Sure, I guess, I don’t know.
I don’t want to talk about them.
I’d rather talk about fans.
If you talk to any fan of any team, they are sure to give you a wide and varied list of reasons about everything wrong with the team and everything that said team can be doing better. If that team wins a championship, they will undoubtedly give it a break until after the parade, and then get right back into it.
I noticed this for the first time a few months ago after the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Finals. Their fans were ecstatic, getting piss drunk and blacking out throughout the city after the Bucks clinched, as proven by the GOAT Motown Noah (aka @NicolasHenkel on Twitter) interviewed fans after the game:
Look at this! Look how happy everyone is! Everyone just wants to have a good time after arguably one of the best nights of their lives. Commendable and completely understandable.
Unfortunately, this excitement didn’t last, as Bucks fans were soon after up-in-arms over the NBA draft and free agency:
It’s three tweets, give me a break.
Just about every fanbase acts like this though. They’re all entitled crybabies who think they know more than the people actually running the franchise and think they can do better. This is rampant regardless of sport; I should know, I’m a Detroit sports fan. We have at least two separate media outlets dedicated to this.
I don’t understand. Maybe I’m dumb. That’s probably it. But let me work this out in writing.
I get being critical of your team. Again, Detroit sports fan here. But what I’m still confused about is the lack of trust fans have with their teams after experiencing a great deal of success. Teams, coaches, front offices, whoever. I do not understand being mad or overtly negative about a team that has given you no reason to be. The Bucks are a fantastic example of this: they’re a small-to-mid market NBA team that has, by all accounts, sustained a level of success over the last half decade that some teams will not get for another two.
Seriously. Look at the Sacramento Kings. Their fan base would be ecstatic to have one winning season, let alone five straight with two different head coaches, a perennial MVP candidate, possibly the best Big-3 in the league, and a goddamn championship FOUR MONTHS AGO. I don’t understand why Bucks fans continue to doubt their front office.
Another one that comes to mind is Notre Dame football. Brian Kelly is the winningest coach in school history, has taken them to the Playoff and the BCS Championship while having recruiting restrictions, and hasn’t had a losing season in six years. And yet, if they don’t beat USC by 14, Notre Dame fans call for his head. I think we’re at the point where Brian Kelly is officially underrated as a head coach.
(No, he shouldn’t get a pass for being a hot head, but that’s not what this post is about.)
Fandom is simply too negative for my liking. People have unrealistic expectations of these things. Nobody is perfect. GMs and front offices are allowed to have mistakes, coaches can be awful and confusing decisions, these things happen. These people are still human. You’ve never messed up at your job? You’re lying, I know you have.
Fans should really try and take a step back sometimes. There’s no reason to get worked up over things before they actually happen. There’s no reason to complain about your team not signing someone they maybe should until they don’t.
Fanbases take things too seriously. Sports don’t really matter. Instead of getting worked up over a draft pick, or a meaningless ranking by a committee straight out of a David Lynch short, or even new uniforms, take a step back and reevaluate. Look at yourself, think about how you’re feeling and why you have these feelings.
Relax.
Sports are supposed to be fun. Let them be fun.
None of this really matters anyway.
If you liked this, please subscribe, share, and follow me on Twitter @B1GOPE. Every person helps.