Say Hello to the Bad Guy.....

Thank You Ndamukong Suh. Pro football was in dire need of a dominant bad guy. The NFL has become too sanitized. Too clean. Gone are all the players who push the envelope. No more Andre Waters. No Bill Romanoskis. No Kevin Gogans. I grew up watching the Philadelphia Eagles place bounties on players heads. Now you can't breathe on quarterbacks and wide receivers can safely go across the middle. The league also had rogue coaches like Buddy Ryan and Jerry Glanville. Now pretty much everyone toes the company line. There are few characters. So I salute you Mr. Suh. Dare to be different. Be aggressive. Be a dirty player. The game is just more fun to watch when you have a healthy hatred for players on the opposing team. And I for one, love a good bad guy.

Players like Suh are good for the league. Fans love to see athletes they dislike lose. Think about the last NBA finals. The story wasn't that the Mavericks won, it was that the Heat lost. Likewise its not just Floyd Mayweather's immense talents that drives his Pay Per View sales, its also that people want to see him get his ass kicked. Hatred equals ratings. Ndamukon Suh's dominant play and off-kilter demeanor have made the Detroit Lions relevant for the first time since Barry Sanders retired. That's good for the league. Now if we can only get a couple of more players like Suh and really make this league exciting.


Note: Even I can admit Suh's stomp was dirty and significantly hurt his teams chances of winning. However, players such as Suh, make the game more interesting.

Should you cheer for your team to lose?

So what makes a true sports fan? I ask this because I work with people who have been actively rooting for their beloved sports team to lose. Yes, you read that correctly. These so-called die hard fans actively want their favorite team to lose. That team, Ole Miss, has lost at such a level that their head coach has been fired after four seasons. These "fans" believe that the massive losing was worthwhile since it served the purpose of getting Houston Nutt and Athletic Director Pete Boone out of town.

Personally, I have a hard time following this line of thinking. I can't stand losing. I could never actively hope my favorite teams lose just to get rid of a coach. I truly can not fathom hating an individual coach enough to WANT my team to lose.  Maybe I played and coached to long and I'm totally off base. I want to win every time my team lines up. It appears many would disagree with me.  So tell me. If you are a true fan, is it every ok to root for your team to lose?