Fan Typology
Fan Type Number One: Fanatical, Delusional, or Just Plain Crazy?


In the midst of the long, lazy summer sans NHL hockey (a continuing theme, I realize), I have arrived at a--wait for it--yes, indeed--a serious conclusion. The vast majority of fans are often pretty much delusional when it comes to discussing and defending their favorite team.

How did I reach this conclusion? you ask. Well, sans actual games to watch, I've been reading various Internet items. (Never a good idea. I realize that, but until the actual games arrive, I don't have a real remedy for that problem.) In the NHL world, it is amazing how many fans of teams (cough, in the Atlantic Division, cough) want to defend their favorite team's at best mediocre defense corps. In the world of other sports, I've been astounded by fans who see hope for the future in a AAA baseball player who's nearing thirty and by NFL fans who somehow see a chance for their obviously rebuilding/mostly talentless team to contend for a division title.
(To spare your sanity, I won't link to the sites that offer such deluded fan commentary, but suffice to say, if, like me, you fritter away too much of summer reading on the Internet, you're likely to have come upon much of this delusional commentary yourself.)

As I pondered fan bases that seem to be overly optimistic and in my humble estimation thus delusional, or charitably, fanatical, I came to realize that I stumble across the rantings/opinion/equivocations of three types of fans in my online reading. For your summer enjoyment, I present to you the first type of the three fan types.

Fan Type #1: The Delusional and Overly Optimistic and Overly Defensive Fanatic
Description: You know this type well; in fact, I'd venture to say that the Delusional Fanatic is the most common fan to post rantings (or writing, depending on your perspective) in defense of their team. This is the fan who makes it very clear that while his or her team is not perfect, his or her team is simply superior to most other teams. At times, you are baffled at the logic (or more often complete or seeming lack thereof)of this fan. But there is no denying the emotional power and pull of this fan's arguments in defense of his team.
Hockey Examples: In the spirit of a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, I'll use Atlantic Division examples, and I'll even use one per team, and just for kicks, I'll start with my own team.

The Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins have the best player in the world in Sidney Crosby. Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal are so precocious and preciously unique that they will each add 30 points to their respective rookie scoring totals. Ryan Whitney will compete for the scoring lead among NHL defensemen, and so will Sergei Gonchar. Marc-Andre Fleury, despite what all the naysayers say, won 40 games last season, and he can surely do that again and probably win more games given his team's offense. And as for the team's much-maligned defense? Obviously, while not of the Pronger-Niedermayer variety, what other team has a defensemen scoring duo like Whitney and Gonchar? Also, Kris Letang and Darryl Sydor will look like Pronger and Niedermayer or at the very least two near-All Star level defensemen when compared to Joe Melichar and Rob Scuderi last year. The Pens will have so much puck possession that in-zone defensive coverage will rarely, if ever, be a problem. Oh, and expect Angelo Esposito, AHL All-Star Jonathan Filewich, and Petr Sykora to contribute at least 90 additional goals to the Penguins. Expect that just like last year, the Penguins will never suffer from any unfortunate injuries. And just to put the Penguins over the top, Gonchar's scoring prowess will so astound Mike Milbury, who ends his brief tenure with the NHL on NBC to become the new GM of the Anaheim Ducks after Brian Burke has a heart attack after sneaking a peek at Kevin Lowe's planned offer sheet to Ryan Getzlaf that Milbury will be glad to unhand Chris Pronger's salary to Pittsburgh in exchange for Sergei Gonchar and a 35-goal-scorer but now expendable fourth line center Erik Christiansen. (Yeah, okay, I made the part about Mike Milbury up, but the rest, including 35-goal-scorer and 4th line center Erik Christiansen, accurately sums up the beliefs of the delusional Pittsburgh fanatic.)

The New York Rangers: Do you know how good this team is? Let me tell you how good this team is. This team is led by two 600 goal future Hall of Fame wings who want nothing more than one last Cup victory. You have a team with Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, and you just know that team is going to win. Jagr is going to beat Crosby and Thornton for the scoring title while remaining perfectly healthy for the entire season, and Shanahan will pot at least 40, but hopefully 50 goals. Chris Drury and Scott Gomez will fit in immediately and find chemistry with Jagr and Shanahan, respectively. Petr Prucha will return to his rookie season form and score 40 goals. King Henrik will finally win the Vezina he's so deserved. In addition to a phenomenal top six that will spend all their time in front of the opposing goaltender, the Rangers will have the league's best power play and the league's best goaltender. And for all the stupid Hockey News wants to talk about the Rangers' bottom six, the Rangers' bottom six are full of talent. While not playing as many minutes at the top 6, the bottom six forwards will contribute to the team by providing a timely goal at the right time--and lots of timely goals in addition to playing solid positional defense. The team will be well-coached by Tom Renney, who will have to make small adjustments for the various tiny, minor injuries that might hit any of the New York stars during the season. And as for the Rangers defense, well, it's not Niedermayer-Pronger, but again, who is? The Rangers are above average defensively even without their offensive prowess, and Hugh Jessiman's sudden ability to score at the NHL level will prompt Mike Milbury, the new GM of the Anaheim Ducks after Brian Burke falls into a coma after screening upcoming offer sheets, to accept Jessiman and 2 future first round picks in exchange for Chris Pronger at the trade deadline. (Author's Note: Hmm. Curious how Chris Pronger would be the cures for these "above-average" defenses that, admittedly, still lack a Chris Pronger. But the rest of the entry stands.)

New Jersey Devils: May I remind you who runs the Devils? That's right. Lou is a genius. No matter how many coaches he hires and fires, Lou is always a genius. No matter losing Brian Rafalski or Scott Gomez, the Devils will continue to do what the Devils have done for the past twelve years: The Devils will win, win, and win. The Devils will win because Martin Brodeur will break his own record for games won in a season despite the newfound presence of Kevin Weekes as his back-up goaltender. The Devils will win because Zach Parise will score all the key goals New Jersey needs at critical times. The Devils will win because they will be coached by an iron-fisted solid coach. In spite of the loss of key talent, the Devils will endure because of the system, Brodeur, and Lou--and that system is infallible. The Devils will take the division because the power of that trio--the system, Brodeur, and Lou--beats out any offensive firepower offered by other Atlantic teams.

The Philadelphia Flyers: Unlike their cross-state rivals, the Flyers will not wait to pile up once-in-a-generation draft picks to rebuild. No, the Flyers will be playoff contenders for certain and Cup contenders by season's end. The addition of Daniel Briere will be a boon as Briere will challenge for the league's scoring title. Additionally, Briere's presence will help Philly youngsters such as Carter, Lupul, and Harnell to score at least 120 total goals and to fulfill all their promising potential this season. Simon Gagne will capture the Rocket Richard trophy, and having endured injuries last season, the Flyers will not have to endure injuries or sophomore slumps this season. Additionally, Stevie Downie will be, surprisingly to non-Philly fans, one of the most formidable youngsters in the league. The Flyers, in their two summer blueline acquisitions, finally gained a legitimate number 1 pairing on defense, and as such, now have by far, the best defense in the conference, which is supplemented by the presence of Derian Hatcher, who excels at penalty killing. Goaltending, which has been a consistent Achilles heel in recent seasons will no longer be a problem due to the presence of trash-talking Martin Biron, who was stuck behind Ryan Miller in Buffalo but who will win the affection of the Philly fans for his ability to stop the puck as a number one NHL goaltender should. In sum, the Flyers have youth poised to break out, superstars in Briere and Gagne, legitimate number one defensemen, and a bonafide number 1 goalie. How can they not be considered superior to Pittsburgh, which still lacks number one defensemen and a reliable goaltender or to New York, who certainly doesn't have the defense necessary to contend? You've got to pencil in the Flyers for taking the Atlantic Division crown and then, at worst, advancing to the conference finals in the playoffs.

New York Islanders: Say these two names with me. Rick Dipietro. Ted Nolan. Rick Dipietro. Ted Nolan. Repeat. Repeat. That is all you need to know about why the Islanders can't be counted out of the Atlantic Division race, either. Rick Dipietro could be the best goaltender in the league, and the Islanders will be coached by Ted Nolan. And sure, other teams made "flashier" signings. But we made signings, too. We have Bill Guerin and Andy Sutton. We have reliable veterans who will be able to play the game the right way. And beyond that, our coach is going to ensure we play the game the right way. We will be pesky and win games you'd say we have no business winning because our coach knows how to coach and our goalie can stop the puck so much that we'll score just enough to be able to win a lot more games than we lose. So we don't have the flash-and-dash of the Pittsburgh or NYR's offense or the legendary Brodeur or a whole conglomeration of potential combustible elements that the Flyers do--we know what we have, a coach who knows how to win and a young goalie who's among the best. Expect the playoffs, at least, and from the playoffs, who knows what happens with a great coach and a hot goalie?

A Pause to Reflect on the Delusional Fanatic
Wow. That was an interesting exercise. If the delusional fanatics of Atlantic Division teams are to be believed:
1.) The Penguins and Rangers are both going to break team and potentially NHL scoring records.
2.) Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan are going to leapfrog still more people on the NHL all-time scoring list. Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Esposito, Whitney, and Letang are going to set record numbers of punditry tongues wagging about being this century's version of the 1980's Edmonton Oilers.
3.) All the Atlantic-Division starting goaltenders will win at least 40 games, and 40 games at bare minimum. Every Vezina Trophy nominee will come from the Atlantic Division.
4.) Speaking of awards, the Atlantic Division will sweep every major NHL award.
5.) The Atlantic Division will be known as the healthiest division in all of professional sports, where important players want to go to ensure they never suffer long-term or serious or even minor but aggravating injuries that hurt the team and impact performance.
6.) Every team in the Atlantic Division will make the playoffs, and Pierre McGuire will be absolutely correct when he predicts that the winner of the Stanley Cup will be an Atlantic Division team.


My Own Final Thoughts: In most rational moments (which, believe it or not, is most of the time when it comes to evaluating hockey, anyhow), I am clearly not a delusional fanatic. While I certainly believe that all teams will suffer from injuries, that the defensemen NYR fans so defend is the reason their team lost to Buffalo when Jagr had clearly shown exactly how Buffalo could be beat, that at some point in time the Devils' system will result in merely above average play rather than excellence, that the Islanders strike me, at best, as a team that will be an annoying pest simply because they're the team of Al Albour and David Volek (oh, painful history there), and that the Flyers are an interesting experiment that requires every element to combine (and I doubt they all will) to achieve excellence--it's probably best that I defend my claim that I am not a delusional fanatic with thoughts about my own team, which can easily be found by perusing the archives of my blog.

For example: I have stated Letang will make rookie mistakes, I have feared sophomore slumps for Malkin and/or Staal, I have feared long-term injuries to critical players, I have critiqued 2006-07 Jack Adams candidate Michel Therrien for his in-game strategy, and I have stated I think the Penguins could finish anywhere from atop the NHL to atop the Atlantic Division to home ice advantage to a low playoff seed to just out of the playoffs.

Thus, having said all that, am I the second type of fan or the third type of fan? Stay tuned.