Who has the Most Devoted Fans?

I was recently in a discussion about sports with a friend. Specifically, we talked about who had the most devoted fans in North American professional sports. It was a subjective conversation void of any concrete proof but in our own little trivial way we did narrow it down to a few.

For the soccer fans out there, I left soccer out of this because for the most part the sport is littered with obsessive (read: psycho) fans around the world. Whether they be big or small clubs, the devotion soccer fans display is undeniable. Makes you wonder if playing with a Play Station is a step up for some of them.

Nonetheless, the 'Madness Meter' seems to be highest in places like Italy, Brazil, Argentina and England.

What does the inexact non-scientific Madness Meter reveal about the sports around these parts ? Clearly, football has the largest fan base of all the pro leagues.

Not only that, there are several cities and clubs that have devoted fans. The Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, Steelers, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos, Eagles and Redskins all have their share of rabid fans. It's hard to say but I'll argue that the Bears, Packers and Cowboys have fan support that is unmatched. Too bad Modell moved the Browns because they were easily in this group. I wonder if the bitter stench left behind by the move still has a negative effect on Cleveland's psyche. For good measure, I'll even throw in the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the CFL here. In any event, football is the only sport with a deep enough fan base that remotely challenges soccer.

Basketball is harder to get a handle on, for me anyway, but the Knicks, Lakers and Celtics are obvious choices here. Pistons? Bulls? Anyone?

Baseball has many great fans. The Cardinals (some argue they are the best in baseball), Royals, Dodgers (both Brooklyn and LA), Mets, Cubs, Reds and Orioles have proven to be loyal to their teams through thick and thin. But does any team approach the insanity of Red Sox nation? It's to the point where I wonder if Yankee fan can keep up.

The Red Sox/Yankees comparison has a similar tandem in hockey. The NHL is not without some mentally imbalanced fans. The Red Wings, Flyers, Bruins (traditionally) and Rangers have their share of hard core fans. Even the Blues have had strong support over the years and the state of Minnesota is a hockey hotbed in the United States; all of Canada for the record, is plain kooky when it comes to the sport.

But we're restricting ourselves to teams here and like in baseball, do the hopeless and often pathetic Leaf fans have an equivalent that matches their love of their team?

The Habs and Yankees are cut from the same cloth when it comes to outright success and dominance in their respective sport. They are the aristocrats and are victims of their own success. The Habs may not have been as despised as the Yankees during their respective dynasties but it was close enough. They were both elitist evil empires on the eyes of the fans who disliked and distrusted their success. The Red Sox and Maple Leafs fans have positioned themselves as underdogs. That no matter how bad it got or how many times they lost to their arch rivals, they would not change allegiance for anything.

Curses notwithstanding, years of futility have come to define the psychological profile of these fanatics. Leaf fan remain as delusional as ever and Red Sox as devoted. What makes this fascination all the more interesting, as my friend pointed out, these are big world class cities we're talking about here; roughly 7 million people between them.

In the end, maybe because of disproportionate media attention, Red Sox nation gets the nod. The Madness Meter needle was clear that they are crazier than most fans.

Fret not Yankees, chances are you'll probably monopolize success as you always have. As for Nos Glorieux, odds are that the Montreal Canadiens will win another Stanley Cup before the Leafs do. Thus fueling more of that passionate devotion to Red Leaf Nation.