After getting run out of the building on Sunday by the East’s top-seeded Celtics, the Hawks didn’t have much going for them. Mike Bibby’s boys were embarrassed, so he had to save face somehow. He elected to do so by getting off this blast on Celtics fans:
“They were kind of loud in the beginning, but a lot of those fans are bandwagon jumpers trying to get on this now. I played here last year, too (with the Sacramento Kings), and I didn’t see three-quarters of them. They’re for the team now and they might get a little rowdy, but that’s about it.
Fair-weather fans?
“You could say that,” [Bibby] said. “I remember them having bags over their heads. It’s a different look. I guess that’s what happens when you win.”
It’s amazing how much things change in only a year. The Celtics go from being an embarrassment getting criticized for trying to tank to becoming the top team in the league. Though Bibby is right in saying that all the fans weren’t there before, I’m not sure I would call them bandwagon fans. I have been quite explicit about saying you shouldn’t support a team if you don’t believe in the management, ownership, or the direction they’re going. I wouldn’t have shown up at Celtics games to watch that crap team last year, but once they acquired KG and Ray, I woulda been buying tickets. Fair weather? I’d go with practical. Fair weather fans are the Rockies fans who showed up only in October though it was the same team all year, or the Hornets fans in April though it was the same team winning games back in December. Now let’s see Bibby’s Hawks get a win — that’s really what he should be worried about.
