Sports
Manchester City's dominance is distorting football fandom
And so, on May 14, 2024, modern Premier League football reached its logical next step: Tottenham Hotspur fans rooting against their team when facing Manchester City because they’d rather lose than have rivals Arsenal win the title.
First of all, this is in no way a criticism of the fans who chose to do that. Doing so is entirely their choice and to anyone suggesting what they did was irrational: well, have you met a football fan? There’s also an extent to which this would have happened in any era given how intrinsic schadenfreude has always been to the football fan experience.
But while much of the chatter on this topic before the game centred on the rights and wrongs of wanting your team to lose, maybe that was slightly missing the point.
Rather than telling fans how to feel, perhaps we should think about how it is that we’ve ended up with a situation where celebrating rivals’ misfortune is pretty much the maximum most teams’ fans can aspire to each season. Yes, laughing at your rivals has always been a big part of being a football supporter, but it becomes a problem when that’s pretty much the only part of being a football supporter.
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When fans want to lose: ‘Every time we attacked, we booed our own players’
City, cheered on by their own fans and plenty of Spurs ones, beat Tottenham 2-0 in Tuesday’s game. They will likely win their fourth Premier League title in a row on Sunday. No team in English football history has won four consecutive titles.
This is an unprecedented period of dominance and, in that context, it’s unsurprising that supporters of other clubs have to find their enjoyment in whatever way they can.
And it’s not just the Premier League — City tend to hoover up the domestic cups as well. In the past decade, only seven English clubs have won a major trophy (the Premier League, domestic cups or one of the three European cups). In the previous decade (2005 to 2014), that number was 10. It was 10 from 1995-2004, too, and 13 from 1985-1994.
Essentially, it’s getting harder and harder for non-elite clubs to win anything, let alone the Premier League. Though an honourable mention for Watford, who nearly added to that tally of seven when they reached the FA Cup final in 2019… a final they lost 6-0 to Manchester City.
Manchester City’s Ruben Dias celebrates with team-mate Stefan Ortega at the end of Tuesday’s game (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Spurs, a much bigger club than Watford and a member of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’, have not won a trophy for 16 years. City can’t be blamed for that — they didn’t emerge as a major force until a few years after — but that was the context for the weird situation that developed in the lead-up to Tuesday’s game and then festered during it.
The Spurs head coach, Ange Postecoglou, was irritated by the discourse before the game, saying he’d never understand not wanting your team to win, and he was raging about it after.
“Of course it does,” Postecoglou said when asked if the strange, subdued atmosphere affected the players against City. “It is what it is. I can’t dictate what people do. They’re allowed to express themselves in any way they want. But yeah, when we’ve got late winners in games, it’s because the crowd’s helped us.”
The Spurs fans weren’t hostile towards their own team and many cheered as normal, but it was a very different atmosphere from a standard big game and the City goals were followed by chants about Arsenal.
A small number of supporters did City’s “Poznan” celebration after they had taken the lead and a few wore Tottenham’s old light-blue away kit to show where their loyalties lay. Video footage emerged of Postecoglou arguing with a supporter on Tuesday night, who it’s been said was celebrating one of the City goals. On Saturday, on the way back from the 2-1 win over Burnley, some Spurs fans were singing the City anthem, “Blue Moon”.
The weirder thing in all of this is not how much Spurs fans wanted to revel in Arsenal’s misfortune — that’s totally to be expected — but how little feeling City engender in rival fans. As the dominant team in English football, one would expect them to evoke a mixture of hatred and begrudging admiration. As Manchester United and Liverpool once did. Instead, there’s generally a numbness towards City or, often, actually an appreciation for the useful role they perform in denying teams that fans of rival clubs actually care about.
When you take a step back, the situation is strange. A league that prides itself on competitiveness will almost certainly, by Sunday, have been won by the same team for the last four years and six of the last seven. Oh, and that same team is facing 115 charges for alleged breaches of Premier League rules (which they deny).
But is that team hated, or even disliked? Nah, not really. No one really has the energy or can conceive of an alternative. City winning the league is just what happens. To be bothered by it would be like getting annoyed by the colour of the sky, or complaining that there are only seven days in the week.
Tottenham’s players show their frustration during their 2-0 loss to City (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
It’s such a weird situation that, inevitably, there will be collateral damage from time to time for people who are new to it. Like Postecoglou on Tuesday, who was furious at what he perceives to be a parochial, small-time mentality of those inside and outside the club who favoured self-sabotage over progress against City.
“I think the last 48 hours has revealed to me that the foundations are fairly fragile, mate,” he said, before adding pointedly: “What other people, how they want to feel, and what their priorities are, are of zero interest to me.”
Postecoglou is desperate to compete with City, but with Pep Guardiola in charge and the current ownership in place, how realistic is that? As Arsenal and Liverpool have found out, you can do all the right things and you’ll still almost always fall short. So the general feeling is by all means go for it but, in the meantime, fans of most clubs take their kicks when they can get them.
It was almost forgotten in the local rivalry psychodrama that Spurs would have had a decent chance of qualifying for the Champions League if they’d beaten City on Tuesday night. But even that prospect has left a lot of fans cold over the last few months, with many feeling that there’s little point qualifying for a competition you have no real chance of winning.
And so to the final day of the Premier League season, which will naturally be hyped up, even though everyone knows the chances of much drama are minimal.
There were genuine laughs in the press room on Tuesday night when Sky Sports tried to big up the last round of games and the potential for a thrilling finish. City last lost in the league in December and aside from games against their title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool, have dropped two Premier League points in 2024.
Their record-breaking fourth title will be met largely with indifference by the rest of the country. Aside from the relief that Spurs fans feel that Arsenal haven’t won the title; just how Everton and other supporters felt two years ago when it was Liverpool denied by City on the final day.
Those emotions are about as good as it gets for most supporters in 2024 and while, to some extent, it’s ever been thus, it’s never quite been like this.
(Top photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
It’s time to reveal memories, laughs and crazy times from Randy Rosenbloom’s 55 years as a TV/radio broadcaster in Los Angeles. He’s hopping in a car next Sunday with his wife, saying goodbye to a North Hollywood house that’s been in his family since 1952 and driving 3,300 miles to his new home in Greenville, S.C.
“When I walk out, I’ll probably break down,” he said.
He graduated from North Hollywood High in 1969. He got his first paid job in 1971 calling Hart basketball games for NBC Cable Newhall for $10 a game. It began an adventure of a lifetime.
“I never knew if I overachieved or underachieved. I just did what I loved,” he said.
Randy Rosenbloom (left) used to work with former UCLA coach John Wooden for TV games.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
John Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick were among his expert commentators when he did play by play for college basketball games. He called volleyball at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for NBC and rowing in 2004. He’s worked more than 100 championship high school events. He did play by play for the first and only Reebok Bowl at Angel Stadium in 1994 won by Bishop Amat over Sylmar, 35-14.
“There were about 5,000, 6,000 people there and I remember thinking nobody watched the game. We ended up with a 5.7 TV rating on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which is higher than most Lakers games.”
He conducted interviews with NFL Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Johnny Unitas and boxing greats Robert Duran, Thomas Hearn and Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s worked with baseball greats Steve Garvey and Doug DeCinces. He called games with former USC coach Rod Dedeaux. He was in the radio booth for Bret Saberhagen’s 1982 no-hitter in the City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium. He was a nightly sportscaster for KADY in Ventura.
Randy Rosenbloom, left, with his volleyball broadcast partners, Kirk Kilgour and Bill Walton.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
He was the voice of Fresno State football and basketball. He also did Nevada Las Vegas football and basketball games. He called bowl games and Little League games. He was a public address announcer for basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games with Michael Jordan the star and did the P.A. for Toluca Little League.
Nothing was too small or too big for him.
“I loved everything,” he said.
He called at least 10 East L.A. Classic football games between Garfield and Roosevelt. He was there when Narbonne and San Pedro tied 21-21 in the 2008 City championship game at the Coliseum on a San Pedro touchdown with one second left.
Probably his most notable tale came when he was doing radio play-by-play at a 1998 college bowl game in Montgomery, Ala.
“I look down and a giant tarantula is crawling up my pants,” he said. “My color man took all the press notes, wadded them up and hit the tarantula like swinging a bat.”
Did Rosenbloom tell the audience what was happening?
“I stayed calm,” he said.
Then there was the time he was in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium and a bat flew in and attached itself to the wooden press box right next to him before flying away after he said, “UNLV wins.”
Recently, he’s been putting together high school TV packages for LA36 and calling travel ball basketball games. He’ll still keep doing a radio gambling show from his new home, but he’s cutting ties to Los Angeles to move closer to grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from Los Angeles. I’m leaving the market,” he said.
Hopefully he’ll continue via Zoom to do a weekly podcast with me for The Times.
He’s a true professional who’s versatility and work ethic made him a reliable hire from the age of 18 through his current age of 74.
He’s a member of the City Section Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He once threw the shot put 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is his claim to fame at North Hollywood High.
One time an ESPN graphic before a show spelled his name “Rosenbloom” then changed it to “Rosenblum” for postgame. It was worth a good laugh.
He always adjusts, improvises and ad-libs. He expects to enjoy his time in South Carolina, but he better watch out for tarantulas. They seem to like him.
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
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