After the New England Patriots' victory over the Indianapolis Colts this past weekend, NBA great Charles Barkley, who was at the game as a guest owner Bob Kraft, gave voice to what has become a popular opinion around the sporting world: Boston fans don't appreciate the run of success that their teams, the Patriots in particular, have had.

"In sports, if I'm a fan, I want my team to have a chance to win. That's all I want. Like, in 99% of the cities in every other sport, not just football, your team sucks. You got no chance of winning."

This is something that Barkley, who never won a championship himself, and whose 76ers haven't in thirty years, is acutely aware of.

"The Patriots have a legitimate shot at winning every year," he went on. "That's pretty cool, and it bothers me. It bothers me that y'all don't appreciate them having a chance to win every year."

Setting aside for a moment the question of how one accurately pinpoints and contrasts the advanced metric data of Fan Appreciation Quotient, it's a comment that has rung true for many for whom "Boston sports fan" has become synonymous with "arrogant, entitled douche."

For other cities throughout the country who look at the impressive run of titles over the past dozen years – with the Patriots winning three Super Bowls and competing in two others, the Red Sox winning three World Series, and the Bruins and Celtics each winning one championship and competing in another – it seems like an embarrassment of riches, one that they'd happily take in a heartbeat.

Why is that? Because they don't want it as bad as we do. We're not just better at winning around here, we're better at complaining about losing than everyone else, and those two things are inextricably connected. You don't win so much unless you really, really hate losing.

So why is it when we're talking about sports — where competitiveness and striving for excellence are the primary, and perhaps the only virtues — that hunger for victory is not transferable to the people who make the championships possible in the first place? Are fans of a team supposed to remain satiated with one successful season and settle into a passive state of contentment for... well, for how long?

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To paraphrase Henry Hill, You lost half your team to injuries this year? Fuck you, pay me. You had a tough schedule? Fuck you, pay me. Stadium got hit by lightning? Fuck you, pay me.

You know what we call an athlete who rests on his laurels after winning once and never trying again? A quitter.

How many times have we heard an athlete praised for his unceasing appetite for victory ? All he wants to do out there is win! This guy doesn't care about Anything. But. Winning. The. Game.

The rest of us are supposed to just be happy that our team showed up to work?

In no other walk of life is it considered a negative attribute to hope for the success of something you've invested in. Are readers of this publication obnoxious because they want it to continue publishing quality writing? Why aren't you content with that one great article we published a couple years back? Stop being so greedy. Have a great quarter at work? Let your bosses know you're just going to take the next one real casual-like because you don't want to overdo it and come off looking smug.

You might say a sports fan has little to do with what actually happens on the field, and of course we aren't out there training and putting our bodies on the line. But it's fans in general, and Boston fans in particular, that make the success of these teams possible. Not only do we pay the salaries of the players and fill the owners' pockets with vast riches (while often publicly subsidizing the stadiums they play in with tax dollars), but it's that same very vocal crowing that has a real effect on the on the field product.

We've been subjected to repeated references to the vaunted "12th Man" in Seattle this year over the course of the Seahawks run, which is all very quaint and cute. The sports fans cheer loud. How remarkable. But in Boston we've got an even bigger secret weapon: The 12 Millionth Man.

It's not just loud in the stadiums here. The cheers and, more importantly, the jeers resonate throughout the entire region. And not just during the games themselves, but year round. In inferior sporting cities, your Seattles and Carolinas and so on, just making a nice little run is seen as a moral victory. In Boston, almost making it is rightly seen as failure. In every sporting season there is only one winner, and everyone else is tied for last. By recognizing, and regularly calling our teams out for it, we're sending a message to the owners of the teams that a decent run isn't enough to tide us over, it's a dereliction of their duty. We don't pay for moral victories. We bankroll the Patriots to win. If they don't, they're going to hear about it.

We're all stockholders in our teams, and it's the job of stockholders to keep pressure on the board to produce a profit, else they know they'll be thrown out. It may be a merciless capitalistic process, but this is the system we have, and not using it to our own interests wouldn't just be bad fandom, it would be downright un-American.

On the Patriots, there are two guys who understand how football works better than anyone else: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. For them, anything less than a championship is unacceptable. It's why Belichick is the best at what he does, and willing to cut anyone from the team (including this week's surprising placement of less-than-focused linebacker Brandon Spikes on "injured reserve") if they aren't on board. Belichick's draconian coaching philosophy is commonly referred to as "What have you done for me lately?" and it's something that's trickled down to the fans. No one remembers who gave a nice effort in the divisional round last year anymore than you're still talking about a sale you came really, really close to closing at work.

So, do I appreciate the Patriots success this year? Sure, but only because they're still on the road to a championship. If they fall short, as they have in spectacular fashion the past few seasons, forgive us if Boston sports fans are going to come away feeling like we've been let down. The teams here, like in every other city, are working for us. We pay their salaries, we provide them with celebrity and lavish praise upon them for their existence as accidents of nature, and the least they can do is pretend to care about winning as much as we do. If they don't, then go place somewhere else where you'll be cheered just for punching the clock on time. There are plenty of other loser cities out there who'll be happy to have you.

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