Fair enough. Some in our fanbase are the worst fans in the B1G.
I'm getting sick and tired of reading this junk. Many of us have been supporting this team through thick and thin and tend to get grouchy at times. Do you realize we are the oldest college football team in the nation and yet we have:
1. No championships
2. No major conference titles
3. No BCS or major bowl appearances
4. We can count on one hand the number of times we have finished in the top 25.
5. Deal with a state and local media that find it more convenient to ignore us or pile on when perception is bad.
6. Have an historically incompetent athletic department full of lifetime hires that don't know big time sports from big top Pee-Wee (Julie is working on this).
Through all that, we still manage to come back year after year after year and put up with the disappointment. I don't post much on this board and for the most part try not to overreact or pile on. But after the crap we as fans have had to deal with since we got accepted into the B1G led by administrative incompetence, poor coaching, nickel and dime operating procedures and dealing with a local media that would rather see us close up shop and move the team to Vermont, how the hell can some of you dare criticize this fan base?
We have won NOTHING in our history. Our coaching staffs historically have been C level at best. Our University President is more concerned about perception and his future retirement date than the football program. Even our Governor walks around in a ND shirt. For the first time in history we actually have a trained AD who has experience in the job. Yet we are supposed to just smile and say "Go team!" while the losses and bad PR pile up and our ticket prices and parking go up (neither of which I have an issue with btw).
I've been all in with Rutgers athletics, but find it tougher as the years go by. I'm a season ticket holder to football and wrestling and donate a decent amount of cash that could probably go towards a nice vacation in Europe with the family. But I can understand how some can get frustrated. This message board IS NOT THE PROBLEM. Our fans ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Do we have some jackoffs on this board? Of course... every fan base does. Do some criticize but do nothing to help the situation or donate? Sure. Are we experiencing growing pains as we migrate into the big time with increased costs and prices? Of course. But that is necessary to raise the needed cash to complete. Yet with all that, the fact that we can still get 40 to 50K buts in the seats in an area where there are dozens of other entertainment options while enjoying limited success, I'd say we are doing quite fine as a fan base.
Our fans don't make the hires. Our fans don't call the plays. Our fans don't baby sit these kids. Our fans don't have control of the state legislature. Our fans don't have control over the media. Our fans don't have much influence on the AD office. Perhaps maybe we should be more understanding to those among our base that might be a little grumpy.
With that said, I'm fairly confident we handle Kansas this weekend and get back to 2-2. We have the #1 and #2 teams visiting over the next several weeks. Let's just try and enjoy watching some of the finest teams in the nation in our backyard and pray to god this department can get their sh*t together in the next 3-4 months.
