Worst Fans in College Sports?

[IslandRed]

Originally Posted by WVRed

I think there's some miscommunication somewhere (possibly on my end). The issue isn't with fan behavior (and I think you summed up all the positives of Kentucky football fans), but the attitude of fans when it comes to settling for mediocrity.

Most UK fans are happy with going 6-6 every year and going to the Music City Bowl. That is where my problem is. The program is trending backwards since Joker Phillips took over and really IMO Joker is in over his head. We fired a basketball coach two years in, albeit one who had no Kentucky ties and was completely abrasive.

I absolutely see your point here.

At the same time, demanding is not the same as deserving. If a dispassionate analysis is done of UK and its competitors, considering every factor and precondition of success in college football, there's no way to slice it in a manner that doesn't place UK at fifth in the current SEC East in the so-called natural order of things. The other schools sans Vanderbilt are either in states with better recruiting bases, or they simply and ultimately care more about football, or both.

Those things are flipped in basketball. Kentucky fans are very demanding, but it's the demanding of the spoiled, not the demanding of the unreasonable. UK has the history, the tradition, the brand name, and all of that flows from the unquestioned need to win in hoops that no other SEC school has. They should win and everyone knows it.

So that's the thing. As a whole, UK fans want to win at football. They don't desperately need to win. Which is why they are, as you put it, accepting of mediocrity. The other thing is, even if they decide not to accept it, if they decide they desperately want to win, that still won't change their natural place on the food chain. There's not a lot they can do except endlessly cycle through coaches waiting for the bolt of lightning to strike.

[SunDeck]

Curiously, the fans most people seem to hate usually come from places with successful teams.

And then there are the Cubs.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by RANDY IN INDY

As much as I dislike wvu, I can see them upsetting LSU in the "hole."

Originally Posted by reds1869

If As for the 'eers, I think they have a good shot at LSU.

Underestimating the SEC again?

Myself, I think it's best to show your bias outwardly:

LSU won't be seriously challenged until they play Tenn in a few weeks...

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Underestimating the SEC again?

Myself, I think it's best to show your bias outwardly:

LSU won't be seriously challenged until they play Tenn in a few weeks...

Florida dominated the Vols but the Vols will give LSU a better challenge?

Maybe if Bray wasnt so immobile.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by jojo

Florida dominated the Vols but the Vols will give LSU a better challenge?

Maybe if Bray wasnt so immobile.

Agreed. LSU won't face a stiff challenge until Alabama or Florida.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by IslandRed

I absolutely see your point here.

At the same time, demanding is not the same as deserving. If a dispassionate analysis is done of UK and its competitors, considering every factor and precondition of success in college football, there's no way to slice it in a manner that doesn't place UK at fifth in the current SEC East in the so-called natural order of things. The other schools sans Vanderbilt are either in states with better recruiting bases, or they simply and ultimately care more about football, or both.

Those things are flipped in basketball. Kentucky fans are very demanding, but it's the demanding of the spoiled, not the demanding of the unreasonable. UK has the history, the tradition, the brand name, and all of that flows from the unquestioned need to win in hoops that no other SEC school has. They should win and everyone knows it.

So that's the thing. As a whole, UK fans want to win at football. They don't desperately need to win. Which is why they are, as you put it, accepting of mediocrity. The other thing is, even if they decide not to accept it, if they decide they desperately want to win, that still won't change their natural place on the food chain. There's not a lot they can do except endlessly cycle through coaches waiting for the bolt of lightning to strike.

I think a lot of my problem is living in a state where football is breathed daily.

West Virginia is in the same boat as Kentucky with the exception that in Morgantown, football drives the bus. Both are schools in poor, low populated states that don't produce much in-state talent.

The key for WVU is:
1.Having an offensive minded coach who has a calling card to get recruits to come and play for him

2.Not so much since Holliday left, but having an assistant coach with a pipeline into a state full of talent (Florida).

I understand the whole natural order of things in the SEC, and while success wouldn't happen overnight, this is a year with so many good coaches on the market that Kentucky could send a message to its fans not only that they are putting a new face on the football team, but that they would spend more money on the program and do what it takes to make a quality team in the SEC.

[IslandRed]

Originally Posted by WVRed

I understand the whole natural order of things in the SEC, and while success wouldn't happen overnight, this is a year with so many good coaches on the market that Kentucky could send a message to its fans not only that they are putting a new face on the football team, but that they would spend more money on the program and do what it takes to make a quality team in the SEC.

Yep. On the one hand, a school like Kentucky requires patience in order to build a winner, and capricious hiring and firing is going to turn off the very coaching prospects who might be able to do the job. Canning a coach after two years won't look good. On the other hand, if the program is obviously going the wrong direction, sooner is generally better than later.

I understand the dynamics, kind of, because I'm a Florida State grad and we have a similar struggle with our basketball program. It's a fringe NCAA Tournament program and it took several years under Leonard Hamilton to build it to that point. But in the ACC, many schools care more about hoops than we do; our natural place is "meh." The fan base is evenly split between wanting to fire Hamilton and find someone who can move us to the next level, and those who believe the likely result of a change is that the program heads back down to NIT-if-we're-lucky. It's a tough spot to be stuck in the middle, and I don't pretend to know the right answer.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by jojo

Florida dominated the Vols but the Vols will give LSU a better challenge?

Maybe if Bray wasnt so immobile.

I understand. A lot of stuff will have tyo go right. Losing their top WR (Hunter) early in the FL game really screwed 'em up. They'll have time to work in a replacement by Oct 15th.

My guess is UT will play them tough and LSU will win it late. Last yr UT very nearly beat LSU in Baton Rouge only to lose it on a controversial review after time expired. In fact if they had NFL rules, UT would have won

EDIT: I'm going to copy/paste my post and put it in the SEC thread. If we care to continue along these lines it probably ought to be there

[RANDY IN INDY]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Underestimating the SEC again?

Myself, I think it's best to show your bias outwardly:

LSU won't be seriously challenged until they play Tenn in a few weeks...

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by RANDY IN INDY

Whoops. I missed FL.

Good catch...

I'm rooting for a hard faught victory vs FL before heading to Knoxville

[RANDY IN INDY]

More proof of the worst fans in College Sports:

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/...1npN0.facebook

Good way to influence the SEC and let them know that you want to be a member. Might have a little to do with conferences not wanting to accept wvu.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by RANDY IN INDY

More proof of the worst fans in College Sports:

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/...1npN0.facebook

Good way to influence the SEC and let them know that you want to be a member. Might have a little to do with conferences not wanting to accept wvu.

Pathetic. Exactly why I don't want WVA in the SEC.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by WMR

Pathetic. Exactly why I don't want WVA in the SEC.

I'm sticking to my original suggestion. Admit WVU into the SEC as long as they agree to make Jesco White the real life mascot. White better defines the word "Mountaineer" than a guy in a coonskin hat and rifle.

[marcshoe]

Originally Posted by WMR

Pathetic. Exactly why I don't want WVA in the SEC.

Except the HD misplayed this one. The wife says this had nothing to do with football and the only person wearing LSU gear wasn't visible when the attack began. Just the usual overreaching, portraying WVU fans as Demons from the netherworld.

"I was wearing a baby blue jacket. The only guy that had on any LSU paraphernalia was sitting in the back seat of my car, which has black tinted windows. And it was night," she said.

She said she's disturbed some are blaming her husband's attack on WVU's rivalry with LSU.

"These guys were looking for a fight. It didn't matter who we were," she said. "I really don't like this craziness. There's a big enough fight between WVU and LSU."

http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/201109273190

No surprise that Chuck Landon was involved in the "reporting" on this. I think WVU must have stolen his girlfriend and then run over his dog.

[RANDY IN INDY]

This is the norm, not the exception in morgantown. I don't know how anyone can say different with a straight face. I travel quite a bit and when I meet people and they ask me where I'm from, the question always comes up. "What in the world is wrong with those wvu fans?" or, "We went to a game in morgantown and were shocked at the way we were treated." It's like the never-ending story and it really makes me hate to tell anyone I am from the state of West Virginia. Disappointing.