Fans should be positive… right? | The Boneyard

Fans should be positive… right?

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Scottobot

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There is way too much negativity on these forums. I myself am guilty. I’m so invested emotionally in how the team does that when things don’t go well, my first reaction, is let’s go post a rant on the Boneyard that expresses my pain. But fans are supposed to cheer for and uplift the team, not tear apart a 18, 19 year old kid when they don’t play well. It is one thing to criticize the coaches decisions, or debate strategy. It is another thing to pile on negativity towards a player that is trying hard and in a shooting slump.
 
Scottobot said:
There is way too much negativity on these forums. I myself am guilty. I’m so invested emotionally in how the team does that when things don’t go well, my first reaction, is let’s go post a rant on the Boneyard that expresses my pain. But fans are supposed to cheer for and uplift the team, not tear apart a 18, 19 year old kid when they don’t play well. It is one thing to criticize the coaches decisions, or debate strategy. It is another thing to pile on negativity towards a player that is trying hard and in a shooting slump.
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Sure. Sort of. Look, if you want to be a college player that doesn’t face scrutiny or criticism then you can play at Sacred Heart. Joey C could have spent another year being adored, or he can face the challenge of playing at UConn, which comes with some expectations and some criticism. We shouldn‘t make it personal or nasty, I hate when anyone says someone “sucks“, but the glory of a lot of fans and big games comes with more pressure.
 
Scottobot said:
There is way too much negativity on these forums. I myself am guilty. I’m so invested emotionally in how the team does that when things don’t go well, my first reaction, is let’s go post a rant on the Boneyard that expresses my pain. But fans are supposed to cheer for and uplift the team, not tear apart a 18, 19 year old kid when they don’t play well. It is one thing to criticize the coaches decisions, or debate strategy. It is another thing to pile on negativity towards a player that is trying hard and in a shooting slump.
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Only if we win every game by 25 and put the walk ins in for the last 5 mins. Lol. We have a very entitled fanbase, many who don’t even remember or weren’t around in 1999, let alone all the heartbreaks we suffered in the 1990’s and earlier. Half this board is still waiting for Jim Calhoun to come back out of retirement and won’t be happy until he does.
 
I agree with you.

I’m sure the majority here won’t lol but that’s alright

That said every fan is entitled to react in whatever way they find best for themselves. I try to keep away from all the negativity because it just creates bad mental health for myself.
 
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Hurleyman216 said:
Only if we win every game by 25 and put the walk ins in for the last 5 mins. Lol. We have a very entitled fanbase, many who don’t even remember or weren’t around in 1999, let alone all the heartbreaks we suffered in the 1990’s and earlier. Half this board is still waiting for Jim Calhoun to come back out of retirement and won’t be happy until he does.
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Whoa Nellie

If you're really good, you have to win by 3 or less

25, yikes
 
I’d say the ”negativity” comes from the frustration that despite having loads of depth and talent, there are some glaring bottlenecks with in-game coaching and team development that are likely going to prevent this program from going deep in tournaments, possibly for quite some time. I’m all for cheering the Huskies game after game, but when you see things like Uconn being ranked #70 in the country in FT %, you just get a sense that the ‘formula’ for title-winning potential is not all there, and that eats away at you when you have 4 banners hanging over your head.
 
Fishy said:
We need a subsection of this board where people with the emotional fragility of a toddler can post happy thoughts to each other.
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Post/avatar/custom title.
It's not enough that you kicked off a >360-post fiesta that taps into the board's mass insecurity?
Laboring at 4am to strengthen the safe space for those posting unhappy thoughts & feelings. Brave.
 
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Fishy said:
We need a subsection of this board where people with the emotional fragility of a toddler can post happy thoughts to each other.
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I wish there was a separate board for the haters too
 
Fishy said:
We need a subsection of this board where people with the emotional fragility of a toddler can post happy thoughts to each other.
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And another one where Boomers scream how everything is horrible even though the team is top 10 in multiple key advanced metrics and #18 in the AP poll.
 
These emotional highs and lows have been crazy this year. It shows us how much we care. I was laying in bed last night trying to figure out how I’d defend Bryce Hopkins last night. This is unhinged behavior.

But the happy moments make it all worth while. at the end of the day tho. The season will end eventually and we will start it over again in November.
 
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Hans Sprungfeld said:
Post/avatar/custom title.
It's not enough that you kicked off a >360-post fiesta that taps into the board's mass insecurity?
Laboring at 4am to strengthen the safe space for those posting unhappy thoughts & feelings. Brave.
Expand ...

Nah, not into its mass insecurity. Most people know what they’re looking at and they understand the team has strengths and weaknesses.

It’s the participation trophy crowd that I can set off into angry spasm without too much effort. I generally do not read any of the quoted replies because I just don’t are about their opinions, but when I do, I am always amazed that their replies are entirely based around the fact that their feelings are hurt.
 
Living vicariously by channeling the awesome talent and sharply defined personalities of a bunch of young athletes.
Once you get to know them, even at a distance through the filter of media, you can’t help developing empathy and wishing them success. Commiserating with them when they are injured or sick-not being able to play or playing through the hurt.
It’s hard not to respond strongly to perceived shortcomings or coaching faux pas.
Example: I can scream at Nika through the tv when she passes up an open shot and turns the ball over trying to thread a ridiculous pass through 3 defenders.
Then, on the next possession, tell her how great she is when she passes up the same shot, but gets the assist making the same dumb pass.
Same thing in the BY.
We don’t always make sense
 
HuskyHawk said:
Sure. Sort of. Look, if you want to be a college player that doesn’t face scrutiny or criticism then you can play at Sacred Heart. Joey C could have spent another year being adored, or he can face the challenge of playing at UConn, which comes with some expectations and some criticism. We shouldn‘t make it personal or nasty, I hate when anyone says someone “sucks“, but the glory of a lot of fans and big games comes with more pressure.
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That’s the reality. But it doesn’t address our behavior. If anything you are deflecting away from a flaw that universally exists among fans.

My personal grievance with some threads or posts is that we don’t hold ourselves to the same standards we insist from our coaches and players. Critical thinking that points out strengths and weaknesses in performance of a player and/or team is one thing.

However in a team sport with so many moving parts we continuously see threads created that predominantly blame an individual followed by a desire to exact punishment on that individual. And for what? A failure to be satisfied from a venue of entertainment?

I don’t believe in censorship. My hope is that people can look in the mirror and realize that the type of venting we present in this forum is similar if not exactly like the behavior of Hurley or Andre that resulted in technicals. It’s out of control emotional reaction.

I applaud @Scottobot for recognizing this in himself, for publicly stating it and for attempting to change. Bravo!!!
 
Fishy said:
Nah, not into its mass insecurity. Most people know what they’re looking at and they understand the team has strengths and weaknesses.

It’s the participation trophy crowd that I can set off into angry spasm without too much effort. I generally do not read any of the quoted replies because I just don’t are about their opinions, but when I do, I am always amazed that their replies are entirely based around the fact that their feelings are hurt.
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It wasn’t you who locked this thread after you made your 4:14 AM post? Because the evidence appears fishy that someone else would have locked it.

Hopefully you didn’t but if you did then I don’t buy this explanation.
 
fleudslipcon said:
It wasn’t you who locked this thread after you made your 4:14 AM post? Because the evidence appears fishy that someone else would have locked it.

Hopefully you didn’t but if you did then I don’t buy this explanation.
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I generally do not moderate much- very much a fan of letting anything go except transfer talk - and I definitely did not lock the thread.

There are a few heavy hands here, methinks. I’m pretty sure one of ’em banned me two weeks ago…

Bill Burr Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
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Kemba15 said:
And another one where Boomers scream how everything is horrible even though the team is top 10 in multiple key advanced metrics and #18 in the AP poll.
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Watch the games instead of reading the stats and graphs.
 
Scottobot said:
There is way too much negativity on these forums. I myself am guilty. I’m so invested emotionally in how the team does that when things don’t go well, my first reaction, is let’s go post a rant on the Boneyard that expresses my pain. But fans are supposed to cheer for and uplift the team, not tear apart a 18, 19 year old kid when they don’t play well. It is one thing to criticize the coaches decisions, or debate strategy. It is another thing to pile on negativity towards a player that is trying hard and in a shooting slump
Expand ...

Scottobot said:
There is way too much negativity on these forums. I myself am guilty. I’m so invested emotionally in how the team does that when things don’t go well, my first reaction, is let’s go post a rant on the Boneyard that expresses my pain. But fans are supposed to cheer for and uplift the team, not tear apart a 18, 19 year old kid when they don’t play well. It is one thing to criticize the coaches decisions, or debate strategy. It is another thing to pile on negativity towards a player that is trying hard and in a shooting slump.
Expand ...
This year has been different. The highs and lows this year has brought have been pretty remarkable. And while you can say of any team, on any given year, it is not too often when you have a team play so clearly like the #1 team in the country, only to play so terribly for such a long stretch. That does not happen that often. For myself, while I care about winning, I cannot stand when inferior teams out-hussle us. That drives me nuts. That should never happen. And that has happened several times this year, even in games that we won. I dont think that pointing that out is tantamount to being negative. And while I love Dan Hurley, I equate that to coaching. There is always room to improve in every facet of life, even people we root for.
 
fleudslipcon said:
That’s the reality. But it doesn’t address our behavior. If anything you are deflecting away from a flaw that universally exists among fans.

My personal grievance with some threads or posts is that we don’t hold ourselves to the same standards we insist from our coaches and players. Critical thinking that points out strengths and weaknesses in performance of a player and/or team is one thing.

However in a team sport with so many moving parts we continuously see threads created that predominantly blame an individual followed by a desire to exact punishment on that individual. And for what? A failure to be satisfied from a venue of entertainment?

I don’t believe in censorship. My hope is that people can look in the mirror and realize that the type of venting we present in this forum is similar if not exactly like the behavior of Hurley or Andre that resulted in technicals. It’s out of control emotional reaction.

I applaud @Scottobot for recognizing this in himself, for publicly stating it and for attempting to change. Bravo!!!
Expand ...


There is a fine line between trashing a college kid and talking about bad play. It's a difficult tightrope to walk. the former should always be off limits, the latter should be on the table with an eye toward not heading toward the former. I fall off that rope sometimes myself.

And there are other distinctions too. I'll use Fishys point guard thread as an example. Some people think he is trashing Newton. I see that thread as way more of an indictment on Hurley. Coaches should be able to take a lot more heat. He is in charge of team makeup and he has not recruited a PG in his time here.

We are all UConn fans. We all see games differently and what they mean towards the whole boards SHARED goal. (seeing us succeed)
 
InKembaITrust said:
Whelp, this thread is gonna go well...
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I got a hearty laugh from your quick reaction. Ready to make some popcorn. But this is going pretty well methinks.
No one has told the OP to switch to the WBB forum, no throat punches landed. So far.
 
In short: I don’t think there is a right way to fan. The boneyard in all of its toxicity, makes the season a lot more fun. It’s like a family cookout. We all hate that we’re related, but in the end we’re family. We all would get along a lot better in person than we do over text. And tomorrow in Gampel we’ll all link arms and yell obscenities at PC fans and BE refs. Go Huskies!!!
 
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