Why Sports Fans Hate Peter Boyles

KHOW talk-show host Peter Boyles is widely reviled by folks who disagree with his ultra-hardline stance on immigration reform -- so much so that's he's become one of the most controversial and divisive figures in Denver media. As a result, a statement he made during his August 30 morning drive-time program was especially surprising. According to him, the topic he takes more heat over than any other is his contention that people who personalize their affiliation with area sports teams -- crowing about "My Broncos," "My Rockies," "My Buffies" -- are misguided and stupid.

Seriously? More locals despise Boyles for what Daffy Duck once memorably described as "pronoun trouble" than for his seemingly wholesale embrace of every notion that pops into Tom Tancredo's head? Apparently so -- and sadly, this claim seems credible.

As everyone who's spent more than ten minutes in Denver knows, sports fandom in these parts is particularly rabid. Boyles' view that supporters who don't own stadiums, play for teams or work for them in any capacity are suckers for calling the squads theirs is totally defensible, but it's also calculated to outrage. That it does makes perfect sense. Still, it's dispiriting to learn that folks get more revved up over a minor question of semantics than they do about real issues impacting us on a daily basis: immigration, the Iraq war or what have you.

They're games, people -- contests of athletic skill performed for our amusement and entertainment, not issues of life or death. If you're going to get pissed off, focus your anger on something that matters. -- Michael Roberts