Why do you like UConn? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Why do you like UConn?

UConnTrumbull said:
I don’t understand. Are we less of fans for demanding greater success? The day I stop caring about performance is the day we become Rutgers fans. I’ll never stop supporting UConn sports but that doesn’t mean we should be content with 6th place conference finishes.
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Demanding? As a fan you don’t have any control over any aspect of the basketball program. Or maybe you do, but I, like most I’m sure, don’t. I’m not sure where demands get you. Expecting? Even that’s a bit pushy, but closer to the mark.

Again, after Calhoun retired I dropped my expectations down to hopes, but I’m still rooting for great recruits to choose UConn, whether they are listed at 5, 50, 150, or 250 in the rankings. I’m still rooting for UConn to string wins together, I’m still hoping to see the same smart, tough basketball we all know from the last 30 years, and I’m still tuning in to every game that I can.

And I come here to be in contact with others like me, regardless of your hopes, expectations, or even demands.
 
Grew up in CT and started watching UCONN basketball in 1988 at age 10. Been a fan since, moved to NC 15 years ago, but still watch every game. It's hard to believe where our program is now.
 
I grew up in Connecticut. Of course eventually I would be exposed to Uconn. Who else did CT have at the time? Hartford for a few more years?

Any way, it must have been 1994. My 4th grade teacher, otherwise an , decided to put the Rider/Uconn game on for the class to see, which was cool of him considering what I just said. It must have been a 2:00 game because it was after lunch and I remember getting on the bus and running home to watch the final minutes. I had loved the Bulls prior to that for a few years so I had that Bball pedigree. I loved to just shoot hoops for hours, even during those cold winter days (I think 1995 was especially brutal). I watched most of the games in 1995 and 1996.

I digress. I think Florida came a little later that year and I realized I really liked the team when I got so pissed at those missed free throws and eventual overtime loss. I was probably only 10 at the time, first time I ever dropped the ¨F bomb¨ so to speak, going to bed so angry about the loss.

From there, the interest just grew rapidly, heart breaking loss after heart breaking loss...Ole Miss, UCLA, UNC and so on. Until 1999 when they shocked the world. I was hooked by 1998 though, I would say. I watched every single game of that season.

Even though I have only lived in CT for probably 1 year of the past 12 years, I watch them no matter where I am: I have lived in Maine , Washington DC, China, Colombia and now Guatemala in 11 of the past 12 years and I still follow them. I saw them win it all in Maine (2004), later back in CT (2011) for that 1 year stint, recovering from C@ncer (why is THAT word censored??) as well as that final four run when I was living in China when they lost to MSU in 2009 (ugh) and in Washington DC (2014). It seems I am somewhere else when they make the final four...Guatemala now?
 
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temery said:
Demand is an absurd word in the context of a fan. You are not in the position to demand anything.
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You're playing semantics.

Demand, expect, desire, whatever.

UConn has built a basketball program where making the tournament with regularlity and fielding a top 25 team has become the norm. Let's act like it.

Conversely, I'm a big UConn football fan. We're 3 and 4. Guess what? I'm happy with that. It's different expectations. UConn football may never be a top 40 team consistently. And that's fine with me.

You can't be as good as we have been and then just be content with sitting back and letting us be medicore.
 
I'm a fan because all my dresser drawers and closets are filled with UConn stuff. I'm not switching teams because I don't want to change my wardrobe.

I still have championship stuff that I keep saying I'll wear but knowing I won't be able to find replacements am hesitant to wear. I'm trying to calculate how long I'll live to be certain I can have something new to wear in the future and still have one "brand new" championship shirt that I can wear at my funeral. I literally live and die UConn men's bb.

I watch UConn football and that's already killed me.
 
ConnHuskBask said:
You can't be as good as we have been and then just be content with sitting back and letting us be medicore.
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Using past performance to completely write off present conditions is fallacious.
 
Grew up in CT but wasn't a fan of college BB until I went to college. Went to Manhattan and Uconn used to play them over the Christmas vacation in the late 60's and I went to the games in the old Fieldhouse. Started to become interested while listening to Arnold Deane show as a Yankee fan in the late 70's. When the Big East was forming that was a very hot topic on the Deane show and when Corny Thompson got recruited I started to follow. Immensely enjoyed the whole Big East rivalry and becoming a fan of Uconn. What Jim Calhoun did is really hard to even put into words. Everyone around looked at Uconn as the doormat and Calhoun just kept believing and taking everyone with him. One of the greatest things I ever heard was a national tv announcer
referring to Uconn as THE dominant team in the Big East during the 1990's! Who'd thought? Been a little rough the last few years and things have not gone our way but I have great hopes this will turn around. We need only look back to 2014 and continue to recruit the caliber of young men and staff who are believers and refuse to quit.
 
You need a thesaurus. Demand implies authority. Fans have no authority over a team whatsoever.

ConnHuskBask said:
You're playing semantics.

Demand, expect, desire, whatever.

UConn has built a basketball program where making the tournament with regularlity and fielding a top 25 team has become the norm. Let's act like it.

Conversely, I'm a big UConn football fan. We're 3 and 4. Guess what? I'm happy with that. It's different expectations. UConn football may never be a top 40 team consistently. And that's fine with me.

You can't be as good as we have been and then just be content with sitting back and letting us be medicore.
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ConnHuskBask said:
You're playing semantics.

Demand, expect, desire, whatever.

UConn has built a basketball program where making the tournament with regularlity and fielding a top 25 team has become the norm. Let's act like it.

Conversely, I'm a big UConn football fan. We're 3 and 4. Guess what? I'm happy with that. It's different expectations. UConn football may never be a top 40 team consistently. And that's fine with me.

You can't be as good as we have been and then just be content with sitting back and letting us be medicore.
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And here in lies the gist of this discussion. Each of us handle things we observe differently.

Football has been so bad you've capitulated to the point that a 3-4 season feels good to you.

BB is different for you because between the two sports your expectations are different given that bb has not gone through such a terrible state.

Different experiences giving you different reactions.

But each of us are different. Some of us are not interested in football. Some of us are not as content with a 3-4 record. Some of us are happy and some of us are thrilled (me).

Different types of reactions apply to those of us who root for the men's bb team.

The funny (or sad) thing is everyone is telling everyone else the proper way they should react. people react to the world in the manner they consider appropriate. And for most of us what is appropriate is how we react to things.
 
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We are the the team that could prove that every team can have the chance to compete if you find the perfect coach. We were so bad in the early 80s and turned into a juggernaut. We got to live through what some only dream about. Having that happen when you are a kid is the thrill of a lifetime. Maybe that is why I am not jaded now. I had great memories before during and after college and that can't be ever changed!
 
krinklecut said:
Maybe it would benefit all of us to take a step back and enjoy what we have.
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Maybe it would benefit you to not give two fcks what other people say and think and let them take away your enjoyment of something you love.
 
my great grandfather taught at UConn, my grandfather and dad went to UConn, I was born and raised in New Haven and since birth grew up in a die hard UConn household. There are videos of me on the couch at just a few months old watching March Madness with my parents.
 
I like UConn because I want my alma mater to be the best that it can be at all things, including basketball.

I'm happy when we beat Cuse and I'm happy when a professor receives major recognition.

I'm happy when we beat Georgetown and I'm happy when a program receives a significant grant.

I'm happy when we win national championships and I'm happy when we move up in academic rankings.

It's difficult to put into words, but the school and the athletic program are totally and completely intertwined.

I realize with the pro teams I root for, I am essentially rooting for laundry (and I do so unapologetically).

With UConn sports, it goes beyond team colors; they are representing an essential life experience with intrinsic value and worth for all the alumni and anyone who calls, or has called, Connecticut home.
 
Rocktheworld said:
I still have my University of Connecticut rear windshield decal, through my time in Boston, Vegas, and now here in San Diego. I have a ton of UConn pride, way more than most of my friends in hindsight. It’s been awful to see where the AD is now.

But I was at UConn 08-12, I’d argue one of the better windows of UConn athletics: peak Edsall football and Fiesta Bowl bid; the last truly UConn-great basketball squad in 09; one of the most incredible postseason runs in the history of sport; and of course watched the women dominate. I was on campus to live and celebrate all that. And nothing can take that away. The kind of spirit that gets ingrained in you through that doesn’t just go away.
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I was there 2012-2016. Probably not peak UConn athletics, but dual championships my sophomore year and being the only class with 4 women's championships gives me something to be happy about
 
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I like UConn mainly because of Jim Calhoun. I grew up near UConn and developed an interest in UConn in the late 1970s with the Corny Thompson/Karl Hobbs/Mike McKay/Chuck Aleksinas etc teams. But that only made me follow casually from a distance until the 1989-90 season when I got hooked. Then I stayed hooked because no matter the quality of his recruits, JC always made his players better and his teams better, and I enjoyed watching a discombobulated team become a tightly coordinated yet creative machine, and inexperienced kids become highly disciplined and capable players. That for me is the big attraction of college over the NBA, you can see the progression and the player development because the learning curve is so steep for these kids, the NBA is much more static and the teams that are picked to win preseason are the teams that make the finals. I find the NBA boring. Another aspect of college that interests me are the matchup issues, all the college teams have strengths and weaknesses so there is always a chance to find the Achilles heel of a strong team.

I think a lot of people got spoiled by JC and his success and aren't willing to give KO the time to prove he can develop players and develop teams. It's not easy or lots of coaches would be doing it. I still believe in KO but I do agree that the last few years his teams have been less entertaining than JC's generally were.
 
I was 11 when they won the NIT. I started watching the following season (1988-89). Hopped on the bandwagon right before there was one.

Zero connection to UConn other than me being a Connecticut kid.
 
fleudslipcon said:
And here in lies the gist of this discussion. Each of us handle things we observe differently.

Football has been so bad you've capitulated to the point that a 3-4 season feels good to you.

BB is different for you because between the two sports your expectations are different given that bb has not gone through such a terrible state.

Different experiences giving you different reactions.

But each of us are different. Some of us are not interested in football. Some of us are not as content with a 3-4 record. Some of us are happy and some of us are thrilled (me).

Different types of reactions apply to those of us who root for the men's bb team.

The funny (or sad) thing is everyone is telling everyone else the proper way they should react. people react to the world in the manner they consider appropriate. And for most of us what is appropriate is how we react to things.
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So you. Thanks.
 
I have sometimes written that if Saddam Hussein came out of the rat hole in a UCONN tee I would changed my opinion of the guy pretty quickly.
 
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I am born and raised in Buffalo, so I have zero connection with the university, athletics, or state.

I was young and started playing ball in 4-5-6 grade, and everyone knew Jordan, magic, bird. For me, I had no college team, though sadly the closest would prob have been Duke in those days, with Laettner, etc. But I was young and didn't know much except the major teams (UNC, fab 5, UNLV).

The first time I knew anything about UConn was seeing Donyell on the USA today All-American team, liked his look (I specifically remember liking his flat top slant fade), liked his name, liked the uniforms, so I started paying attention. By that year and then the following with Ray's sophomore year, I was hooked.

It's sort of odd, I've never really had any reason to know anything about them but after 20+ years I'm a diehard since almost day 1.
 
Mr. French said:
I am born and raised in Buffalo, so I have zero connection with the university, athletics, or state.

I was young and started playing ball in 4-5-6 grade, and everyone knew Jordan, magic, bird. For me, I had no college team, though sadly the closest would prob have been Duke in those days, with Laettner, etc. But I was young and didn't know much except the major teams (UNC, fab 5, UNLV).

The first time I knew anything about UConn was seeing Donyell on the USA today All-American team, liked his look (I specifically remember liking his flat top slant fade), liked his name, liked the uniforms, so I started paying attention. By that year and then the following with Ray's sophomore year, I was hooked.

It's sort of odd, I've never really had any reason to know anything about them but after 20+ years I'm a diehard since almost day 1.
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This one Mr French is the most interesting to me. No affiliations minus some TV time with one player and it grew into being hooked for the last 20, very cool. Glad you were watching.
 
Born in CT. Parents went to UCONN. Moved around my whole life - Two elementary schools- two junior high schools-two high schools. UCONN was always something I could concentrate on when things got complicated or simply overwhelming- UCONN kinda grounded me in a way.

The Boneyard believe it or not is a place I love to go to relax- nice to know their are other people that are as obsessed as I am. Where else can I go and talk about who our third option at the 4 might be this year?
Since 1999 they have also given the best sports moments of my life- what a feeling in 1999! KEA, Rip, Kemba, Shabazz- my sports heroes. I don't even remember the 11 hour drive home after the 1999 champ game- so happy.
 
Stairmaster said:
Using past performance to completely write off present conditions is fallacious.
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I'm really don't want to go down this rabbit hole with you @temery or @fleudslipcon but the fact is UConn has been great and as fan my expectations and how I judge the program has adjusted accordingly.

Sure we don't have the Big East and we don't have Calhoun, but if you can find me demanding we make Elite 8s and Final 4s while being a top 10 team be my guest.

Being a consistent NCAA team given our history is not unrealistic barometer for which to measure the state of our program.
 
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