hate/respect (hāt·ri·spekt): verb, to have a healthy appreciation or admiration for a person, team, sport, place, object, or idea that, at the same time, invokes intense and unwavering unhappy feelings
Being a die-hard Detroit sports fan, I have, in a way, been forced against my will to discover this concept of hate/respect (it should be pronounced quickly like one word- haterespect).
You see, contrary to popular belief, Detroit sports do not always have the type of success that we all dream of, yet I cannot bring myself to root for other sports teams even when the Detroit teams are out of contention.
Take the Detroit Lions for example- My most vivid memory of Lions playoff lore comes from all the way back in 1995 when Lomas Brown, an offensive lineman on our team, guaranteed victory in the first round against the Philadelphia Eagles, and then the Lions produced a 58-37 loss. Sweet. I remember acting like a prepubescent Tony Kornheiser as I analyzed Lomas Brown's guarantee with all the insight that a 9 year old has to offer, and I even recorded it all on my talkboy.
Clearly, the lack of success of the Lions could push a normal sports fan towards rooting for another, more successful team. But I guess I am not a normal fan because I will always root for the Lions and any other Detroit team even if they go 31-81 since 2001 and have huge fan-coordinated rallies to get the GM fired (50 games under .500, seriously???!!!!).
So, to keep my sanity, I often find myself absolutely loathing a more successful opposing player or team with all my soul yet still looking up to them in a way. And this is how the concept of hate/respect was born.
Just to be clear, there are two distinct yet equally important aspects of the hate/respect concept: 1.) hate and 2.) respect. For example, I do not hate/respect NASCAR because even though I can't stand anything about it, satisfying criterion number 1, I also do not have one iota of respect for it, violating criterion number 2 (watching men drive around in ovals 500 times? I'll pass).
So, without further ado, here is a long but still not exhaustive list of things that I hate/respect...
... Derek Jeter. He's a Jankee, he dated all of those celebrities, and he sucks at defense- all strikes against him. But he still wins so damn much, and he's from Michigan.
... The Intentional Walk. It's basically a signal that the team is giving up, waving a white surrender flag and saying, "We can't get this guy out so let's roll out the red carpet for you on your way to first base and beyond," but it's still sometimes completely necessary to win the game- bottom of the 10th, less than 2 outs, guy on third, walk the bases loaded to set up the double play and the force out anywhere.
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about 1 month ago
Jesse McCartney of Dream Street
about 1 month ago
Right you are Brian. Jesse McCartney is almost as famous today as he was when he was in Dream Street
about 1 month ago
i was gonna say that too.
about 1 month ago
Thomas LOVES Jesse McCartney haha
from about 1 month ago
haha, sure.
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