When I say pink hat it has nothing to do with the color hat somebody wears, it's describing the type of fan that jumped on the Patriots bandwagon in the early 2000's, it happened with the Red Sox as well but they at least had tons of real fans for generations. I recently talked to a diehard Red Sox fan from West Roxbury who said she couldn't be a Patriots fan because the fanbase was so phony and full of pink hats. The weirdest thing is I have several friends from Chicago who consider themselves diehard Patriots/Red Sox fans and they've never stepped foot in Boston let alone New England.
Then this person is an idiot (re sports) who cares too much about what other people think. If you are fan of the team, you support them, no matter what anyone else says or does full stop. I get the sentiment, as it's similar to liking an up and coming band. You like them before they are relevant, and then become resentful of all the Johnny-come-lately's. But that shouldn't lessen the quality of their music or the joy in appreciating them.
When you have the premier program in the league, people all over the world jump on board. It happened with the Yankees; I've been all over the world, and saw a largely disproportionate amount of Yankee hats abroad. And then there was a noticeable uptick in the # of Red Sox hats after 2004. And it's currently happening with the Patriots. There's a reason Brady's jersey sales still leads the league after all these years; it's usually a top draft pick that takes that slot. I mean, there's kids driving around on the roads who weren't even born when the Patriots won their first Superbowl. It's understandable.
And I'm the same on the Whalers. Currently in Boston but couldn't care less about the Bruins. Actually, I stopped watching the NHL after they stole our team, even though I grew up playing the game and enjoy it.
If you are a fan of the another team, I can understand how irritating it is. But it's not reflective of ALL fans, even though it's often painted as such.
