I don't know if it's a difference in culture or just the stark contrast between the two games or the fact that they directly compete against each other at the same time of the year, but basketball fans and hockey fans often seem to clash.
That clash is taken to an extreme in Philadelphia, where fans of the Flyers and Sixers often seem at odds with one another. That led to this post over on 94WYSP's website from some bro named Spike. I'm going to guess his mother didn't pick that name.
Flyers Fans: No one cares about the Sixers! They suck! No one goes to games!
Sixers Fans: Your sport is on some bootleg TV station! ESPN doesn't care about hockey! The only fans are the ones in the building!
What are we doing here? These are both Philadelphia teams. There's room to like both.
[...]
We have more in common than we think. We're all from Philly, we all live and die with our teams, and we all want parades.
I'm proposing a truce. I won't talk bad about the Flyers and hockey. I won't tell you no one cares, because you do.
In turn, stop telling me how much the Sixers suck, and how no one cares. Because I do.
We're all from the same place. Let's start acting like it.
It's a noble cause, for sure. Personally, I don't hate basketball or the Sixers. I've been a Sixers fan my entire life, although I must admit I like basketball less than any of the other major sports, and thus I don't care about the Sixers as much as say the Phillies or the Eagles. I also think the NBA is pretty terrible, so I usually spend my basketball time watching Villanova or Temple.
In any event, my question is: do you hate the Sixers? I mean, they do suck (although they're definitely getting better) and it's kind of depressing that they've fallen so far in the last 20-or-so years, a shell of the organization they once were. But do we really hate them?