MLS is still in its infancy and rivalries, team tradition and loyalties still need to be cultivated and developed.

The passion, disappointment and opinion expressed by users comments here is testament to the birth of a strong and loyal fan base. Getting really upset with a player from your own or opposing team is natural in my view. We live our lives in other players to a certain extent – so our gut reactions of joy and disappointment are basic instincts kicking it.

On the other hand, though, the league still is young enough that these rivalries haven’t completely solidified yet – as evidenced by the fact that the Brimstone Cup isn’t what it was, while the Chicago-New England axis gets more intense. In Columbus, there’s been a see-saw between Chicago and DC for our “most hated” opponent. I might have the wrong impression of other sports or leagues, but I have a hard time thinking of other rivalries as subject to change.

I also wonder whether the league is still too small to really notice its rivalries. I remember growing up in Browns territory as a kid, and what I remember, looking back, is both how much teams like Pittsburgh or Cincinnati were hated – and teams like Detroit or Indianapolis were irrelevant. Even an in-conference team like Houston was ho-hum. But with that many NFL teams, you can have a range of intensities much more easily than a league of 10 (or even 14) teams.

My point isn’t that this is all brand new by the way, only that it’s building and progressing. These things build over a generation. The rivalry the Fire have with New England, for example, has already replaced an older rivalry with Dallas for most our fans, based on the past few years.

But there’s still that rivalry with Dallas to some degree, too. And next year, if we play DC again in the playoffs, it’ll be that bit more intense again. The more markers to the past there are, the more involved people feel year-on-year and the more authenticity the whole league has.

It’s not even necessarily about having been there yourself the whole time — a sixteen year old Cubs fan, for example, might only have been suffering for ten years, but they feel the weight of that century of failure on their shoulders too. Maybe not as intensely as a sixty-year old fan, but it’s there. Unless they’re passed out drunk in the bleachers, of course.

Ha, ha!

I do have to say, this thing of tradition and rivalry in MLS may be building in some places, but its a mistake to think that it’s newfound in any way. The most gripping and heartbreaking MLS experience I’ve ever had – at least outside of being in the stadium in person – was at the late, lamented ESC bar Nathan Hale’s for the deciding game of the Metro-Chicago series. When Valencia knocked the ball, only to have the goal waved off…shades of Gomez’s (intentionally handled) non-goal last night. I’d never seen so many grown people in tears at one time, as I did that night when the final whistle blew. And that was in 2000. So it’s been coming along for some time.

Good on your Scottish friend for having the right perspective.