[Salukifan2]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I think Cards (and Reds) fans may read this as a rivalry but I actually think there's been growing resentment toward the Cardinals all over baseball the last few years. As others have hinted, I think the foundation of it isn't so much the team or the fans as it is the media. Was it exciting to see a scrappy fellow like David Eckstein play well in the 2006 WS and make every athletically subpar guy in America feel like a hero? For about five minutes it was. Did the media shove it down people's throats so much that they ultimately had no choice but to realize that David Eckstein wasn't actually that good at baseball or all that valuable to the team? Yes. Do the Cardinals have great fans? Yes. Do fans of 29 other teams start to resent being reminded of that every time the Cards play on TV? Yes. I mean, that's a borderline personal affront to fans, or people are going to look at it that way.

They've developed a real habit of limping through the season and coming alive when it counts, knocking out teams (i.e., the Rangers) who have dominated all year long and who are by that point perceived as being more "deserving". That's the kind of thing that just overfloweths your life with joy if you're a fan of that team and reaaaaally starts to grate on you if you're a fan of 29 other teams. That's the sour grapes basis. I dream of the Reds playing in a WS like 2011. Every baseball fan does. I wanted the Cardinals to lose very badly, but I wouldn't trade a Rangers win for a more boring series.

But then on top of it, fairly or not, I think a lot of fans all over baseball have really started to perceive them as an incredibly unlikeable team. They have so many riches but don't seem to have much humility about it. LaRussa was hated by a lot of people for a long time. They do whine an awful lot. It always feels like SportsCenter is checking in on Cards' press conferences post-games more than just about any other team, because they're always hinting at their opponents' failings, baseball and/or moral. That's annoying if you're an unsuccessful team, borderline intolerable if you're a good one. There are guys on that team I respect as players -- Molina, Wainwright -- but I honestly can't name a single Cardinal about whom I think, yeah, if my kid grew up to be a baseball player, I'd want him to be a guy like that. Just stand-up guys who do their best and accept the result. I don't think that as a Reds fan; I think that as a baseball fan. A lot of people across baseball feel that way right now. The team will turn over and go through a dry spell at some point and it will all subside and everyone will boringly hate the Yankees again.

This. Totally agree. After '06 it was the xardinals turn to sit in the cellar for a fewsummers and it didnt happen. They just became annoying and pesky.