As I've said before, I've been surprised and disappointed - perhaps naively - that the fans who inhabit the Lady Vols message boards are just as low class, silly, childish, hypocritical, poor sports, etc., as anyone on any other message board, whether it be the college message board sytem called Scout, or on usenet. (Where I am sad to see that women's basketball, college or otherwise, has no presence.)
Of course I'm talking about 5 or 6 out of the 20 that post there regularly...or mebbe 10 out of 30.. obviously not every fan is a jerk...but those that aren't jerks will very rarely call out someone who *is* being a jerk. I've done so on occasion and been informed that I should leave the moderating of the boards to others, or that I'm too "self-righteous."
And that's annoying. Let's just validate their behavior on the boards, why don't we! Let's not teach these guys manners, they're just having fun!
But there's a wider problem with the behavior exhibited on message boards, and that is that these people probably bring these attitudes into 'real' life, into their work and their relationships at home and work.
And it's not just the poor sportsmanship, it's the ability to comprehend what they read, the eagerness to go ballistic over a perceived slight, the inability to see that when they complain about something on someone else's message board, and then do the exact same thing on their own...I would think they'd see how hypocritical and stupid that is but apparently they don't.
Still, the thing is not to let the actions of fans disenchant one against the team. UConn may have great people and great fans - but I'll always root against them just because of Auriemma. Similarly, even though I'm not too impressed with Tennessee's fans, I will root for the team because I like Pat Summitt...
and I think I'll stop going to the Vols message boards because they're really starting to irritate rather than amuse me now....
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