Deadspin has their NLDS preview up. It's written by avid Cards fan Will Leitch and contains this gem:
6. The Brewers Aren't Particularly Likable. You have to be happy for Brewers fans, who have waited 26 years for a return to the postseason. But you don't necessarily have to like this team, which, in the opinion of this Cardinals fan, have taunted, showboated and chest-pounded to a rather excessive amount for a team that, until yesterday, had never won a damned thing. (Whatever my thoughts on the Cubs franchise, their players act like they've been there before.) I know, I know: Complaining about baseball etiquette is the last refuge of the elderly, jilted, crotchety fan. I'm pretty certain that I'm only acting out of emotion and am 100 percent wrong. But still: I'm not the only person who feels this way.
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We've actually been over this before, so I won't get into it once again other than to say that a Cardinals fan who gets upset about showboating and posturing is the ultimate in hypocrisy.
That being said, other than Braun, I wonder where the the evidence is that this team is a bunch of chest-thumping Neanderthals.
I can understand that I'm not the most objective observer, but I really wish someone would give me some concrete examples that don't include Ryan Braun's cocky ass. I'm willing to listen to the argument, but so far, no one's actually made one. Ryan Braun's watching of homeruns does not a team situation make.
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I certainly don't want to get into one of those fan debates where everyone just tears down the other teams. I just feel the criticism is a bit much. Is it fair to ask a team of 20-something who have never been there to act like they have? I can understand both sides of the argument on the answer to that one. Can you give "credit" to the Cubs for acting like they've been there before when part of that act is to act like you deserve to be there, no matter what?
Where's the line on this one? There are Milwaukee fans that would argue that they want their team cocky, that they want them to think they're going to win all the time and they want them to have the swagger. Power of positive thinking, and all that. If a team's literally put all their eggs in this year's basket and the team knows it's now or (possibly) never, is it wrong when the team gets an attitude that shows that they, too, think they're going to win?
I don't assume the answers to those questions is "No." I think it's a thin line. If our team went out there and didn't fight and didn't swagger, I think there would be those that would be saying we don't want it enough.
There are fans that agree that are team is cocky, but don't care. Who cares, as long as we're winning.
It's a big of a Catch-22, isn't it? Doesn't every team have a swagger, a cockiness, a desire to kick ass, especially as the season goes? Couldn't you pick one or two guys off every team that their rivals love to hate for their showboating and attitude?
Do we then degenerate into "well everyone else does it" as our argument?
Food for thought.
