Unless you’re a better person than most, we all like to watch our exes fail, or at least act as petty as possible toward them at every turn. You may not be proud of it, you may not admit it, but it’s human nature, specially when you feel like you’ve been wronged. BSM readers aren’t here for personal examples, and frankly I don’t have the column inches to get all High Fidelity on you, so I’ll use sports as an avenue to prove my point.
In 1995, Browns fans openly vandalized Municipal Stadium during the final home game of the year, bitter their team was moving to Baltimore that off season. The fact that the Browns actually beat the Bengals 26-10 was completely irrelevant. It was two weeks before Christmas and season ticket holders were only there to air some grievances.
This February, after being on the wrong side of a historically bad no call in the NFC Championship, New Orleans was so upset with the NFL they organized a “Blackout and Gold” boycott party on Super Bowl Sunday. Unless you’re a Patriots fan, the pictures of the bitter party actually look significantly more fun than the game itself.
With the power of a disgruntled fan base well documented, it should come as no surprise that this year’s Hard Knocks on HBO is drawing great numbers in Pittsburgh. In a preseason that doesn’t have much more than Melvin Gordon holding out and Ezekiel Elliott feuding with Jerry Jones, Antonio Brown’s bizarre month has dominated headlines. The helmet drama has left Pittsburgh fans confident they’re on the better end of their recent breakup with their former superstar and they’re thrilled to be able to watch it in real time.
According to a tweet from Pro Football Talk, the Pittsburgh market tripled the average viewer total from across the country. Brown did show a bit of maturity by reporting to camp the day after GM Matt Mayock’s “in or out” public address, but his frost bitten feet and helmet troubles continue to be real issues for an Oakland team looking to turn things around.
Outside of Pittsburgh, Hard Knocks viewership seems to be holding serve with parallel numbers to last year’s Browns edition.
