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Being a Cleveland Browns fan comes with certain trappings. A sense of proud history, of loyalty in the face of all adversity, and of embracing the players as family are all part of Browns fandom.
But it’s not always positive. Cleveland fans do complain, often about our shared collective misery and the litany of failed regimes of late. There are many other fan bases around the NFL who complain a lot more, however. In the perception of whininess and obnoxious behavior, the Browns fans wind up in the middle of the pack.
Cleveland checks in at No. 14 on the list from MI Bets, which surveyed over 5,000 fans around the United States.
From September 22 to October 8, 2020, we surveyed 5,103 people to determine which NFL players, coaches and fanbases complain the most. 57% of respondents were male and 43% were female. The average age of respondents was 36 years old.
Among the reasons cited for the complaints about other fanbases:
What drives people craziest about other fanbases? Most often, using a victim mentality, complaining on social media and “bad” officiating. Fans also cited the inability for fanbases to get over old losses and fans calling into sports radio stations to air their grievances as other ways that whining gets under their skin.
As a disclaimer, one of the respondents was a member of my extended family and is a Houston Texans fan.
The top five most complaining fan bases, of which you can probably guess three with your first four choices:
- Dallas Cowboys
- New England Patriots
- Buffalo Bills
- Chicago Bears
- Philadelphia Eagles
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were 32nd.