When sports fans say "We" this and "We" that

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sethbot said:
I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but there is the point that sometimes, residents of the city the sport team is in are paying taxes that directly go to funding the stadium co-owned by both the team and the city. At that point, there's definitely a feeling of ownership and being part of the overall organization by the fans.
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Yeah I brought this up a page ago. Think of what something like Madison Square means to New York history. Or Fenway for Boston.
 
braves01 said:
I usually hear soccer fans talk like this.

"We played a great match. That 0-0 tie is huge for us"

"We got new kits this year. Kit means uniform, FYI."

"Have you seen my scarf? We really need great fan support to get a draw, and I'm not doing my part without a scarf."
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ha ha
 
This is mostly a non-issue. It tells the person that you're a fan of that team, so it's more for convenience, as talking about a team in the third person is normally interpreted as you being a fan of some other team or not at all.

However, there are people that take "we" too seriously. I have not been able to find it since I first saw it many years ago, but there's a video on YouTube of an Alabama fan interviewed by a local news station after the 2011 or 2012 title, I think, and he's like, "It feels great waking up every day, knowing you're a champion." He was being completely serious. It was classic.
 
timetokill said:
OHGeHPK.gif
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Looks like a young Ellie Kemper from The Office US.
 
Coming from the Falcons game last night, it's awesome how sports brings complete strangers together. High fives, hugs, and chanting. Not to mention that crowd noise does have an actual effect on opposing teams offenses. So in some instances fans do contribute.

So yeah. WE.
 
gdt said:
It occurs to me that I've never read non American gaffers talk like that though.
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Fucking please... I'd argue I hear it more often from the huge European soccer fans than I do anyone else. I guess the cool thing now is to make "lol Americans" posts at any chance.
 
Ronin said:
Coming from the Falcons game last night, it's awesome how sports brings complete strangers together. High fives, hugs, and chanting. Not to mention that crowd noise does have an actual effect on opposing teams offenses. So in some instances fans do contribute.

So yeah. WE.
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I just moved back to Atlanta. The hype around the new stadium is unlike anything I ever seen from this city. People are legit proud about something that will become apart of our city's history. People who want to be all pedantic and "hey look at me Im so cool you guys are lame" about becoming attached to it can fuck all the way off.
 
Hell, I don't even watch pro sports and I'm guilty of this. Just this last week I was at my nephew's high school football game and it was a good contest so we were all getting into it. At one point late in the 4th quarter his team had a small lead and there was a 4th and long past the 40 where I wasn't sure what the best play was to keep the opposing team from having enough time to get back down the field when they got possession, so I turned to my father-in-law and asked, "Should we punt?"

When you feel involved, you are involved, I guess. :P

We won. XD
 
Someone summed it up earlier; your sports team is basically a representative of your community, it is supported by and funded by the community and is an extension of it so there is a sense of belonging, hence 'we.'

The only time 'we' gets really cringeworthy is when gamers refer to their favourite brand as we, same with tech fanboys actually. Thats just downright cringeworthy. You are never a part of a large business unless you work for them or have a vested financial interest.
 
My club is who I identify and is part of my life. Everton would not exist without the fans, that is why ''we'' is appropriate. If you can't understand that, then its more you than anything else.
 
gdt said:
It occurs to me that I've never read non American gaffers talk like that though.
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It's a sport thing, not an american thing.

Nothing wrong with saying "we" imo.

I'm sure most people during the olympics say "We won 54 gold medals" even though you didn't actually participate in the olympics. It's no different really.
 
what's wrong with it?

I think "we" is perfectly acceptable. Sports are for the fans. Without fans, the team doesn't exist. Fans are the ones spending their money on the team.
 
Man, people bitch about anything.

It's faster to say "we" than "blah blah team won"

Also, why not say "we"? It harms no one and it just shows how much you appreciate a team because of all the entertainment they provide.


We lost Sundays game from the 1 yard line again. Now we'll be the laughing stock of the league for a week. (Not really though).
 
Sports fans are the worst. There's literaly more use in talking about videogames on GAF than in those hours long "analysis" tv and radio shows, not to mention the bar conversations.
 
The Beard said:
It's so fucking awkward when people say "we". I love sports, and when I'm talking about my favorite teams, I refer to them as "they", like a normal person.
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I don't use we either because I'm just fucking awkward like that, but we (lol) are definitely not the 'normal' people in this scenario. Most people will just use 'we' without a second thought and not spend time getting bogged down in semantics.
 
It differentiates who you're referring to when discussing sports. Instead of saying the Yankees need to pitch better, I just say we. If I say they, I could be referring to both teams. If We, then it's my favorite team. It's not that serious.
 
We at GAF like to criticize other people about their mannerisms so that we can feel superior to them.
 
Mohonky said:
Someone summed it up earlier; your sports team is basically a representative of your community, it is supported by and funded by the community and is an extension of it so there is a sense of belonging, hence 'we.'

The only time 'we' gets really cringeworthy is when gamers refer to their favourite brand as we, same with tech fanboys actually. Thats just downright cringeworthy. You are never a part of a large business unless you work for them or have a vested financial interest.
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Except generally professional athletes are neither born in, or currently apart of the community their fans are apart of, it hasn't been the case in decades, except for exceptions like green bay. Even at NCAA levels you have a hell of a lot of players who are not really apart of the wider academic community.

The inclusionary and tribal aspects are brilliant commercial ploys. "They" takes just as little effort to say as "we."
 
Gallbaro said:
Except generally professional athletes are neither born in, or currently apart of the community their fans are apart of, it hasn't been the case in decades, except for exceptions like green bay. Even at NCAA levels you have a hell of a lot of players who are not really apart of the wider academic community.

The inclusionary and tribal aspects are brilliant commercial ploys. "They" takes just as little effort to say as "we."
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Who cares? A lot of politicians who run the US are not from where I live, yet they still represent me. Obama is from Hawaii, yet people from every other state would still refer to him as "Our President" if speaking to someone from a foreign country.

Also, there are plenty of athletes who are part of the community here. They're constantly doing fundraisers and signings, and LIVE here most of the year.
 
Actually in Portugal and Spain we have a tradition of having associate clubs. Which means i pay a fee every month and i am able to participate in Club-meetings which involve financial and structural decisions and we vote accordingly. We also elect the governing bodies of the club. And we have the possibility to voice our own opinions.

I'm also a very small share owner of another facet of the club , which also allows me to participate in meetings.

So , even if its very small , i am definitely part of the club's organic structure.
 
Servbot24 said:
It's more convenient to say "We" than "My favored team, the Metropolis City Fighting Caterpillars". That's all there is to it.
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It's just as easy to say "they". Same number of syllables. It's just a dumb way of feeling like they are a part of something bigger. I watch Esports and the Olympics and I refer to teams or players individually. It's not hard.
 
It's quite common in Australian sport.

The reason for this is that we have very few privately owned sporting teams. They are generally "membership" based.

For example, I am a member of the Brisbane Lions Football Club. I pay 500 dollars a year for my membership which includes season tickets. Included in my membership is voting rights for the board of directors and changes to the club's constitution.

If we don't like the job a board member or president is doing, we can force an election and vote them out.

As a member of the club, I feel comfortable referring to the team as "we".
 
That's how I see the difference between a trash newspaper and a tabloid:
It's "we" if a team wins, and "them" when they lose.

German Tabloid: "We won the Worldcup!"
Newspaper "Germany wins World Cup after 1-0 victory over Argentina"

Tabloid: "Germany Humiliates World Cup Host Brazil in Semifinal Slaughter"
Newspaper: "Disbelief as Germany break hosts Brazil's hearts in 7-1 defeat"
 
gdt said:
It occurs to me that I've never read non American gaffers talk like that though.
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I'm german, and I always say "we" and "us" in regards to Eintracht Frankfurt and the german national team.

As a fan, I consider myself part of the club.

And technically, I am a part of Eintracht Frankfurt since I am a club member.
 
It's fine to be perplexed at the usage of "we" when referring to sports, but the gaffer who said he says to his co-worker "Oh really? What position do you play on that team" is such a hopelessly socially inept person.

When you act like that towards someone else, you've moved beyond being genuinely curious about why people use the word "we". In your mind it's now a foregone conclusion that saying "we" is a dumbfuck thing to do and you've made it your mission to "humiliate" others with "hilarious" gotcha remarks. What a complete dick.
 
I only hate it when people say "they" when losing and "we" when winning.

I'm probably guilty of it too, but I try to be consistent.
 
MIMIC said:
I only hate it when people say "they" when losing and "we" when winning.

I'm probably guilty of it too, but I try to be consistent.
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I think this actually happens mostly when the team plays with no urgency, no passion, and you as a fan you put in more work and emotion supporting then the team has playing
 
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