Kansas City Chiefs have the worst fanbase

When did fan base become one word everywhere but in dictionaries and the AP Stylebook?

 

Shouldn't be surprised the Cowboys are No. 1. They haven't strung together two playoff wins since 1996, and still they fill up a 100,000-seat monstrosity of a stadium and drive TV ratings.

 

Yeesh. Jay Busbee, who has been writing more than a little while, sounds like a civilian making his first SJ.com post.

I'm a Titans fan and I could give less than half a shit about this. The Titans have a soft fan base because they've been given nothing worth following until very recently, and because the team has been content to collect TV checks and let opposing fans make up the gate and haven't made any effort to improve a very generic game experience.

 

Back in the late '80s when I first went on the Patriots' beat, the issue was whether the franchise would stay in New England. As the 1-15 and 2-14 teams stumbled around playing before 50 percent capacity crowds (one rainy December game I remember got like less than 20,000) in the NFL's worst stadium that was a 30 mile drive from just about every fan's home, I wrote that not showing up meant Pats' fans were actually better and smarter fans, because they wouldn't pay top dollar for an inferior product, and thus created more pressure on their team to improve. I believe that. Nobody went to Tennessee Titans University. Fans who don't act like consumers at least a little bit will be offered swill as long as ownership can get away with it.

 

And yet, Pats gear was a rare sight in the stands in Buffalo until they all showed up in their brand-new Brady jerseys in 2002. Now, of course, they rival the Steelers, Packers and Giants for the worst traveling-fan infestations in Orchard Park (just ahead of the Cowboys' and Raiders' national bandwagons.)

 

IMO except for the weather, Buffalo is a very underrated road trip town. And many years the Pats went there in September-October when the weather was perfectly nice.

 

The Cowboys used to be the shit for most people in the south, and still have a bunch of fans. At least in Tennessee in the 80s and early 90s, the Falcons may as well not have existed

 

Before I started working every Sunday in the hockey business during football season I made two trips a year to Buffalo for Bills games even though, as a Dolphins fan, I loathe the Bills. (And refused to go there to see the Dolphins because the hostility factor was ramped up to 11 during the Marino vs. Kelly era.) But Buffalo is a great town, never had a bad time there. And the goofiest shit I ever saw there was during a Raiders' visit. Their fan base seemed to think they were in Oakland.

And there weren't many Pats or Colts fans in the pre-Brady and Manning days.

 

I take issue with the article calling the Saints, "terrible," in recent years. Mediocre, yes. Terrible on defense, without a doubt. But as long Sean Payton is calling the plays and Drew Brees continues to play at a relatively high level, the Saints can be considered a marginal playoff contender in the NFC.

They do have one of the best fan bases, largely because it is one of the best game-day experiences in the league, and they are the only game in town for a large part of the Gulf South.

 

The best thing I ever saw at a Bills game was a Jan 1. playoff game they had against I think Glanville's Oilers. We'd covered a Bengals home playoff game, so this had to be New Year's 1989. the day before and flown in that morning. As we drove to the press parking lot, we passed many tailgaters of course. One group of guys standing around their grill drinking beers were still in tuxedos, except because it was like 20 outside, they were wearing ski masks and mittens.

 

Used to love to go to cold-weather games in Buffalo, braving the elements was half the fun. Coldest day I have ever spent - and remember I have lived in Canuckistan my whole life - was at Rich Stadium for a Vikings-Bills game in Dec. 1994. Bills' tailgaters are tough....

 

At least Chiefs fans know what state their team is in.