| Weidman & Gus comments on fans | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 7 2014, 12:13 AM (159 Views) | |
| rosie | Oct 7 2014, 12:13 AM Post #1 |
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I find the timing of two articles that came out today interesting and wondering about similarities. One was comments from Weidman during an interview expressing puzzlement (and disappointment presumably) that americans don't cheer for american fighters the way other countries' fans cheer for their fighters, win OR lose. The other was a very well written statement by Gus expressing his disappointment with swedish fans(?) and how they turned on their own fighters because of saturdays disappointing showings. Both fighters are white though neither mention race only nationality. Ok, so here is where I put myself out there and I know I will receive the inevitable sarcasm, put-downs, etc. which is the way of the internet, but I am curious and wonder about any reaction. I believe for the last 3 generations or so, Everyone has been raised to hate caucasians and overtly or covertly raised to believe whites are Baddddd people. We know the phony and tired accusations from so many white haters but what is not looked at is the result this brain washing has amongst whites. Is a result self-hatred? Much of it is disguised by being a (good person) liberal, doing volunteer or political work to primarily help non-whites, making believe they don't know they're surrounded by people who can't stand them (at least in the cities).... Gustaffson seemed really taken aback by the speed and severity with which swedes turned on their fighters in their reactions. Is this not cultural (or racial) self-hate? Weidman seemed puzzled at how little americans cheered for the american Poirier and in his own case, in three times fighting brazilians the crowds in america were louder for the brazilians. Though others seem to vote, cheer and bond on the basis of race and ethnicity, whites are (deliberately?) completely divided. I know from my own discussions whites want to cling to the belief in being a 'rugged individual' and scoff at the idea of bonding w other whites in any racial (tribal) way. Does race have anything to do with what these fighters are talking about? Is there any relationship between what Weidman is talking about and what Gustafsson wrote about? OR should one just take the articles at their face value - two isolated, coincidental, unrelated incidents of fans with lukewarm national patriotism? (Thanks - even to the snarky ones). |
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| jmose86 | Oct 7 2014, 12:43 AM Post #2 |
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American's don't rally behind fighters as much because we don't have the same underdog status within the sport or in general. |
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| Ash | Oct 7 2014, 02:48 AM Post #3 |
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5 Shovels
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Colour me unsurprised that a guy wittingly using the nickname "All American" doesn't understand how fandom works. |
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| scarborough | Oct 7 2014, 07:32 AM Post #4 |
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The more I hear stuff like this, the less I relate. Come to Canada where things are simpler. Not everyone here likes each other, but we all somehow live in respect. And yes, all these different cultures here come together anytime CANADA is doing something internationally. |
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| spasgur | Oct 7 2014, 04:17 PM Post #5 |
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In Gus' case I think it's pretty simple. The crowd were expecting some wins, they didn't get them. So they got mad. It's pretty much the same for any sporting event where the home team gets smashed. In Weidman's case I think Jmose might have a point. America is a huge country with so many different cultures within the country. I can't really blame people from the deep south not rooting for a guy from Long Island. Why the fuck should they, their background is so different from his. I don't root for every Dane competing in the sports I follow if they're from a completely different background than mine and I live in a little fart of a country. IMO nationality shouldn't really be the deciding factor if you root for a person or not. Kampmann is pretty far down on my list of favorite fighters and he's mostly on the list because he's had some really awesome fights and him doing well will help grow MMA over here. I think Weidman's bitching is pretty lame. |
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| Ash | Oct 7 2014, 04:50 PM Post #6 |
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5 Shovels
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His bitching doesn't even make sense. I don't understand what the point of that whole thing was. Is he disappointed he doesn't have more fans? I can't even think of another time I've heard a fighter cry about not having fans, and he's jumped to some bizarre Atroms-style (DAN IS POPULAR IN AMERICA BECAUSE HE'S AMERICAN!!!1) conclusion as to why that is. You know what isn't a good way to gain fans? Whining and sounding like a fucking idiot. If you're not as popular as Anderson Silva or Lyoto Machida, tough shit. Those guys have been around for a long time, they've been on top for a long time, and quite frankly they're more interesting. If you wanna be at that level, put on better fights than those guys and maybe in a few years you will be... but don't try to apply your misunderstanding of how popularity works to nationalism (or lack thereof), because that implies everyone on the planet is equally as simple. I was kind of shocked when I read that interview because he'd always seemed like a level-headed dude. I never really heard much from him, but this is just preposterous. Does he REALLY think everyone in the States is one of those hillbillies at a UFC chanting "USA! USA! USA!"? Does that mean he's one of those guys? |
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| The Juggernaut | Oct 7 2014, 11:43 PM Post #7 |
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Clearly, people refuse to cheer for proudly ethnic whites:
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| spasgur | Oct 8 2014, 12:07 PM Post #8 |
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And just as bad, does he really wanna cater to those assholes the most? |
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| Skeletonrock | Oct 8 2014, 12:56 PM Post #9 |
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For most of white America, we don't identify with any particular ethnicity. Most of us a re a mix of English, Irish, German, Dutch, Scottish, Welsh, French, Polish, and on and on and on. There is no particular culture to tie us to those things. Most of us feel "American", but even that has little meaning. The culture of C-Bear and the culture of someone from The Bay Area and the culture of DHK up in NYC are vastly different. That's like comparing the culture of Spain to that of Germany because they are both "European". I think states tend to root for fighters from their state, because that has a little more identity to it. Edited by Skeletonrock, Oct 8 2014, 12:56 PM.
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| cheeto101 | Oct 8 2014, 01:01 PM Post #10 |
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The issue is Gus and Weidman are equating MMA to international competition (i.e things like the olympics, world cup etc.) when its really more akin to something like the NHL/NFL/NBA/MLS etc. Fighters all have their hometowns, but its not the entire god damn country. The reason people like Conor get so much hype from their countrymen is because he is pretty much the only guy they can cheer for. Hes the only "team" from that entire area. American's have tons of countrymen to cheer for, and plenty of foreign athletes who train in the US, so your not going to get people cheering for someone just because they are American nearly as much. Edit: Brazil seems to be somewhat of an outlier in this theory of mine as they cheer pretty hard for all their Brazillian fighters. But Canada, as patriotic about sports as we are, really only cheered ridiculously hard for GSP. Guys like Rory still get cheers for being Canadian, but no one is even close to the level of national love that GSP got. I guess if you want cheers from all your countrymen, you gotta be a little metro (which really, aside from the tattoos, Conor is :p). Edited by cheeto101, Oct 8 2014, 01:10 PM.
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