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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4026035, member: 289"] In 1986, at the beginning of the football season, our starting tailback was Harold Gayden. The coaching staff raved about him. But what the fans saw was a player who had great moves but started making them before he hit the hole, with the hole often closing before he got there. He also had a tendency to fumble and we lost some games because of it. The guy behind Gayden was Robert Drummond, a local kid who had gone to Jamesville-DeWitt. that made him popular with the local fans and Gayden's problems made him even more popular. Radio call-in shows and letters to the editor, (the social media of the time) called for Gayden to be benched in favor of Drummond. The more people demanded it, the more Coach Mac and his staff seemed determined to shove Gayden out there to prove they were right. Finally, he'd fumbled one too many times and they sent Drummond in. I recall he fumbled, too, shortly afterwards. But they left him in and he proved to be a more reliable back, hitting the hole quickly, initiating contact and falling forward when tackled. And that first fumble wasn't repeated. Gayden had averaged 3.3 yards per carry, Drummond 4.5 the next year Drummond was paired with Michael Owens and they both averaged better than 6 yards a carry while rushing for a combined 1,370 yards as the team went 11-0. It seemed that in this instance, the fans were right. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/syracuse/1986.html[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/syracuse/1987.html[/URL] Yes, the coaches have more knowledge of the game. Yes, they see things the fans don't. Yes, the fans aren't at practice or in the weight, locker or meeting rooms. But they do see the finished product and the make judgements based on what they see, just as they would watching a movie, a play, an opera, a concert, a ballet etc. And if what they see doesn't seem good enough or something else they see seems better, they are going to say so. Must they attend the rehearsals of the play or the singing lessons or be on the movie set to make a judgment about what they saw? Rather than arguing about individual players, please address this central issue. Do the fans have a right to their opinion? [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?