So in the Naz case study, during their early years of becoming consistently great, their fandom was very loud and thin skinnned. Any mention by other posters that seemed dismissive was attacked by the Naz posse. It got to the point that you couldn’t take your Naz friend to a party because every convo turned to Naz this and Naz that. Now that Naz is a consistent state power, their posters are some of the coolest on the board, taking everything with a grain of salt and posting like wise sages (except when Jwar comes in looking for a fight but I enjoy those moments also).
Rock:
I think this is a reasonable post, and one in which you avoid deliberately attacking Naz faithful. I do, however, find it is absent a most vital factor of which drew Nazareth fans into vitriolic exchanges: The harsh and routine criticism to which Nazareth fans were subject.
While I accept your thesis Nazareth fans were keen to the idea Nazareth was improving and establishing its football program among the elite, I found a sizable proportion of the comments directed at Nazareth fans to trespass over a reasonable limits of responsible criticism into territory in which it became outright denunciations of the school, its fans, and members of the forum.
What motivated this gratuitous censure? Envy.
Most of the opprobrium hurled at Nazareth fans was prompted by the realization among ESCC fans Nazareth was no longer the conference weakling and they would now have to contend with a winning program.
In further defense of the school, I think it is also important to note the greatest contributing factor in Nazareth's gradual rise to the upper echelon in high school football after Racki arrived is the immutable truth the school maintained fairly strong boundaries to prevent athletics from appropriating academics.
Quite frankly, Nazareth's administration has no intention of allowing the school to go the way of Driscoll.
I say the school deserves a salute for this.
