I wouldn't call anyone here a 'troll', (but then I don't see the deleted posts. Certain fans have points of view they filter the facts through but they aren't saying negative things just to get a rise out of people for their amusement. It's just fans expressing themselves. When things are going well, you could describe this board as a bunch of pollyannas.
In a city like Syracuse, we engage in what i call 'existential rooting'. In the big cities, they know who they are and so does everyone else. they are on the amp and a big part of it. What they want from their sports teams, (who tend to be professionals: highly paid adults), is that their team live up to their image of their city. If it says "New York" on your jersey, you are supposed to be in first place. If it says "Chicago, you're supposed to the toughest team in the league. if it says "Los Angeles", you're supposed to put on a show.
It's different in Syracuse. Before the happy confluence of the Jim Boeheim Era, ESPN, the Big East and the Dome, whenever our burg got mentioned in the national media, we were always 'Syracuse, New York', to distinguish us from small towns in Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Utah or maybe the one in Sicily. When those four things came together, we became "The Cuse" and it's Syracuse basketball, football and to a smaller extent, (because we dominated the sport so much), lacrosse that put us on the map. Minor league baseball and hockey teams can't do that. And we want our SU teams to keep us on the map. First the football teams slide away, then the lacrosse program and now the basketball program seems to be eroding and we can feel ourselves becoming irrelevant. And we blame the people who, in our view, allowed this to happen and aren't doing enough to change it.
That's why we get excited when the lacrosse program hires the games greatest offensive and defensive players to coach the team, (even though they won't be playing for it), or when the football coach retools his staff with people who have been successful elsewhere. And its why people dream of the next basketball coach being a big-name hire that will turn everything around, (as Greg Robinson was supposed to do for the football team).
The only thing that bugs me is when people take the attitude that they want to win more than the coaches and players do. When you think of all they do to prepare for games - the weight room, thousands or shots, drills and scrimmages, on top of a course load and other commitments, and compare it to what fans do to prepare for games, which is likely to be pulling off a flip-top to a beer can, it puts things in better perspective.
