NY is NOT Detroit, and that's not half bad

In terms of knowledgeable and sophisticated sports fans, New York is way overrated. It's a horrible hockey town; the papers and media barely recognize the sport. Baseball is No. 1, followed by the NFL. But the NY fan is fickle, a front-runner and, quite frankly, as poorly educated and uninformed as most fans. I suspect I'm rolling the NY fan and the Yankees fan into one, and that's probably a bit unfair. But the Yankees have won so much for so long, their fans have this undeserved reputation for being smarter than a fan from a smaller market.
The Detroit sports fan, in some ways, might be more wordly and more loyal than the NY fan. For instance, Detroit fans also support college sports, basketball and football, at big-time venues. They help fill UM and MSU stadiums and arenas for not only football and basketball, but also for ice hockey.
While Detroit fans might be considered more forgiving -- tell that to any Wings goalie or Lions QB -- they way NY fans treat players is laughable. Now, they do know enough to hold Derek Jeter in high regard, but who wouldn't? He's a brilliant player, especially in the clutch. Yankee fans believe their team is supposed to win each and every year, and when it doesn't they're looking to blame someone -- player, front-office person or manager -- instead of giving any credit to an opponent.
Mets fans have shown me no more knowledge than Yankee fans. They booed Johan Santana on opening day, for goodness sake, and the left-hander is supposed to be the pitcher who will bring them a pennant. Mets fans are more frustrated, because their team hasn't won it all since 1986 and it plays second fiddle to the Yanks.
One of the big topics in NY of late is the histrionics of the Yanks' celebrated reliever, Joba Chamberlain. He was the losing pitcher on Wednesday night vs. Cleveland when David Delucci hit a 3-run homer off Joba in the eighth inning. The next night, Joba struck out Delucci in a Yanks' victory, pumping his fist in celebration.
Was it bush-league or just a young player having fun? Look, in pro sports, when you show up an opponent, it's bush. Players in the NBA and NFL can celebrate free throws and tackles all they want, but their excessive enthusiasm is comical -- and BUSH!
Now, in NY, most Yankee fans seem to support Joba, saying he's just a big kid having fun. The same Yankee fans, however, were in their glory last year when Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was unfairly blamed for the team's late collapse. It seems Reyes' hand-slapping with teammates after key hits unnerved opponents. In the Mets' last series of the season last September, some Marlins took offense when Reyes went slap-happy in a victory. The next day, the final day of the regular season, the Marlins beat the Mets, giving the Phillies the division title and knocking the Mets from the playoffs.
To read the NY fan, or better put, the Yankees fan, it's OK for Joba to be a young player having fun, but it's not the same for Reyes.
That's the educated, sophisticated Yankees fan for you.