As a Nashville fan we’ve had plenty of hate spewed our way lately. I can say that hockey fans seem to have a deeper hatred that actually carries over into real disrespect for opponents more than most other sports. I’d say the only thing that comes close is SEC college football fans.

Basketball, football, and baseball fans go at each other and tell jokes, but hockey fans and college football fans from the southeast just get plain mean.

Posted by Paul Nicholson from Nashville, TN on 02/14/08 at 02:52 PM ET

Apparently, you have not experienced Big Ten rivalries. We hate each other almost equally (Michigan and Ohio State maybe a little more) but not just in football either. I do however agree that maybe hockey is a little more strong. The last game I went to in the Joe with Michigan and Michigan State, there was a fight in the stands (probably started by a Michigan fan of course) and as we were trying to get to our seats a Michigan fan kept screaming at us that we had the wrong seats (he thought we were trying to get into his seats, which we were not we only wanted to move down the row to our seats.) Needless to say the game was a bit tense at times.

Posted by Sp4r7an on 02/14/08 at 03:03 PM ET

Michigan - Michigan State and Michigan - Ohio are extremely passionate - in every sport.

That’s why it cracks me up when NHL teammates went to different schools, and they STILL have silly bets and trash-talk each other when the schools they graduated from/attended play each other.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/14/08 at 05:22 PM ET

Paul -- I imagine being a Nashville fan gets to be a headache, dealing with trashtalk of other fans around the league.  Which must be especially frustrating, since I figure being a real hockey fan in Tennessee must take a serious commitment to the sport. (Unlike up here where I could easily drown in hockey coverage, if I wanted to...)

Sp4r7an & Baroque -- I’m only a very-casual spectator of any other professional sport, so I can’t say how hockey fans compare to others, say NFL or NBA.

But when it comes to college level—all sports—well, from what I can tell, that audience might make NHL fans seem pretty tame by comparison.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 02/14/08 at 08:01 PM ET

Dearest Michigan (okay, so what, I went there, and lived half a mile from the football stadium--I don’t even like football unless we’re talking about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers) usually has to post a press release for dumb undergraduates who are stupid enough to go to Columbus for a Michigan-Ohio State game should stay low, avoid wearing Michigan stuff outside the stadium, not be too boisterous, and park their car off the street so that it doesn’t get the snot kicked out of it...Yeah, Michigan-Michigan State is knock-down-drag-out vicious, but people who go to Ohio State live to hate Michigan and Michigan fans with a vigor that tends to invoke images of old cousin Merle telling you he’s gonna “git ya,” and then bringing back his buddies and their biggest BB guns in the back of his pick-up truck (which has curtains and a gun rack). 

It’s like the heyday of the old Wings-Avs rivalry, where I knew people who’d actually made the mistake of using the restrooms in the McNichols Arena while wearing Wings apparel.  Bad idea.  Very bad idea.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 02/15/08 at 08:33 AM ET

Oh, I can assure everyone that fans of any sport can be way too aggressive in their love of their own team. Just look at the hatred spewed towards the New England Patriots and their fanbase. And is there a team whose fans are more hated than the New York Yankees?

And then, of course, there are soccer fans.

Posted by Trevor from Vancouver, BC on 02/15/08 at 01:55 PM ET

Alanah, why is it that I can’t go a week without seeing you refer to my team as “The Evil Empire”?

The Avs and Colorado have much to offer the downtrodden, never won anything Canucks fan on top of many a Division Title or Stanley Cup.

Where else can you go skiing, eat good mexican food, drink great microbrewed beer, then head to a game where you can throw insults ("keep yer head up Markie!") and batteries at Markus Naslund all within the same 8 hour span of time, but the great state of Colorado?

Come to the light side Alanah, there’s ample parking and balloons for the kids! And our sweaters look better than those blue and green things your boys wear.

Posted by Aaron from The Mountains on 02/15/08 at 05:07 PM ET

George -- I’m sort of getting worried about ever attending a sporting event in Michigan.

Trevor -- Good call, mentioning soccer fans. Those people get a little crazy at a certain level.

Aaron -- Referring to the Avs as “The Evil Empire” is just one of my adorable little quirks! (Oh, and I think the reason there’s ample parking at the Pepsi Center might have something to do with decreased attendance...?)

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 02/15/08 at 05:36 PM ET

Come to the light side Alanah, there’s ample parking and balloons for the kids! And our sweaters look better than those blue and green things your boys wear.

lol...A Dive fan making disparaging remarks about another team’s jersey.  The only bad thing about the Canucks jersey is the ‘VANCOUVER’ on the front.  I’ll take blue and green over maroon/burgundy and blue anyday.

Posted by dash_pinched on 02/15/08 at 05:52 PM ET

Alanah--you’d at least be able to hang out with Ryan Kesler’s family if you ever attended a Wings game here in Detroit.  Honestly, the pro sports fans are more mature than the college sports fans, by and large…

And the irony of it all (as previously noted, from 8 years of living half a mile from Michigan Stadium) is that the worst college sports offenders aren’t the frat boys who’re on their fourth or fifth beer buzz (Thursday night, Friday afternoon, Friday night, Friday night part 2, Saturday morning pre-game)--they’re the 40-year-old frat boys who are on their second.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 02/15/08 at 05:54 PM ET

I’m trying to figure out if “decreased attendance” counts after a league best 11+ years of sell out hockey...hmmm.

The ‘Nucks jersies look like they were the product of endless opinions from countless focus groups ending in “screw it, just put ALL the symbols on there!”

Seriously, all those things need are large patches from Denny’s, Goodyear, and Fanta and yer boys are playing in Europe (which makes sense considering most of them shouldn’t be playing in the NHL anyways...)

Posted by Aaron from The Mountains on 02/15/08 at 06:17 PM ET