Where Indianapolis Colts Fans Rank Among the NFL Cringiest Fanbases
There's no question that we sports fans are a passionate bunch. I mean, the word, "fan" is just a short version of the word, "fanatic," which is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a person who is extremely enthusiastic about and devoted to some interest or activity." In this case, that "interest or activity" is American football, specifically NFL football. Even though 99.9% of us will never suit up and play for the team we love, we celebrate the wins and are devastated by the losses as if we do. And some of us are viewed by other fans as just the worst.
Be honest. You already have a fanbase in mind when you think of the worst. They're the ones who think their team will win it all every year. The ones who think their team can do no wrong, and think every other team in the league is inferior. The ones that when their team loses, it's not because the other team that day was better, but because the refs sucked, or they have some conspiracy theory about how the league doesn't want them to win. They're the ones who make your skin crawl. The ones that make you cringe when you see their team on your team's schedule because they are just insufferable, arrogant, loud-mouths.
If you're an Indianapolis Colts fan like me, you're probably thinking, "he's not talking about me, right? RIGHT?!?!" Of course not. However, like any fanbase, we do have a few out there who think they are smarter than owner Jim Irsay and General Manager Chris Ballard, and I truly believe think they could run the team better with every fiber of their being. And to be fair, the fanbases with the most irritating fans have several that don't blame everyone but their team when they play like a fresh pile of dog crap steaming in the summer sun.
Don't get me wrong. The past few seasons of Colts football have been difficult to watch, to put it mildly, and there have been times that I have questioned the decisions made by the people in charge, but I also understand at the end of the day, it's just a game, and while it absolutely sucks to watch the team struggle week in and week out as they have lately, it has no major impact on my life in general. It's not like I'm going to start wearing a paper bag over my head when I go to a home game. I mean, who would do that?
Oh. Apparently, these two would do that.
Where Colts Fans Rank Among the Most Cringe-Worthy Fanbases
US Betting Report recently asked 2,000 sports fans in the United States who they thought were the "cringiest" NFL fans. And, I'm happy to say, we Colts fans are viewed pretty well by other fans around the league. After the votes were counted, only 0.7% of those polled thought of us as cringey, making us the second-least cringy fanbase behind the Los Angeles Chargers. Fans of our AFC South rivals were also viewed pretty favorably (even though we may not see them that way) with the Jaguars coming in right behind us as the third least-cringey (0.8%), the Texans were seventh least (1.1%), and the Titans were eighth least (1.2%).
The Cringiest Fan Base in the NFL is...
Apparently, when it comes to the team with the cringiest fanbase, there's one we can all agree is just the worst. That team is — the Dallas Cowboys who received 16:6% of the votes, nearly seven percentage points more than the second most cringe-worthy, their division rival, the Philadelphia Eagles.
I couldn't agree more with that vote, although I am surprised the percentage isn't higher. I know a few Cowboys fans, and while some are reasonable human beings, it feels like the majority of them are exactly what I described earlier. Full of bravado and arrogance for no other reason than their team had a good five-year run in the early 90s when Troy Aikman was throwing passes to Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith was running through defenses. Since then, their fans act like the league should hand them the Lombardi Trophy every year. Fortunately, for the rest of us, we get to sit back and watch their fans get their hopes up only to have them come crashing down during the team's annual late-season collapse.
Not that it really means anything, but I would like to point out that the Colts have been to two Super Bowls, and won one of them, since the last time Dallas was in the Super Bowl in 1996. Do what you will with that information.
You can find the complete 32-team, cringe-worthy here.
[Sources: US Betting Report / Flourish / ESPN / Merriam-Webster]