Didnt realize until this finals matchup was determined and I find myself wanting the Heat to win (finger in throat).

Full disclosure. I am a lifelong Mavs fan who lived in SA from 2002-2010 during which time there were some fantastic games and series in this rivalry.

I respect the Spurs organization to a great degree and believe them to be on par with the Patriots in how efficient they are.

It's the fans that are insuffrable. I can only equate them to Longhorn fans. By and large they literally hate every other team. They have no respect for other teams and the Spurs have literally never lost a series to a team that was better than them. When they lose they get cannabalistic in much the same way as the Austin crowd. Popovich suddenly becomes incompetent (even with 4 rings) and they turn on the players.

Just my observation having seen it up close for a number of years.

There is definitely truth to their lack of respect for other teams. Like all fanbases (and like the SA fans on this board) the most vocal ones are the most insufferable.

Either way, I'd rather see Pop and Duncan win 10 rings and deal with annoying SA fans than see that piece of trash Dwyane win anything ever again.

Every fanbase has the same ignorant fans. Even Dallas. I have lived in San Antonio for this entire Duncan/Pop run and, sure, I have witnessed the things the OP has noted. But 90% of the Spurs fans that I am around are not like this. They are knowledgeable and understand when the Spurs are up against and lose to a better team. OKC during last year's WCF being the most recent.

There are plenty of obnoxious Spurs fans. Just like there are plenty of obnoxious Rockets, Mavs and Heat fans. No fan base can claim they don't have these people.

Lifelong Spurs fan here. I don't hate any team besides the Lakers, and root for the other Texas teams when the Spurs aren't playing them. I don't understand the hate between professional team fan bases in Texas.

I think you don't like the Spurs so you see what you want to see.

The OP has no clue. It's a small market team so the fans are more passionate and follow their team a bit more than you get in a Dallas, Houston or other big city. It has a bit more of a college type fanbase due to this.

In big markets you get a lot of folks that follow multiple sports. In small markets like San Antonio, OKC, Memphis, etc you have just the basketball team. That is why those small market fans are often praised for being loud, passionate, etc.

Add to that small market atmosphere, the Spurs greatness in the Duncan era and the long tenure of the big 3 and you have even more loyalty and love by the fan base.

You can hate San Antonio all you want, but its hard to argue that it is the model franchise for teamwork, has good guys as superstars and generally does things the right way. I for one would love for more sports teams to emulate the Spurs organization.

i don't hate the spurs, but some of the fans (i won't name names) that post on here are ****ing retarded

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I think you don't like the Spurs so you see what you want to see.

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Indeed. Every team has dbag fans.

There's nothing wrong with hating your rival team. Rivalries make sports more fun. In the pro leagues rivalries can change a lot due to parity, and geographic location doesn't matter.

Dallas fans current hated rivals:
Baseball - Angels
Basketball - Spurs
Football - none (all hatred focused on Jerry)

As much as I hate Wade, team rivalry trumps hatred of a player. And in this case it's great that Wade is turning into just a sideshow for Lebron's team. Wade thinks he's still a max level superstar leader of the team, so if the Heat win as he continues to subtly complain about his role while putting up Delonte West numbers it's not so bad.

I get the whole rivalry thing, but if you're seriously going to root for the Heat over the Spurs, then that signals large levels of butthurt more than anything else.

I'm a Rockets fan. I can't say that I cheer for the Spurs all that often. But against the Heat? Yeah, I'll rep the Silver & Black this series

Jealousy is a natural human emotion. Don't be too concerned

Every team has the same makeup of fans. You just see spurs fans more, see them post, and don't like them because they were your team's rival.

/EOT

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I get the whole rivalry thing, but if you're seriously going to root for the Heat over the Spurs, then that signals large levels of butthurt more than anything else.

I'm a Rockets fan. I can't say that I cheer for the Spurs all that often. But against the Heat? Yeah, I'll rep the Silver & Black this series

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i think I moved on after 2011 from hating the Heat like everyone else. Now the hatred is just on Wade. The Mavs knocked the Heat completely off their self-anointed pedestal and the hatred for the organization mostly went away for me. It turned into a redemption story for Lebron. I've always like Lebron. Always liked Battier and Birdman. Always hated Wade. The bandwagon fans are annoying but they're the same fans who used to root for Kobe, Iverson, Jordan, Magic etc. They'll move on to a different team.

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By and large they literally hate every other team.

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Where the hell is this coming from? If anything, Spurs' fans are too closed minded--we only care about the Spurs and the rest of the teams can DIAF for all we care. Only teams I can ever say that I "hated" were the Lakers and Mavs (and I rooted like hell for the mavs in '11 even though in my experience they have the market cornered on dewshy, ignorant fans).

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i think I moved on after 2011 from hating the Heat like everyone else. Now the hatred is just on Wade. The Mavs knocked the Heat completely off their self-anointed pedestal and the hatred for the organization mostly went away for me. It turned into a redemption story for Lebron. I've always like Lebron. Always liked Battier and Birdman. Always hated Wade. The bandwagon fans are annoying but they're the same fans who used to root for Kobe, Iverson, Jordan, Magic etc. They'll move on to a different team

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That's fair. I've always liked Battier and Birdman, too. I just wish Battier wasn't playing for Miami because now it makes it incredibily difficult to root for him. I think LeBron is a flopper who is more concerned about publicity than winning (The Decision, etc.) But to each their own. I hate Wade, too, so we can agree on that

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we only care about the Spurs and the rest of the teams can DIAF for all we care

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Did you just make his point for him? Does that not classify as hate or am I missing something?

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I get the whole rivalry thing, but if you're seriously going to root for the Heat over the Spurs, then that signals large levels of butthurt more than anything else.

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Jealousy is a natural human emotion. Don't be too concerned

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just wish Battier wasn't playing for Miami because now it makes it incredibily difficult to root for him. I think LeBron is a flopper

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So dislike Bron because he is a flopper, but like Battier? Does not compute.

As a Spurs fan, I was able to come up with 10 non-Spurs teams that I like and only 3 that I dislike.

I detect large levels of butthurt in the OP.

As a Spurs fan, there's only one team I truly hate, and that's the Lakers. My hatred for the Mavs has mostly died down, and like most have already said, I was rooting for them in 2011.

Ok, I also hate the Heat, but everyone does.

Ok, to be fair, Battier draws a lot of charges. Sure he probably embellishes a bit more than is necessary, but LeBron is a 250+ lb man and he flails around and falls over when point guards bump into him. There's a difference (in my opinion) between the two.

And Battier is one of my all time favorite Rockets, so he is blameless in my eyes!

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Did you just make his point for him? Does that not classify as hate or am I missing something?

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Apathy is what you missed.

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As a Spurs fan, I was able to come up with 10 non-Spurs teams that I like and only 3 that I dislike.

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I dislike the Heat. Other than that, I pretty much just dislike individual players.

Wade, Garnett, Amare, etc.

I dislike the Mavs, Celtics, and Clippers. The Mavs are obviously the only one that has anything to do with rivalry, the rest are because they have/had too many players I don't like.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 6/5/2013 10:43a).]

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As a Spurs fan, there's only one team I truly hate, and that's the Lakers

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As a true Spurs fan you should hate the Jazz too, but you might be too young for that.

Hate: Lakers, Jazz, Mavs(mostly because of Cuban, rooted for Miami against them because of him)

As a Spurs fan I absolutely hate the Lakers. Don't have anything against the Rockets. Didn't have anything against the Mavs other than friendly rivalry until Cuban bought them and decided to open his racist, military veteran hating mouth.

Still waiting for AgCrag's valued opinion on this topic

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I think LeBron is a flopper who is more concerned about publicity than winning (The Decision, etc.) But to each their own.

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Yea....LeBron cares more about publicity than winning....lmfao

I hated the Jazz back in the 90s, but that had more to do with Malone and Stockton being asshats.

Now I have nothing for them but apathy.

Rockets fans seem to root louder against the Jazz even now than another random game.

The early-mid 00s Jazz, now there was a team that knew how to flop.

Rockets fans have always hated the Jazz. From the days of Malone, Stockton and Hornacek, and then here recently with Okur, Kirilenko and Boozer. They've always had a team full of floppers and dirty players.

The common denominator: Jerry Sloan

As a Grizz fan, I don't cheer for any other team. I just cheer against some teams more than others. It's not that I really want the Spurs to win, I just hate the Heat much more, and respect what the Spurs have done.


I really dislike Wade, Shuttleworth, Bosh, and it is tough to cheer for Battier anymore.

If Matt Bonner would turn and dunk over D.Wade or Birdman, I do think I could buy some Spurs gear.

I have compiled for you all of Matt Bonner's dunks.

The Red Rocket over the Rockets
White Flight - Matt Bonner takes a defender off the dribble and dunks on the entire Raptors front line[/url]

Don't know how anyone can dislike Pop.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:9343978

Can you describe your range of emotions on the last two threes for Manu?

I went from wanting to trade him on the spot to wanting to cook him breakfast tomorrow morning.

[This message has been edited by Guitarsoup (edited 6/5/2013 2:59p).]