Well, and there’s a difference between hating the teams and the fans. I don’t really dislike the Warriors. They seem like good enough guys, Steve Kerr is a legit good guy and Steph Curry is fun to watch.

Yeah, but even then I don’t dislike Penguins or Steelers fans particularly.

I just think there’s more to it than you’re making out. Is winning an aspect of it? Sure, but I think there’s also a certain obnoxiousness that goes into why specific teams are more hated than others. 

Sure thing man. After all, it’s not like there are any “Native” Americans who might have a claim to land that could be given away. How ridiculous is that? 

Sure. So long as you account for thousands of years of Americans being persecuted minorities by virtue of being Americans, it’s exactly the same. 

Ah yes. The US could have just set up a Israeli state in American land which was theirs fair and square with no prior claims of ownership. 

Specific rivalries aside, I mean. 

Well, sure, as my general policy is to hate all other people but 99% of sports fans I don’t really give a shit about. I don’t dislike Pittsburgh Pirates or LA Kings or Detroit Lions fans specifically. 

Not really. Do you know anyone who viscerally hates either the Baseball or Football Giants? Or the Blackhawks? The Astros? 

No, I really hate their fans. 

He was 20th in points, tied for 46th in goals. This year it’s 25/41. Again, a very good player but I’m not sure I’d want to give him 12% of the Cap.

Ah, I see, so you’re just a garden variety anti-semite then. 

I agree, it’s not right that Jews were a persecuted minority for 2000 years but, you know, you play the cards as they’re dealt. 

Like you I’m Jewish, mid-30's and I’m broadly sympathetic to the goals of BDS but I generally think it’s not a very good policy and unlikely to affect any real change, especially if it is constantly giving the impression of a single set of standards for Israel and an entirely different one for other countries. 

Historically, Jewish people haven’t done all that well in countries where they’re a minority population. The State of Israel was founded expressly to counter that. 

Imagine how sad the Oilers must be realizing they no longer have any top prospects to deal away. 

It seems like a lot of bad contracts are going to be signed this year because of the weird uptick in scoring. Panarin’s a good player but odds are he’s going to want the sort of 9-10 million deal that used to be reserved for the league’s real elite upper tier. Personally, I’d balk at that unless I thought he was a…

Easily the weirdest hockey divide that’s shown up over the last few years is the one between people who take shit about the All-Star Game super seriously and, you know, sane people. 

He’s absolutely eligible. It’s why he’s getting votes. But if a writer out there decides that he violates their interpretation of the character clause I think that’s an absolutely defensible interpretation of the character clause regardless of how other writers have interpreted that clause in the past.

Yes, back when baseball itself was segregated people voting on the HOF had a different idea about what constitute bad character with regards to views on race then we do today. I don’t think that creates some sort of binding precedent on how we have to look at things.