Danny ChaiSo I was actually rooting for the Angels in the beginning of the Series (hate the Giants), but going down to SoCal this weekend changed me. The reason is this: there are no real Angels fans. I dunno, I guess there are a handful, but the vast majority of them jumped on the bandwagon in the past few months/weeks/days. And a good number of them were upfront about it, how they’re Angels fans *now*. But still, most of them were acting like they were hardcore Angels fans forever. One newscaster was saying how this is the moment Angels fans have been waiting for all their lives. Please. All that pretending turned me off. I dunno, I suppose the Marlins in ’97 and the Diamondbacks last year is worse but still.
Here’s another thing about LA fans that turns me off: they like everyone. Typical bandwagon mentality. I dunno, is it like that in other places? I know up here, you’re generally either a Giants fan or an A’s fan. There are those posers that wear the half Giants / half A’s hats but most people revile them. With the 49ers and Raiders, you’re definitely one or the other. But in LA, you have tons of people who are both Dodgers and Angels fans. Huh? Or Lakers and Clippers fans. What the… I dunno, whatever, free country and all, but that’s just not me.
SN – flying down there were a fair number of Giants fans on the plane, and the pilot was apparently an Angels “fan”. Which was kind of amusing as he’d make comments like, “Angels fans are now free to move about the cabin. Giants fans are not.” But anyway, there was this one guy, I overheard him saying that he lives in Atlanta but grew up in SF and was a hardcore Giants fan. He owns season tickets, and goes to a few series each year. He had also been to every World Series game this year. I dunno, that’s hard core.