LOVE TO HATE
Del Olaleye: Sports hate is healthy, so (bleep) Tom Brady and the Patriots
Del Olaleye
Jan 23, 2018, 8:48 pm
It's easy to hate Tom Brady. Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images
F--- Tom Brady might be the most used phrase across Philadelphia the next two weeks. With the Eagles in the Super Bowl, Philly fan will be at full tilt as their city becomes one of the epicenters of the football world.Their what I like to call “sports hate” for Tom Brady stems from a past on-field result and a possible future result. He was the QB of the 2004 Patriots. The same Patriots who beat the Donovan McNabb-led Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. He just so happens to be standing in their way again as the Eagles attempt to become Super Bowl champions for the first time. That is entry-level sports hate. Player A has a chance to ruin your season. They hate him because they should.
My sports hate for Tom Brady is at an elite level. I don’t think I’ve rooted against one player longer than I have Brady. As a Dolphins fan, Brady’s career includes countless victories against my favorite team. Not really countless. There is a record of it somewhere. I just refuse to look it up. The victories number so many that he has helped turned the Dolphins into merely a road bump he has to run over twice a season as opposed to a legitimate threat. The Dolphins have done enough to crater their own chances that I don’t really hate the Patriots anymore. They play a brand of football that is so far superior that I don’t even get mad when Miami loses. I’ve been in this stage of acceptance for about a decade. With that being said, I still root for Tom Brady to lose every time he touches the field. I told you I was at an elite level.
I know I’m not alone. There is at least one player, coach, referee or owner for everyone that no matter the situation, you hope they die a slow and painful sports death. I proposed this topic on the Raheel and Del show in mid-December and phone calls flooded the show. From Bud Adams to Matt Schaub to Nick Saban to Drayton McClane, everybody had someone they wanted to fail miserably. You continue to root for their failure long after the adverse effects on your team that they’re responsible for have worn off.
College football is the perfect place to cultivate your sports hate. Your school has the same opponents every year. Sometimes those opponents are in your home state. Opposing coaches, players and fans say things to hype up their squad by denigrating you and yours. I was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. So were several of my cousins. Our family football allegiances are divided amongst the big 3 schools in the state. Florida, Florida State and Miami. I have family who love Florida State and Florida. I will never root for the Seminoles or the Gators. I hope they lose every time they touch the field, court or pool. When people tell me they root for FSU or Florida I immediately begin to have thoughts about them as human beings. I can tell you those thoughts aren’t complimentary. Watching FSU catch an L on a Friday night in October at Boston College was better than watching Miami beat UNC the next day.
Like I said, I’m elite.
Spending a perfectly good 2.5 to 4 hours watching a sporting event you have no emotional connection to just to root for the downfall of a person you don’t know means your sports hate has reached Super Saiyian. Embrace that. When your teams are mediocre or flat out terrible you need something to give your sports life meaning. No better way to find meaning for an otherwise empty sports existence than to revel in another’s misery.
The Patriots have a chance to win their sixth Super Bowl. Nobody needs that. I’ve got no connection to the Eagles besides Eagles Fan Holly but I know who I’ll be rooting against in Super Bowl LII.
F--- Tom Brady? You're damn right, F--- Tom Brady.
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Texas had barely settled back home after a dominant win at Michigan when coach Steve Sarkisian had a direct message for his No. 2 Longhorns.
“We are capable of anything. We've got a really good team," Sarkisian said. “We are entitled to nothing.”
To prove his point, Sarkisian showed his team video of Northern Illinois’ game-winning kick and the Huskies storming the field against then-No. 5 Notre Dame in last weekend's biggest upset.
Texas hosts UTSA (1-1) on Saturday night, and Sarkisian wants to snuff out any hint of complacency that could lead to a close game, or worse, against a Roadrunners team that should be overmatched across the field.
“Human nature is human nature. So what did I do this morning? I walked them through the Notre Dame scenario,” Sarkisian said.
That scenario was Notre Dame earning a tough road win at Texas A&M and earning praise as a team worthy of the College Football Playoff, only to be humbled at home a week later.
Texas' dominant win at Michigan vaulted the Longhorns to their highest national ranking since they finished the 2009 season No. 2 after losing to Alabama in the national championship game.
UTSA and Texas met in 2022 when the Roadrunners were seen as program on the rise coming off a Conference USA championship and Texas was still climbing out of its 5-7 finish in 2021, Sarkisian's first year.
The Roadrunners eyed an upset that day before Texas won in a rout 44-20. UTSA now limps into Saturday's matchup on the heels of a 49-10 road loss at Texas State.
Sarkisian did his best Monday to insist the Roadrunners are still a threat.
“The worst opponents or the toughest to play are the ones that are wounded or backed into corner,” Sarkisian said.
Texas plays three straight at home, and won't play its first SEC game until Sept. 28 against Mississippi State. After the UTSA matchup, the Longhorns play Louisiana-Monroe.
“If you keep dwelling on Michigan, you'll lose sight of who's right in front of you,” Texas safety Michael Taaffe said. “The SEC will come soon enough. UTSA is good enough to have our full attention.”
That's not lost on Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, who led the Longhorns into the College Football Playoff last season.
“It's a good feeling,” beating Michigan, Ewers said. “It's only Week 2. I want to have this feeling all the way through January.”