if we had 10,000 fans on twitter boosting uconn, uconn would probably be making arrangements for its inaugural big ten season...
passion to excess, including the loud boor yelling at the ref, beats a limp-wristed polite wave of the hand and a mild chirp of "well-done".
ask oregon fans how they felt about a meaningless rose bowl game when they saw oregon take the field in helmets blindingly reflecting the sun in their eyes. it's about passion, for your alma mater, your state, or whatever allegiance binds you to the team. In the end, it's this passion that needs to be encouraged. for some schools its easy. texas is texas, it's own world. and even a school like atm with kyle and the rotc freaks possess ingredients for passion. wvu sings country road. tenn has rocky top. ku rock chalk. the iron bown, stanford-cal, the civil war, jump around and on and on.
that's why some of the inane discussions found on this board don't bother me. frankly, i'd rather read a post exposing the financials of louisville, or why the husky was really a samoyed, or why some hometown rb is afraid of contact, whatever, than read about why the nsa dude should be sent to heaven or to helllll.
that's not to say that i don't skim a bunch of chaff to get to the wheat, but it's not a burden to do that. i think this is the point of some- social media has the ability to connect like-minded individuals in ways unheard of ten , even five, years ago.
we (as in the collective "we"- the school, its leaders, its students, its alums, its fans, its regular media) don't bring the heat. that is sad, but true. it's not to say the charges are wholly accurate (don't get me started about the fiesta bowl and the number of tickets oklafreakinghoma returned) but at the same time, i really feel that if we showed more passion, we would be somewhere different. yet, some here claim we will always be different. bullocks. go back in time with your passion meter after the nit victory, or south bend after the win, or the crowd at msg when kemba stepped back. that passion and excitement can carry over and remain with the fb program.
all we need is the spark. instead we got kind of a wet blanket thrown over the athletic department. and the wet blanket, day by day, since 2010 seemed to be getting heavier and heavier. apr, calhoun/miles issues, hathaway stuff, edsall to pasqualoni, the vandy pass, then the mac daddy of all wet blankets-conference realignment.
just as 2010 was the halcyon days of uconn, some of us think that where we find ourselves now in 2013, there is a way to get the energy back from the depths that we have plumbed. we've got ollie for 30 years, geno for a decade. but it's football, football, and football more than anything that defines the athletic department.
and where it counts the most, we face the longest odds of finding that spark. so i don't begrudge for a moment those who rant and rave, whether about marketing, the coaches, the stadium, the fans, the media, the whole enchilda of uconn country. it's called passion, and that is something uconn needs.
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