The Massillon Effect

M

Mikefln

Well-known member
I may be opening a huge can of worms, but I am going there. I am an outsider (Yinzer) but in 2003 I saw Go Tigers and became a fan of Massillon from afar. Since then, I have been to a few of their games, and I follow NEO HS football in general along with my state (PA)/area (WPIAL). I have read the old JJ Huddle and of course Yappi for years. I have noticed a "theme" among some schools around Massillon and I would like this board's take. Maybe I am completely off, but it seems like there is this weird Massillon Effect on the surrounding school districts in the Canton/Akron area. I am not trying to paint all school districts like this, but it is noticeable from some, that they take a superior attitude in being anti-Massillon. I do not mean anti-Massillon as in hating Massillon that they want to see the Tigers lose every game. But anti-Massillon in the sense that they don't want to be anything like Massillon to the point they pride themselves on being bad or mediocre. But if they do have a magical year, then watch out for the trash talk from them.

1st does my thesis hold water; do you guys see this too? If it does hold water, what do yinz believe is the reason for it? You would think communities so close to the spectacle that is Tigertown, would want in on the action and create their version of, let's call it bravado, and they all be Massillon Washington Lite's. It appears most of the adjacent districts are turned off by that bravado and they go out of their way to be the opposite and they pride themselves in mediocrity. I am not saying these schools should spend money on their programs like Massillon does or be open enrollment if they prefer to stay closed enrollment, or any other item they feel suits them.
I guess I said a lot of words there without saying that much so let me give an example of what I am saying. Some schools seem almost like they are proud to say: "Yes we went 5-5, but at least our priorities are right!" No context as to what priorities they have right or what priorities Massillon has wrong, just a meaningless statement that is a backhanded jab at Massillon. They do NOT say: "Yes we are 5-5 but the boys gave it all they had, and the program is moving in the right direction!" That statement at least shows their priorities are right, instead of lip service as the 1st statement sounds like.

I can be way off with this as I do not live in the area, but from the outside looking in, it appears that way. What does Yappi Nation have to say about this?
 
 
😂😂 this is good stuff. When it comes to football specifically they hate Massillon so much and seem to care more about hating Massillon than supporting their own community/school. Thus, football isn’t import or as important in their communities and as a result tends to not be successful aside from a magical year every once in a while.

A famous saying on yappi is: they’d rather see Massillon lose than their own team win.
 
MassillonTigers3 said:
😂😂 this is good stuff. When it comes to football specifically they hate Massillon so much and seem to care more about hating Massillon than supporting their own community/school. Thus, football isn’t import or as important in their communities and as a result tends to not be successful aside from a magical year every once in a while.

A famous saying on yappi is: they’d rather see Massillon lose than their own team win.
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I know and I do not understand it. Massillon is not Aliquippa here in Pittsburgh. Aliquippa despite their great football success is a complete trainwreck. They only have football. Massillon is not like that, there are other things in Massillon. You would think "fictional school Billy Bob HS Sharks would look at you guys and say "ok we cannot have a live shark at our games, but we can do this and that to mimic what Massillon is doing, so our kids can get a taste of it." Then with enough mimicking, they may be enough in place that they have a unique strong winning tradition themselves. Yet some of these schools around Massillon max out at 7-3 1st round loss and hover around 5-5 and bang their chest about not being like Massillon. Just weird to me.
 
I have somewhat of a different perspective than most on here. Being that I grew up in Massillon, and currently live in Massillon, but went to Catholic schools and not Massillon city schools. And being that my parents and all of my extended family went to Massillon, I root for Massillon's success. Growing up going to Massillon games will do that for you.
But my perspective has seen both sides of the coin. I've seen the irrational hate for Massillon from surrounding communities. A lot of times they can't give you a good reason why they hate Massillon. A lot of times it's just "i just don't like them". A lot of times it's simply b/c their family and friends don't like Massillon... so tribal mentality. But I've also experienced the downside of Massillonians that give people a real reason to not like Massillon. There is some real delusion that just b/c you went to Massillon that you inherently understand football better, and no one could possibly understand football like you b/c you played for a "lesser school". There's a lot of people that actively believe football was invented in Massillon. Even in this day and age of google.. they still believe this. They believe it is the center of the football universe and no one else can comprehend football like them b/c it's somehow in their DNA. These same people will attack you for pointing out these flaws and accuse you of hating Massillon when they know damn well you support Massillon. These people give good cause to not like Massillon football. They also play victim and pretend it's Massillon vs the world, when they egg on the antagonization against "the world".

So two me.... much like everything else in life.... it's a 2 sided coin. There's irrational hate for Massillon... but some Massillonians are delusional themselves and feed the irrationality.
 
That isn’t the fans holding that banner !!

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Massillon#82 said:
That isn’t the fans holding that banner !!

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The problem with this banner (and thought process in general) is it's only true if you never leave stark county, And that's unfortunately reality for most of the citizens of stark county. Most people who you meet outside of the stark county bubble aren't against Massillon. If they've actually heard of Massillon, it's quite the opposite actually. They're interested in talking to you about Massillon. They're not against Massillon. It's a myopic view and used just to motivate yourself. No one really cares about Massillon outside of the area, and those that do aren't against Massillon.
 
CrusaderZip0004 said:
The problem with this banner (and thought process in general) is it's only true if you never leave stark county, And that's unfortunately reality for most of the citizens of stark county. Most people who you meet outside of the stark county bubble aren't against Massillon. If they've actually heard of Massillon, it's quite the opposite actually. They're interested in talking to you about Massillon. They're not against Massillon. It's a myopic view and used just to motivate yourself. No one really cares about Massillon outside of the area, and those that do aren't against Massillon.
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There’s definitely truth to this. But when essentially EVERYONE in your surrounding area despises you for and prays for your demise (speaking on football of course) it’s not that crazy that the program and some in the community adopt the “Massillon against everyone” mentality.

As you mentioned in your other post it’s a tribal mentality AGAINST Massillon and that lends to a tribal mentality FOR Massillon.

obviously there’s people on both sides who take it to an extreme level and for every Massillon fan who thinks Massillon is the center of the universe there’s a “local” hater who genuinely cheers for Massillon players to fail and even be injured…
 
As an outsider I think it is a Stark County thing. I enjoy going to Massillon games and have always been well treated and welcomed to jump on the bandwagon. I like Benson Stadium and have always had good experiences there too. It seems so foreign to me that local teams will not play Massillon. Massillon Perry and Jackson should play Washington every year as neighbors and natural foes. Going to Massillon Washington games are an event. It is the local teams loss to not look to upgrade their schedules.
 
MassillonTigers3 said:
There’s definitely truth to this. But when essentially EVERYONE in your surrounding area despises you for and prays for your demise (speaking on football of course) it’s not that crazy that the program and some in the community adopt the “Massillon against everyone” mentality.

As you mentioned in your other post it’s a tribal mentality AGAINST Massillon and that lends to a tribal mentality FOR Massillon.

obviously there’s people on both sides who take it to an extreme level and for every Massillon fan who thinks Massillon is the center of the universe there’s a “local” hater who genuinely cheers for Massillon players to fail and even be injured…
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For sure.. it''ll never change either. What is funny is I've personally known people who hated Massillon... then sent their kids there b/c they ended up being good at football and wanted them to succeed and then loved Massillon lol. I've also known people who loved Massillon, then it was obvious that their kids weren't ever gonna get to play there so they transferred them then they hated Massillon lol.. its kinda funny tbh.
 
CrusaderZip0004 said:
The problem with this banner (and thought process in general) is it's only true if you never leave stark county, ... No one really cares about Massillon outside of the area, and those that do aren't against Massillon.
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Don't think that's true at all. Look at the posters on here; a lot of the limp-wrists who drop a mocking emoji on every post supporting Massillon or a thumbs-up on every post insulting Massillon aren't from Stark County. Sure, there are those who are indifferent to or even supportive of Massillon, but it's by no means universal.
 
I admire Massillon's traditions and history, and root for them more times than not. The first year that Green played football, Massillon gave us some of their old jerseys, which is why Green's colors are orange and black (and not, you know, green). Actually, there was an effort at one time to change the school colors to green, but it was met with fierce resistance and went nowhere. When I was there, I never heard a negative word about Massillon.

However, many current Green students, parents, and fans now strongly dislike Massillon. During the 2021 football playoffs, Green provided several buses for students so that they could attend the game against Massillon at Mansfield and not have to drive themselves. After the game, which Green won, probably somewhere between 100-200 Green students were waiting in the stadium parking lot to get onto the buses to go back to GHS, and there were some angry Massillon fans who harassed the Green students, many of whom were 14-15 years old and couldn't go anywhere. It was a very tense situation.

I know it was a minority of Massillon fans who behaved poorly that night, and don't hold it against the community as a whole. I still rooted for them to beat Hoban in the title game this year. But there seems to be a higher percentage of clowns in the Massillon fanbase who are arrogant and rude and misbehave at games, a reputation that other extremely successful programs do not have, at least not to the same degree.
 
I'll weigh in here.

I believe the NEO media for generations has used a dislike of Massillon as a means to sell papers, generate clicks, and draw attention to themselves.

That constant drumbeat in places like The Plain Dealer, Akron BJ, Canton Suppository, etc., influenced the thinking of the average dolt.

That dislike reaches beyond Stark County. I personally know that.

A couple years ago at Thanksgiving in Stow, where the football team is Charmin soft, a couple of my GF's relatives (from Stow) asked me where I was from. I said Massillon.

They started going off about Massillon.

These are Stow people.

Not exactly the epicenter of hard hitting football these days at Stow HS.

They were also older in age.

Clearly, the media message reached them.

Outside of NEO, I've found that your average Columbus person who knows about Massillon usually moved to Central Ohio after growing up in Northern Ohio. There's a TON of those people. Other than that, many in Columbus are geographically-challenged. They don't know where Mansfield is, let alone Massillon. If you mention Ashland to them, many think of Ashland, Kentucky, first before Ashland, Ohio.

Cincinnati area fans, I've found, if they know the Paul Brown history or had a school play Massillon in a playoff game, they tend to be mostly positive. A lot of people don't know the history but can tell you who the Reds bullpen catcher is. Those people tend to be your hardcore WLW 700 Lance McCalister sports talk listeners who think Elly De La Cruz is the next Willie Mays.

I went to a Bengals game a couple years ago vs. the Hotlanta Falcons. A couple of fans who sat next to me were St. X grads and brought up the 2005 state title game vs. Massillon. They had nothing but good things to say.

In conclusion, I definitely think the media message and the constant communication of it has framed opinions over the decades. I wish people were smart enough to ignore the bovine scat (BS) communicated by mid card jobber chumps like Todd Porter or Charita Goshay in the media, but too many people aren't. They believe the media is gospel.
 
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Bull GreenDog said:
I know it was a minority of Massillon fans who behaved poorly that night, and don't hold it against the community as a whole. I still rooted for them to beat Hoban in the title game this year. But there seems to be a higher percentage of clowns in the Massillon fanbase who are arrogant and rude and misbehave at games, a reputation that other extremely successful programs do not have, at least not to the same degree.
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I look at it as Massillon has a much larger fan base than just about anyone else any where. Having more fans also means you are going to have more clowns. Unfortunately the clowns seem to congregate together and egg each other on. I have found the majority of Massillon residents are good old fashioned blue collar people who love their football and their city.
Unfortunately the bad eggs get a larger amount of the attention and give Massillon a bad reputation that overall they don't deserve.
 
Oil Filter said:
Don't think that's true at all. Look at the posters on here; a lot of the limp-wrists who drop a mocking emoji on every post supporting Massillon or a thumbs-up on every post insulting Massillon aren't from Stark County. Sure, there are those who are indifferent to or even supportive of Massillon, but it's by no means universal.
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Yeah but you’re talking about posters on a message board who likely have had experiences with posters from Massillon. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone in real life not from this immediate area who’s strongly had an opinion either way on Massillon … let alone hate them.
 
CrusaderZip0004 said:
The problem with this banner (and thought process in general) is it's only true if you never leave stark county, And that's unfortunately reality for most of the citizens of stark county. Most people who you meet outside of the stark county bubble aren't against Massillon. If they've actually heard of Massillon, it's quite the opposite actually. They're interested in talking to you about Massillon. They're not against Massillon. It's a myopic view and used just to motivate yourself. No one really cares about Massillon outside of the area, and those that do aren't against Massillon.
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Thanks for explaining the literal meaning of this saying, anyone with common sense understands why we use it.
 
Bull GreenDog said:
I admire Massillon's traditions and history, and root for them more times than not. The first year that Green played football, Massillon gave us some of their old jerseys, which is why Green's colors are orange and black (and not, you know, green). Actually, there was an effort at one time to change the school colors to green, but it was met with fierce resistance and went nowhere. When I was there, I never heard a negative word about Massillon.

However, many current Green students, parents, and fans now strongly dislike Massillon. During the 2021 football playoffs, Green provided several buses for students so that they could attend the game against Massillon at Mansfield and not have to drive themselves. After the game, which Green won, probably somewhere between 100-200 Green students were waiting in the stadium parking lot to get onto the buses to go back to GHS, and there were some angry Massillon fans who harassed the Green students, many of whom were 14-15 years old and couldn't go anywhere. It was a very tense situation.

I know it was a minority of Massillon fans who behaved poorly that night, and don't hold it against the community as a whole. I still rooted for them to beat Hoban in the title game this year. But there seems to be a higher percentage of clowns in the Massillon fanbase who are arrogant and rude and misbehave at games, a reputation that other extremely successful programs do not have, at least not to the same degree.
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Odd there wasn’t a peep about anything like that the night of the game or the day after. 🙄
 
The greatest coaches in every sport use motivational tactics, Massillon uses a simple phrase and a “Tiger fan” has to be all literal about it, like it’s the dumbest thing ever. Another great example of the Massillon effect.
 
CrusaderZip0004 said:
Yeah but you’re talking about posters on a message board who likely have had experiences with posters from Massillon.
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Dunno if that's true either. What experience with "posters from Massillon" has some idiot from Walsh or east Cleveland had*? And why would someone be so childish and sensitive as to let that inform their view of a team, program, fanbase, and city?

* Aside from being called an idiot on here. Which is an entirely defensible position. :p
 
I don’t think it’s taken as literally in Massillon as some might think. And hey, it resulted in a team that came together and went undefeated and about 10k Massillon fans showing up to support them
 
Rich Kotite nailed it perfectly in his post, the media is responsible for the majority of the hate and animosity that NE Ohio has for Massillon. In the 80’s and 90’s and before the only place anyone got any local sports news is from the hacks that called themselves writers. They had an agenda and they used it to sell papers.
 
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