Q: Geno - the men had a big game last night... you guys too last game at home this season... do you think fans appreciate... they call it the basketball capital of the world... but just how much this means to so many people in the state what the 2 teams are doing, particularly this year?
A: I'd certainly hope so. Um I also think... human nature being what it is... I think there's a feeling of "it's expected". Um, you read and you hear some of the comments after our men lost to Creighton, and you wanna shake your head and go "how can one team have that many @s$-h*Ies that follow them?"
Like it's not possible. It's like if you wrote a book and we lost to Creighton and said "write a book about how many dumb-ass things people could say", it still wouldn't be as dumb-ass as what I read and what I heard after they lost to Creighton. And those same people, last night, already booked their tickets to the final 4 and their championship rings.
So it's just, you know, it's Connecticut basketball. It means a lot to a lot of people, but it can't be life and death every game that's played. It can't be "you're the best team in the world" when you win a game, and it can't be, you know, "everybody sucks, why is this kid on scholarship?", when you lose a game.
I mean fans... real fans... don't do that. You know, you either are a fan of your team, and you understand that there is wins and losses, or you're just a fan of winning, alright? So if you are a fan of winning, move to another state and go see how much you win over there.
I must have missed the answer where he talked about balloon knots. I listened to it a few times to make sure i got the words as right as I could hear. For people who lack reading comprehension, Geno was ONLY talking about the "fine folks" who were making comments worse than or equal to "this team sucks, why is ___ on scholarship". For me, I do think "this team sucks" is pretty common all across men's basketball fandom...
Again - reading comprehension - on what planet is that calling out "the entire", or "most of" the fan base? He went on to say that you are either a fan of UConn basketball, or just a fan of winning.
Lastly, believe it nor not, there ARE parents and friends/family of current players (past players too) who read the boards. The UConn hoops board for both is probably one of the most active in the country - certainly more so on the women's side. BTW, there are obviously some family members for other teams who read their boards as well.
Nasty, mean, personal attack comments DO get back to the players. I wonder if everyone in the chat during any game made the assumption that there was at least one family member of the team in the game chat - if they would behave the same way? Some of the stuff is just brutal.
