Charco
Walk On
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2013
- Messages
- 56
- Like
- 263
Going forward, let’s not worry about looking “small time” or not “acting like we’ve been there before.” Who cares how others perceive us? And if you DO care, then just know that being all self-conscious and worried about how you look to someone else is probably the least flattering attribute you can have.
Here’s a thought experiment: What if we stormed the court after EVERY win? After Duke, Notre Dame, Cornell, Marathon Oil. Whoever. I’m not suggesting we do that, but I’d be fine with it. And so would every recruit who ever looked at Syracuse. They’d say, “They party after EVERY win. It’s crazy! I want to play here.” And eventually that would just be our thing. And if we had a really big win, it would just be even more intense.
We’d get made fun of by UConn, Georgetown, and Duke fans. But you have to understand that’s 99.9% motivated by jealousy. It’s why late-night monologues make fun of celebrities, not handicapped people.
Again, I’m not saying that’s a good idea. I’m saying the strength of a fanbase should be measured by how much they don’t give a shi* about what others think about them. In individuals this trait is called high self-esteem.
When other fans say, “I can’t believe they printed a t-shirt for [whatever]! We would never do that.” I say, “Yup. And you won’t get 35,000 at a game either. Obviously we have two very different fanbases, so it probably doesn’t serve you well to compare them.” Hell, we can print t-shirts that only appeal to a niche market within the fanbase, because it’s so large. Our baseline level of fan excitement and interaction dwarfs 98% of other programs. I don’t own any of the t-shirts people have issues with, but you know what t-shirt I would love? One that they print up at half-time of a game that says, “6-point lead at halftime.” Celebrate everything. I don’t care, I think it’s great.
I don’t understand why on earth we’d ever want to suppress excitement for this team, this program, and this school – regardless of the form it comes in. I don’t see anything noble about playing it cool. “B-b-b-b-but what if Uconn makes fun of us?” so what? Your response to them should be, “Huh? Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying. I was admiring this new beer koozie I bought commemorating that sweet dunk.”
Act like you’ve been there before? That’s what the crowd did last night. Sat on their hands and waited to be impressed. That’s no way to go through a basketball game. Or to go through life, for that matter. Appreciate everything. Over-respond to everything. Whether it’s an SU-win or your wife making you dinner. I promise things are much more enjoyable that way.
So don’t act like you’ve been there before. Because the fact of the matter is, you haven’t been in this moment before. And there’s no guarantees it will ever be this good again.
Here’s a thought experiment: What if we stormed the court after EVERY win? After Duke, Notre Dame, Cornell, Marathon Oil. Whoever. I’m not suggesting we do that, but I’d be fine with it. And so would every recruit who ever looked at Syracuse. They’d say, “They party after EVERY win. It’s crazy! I want to play here.” And eventually that would just be our thing. And if we had a really big win, it would just be even more intense.
We’d get made fun of by UConn, Georgetown, and Duke fans. But you have to understand that’s 99.9% motivated by jealousy. It’s why late-night monologues make fun of celebrities, not handicapped people.
Again, I’m not saying that’s a good idea. I’m saying the strength of a fanbase should be measured by how much they don’t give a shi* about what others think about them. In individuals this trait is called high self-esteem.
When other fans say, “I can’t believe they printed a t-shirt for [whatever]! We would never do that.” I say, “Yup. And you won’t get 35,000 at a game either. Obviously we have two very different fanbases, so it probably doesn’t serve you well to compare them.” Hell, we can print t-shirts that only appeal to a niche market within the fanbase, because it’s so large. Our baseline level of fan excitement and interaction dwarfs 98% of other programs. I don’t own any of the t-shirts people have issues with, but you know what t-shirt I would love? One that they print up at half-time of a game that says, “6-point lead at halftime.” Celebrate everything. I don’t care, I think it’s great.
I don’t understand why on earth we’d ever want to suppress excitement for this team, this program, and this school – regardless of the form it comes in. I don’t see anything noble about playing it cool. “B-b-b-b-but what if Uconn makes fun of us?” so what? Your response to them should be, “Huh? Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying. I was admiring this new beer koozie I bought commemorating that sweet dunk.”
Act like you’ve been there before? That’s what the crowd did last night. Sat on their hands and waited to be impressed. That’s no way to go through a basketball game. Or to go through life, for that matter. Appreciate everything. Over-respond to everything. Whether it’s an SU-win or your wife making you dinner. I promise things are much more enjoyable that way.
So don’t act like you’ve been there before. Because the fact of the matter is, you haven’t been in this moment before. And there’s no guarantees it will ever be this good again.
