Was thinking about the Ashes earlier and got me thinking which teams I dislike more than any other. Thought I'd keep it non-footy as it has been done lots. Here are mine: - Aussie test cricket team - Red Bull F1 team - US Ryder Cup team - Leeds Rhinos
Red Bull F1 Pakistan cricket Middlesex / Surrey CCC (I don't dislike Lancashire - it's more pity) New York Yankees Welsh Rugby U Leeds Rugby L Llanelli Rugby U (what?) Astana Cycling
With you on the Aussie cricket team and Red Bull. Christian Horner might be the single most odious being I’ve ever seen or heard. Though I wouldn’t say I hate either of them. I have a (sometimes grudging) respect for their capabilities and achievements. The Aussies generally say things as they are though so I’ve no massive issue. Just a big rivalry and I love to see England beat them. Red Bull, not so much. Pedlars of whatever rhetoric suits their agenda on any given day, even if it contradicts what they said the week before.I liked and respected Seb Vettel much more after he left that team - though to be fair more so at Aston Martin than when he was at Ferrari. Danny Ric too, a very likeable character which was hidden at that team, and he finds himself back there now and in the background to boot. But again, you can’t help but respect their results over the years. I suspect Max Verstappen might not be the complete arse he comes across as, much like Seb Vettel wasn’t. Time may tell.
The current England tour in New Zealand reminded me of the differences between the Aussies and NZ. I just LOVE to see us beat Australia, especially so if we get David Warner and Steve Smith out for single figure scores. Can't stand either of these players, particularly Warner who fiddles with his glove straps after every ball, sometimes delaying the bowler. I don't care how well they may have played a match against us - no love for them at all. NZ, on the other hand, are a different story. I was shocked that we got beaten by a single run last night (still awake at 3am checking the progress on the BBC cricket site on my phone). I didn't mind the fact that Kane Williamson finally got a good score and especially that newly adopted Yorkshireman Neil Wagner took so many wickets. I have great respect for their sports teams - all of them - and don't mind if they get the odd win against us .
Well, taking Lancashire CCC and Australia’s National cricket team as read, I actually have a dislike for the England rugby Union team, for no other reason than it used to piss me off when I turned the radio on to listen to the football and they had a sodding rugby match on instead. Also, I know plenty of people that have been to watch England play, but I’m yet to meet one who paid for a ticket. Maybe that’s cos a spent a long time working in the City, so there were always loads of corporate freebies knocking about. I was actually in my hospital bed, a few days after my spinal cord surgery when England won the World Cup. My parents and brother and sister had come down to London to see me and we were all chatting when my Scottish wife suddenly got excited cos England had won the World Cup with a last gasp kick or something. When I asked her why she was so excited and she told us, we all went ‘oh’ and carried on talking, leaving her wondering why a Scot was excited about it and the 5 English folk couldn’t give a flying ****. I also find it very difficult to warm to the guy who’s married to that awful Spice Girl and owns the motor racing team, the bloke who badgered the official into changing the rules, allowing them to cheat Lewis Hamilton out of the title. I don’t follow motor racing in the slightest. In fact, when we are all concerned about the future of the planet it just seems wrong. But even I could tell that it was a hollow victory for the chap who won. I then saw the owner and the Spice Girl showing zero humility as they celebrated, when I would have slunk off quietly had I been him. So put his team down as a team I don’t like too, even though I don’t know his name or the team name.
I have a hate for all things Boxing which probably is Not in tune with any sports fan. I love most sports. i hate everything about it. The weigh in, the way the fans behave, the way the Boxers behave, the way people who aren’t even sports fans become “invested” because it’s a p:ss up. The baying for blood. I just cannot stand it as a sport.