“A win is a win.” We’ve heard it countless times. I’ve said it countless times. So often, a team comes out and craps the bed like UK’s offense did last week, and manages to walk away with the victory in spite of having a bad game. So then fans and writers talk about how the game was ugly, and that the offense didn’t represent itself well, at which point defenders come out of the woodworks to say “Quit complaining! They won the game!” You know what? They did win the game. But in my opinion, we as fans have a right to criticize for a poor performance.
Once upon a time, being a fan of a team involved wishing them success, buying the merchandise, and attending games. But at some point over the years, fanhood has progressed to putting more blind faith in the team than devout Christians put in God. Anyone who says anything negative is immediately sniped down by comments such as “You’re not a good fan!” or “C’mon, support your team!” You know what I have to say to that? Get a grip.
[I][SIZE=1]Not sold in stores.[/SIZE][/I]
Another common retort is the “These are just kids, how can you say that about them?” line. You know what? These aren’t kids. These are, for the most part, mentally tough young men who could care less about some hillbilly with a laptop. These are young men the same age as troops defending our country overseas, and there are lots of complaints about the military. We are a spoiled, whiny society sometimes. It’s part of the foundation of our country. “We don’t like England anymore, we will just go do our own thing!”
[I][SIZE=1]I bet we wouldn’t follow a guy who looks like this today.[/SIZE][/I]
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To me, as long as nothing slanderous is said, complain away. There is no denying the game was ugly, that’s a truth. But as far as I know, no one has said “Man, those child-molesting UK players couldn’t get a first down to save their lives!” Nor did I hear any “I tell you, that woman-beating offensive line couldn’t contain pressure at all.” In fact, not once did I hear “The receivers dropped everything! Must’ve been all the residue from the cocaine they sold to kids before the game.”
[I][SIZE=1]What a junkie.[/SIZE][/I]
Sports are made possible by the people who support them: the fans. This means programs are largely funded by money spent on merchandise, tickets, souvenirs, concessions at the stadium, etc. This also means a sense of entitlement, justified or not. Now, whether or not I attend a game, I consider myself a paying fan, because I have a closet full of UK shirts. I try to make at least one game a year, but it doesn’t always happen. And get this, I’ve never seen UK win a game in Commonwealth Stadium. But I always go back because I’m a loyal fan. If I weren’t, I’d give up after the first time I saw them lose.
So am I bad fan because I gripe over an unwatchable game? No. I’m a rational human being who expects an entertaining product. Am I going to quit watching games because of one bad one? No, because I enjoy rooting for my team to win.
I’ll never understand you folks who get so defensive over negative things being said about your teams. I’m sure there are several of you reading this right now, and we at Nation of Blue thank you for your patronage. You make this site possible. But when you finish reading this article (for those of you that actually read it, rather than commenting on the teaser), and you go to the comments section and tell me I did a bad job writing this, you are no different than anyone who complained about Thursday’s game. You know we have a good product on this website, or else you wouldn’t bother reading it, and I wouldn’t blame you.
[I][SIZE=1]You’re not gonna believe what this jerk said![/SIZE][/I]
Complaining about the team does not make someone a bad fan, and it amazes me the number of people who forget that. If I pay money to support these guys, I expect to see an entertaining product. Would you pay $70 to go to a concert of your favorite artist, and be pleased if they forgot the words to all the songs? No you would not. This is no different.
As a fan, I will root for Kentucky to win every game, knowing that they won’t. And when they play poorly, I will say as much. In fact, I will complain more about poor play in a win than I will about great play in a loss. Because I want to see effort, heart, and a team that acts like they want to be there.
If that makes me a bad fan, then so be it.
[I][B]Follow @chris_minton on Twitter for a little UK talk, and lots of random thoughts and crude words.[/B][/I]
