For those of you that may not know, in addition to 7500 to Holte, I write about another team at another site on the SBNation network. Earlier this week at that site, we had a new user show up and voice his displeasure at player personnel decisions being made by the team. When people tried to disagree with this user, he/she (much more likely to be a he, so we'll stick with that) proceeded to respond by telling the other users to "shove that comment up (their) ass". His user name was 'Poopchute'. He was quickly banned, but went on to make two other user names and continue with that line of commenting. His other names were 'Buttmaster' and 'Buttman'. Those names were also banned and he hasn't returned since.
To me, West Bromwich Albion is Butt Joke Guy of the Premier League. Fairly present, a bit annoying, but mostly harmless.
In general, I don't have anything bad to say about West Brom as a club. (I mean that crest is stupid. That dang bird would get eaten by Villa's lion.) Yes, I don't really like them, but that's more to do with the fringe crazy supporters. (Which ALL clubs have, including Villa. We don't like those people either.) Because as an Aston Villa supporter, in recent times it's been West Brom fringe crazies that have been most vocal in their dislike of Villa. It's difficult for Birmingham City fans to throw those rocks when they're stuck in the glass house known as the Championship.
A few years ago when Villa were competing for European spots and West Brom were yo-yoing, I wasn't really bothered by them. But since then Villa have slipped and West Brom have established themselves in the Premier League. Now their fringe crazies have reason to start throwing Twitter rocks at Villa. The matches mean a bit more and my dislike has grown. Is that petty? I dunno, probably. But I really don't care. I have quite enjoyed the numerous times West Brom have gone up by two goals against Villa and then failed to win. In the crapiness of the last few Villa seasons, those matches have been a nice reminder that not everything is terrible.
While, I'm not from the Midlands (not even from the UK), the idea of Villa being the best team in the area weirdly means something to me. Villa are in a lull right now. I'll take any ammunition for happiness I can get. Midlands football might not amount to a hill of beans right now. But this is our hill, and these are our beans.