DC Fans seemed to take the frivolous statement from Michael Wilbon, that Washington DC was a "minor league sports town", a little too much to heart, and they were a little too quick to point to the outpouring of fans at the Caps viewing party Thursday night as evidence to the contrary. While it was amazing to see how many people came out to support the Caps, many of those people were there to be a part of the scene rather than show their enduring support for a team they have cheered for for years. Stories were abound about how these Stanley Cup Playoff Games were the first hockey games that a lot of these people watched, and they went down to Capital One Arena on Thursday simply because they did not want to miss out on the festivities. But winning a championship does not instantaneously turn these people into regular fans. Just ask the Carolina Hurricanes how many interlopers from their 2006 Stanley Cup Championship are still there. Or look at the Miami Marlins, who would kill for a quarter of the people who jumped on their bandwagon in 1997 and 2003 to still be there today. DC Sports fans now find themselves in a similar situation. The Capitals have drawn in multitudes of fans to their cause, but mostly due to fear of missing out on a social scene. It will take more than that to prove Michael Wilbon wrong, and now it is time to see if DC Fandom truly has what it takes to foster a genuine "sports town" atmosphere.
The Capitals have removed the security blanket from DC Fans by winning the Stanley Cup. For so long the narrative has been that it is hard to develop a genuine sports culture in DC because of so much ineptitude, impotence, and playoff tragedies galore from all the DC professional sports teams. Most of that has been washed away by the Capitals victory on Thursday night. Fans were witness to a team that was intelligently put together and mentored throughout the season. They saw the likes of Max Scherzer, Ryan Zimmerman, and Derrius Guice show their support for the Caps on their run to the Cup. The teams are doing all they can to create a unified sense among all the different teams and superstars, and now they have at least one championship to show for this shared unity. It is now on the fans of Washington DC to show that they will show long term support for a team like the Capitals because they love the sport, and not because they love the number of Instagram likes they get when they post stuff with #ALLCAPS. DC Fans now must show that they can evolve from a fan base of self loathing to one that can legitimately support their teams by watching games and becoming informed fans, and not just jump on every time a championship rolls around. The Capitals have put the onus on DC Fans to prove that this city can be more than an event driven town that fluctuates based on the level of attention each sport will bring to the individual. DC fans need to show that this city can be one with an informed fan base that will continue to grow in mass no matter what time of year it is. If this does not happen, then maybe DC is just a minor league sports town, but we know now that it is not because of the nature of the teams. It is the nature of the fans.
The Capitals have removed the security blanket from DC Fans by winning the Stanley Cup. For so long the narrative has been that it is hard to develop a genuine sports culture in DC because of so much ineptitude, impotence, and playoff tragedies galore from all the DC professional sports teams. Most of that has been washed away by the Capitals victory on Thursday night. Fans were witness to a team that was intelligently put together and mentored throughout the season. They saw the likes of Max Scherzer, Ryan Zimmerman, and Derrius Guice show their support for the Caps on their run to the Cup. The teams are doing all they can to create a unified sense among all the different teams and superstars, and now they have at least one championship to show for this shared unity. It is now on the fans of Washington DC to show that they will show long term support for a team like the Capitals because they love the sport, and not because they love the number of Instagram likes they get when they post stuff with #ALLCAPS. DC Fans now must show that they can evolve from a fan base of self loathing to one that can legitimately support their teams by watching games and becoming informed fans, and not just jump on every time a championship rolls around. The Capitals have put the onus on DC Fans to prove that this city can be more than an event driven town that fluctuates based on the level of attention each sport will bring to the individual. DC fans need to show that this city can be one with an informed fan base that will continue to grow in mass no matter what time of year it is. If this does not happen, then maybe DC is just a minor league sports town, but we know now that it is not because of the nature of the teams. It is the nature of the fans.
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