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Message: [QUOTE="Flacusian, post: 1977560, member: 264"] Most fans who are passionate about their team have a propensity to let the "E" get over the "I". That being emotion over intellect. Speaking for myself I know that I am certainly not an exception to this phenomena. Having said that, it's not unnatural to overreact when our team gets thumped early on in the season. Out of the gate, and especially this year, there are numerous aspects about our team that are unknowable and unquantified. Having seen the first couple of cupcake games it's easy to get overexcited about the prospects for each of the players and the team in general. It's been a long time since, at seasons start, we've appeared to have depth going 8 or 9 deep on the team. It's also easy to understand people getting overly excited by what we witnessed the first 4 or so games with respect to scoring. We've been starved as far as having a team take the floor that could put points up on the board and having more than 1 or 2 shooters on the team. By most accounts it seemed as though things would be different this year as we rained 3's down on our early opponents and not just from one player but from pretty much the entire team save for one or two. And then we run into a well coached / poor match up/ team that magnifies our weaknesses while capitalizing on the inexperience of this group playing together on the heels of losing it's 3 biggest scorers. In the end I have to believe, as some here have pointed out, that in the long run this game will perhaps pay handsome dividends toward the goal of developing this team by identifying it's weaknesses and assimilating a strategy to adapt in such a manner that we improve on those areas. It's deflating to have high ( and yes, perhaps unrealistic) expectations of the team only to have a humbling reality check dealt to us. Anyone who is a long time follower of college basketball knows there is an ebb and flow to the season for every team and that many times success is just failure turned inside out. Just as fans can have a tendency to see things through Orange colored glasses, when hardship knocks at the door they can be prone to having the pendulum swing far in the other direction and think that the team has been exposed and is destined for the NIT at best. But... I'm a Syracuse Basketball Fan. Big TIME. I don't claim to be an expert about the fine points of the game and the minutiae of offensive and defensive play. As a big time fan I operate more often than not on an emotional level rather than an intellectual one. It's the ability of the game to profoundly affect me on a scale that defies reason that I find the most compelling aspect of fandom. When Syracuse Basketball is on a roll... my life seems to... well, just be a lot more enjoyable. I guess where all this is heading is this. I don't think there is anything wrong with being unrealistic about expectations of the team or being unrealistic about the expectations of the team for the season. I think the "fanshaming" for people who are really excited about the team and make what by most accounts are crazy statements about the prospects for the upcoming season is on the borderline of being mean spirited at times. If someone is so excited about the team that they boast that they think the team won't lose a game all year... more power to them. Those things have a way of correcting themselves without someone being called out for being hyper hyped up about the team. Ain't nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds when it comes to being a fan. I can't help but think of our good friend Mantonio who was the most positive Pro Syracuse fan to ever post on this board and how some here badgered him for his optimism. Wow... that certainly isn't in the spirit of a fan board IMHO. We don't see him around anymore and that's a shame. I still think we are going to be crazy good by the end of the season. Nobody is going to convince me otherwise. At least nobody outside of the team itself. I also don't think there is anything inherently wrong with people overreacting to the team and vacillating wildly with the twists and turns of each game. It's all part of being a fan and as fans we are all quite different. I derive a sense of amusement from the sky is falling proponents when they are in full bloom after a game like Saturday. It's well chronicled how many teams that seemed to have no shot whatsoever made some amazing runs at seasons end. College basketball is a funny game. Sometimes all the shots are falling and other times there is a seeming lid on the basket. One of the things I like best about this board is the wide variety of perceptions that are offered up for the players, the coaches, the opposition, the strategies we employ or don't employ. I actually like being able to come on here and see someone who is so up with the team that they are predicting a final 4 before the season has even begun to unfold. It's all good. Bottom line is we don't really have a certain sense of exactly how this team will coalesce and the season unfold. That's why we play the games. I value coming on here and reading General's posts. He gives me a perspective of the team and the games that I don't have even the most remote possibility of perceiving. I also enjoy the posts from people like Blue Curtain and a host of others who advance the most outrageous propositions. They are all fans... and should all be welcome here as long as they support Syracuse Basketball and enjoy being a fan. [/QUOTE]

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