INDIANAPOLIS — Twitter data compiled during the last 90 days tracking negative phrases about every NFL fanbase has revealed the worst football fans.
Online sports betting group SportsBetting.ag analyzed all tweets containing negative phrases like, “Steelers fans are the worst.” The data found the Dallas Cowboys fans take the top spot as the most disliked fans with more than 2,000 complaints about the fan base.
Out of all 32 teams, the Indianapolis Colts rest comfortably at the bottom of the barrel, making the horseshoe faithful the least disliked fans, at least on Twitter.
Since Colts fans are so well liked throughout the league, FOX59 decided to have some fun with the data and ask fans in Indianapolis which teams’ fans they dislike most.
Their answer was very consistent.
“The Buccaneers are my least favorite team because I do not like Tom Brady at all… he’s just… I don’t like him,” Colts fan Benton Reynolds said. “He’s a cheater and he just always wins.”
At the Indianapolis Fowling Warehouse along East Brookside Avenue, fans of all teams gather to… fowl, and as its name suggests, it’s a unique mixture of football and bowling. Owners of the Fowling Warehouse call it a mix of most every tailgating game you can think of, but you don’t need to be a football fan or bowling enthusiast to enjoy the sport.
“So fowling is a unique sport where you basically throw a football at bowling pins,” Indianapolis Fowling Warehouse Building Manager Robbie Birt said. “There’s no right way or wrong way to do it. The only goal is to knock down all ten pins before your opponent does.”
Indianapolis Colts fan Doug Murray occupied a fowling lane with his friends. He said Peyton Manning taught him all he needs to know when it comes to both his fowling technique and which NFL fans to dislike.
“What I’m waiting to see is the Colts put it on Tampa Bay. I would love to see Tom Brady go down. He’s beat us so many times. We wanna see him go down,” Murray said. “That’s the horseshoe mentality. Peyton made it that way, and I don’t think that’s every gonna change.”
Other fans, like Carolina Panther faithful Drake Knight and Michael Carver, who were exploring the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis say they respect Tom Brady… but can’t stand him all the same and the fans who root for the quarterback.
“I think he’s probably the greatest quarterback of all time, but I can’t stand him,” Carver said. “New England Patriots fans and then Buccaneers fans who followed him to Tampa Bay… They are the worst. I try to tune them out.”
New England Patriots fan Jeffrey Brown says Colts fans don’t deserve his ire… in fact considers them less than competition.
“I don’t really even think about Colts fans,” Brown said. “I don’t even consider them the little brother, they’re more like the neighbor… they’re not even in our wheelhouse or part of our family. Especially when you consider we’ve won six Super Bowls in the last 20 years and they’ve won one.”
“Spoken like a true Tom Brady Fan right there,” Murray said. “That’s a little cheap shot, but that’s the Indiana rivalry there right there. The Patriots. Can’t stand them.”
According to recent Tweets complied by SportsBetting.ag, New England Patriots fans are the 15th most disliked fans in the league while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers occupy the 30th spot, but to Colts fans, both teams’ followers are top of the list.
“After beating the Patriots, that got us all going,” Birt said. “It fueled us and now we’re gonna ride this season out. We’re gonna put some wins together and we’re gonna make the playoffs, that’s what I think… so thank you New England.”
“One win in 15 years… we kinda needed to throw them a bone, make it at least a little interesting,” Brown quipped. “I think it’s cute that Colts fans are treating this Week 15 win like they did something spectacular; like they won the Super Bowl.”
The Colts welcome the Las Vegas Raiders to town for their final home game of the season at Lucas Oil Stadium. The game is scheduled for Sunday, January 2 at 1 p.m.
In case you wondered, according to the data, the Raider faithful are the 11th most disliked fanbase in the NFL.