Internet Backdraft/Sports

• Tell any association football fan that you don't like their sport and you prefer American Football and everyone and their mom will try and hunt you down. Heck just being an American in an association football topic is grounds to being an Acceptable Target. Also calling the sport soccer instead of football; even if they are both words in the dictionary to call the sport, even if the word was coined by a Britain and not an American (no, really), and even if you are a fan of the sport, will cause even more enragement (Notice that I used association football for this reason). On the flip side, tell a American Football fan that you like soccer and you will be called a pussy, sissy, girl, etc. When these two internet backdraft's conflict...look out. Oh yeah and you can't like both sports either.
  • This also can apply if you replace Association Football with Rugby Football. Try and say you like it when you're with some rugby fans who will tell you that is the football players who are pussies for wearing all that padding!
  • For that matter, American Team Sports (American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Ice Hockey, even Lacrosse for that matter) vs British Team Sports (Association Football/Soccer, Rugby and Cricket). Sit back and watch both sides riot and call each others preferred sports "Lame and Fake Sports For Girls and Pussies".
• If you were wondering where all these sports called "Football" came from, in the 19th century, kids played their own versions of football however they felt like it. But soon after, there was a call in England for standardizing the rules of Football, which of course led to lots of arguing. In the end the arguers settled on two games: Rugby Football and Association football. Not long after, other organized sports based on these two sports as well as others were formed (Australian Rules Football, American Football, Gaelic Football, etc.) and all of these "Football" sports have since gained a foothold in sports culture. Of course since there are quite a few sports that claim the name Football many of these arguments continue on to this very day.
  • And why "foot" ball? Not because you kick the ball, but because these games were played by "the foot" - ie by people who couldn't afford horses.
• Speaking of association football, Diego Maradona is another example of a flamewar waiting to happen, especially if you compare him to Pele. Maradona is beloved for taking football/soccer to another level after Pele retired, while he is also ridiculed and hated for his drug habits, big mouth, and defeating England in the World Cup in part by scoring an accepted handball goal for Argentina (known as the "Hand of God" goal).
• Football forums where there are rules against Messi vs Ronaldo debates exist to keep debates as such out of every thread. Most commonly with a rule that goes "keep the Messi vs Ronaldo in the appropriate thread, and keep it away from the rest of the forum"
• Oh no, that's not the best associated football/soccer/whatever-its-name-is war. Every single country in which The Beautiful Game is popular enough to have its own league will have its own local flamewars. Barcelona vs. Real Madrid? Sporting Lisbon vs. Benfica vs. Porto? Roma vs. Inter vs. Milan? Bayern Munich vs. Werder Bremen vs. Schalke 04 vs. Bayern Leverkusen? Paris St. Germain vs. Marseille vs. Lyon? Westham United vs. Manchester United vs. Tottenham vs. (insert English/Welsh/Scottish/etc. team)? Boca Juniors vs. River Plate? Colo Colo vs. Universidad de Chile vs. Universidad Catolica? Corinthians vs. Cruzeiro vs. Flamengo? Brøndby vs FC København? Spartak vs. Dynamo Moscow vs. Lokomotiv vs. Zenit Saint Petersburg?... Everytime, everywhere, someone will make the wrong question to the wrong fan, and everyone will be flamed to death.
• Unless you want a flamewar in football boards, do not mention the 1972 Miami Dolphins perfect season. Despite the fact that the Dolphins finished with a 17-0 season record after their Superbowl win, Patriots fans accuse the '71 Dolphins about having a lackluster schedule, about being an inferior team who just got lucky, about how the 2007 18-1 New England Patriots had a longer schedule, and so on and so forth. The urban legend that some of the surviving original Dolphins supposedly get together and have a toast after the last remaining perfect team gets its first loss does not help matters at all.
  • And besides, it's who wins the Super Bowl that matters. Who the hell cares about being perfect in the regular season, anyway?
• Horse Racing fans love to do this. Among the more notable wars:
  • Man O' War vs. Secretariat
  • War Admiral vs. Seabiscuit
  • Zenyatta vs. Rachel Alexandra
• Tennis : everything and anything about Federer's GOAT status/alleged smugness vs Nadal's Spartan status/alleged false modesty.
• Ice skating fans! Try asking about the new judging system. Now run away. RUN AWAY.
  • Vancouver 2010. Evgeni Plushenko vs. Evan Lycasek. Did Plushenko act like a Spoiled Brat upon not getting gold? Did Evan really deserve his gold medal or was he unfairly favored by the judges just for his nationality? Do NOT ask. Really, don't.
  • It Got Worse for Plushenko fans. The International Skating Union has banned him from international play, putting his hopes for redemption in Sochi and his career as a skater in doubt. The reason: due to participating in skating shows without his federation's authorization.
    • As of recent, it's actually gotten better for Plushenko's fans. The ISU has restored him to ametur status. Just don't bring this up unless you're prepared to deal with huge flamewars questioning if his banning was justified.
  • Evan isn't having it easier, but because of a VERY different matter: his thoughts on Johnny Weir. Don't ask about them. It's for your own good.
    • Actually, Evan vs. Johnny itself is another flame war in itself. Accoring to fans, the topics are: Evan is an homo-hating gay basher who only gets medals because of the homophobia in the ice skating circles, Johnny is all show off and no real talent, Evan is an Armored Closet Gay who hides his homosexuality by throwing potshots at others and specially at Johnny, Johnny is a prima donna Small Name, Big Ego, blahblahblah...
  • This has died down just a little, but debating over whether Yuna Kim or Mao Asada is better a few years ago is absolute suicide. Especially since the whole Korea vs. Japan conflict was inevitably brought into it and then the forums just explode.
• When it comes to Ice Hockey, the debate on whether Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby is the better player, can become very heated.
  • On that note, mentioning Crosby's "Gold Medal Goal" can sicken many American hockey fans.
• Lebron James, after he told everyone on national television that he was going to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Miami Heat. Suddenly the most beloved NBA player became...not so beloved.
• Despite that the Olympic Games are supposed to be about the best athletes, not the best countries, nationalism is regardless a very serious matter. Rooting for your countrymen can be subject to you being trolled on the internet, especially if you root for a high medal nation like the United States or China.
• In Australia, the major sporting divide is between two codes of football: Australian Rules (played mostly in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and West Australia) and Rugby (played mostly in New South Wales and Queensland). The argument between fans long predates the internet, but the flamewars have gotten worse in recent years, as the national leagues for each code attempt to move in on the other code's territory...
  • Making things even more worse recently, soccer has a recently gained a foothold in Australia and has recently joined in the debate, which has not went well with fans of the other two codes and has started a bit of a back draft with Australians not embracing it in the international scene.
• Easy way to tell if someone is from the Pacific Northwest: Bring up Super Bowl XL, between the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers fans will be smug, the rest of the country will have varying opinions on the game, while 99% of Seahawks fans will be happy to tell you all about how the 'Stealers' robbed the win thanks to a glorified home venue and in collusion with the entire officiating staff. For bonus points, suggest that the referees didn't affect the outcome. If you're lucky, you might escape with only hearing about the lack of an investigation by the mainstream sports media. If not...well, Seattle isn't really known as a pro sport powerhouse, but when the collective Berserk Button is pressed, it gets pressed hard.
  • To this day, even unrelated sports pundits will treat every game between the two teams as a rivalry match-up, even though they are in different conferences and play one another once every four years and most of the players from both teams in that game have either retired or gone to another team entirely.
• The Cleveland Browns' relocation and as the Baltimore Ravens remains a touchy subject. Expect people to claim out of jealousy that the Super Bowl trophy won in 2001 by the Ravens counts as a Browns win, since many of the players on that team were on the final Browns roster before the move.
• The 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals between the LA Lakers and the Sacramento Kings, particularly Game 6. Basically, the Lakers won the game benefitting from shoddy officiating and bad calls against the Kings. The Lakers would eventually win Game 7 and the championship after. Kings/Non-Laker fans believe that the game was fixed.
• Generally, don't ever talk about the San Francisco Giants in LA, and never talk about the Los Angeles Dodgers in San Fran. I think the fact that such arguments have resulted in fatal stabbings in some cases says enough about the matter.
  • Two words: Designated hitter.
• In College Football: Should the BCS be replaced with a Playoff system?
• Fighting in Ice Hockey. Do NOT argue against it in Canada under any circumstances. In fact, bringing up the debate up here is incredibly unwise.
  • Bring up Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore...then duck.
• Just DON'T mention if Spygate and Bountygate have tarnished the Patriots' and Saints' Super Bowl victories, respectively.