Fan health and coping skills during SU games

[CuseIsGodsTeam]

I typically lose my voice until about Wednesday and I’ve gotten a lot better with losses. I’m able to brush them off pretty well now. But man , I embellish, savor, and totally indulge the wins. The UNLV win completely reversed the Stanford loss in my mind. Just wiped it away for me.

Sports are a perfect blend of fantasy and reality. As a fan, we hold the reins of our own perception and reactions to the happenings and outcomes of the games. Nitpicking every mishap and failure on the field just doesn’t do it for me, at the same time I love reading the game threads.

Make no mistake, all those losses we endured and miserable games of the past are going to make this winning era that much sweeter. We as ‘Cuse fans have the potential for a far greater emotional high than any of the factory school fans who are miserable at 9-3.

 

[Stevenson]

Is this Gen Z stuff? My god, what has happened to this great nation.

 

[phillydad]

Age, 72, and grandchildren, 5, will change you. I watch the games passively and still very much enjoy the wins but the losses are forgotten in minutes. The last time I yelled was that killer late out of bounds hit at Clemson two years ago. And I will mumble something if we are missing front ends of 1&1's in tight hoops games.

 

[JKinPhilly]

20 years of mostly losing football has numbed me considerably.

 

[Marsh01]

Meh as i have gotten older i dont get worked up anymore. While i am very much into the game emotionally i dont let losses linger like i used too when i was younger. The stanford game would have bothered me for weeks 25 years ago. I was over this loss before i got back to my car.

I hit rock bottom when we lost to Tennessee in football and swore I would change. Then Butler happened and that person came out again and i made the decision I would never will go back to that person ever again. I see younger kids act like the way i used too and chuckle.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

I have still not emotionally recovered from the late hit penalty at Clemson when we were leading and sitting at 6-0. plays in my nightmares

 

[Cuseregular]

I have still not emotionally recovered from the late hit penalty at Clemson when we were leading and sitting at 6-0. plays in my nightmares

you mean the one where the qb's left foot was still inbounds?!!! Bastids....

 

[syrBossHogg]

At the end of the day it's just sports. If I can't sit and enjoy watching a game for a couple of hours then what's the point?

Losing can be tough especially when it's over a long period of time, but breaks can help and it can also make the wins feel so good

 

[CuseCactus]

I used to be sick for a week after a loss. Gerg ended that.

The game thread is still a total joy though.

If we ever somehow made the playoffs - I might go nuts again.

Until then? Really enjoying this year and hopeful we don’t fade like we usually do.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

I always get excited for a game and pumped for a win but in recent memory I get much less upset about the losses. There is definitely is a difference in my emotional investment based on competence.

The Dino era conditioned me to expect bonehead moves that would undermine our otherwise winning efforts. So regardless of our efforts on the field we still might have lost.

I have enjoyed HCFB’s games a lot better so far, the staff seem to have better preparation and game management. I don’t mind seeing our players try and fail and long as they try and are put in a position to succeed.

 

[CuseFan]

I am a very calm and rational person, and rarely get worked up.
The big exception is watching games in person, on tv, in a bar, or anywhere. I am a bit calmer now that I'm almost 60, but my wife stopped watching games with me over 20 years ago. I have friends who like to go to games with me (in DC typically) just to see me melt down.

Trying to relax but it's not just me...

 

[FrancoPizza]

I have still not emotionally recovered from the late hit penalty at Clemson when we were leading and sitting at 6-0. plays in my nightmares

Sounds awful similar to this year’s VT-Miami game. Acc refs gonna ref.

 

[JRHEETER]

Even a game like Holy Cross is pretty stressful to me.

This team tends to run hot, then cold, rinse and repeat until the game clock reads 0:00.

When a game is intense and close, like the one on Friday, it takes me hours for my body to return to a somewhat normal state. I am full of adrenaline, either way too excited or way too upset.

I got back to my hotel room around midnight Friday night and while I was exhausted, I couldn't get to sleep for at least 2 hours because I was too wound up. You can't cheer that hard, that long and not get caught up into it in a big way.

When I finally went to sleep, I woke up about an hour later with some muscles along my rib cage seized up into a major cramp. Those muscles must get used when I shout loudly, and when I do it for 3 or 3.5 hours straight, they sometimes decide to cramp. Sometimes it happens during the game. Sometimes afterwards. You never know. No lasting damage, but pretty painful until they go away. I think the fact that I let myself get really dyhydrated didn't help matters. After drinking a bottle of water, I was good to go the rest of the night.

I keep telling myself at the start of every SU game that I am XX* years old now, and have to start acting like it. No more screaming at the top of my lungs. No more shouting at the fans of the other team. No more insulting the coaches from the other team. No more high fiving everyone within 20 feet of me after every good SU play.

But it never works. Even against Holy Cross, I am a maniac.

I probably need professional help.

On the other hand, after the games, I feel extremely relaxed and unburdened. I am at peace with the world. The only thing I can equate it to is the feeling one gets after going to confession.

If there was no SU sports, I might have become a mass murderer. Or at least a very grouchy old man like Clint Eastwood in El Camino. So thank you SU sports. You probably have kept me out of jail and saved the lives of some innocent folks in CNY.

*=currently 64

Don’t ever change Tom.

I love being near you at away games.

 

[JRHEETER]

I always get excited for a game and pumped for a win but in recent memory I get much less upset about the losses. There is definitely is a difference in my emotional investment based on competence.

The Dino era conditioned me to expect bonehead moves that would undermine our otherwise winning efforts. So regardless of our efforts on the field we still might have lost.

I have enjoyed HCFB’s games a lot better so far, the staff seem to have better preparation and game management. I don’t mind seeing our players try and fail and long as they try and are put in a position to succeed.

The big difference to me from Babers to Brown

Is the fact that I think we literally ALWAYS have a chance and will always give it a go.

There were too many games in Babers when I could feel him mail it in and see it on the players behaviors on the sidelines etc

 

[orangefog]

I drink and lift weights…and, apparently after a big win, no matter the time, I text coworkers asking if they watched the game. They are an NC State fan and a Gtech fan. I apologized to both on Monday.

 

[llandz]

Don't even ask. I have about 20 things I have to do to "get us the win". I am probably close to a Tom level and it has not gotten better with age. Most of what Tom said resonated with me. Actually it took me more than 2 hours to fall asleep because of the excitement of that game. I am better if I have company at my house. Otherwise my husband will not watch in the same room as me. I have tried to curb the bombs though. So I just don't use swear words in my yelling and screaming as much. That is my big improvement.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Don't even ask. I have about 20 things I have to do to "get us the win". I am probably close to a Tom level and it has not gotten better with age. Most of what Tom said resonated with me. Actually it took me more than 2 hours to fall asleep because of the excitement of that game. I am better if I have company at my house. Otherwise my husband will not watch in the same room as me. I have tried to curb the bombs though. So I just don't use swear words in my yelling and screaming as much. That is my big improvement.

During the Stanford game, I had my kids and their friend in tow at the game. I really wanted to misbehave and say bad things but I restrained myself and played it cool as much as possible. It was agony. Bring kids for easy wins otherwise they're better off home.

 

[rocklloyd]

i usually avoid fan sites after a loss for about 6 days.

 

[Dcuse]

When watching away games at home......I need total isolation. The 2nd punt catastrophe against UNLV produced a broken leg on our card table holding my wife's 1/3 done puzzle. It's now 1/13th done and I've been on my own for dinner for this week. I'm a play by play schizoid who often needs to leave the game for a walk, get results all at once and watch game after the fact. Me and my analyst are sorting this out. For whatever reason, I'm OK in the Dome. STO will tell you different because I'm still misery to be near but nobody there is in danger whereas my house is a war zone.

 

[kingtidge]

Beer is coping.

 

[Cuseregular]

When watching away games at home...I need total isolation. The 2nd punt catastrophe against UNLV produced a broken leg on our card table holding my wife's 1/3 done puzzle. It's now 1/13th done and I've been on my own for dinner for this week. I'm a play by play schizoid who often needs to leave the game for a walk, get results all at once and watch game after the fact. Me and my analyst are sorting this out. For whatever reason, I'm OK in the Dome. STO will tell you different because I'm still misery to be near but nobody there is in danger whereas my house is a war zone.

one of the best posts on here.....ever! lol

 

[storange]

I need help , I’m intense watching live games but I’m much worse at home. At the game the standing and yelling is an outlet for pent up emotion. At home I don’t have an outlet…… The sad proof is the non functional 55 “ flat screen in my garage.

 

[Pyle]

In my younger years losses hurt and stayed. Now that I'm older, I still get jacked up during a game. Hooting and hollering, dog barking at me, strutting around the living room after a big stop. I had to teach my dog how to high-five so he didn't have a panic attack after every TD. Now when I lose it and he starts barking at me we do high-five and he gets a treat and we're friend again. Now all that said, as soon as the game is over, win or lose it's like "Yelp, that sucked" or "What a game!" and that's about as far as it goes.

To put it in persepective:
During game: Scott Shafer on the sidelines of a Clemson game
After the game: Dino Babers during any game.

 

[JKinPhilly]

In my younger years losses hurt and stayed. Now that I'm older, I still get jacked up during a game. Hooting and hollering, dog barking at me, strutting around the living room after a big stop. I had to teach my dog how to high-five so he didn't have a panic attack after every TD. Now when I lose it and he starts barking at me we do high-five and he gets a treat and we're friend again. Now all that said, as soon as the game is over, win or lose it's like "Yelp, that sucked" or "What a game!" and that's about as far as it goes.

To put it in persepective:
During game: Scott Shafer on the sidelines of a Clemson game
After the game: Dino Babers during any game.

 

[Pyle]

Now that I look at it, he seems very calm compared to what happens in my living room