise, and despite winning just one this century, they are happy to remind you about that. The Dodgers have decided to just buy every good player out there. Real high IQ stuff. In this World Series, I at least wanted to see the loser get swept, and they couldn’t even accommodate that, with the Yankees winning one game.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF — Ohio State vs Notre Dame
Ohio State paid over $20 million in NIL payments to players to ensure they had a championship roster, far more than the next closest school. They are basically the Dodgers of college football. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was back in the title mix, which has been somewhat of a rarity for them this century. They were a much more dangerous team back in the ’40s and ’50s, which kind of makes them the Yankees of college football. (I can say this about Notre Dame, I went there.)
SUPER BOWL — Kansas City Chiefs vs Philadelphia Eagles
I think I outlined the issues with these two teams in the opening paragraphs, but to recap — the Chiefs get every benefit of the doubt from the refs, their QB sounds like Kermit the Frog, and Taylor Swift. Just, Taylor Swift. That’s it. Meanwhile, Philadelphia fans are violent monsters who would tear out your organs and feed them to your kids.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
