Reputation of Patriots Fans

[Va_Pats_Fan]

Like I said, I do polls and use demographic data for a living. If you want to debate me, you have that right. But the opinions here represent an excellent sampling of the average Pats fan. Fans who watch 2-3 games a year wouldn't even be considered in a poll. The first thing we'd do for a poll would be to establish what & who a pats fan is. People who watch everygame possible would be the starting point. Other "casual" fans, wouldn't count becuase they don't fall into the definition of what a fan is...derived from the word "fanatic"

I would have to disagree. (nicely of course ). Alot of fans are dedicated, but do not understand (or know of) the medium of a message board. Its a holdover from a very early part of the internet (UseNet), and unless you are also internet savvy, this would not represent your preferred method of communicating with other fans.

 

[PATSNUTme]

We use to be woeful and pathetic if we were anything at all.

 

[mgteich]

I generally agree with your position. I agree that posters here are almost a reasonable sample of die-hard patriot pats. I say almost because there is an age bias. I believe that a much larger percentage of die-hard fans are are over 55 than are over 55 on this board. The reason is obvious, the difference in preferred communications media.

I don't think we care about the image of patriots fans. However, I don't think the image is imaginary either. Consider Philly fans. They have a well-deserved reputation throughout the country. They actually had a police station in the Vet to more quickly process law-breakers. So, I do think that fans of different teams are objectively different and have images. However, as you say, most here don't care about our image.

Do we care about the TEAM's image? I suspect not? Frankly, I think that a shame. I really appreciated that we were becoming America's Team just 2-3 years ago. You don't tell on fan boards. You partly tell by how team stuff sells throughout the country. And yes, the patriots were the DARLINGS of the media after winning the 2005 Super Bowl. How times have changed.

But in the end, as reflected on this board, patriots fans don't really care.

I'm not sure if there have been any threads on this specific issue. I looked throught the first 3 pages of threads and couldn't find anything. So, here goes...

I've heard so many fans knock the Patriots organization, our player and worst of all, our fans...us! I often visit both the Colts and Chargers fan sites and this is what I here; Patriots fans are arrogant, rude and classless. And this was BEFORE cameragate!

I don't want to discuss whether we are any of these things because to me, it's not important and really just not a big deal. What IS a big deal to me is whether some Patriots fans agree and/or care about our reputation.

To me, reputation & image are imaginary...they just don't exist. Like the man who works so hard on his image, he loses sight of who he is. Look at the guy who gets his hair cut every week, wears impeccable clothing and is always attempting to act & say just the right thing just to build his image. To me, that's the definition of being a phony.

I think Patriots fans are the best fans in the country because I'm a Patriots fan. I'm proud to call myself a Patriots fan and always have been. Even when we stunk. I love being a part of Patriots Nation. I love the history of Patriots fans and the 40+ years of my life I have cheered for the old & new Pat Patriot. All these great memories make being a Patriot fan part of who I am.

And because it's part of who I am, I will never feel shame in being a Patriots fan, Patriots Pride is all I know.

 

[Fahrenhype]

I'm proud to be considered among the most vicious, along with probably Philly and Chicago fans. It means you care. That's more than can be said of a lot of cities.

 

[PatriotsReign]

I generally agree with your position. I agree that posters here are almost a reasonable sample of die-hard patriot pats. I say almost because there is an age bias. I believe that a much larger percentage of die-hard fans are are over 55 than are over 55 on this board. The reason is obvious, the difference in preferred communications media.

I don't think we care about the image of patriots fans. However, I don't think the image is imaginary either. Consider Philly fans. They have a well-deserved reputation throughout the country. They actually had a police station in the Vet to more quickly process law-breakers. So, I do think that fans of different teams are objectively different and have images. However, as you say, most here don't care about our image.

Do we care about the TEAM's image? I suspect not? Frankly, I think that a shame. I really appreciated that we were becoming America's Team just 2-3 years ago. You don't tell on fan boards. You partly tell by how team stuff sells throughout the country. And yes, the patriots were the DARLINGS of the media after winning the 2005 Super Bowl. How times have changed.

But in the end, as reflected on this board, patriots fans don't really care.

Even with Philly fans, their reputation doesn't mean squat...BUT since the reality is that their reputation is well founded, then it happens to also be the truth about them.

If someone told me something negative about YOUR reputation or image, I would tell them I don't want to hear it, I'll make my own opinion when I meet him (you)...see the difference?

 

[mgteich]

fair enough

Even with Philly fans, their reputation doesn't mean squat...BUT since the reality is that their reputation is well founded, then it happens to also be the truth about them.

If someone told me something negative about YOUR reputation or image, I would tell them I don't want to hear it, I'll make my own opinion when I meet him (you)...see the difference?

 

[PatriotsReign]

I would have to disagree. (nicely of course ). Alot of fans are dedicated, but do not understand (or know of) the medium of a message board. Its a holdover from a very early part of the internet (UseNet), and unless you are also internet savvy, this would not represent your preferred method of communicating with other fans.

Our method of communication doesn't change the fact that we are Patriots fans. It doesn't make us any different regarding what it means to be a patriots fan either. Now if we were going to look for "demographic" differences amongst Patriots fans, those who communicate via this board would be significantly different than those who do not (age, income, hobbies, etc.). But in specific regards to opinions on the Patriots and current issues regarding them, it will not differentiate internet users from other "loyal" fans.

We control our group by establishing what it means to be a patriots fan. The company I work for uses our website to conduct polls on our consumers. Not all our consumers have PC's or use the internet but that does not differentiate their opinions from those that do not use the internet at all. Users of our product have the same opinions and/or differences of opinions regardless of mode of communication...