I would refer to them as addictive sometimes with the information being overwhelming and constant.
One thing about these sites is that they feature a large array of fans.
Some are relatively new to the program, some are lifelong, and others may have played for the college or have relatives on the team, making them even more connected than a beat reporter who covers the team exclusively.
However, when viewing a team message board recently, I noticed something. Even when the team won, the fans were miserable. They criticized every play whether it turned out to be a negative or positive result.
The criticism wasn’t just at critical times in the game. Sometimes it was in the first quarter.
I have seen it in other sports as well. It is very prevalent in basketball and baseball.
Fans would then go on to bash players, sometimes even going as far as attacking them on a personal level. After reading through a couple of threads, I had enough. I realized that we as fans need to be better to these student-athletes and coaches.
The same rhetoric is often used against coaches and officials, with all these remarks being said in real-time.
There is no need to constantly bash the teams we supposedly love over something as small as a player dropping a pass or missing a block.
It goes the same for officials and coaches.
A coach not using a timeout at the 8:36 mark of the second quarter is not the end of the world, and neither is a missed holding call in the middle of the third period.
We need to have better expectations, realizing no one is perfect.
With the addition of smart technology over the past quarter-century, instant gratification has become the norm. A person can have the answer to how to properly make a whole meal on their phone in five seconds.
However, it seems as though we have taken that mentality into the sporting world as well.
To expand the cooking analogy a little bit further, we as sports fans need to let things marinate a little bit. If your favorite team does not score 50 points in the first half, the world is not going to end. Teams, and their players, are not always at their best and the sports world needs to realize that.
High school football season is past the mid-season point while college football and the National Football League are just now nearing their halfway points. All of these teams only have a finite time to practice and hone their skills.
They are trying their best, and they expect the fans to be at their best. That means supporting the team and showing them grace when they fail. You do not get heckled in your career anytime something goes wrong. So please be a fan but not a crazy fanatic.
