What is it about football fan psychology?

[carlfense]

Why is it that a significant portion of any given football fanbase attempts to excuse or deflect blame from their favorite program? Sometimes facts are facts. We don't have to be happy about them but they still exist.

I saw it from Missouri Tiger fans who tried to blame a girl who was sexually assaulted/raped by MU's starting running back.

I saw it from Iowa Hawkeye fans who still frantically claim that there was nothing wrong with a workout that sent 13 players to the hospital with potentially life threatening conditions.

Now I see it from Nebraska fans who excuse hiding news of coaching changes from recruits until after they have signed on the dotted line.

Why?

Admittedly, the Nebraska example is not nearly as serious as the first two but I still see it as an issue. I'm glad Bo Pelini is the coach at Nebraska and I think he has done a good job on average, but there are some problems here.

As a side note, my fiance and I are getting a bit of an insider look at NU's facilities and doing a meet and greet with the coaches tomorrow. Bo was supposed to be there but now I'm not sure he will make it. I've seriously thought about asking him "so what staff changes are going to be made . . ." I'm not sure he would think it is as funny as I do. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Because that is the definition of being a fan. It shouldn't be too surprising.

I disagree. One can root for a particular team, follow them closely, be happy when they do well and still be objective about things surrounding that team... However, that person may not be very popular amongst the majority of the fanbase who live in blinding denial of anything they perceive as making the program appear negatively.

Roark, I think we'd get along well.

 

[Hingle McCringleberry]

Why is it that a significant portion of any given football fanbase attempts to excuse or deflect blame from their favorite program? Sometimes facts are facts. We don't have to be happy about them but they still exist.

I saw it from Missouri Tiger fans who tried to blame a girl who was sexually assaulted/raped by MU's starting running back.

I saw it from Iowa Hawkeye fans who still frantically claim that there was nothing wrong with a workout that sent 13 players to the hospital with potentially life threatening conditions.

Now I see it from Nebraska fans who excuse hiding news of coaching changes from recruits until after they have signed on the dotted line.

Why?

Admittedly, the Nebraska example is not nearly as serious as the first two but I still see it as an issue. I'm glad Bo Pelini is the coach at Nebraska and I think he has done a good job on average, but there are some problems here.

As a side note, my fiance and I are getting a bit of an insider look at NU's facilities and doing a meet and greet with the coaches tomorrow. Bo was supposed to be there but now I'm not sure he will make it. I've seriously thought about asking him "so what staff changes are going to be made . . ." I'm not sure he would think it is as funny as I do. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Its internal perspective. With LP we saw Tom giving a troubled young man second chance at a better life. The hope was he would turn himself around, it didn't work. That is what we as fans were told, and we believed it. As fans we were "closer" to TO, we had seen his work off the field, read his books etc, so when he clams to put LP back out there for this own good its sounds logical. To people outside of the sphere, its looks an awful lot like a coach in his twilight insuring his legacy, and not going down as the one who couldn't win the big one.

Same goes for Bo. It is possible he had no choice in this matter, and had to keep the Sanders issue under wraps. I think, your right that we may have some issues, in the end though Bo is still very new at this, and with his locked down style, he will be criticized for a lot of what he does. In the end this issue should be very small, but with media lock downs and other things in this last year, it has blown way out of proportion.

 

[carlfense]

Why is it that a significant portion of any given football fanbase attempts to excuse or deflect blame from their favorite program? Sometimes facts are facts. We don't have to be happy about them but they still exist.

I saw it from Missouri Tiger fans who tried to blame a girl who was sexually assaulted/raped by MU's starting running back.

I saw it from Iowa Hawkeye fans who still frantically claim that there was nothing wrong with a workout that sent 13 players to the hospital with potentially life threatening conditions.

Now I see it from Nebraska fans who excuse hiding news of coaching changes from recruits until after they have signed on the dotted line.

Why?

Admittedly, the Nebraska example is not nearly as serious as the first two but I still see it as an issue. I'm glad Bo Pelini is the coach at Nebraska and I think he has done a good job on average, but there are some problems here.

As a side note, my fiance and I are getting a bit of an insider look at NU's facilities and doing a meet and greet with the coaches tomorrow. Bo was supposed to be there but now I'm not sure he will make it. I've seriously thought about asking him "so what staff changes are going to be made . . ." I'm not sure he would think it is as funny as I do. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Its internal perspective. With LP we saw Tom giving a troubled young man second chance at a better life. The hope was he would turn himself around, it didn't work. That is what we as fans were told, and we believed it. As fans we were "closer" to TO, we had seen his work off the field, read his books etc, so when he clams to put LP back out there for this own good its sounds logical. To people outside of the sphere, its looks an awful lot like a coach in his twilight insuring his legacy, and not going down as the one who couldn't win the big one.

Same goes for Bo. It is possible he had no choice in this matter, and had to keep the Sanders issue under wraps. I think, your right that we may have some issues, in the end though Bo is still very new at this, and with his locked down style, he will be criticized for a lot of what he does. In the end this issue should be very small, but with media lock downs and other things in this last year, it has blown way out of proportion.

+1

Excellent post.

 

[RockyMountainOySker]

Why is it that a significant portion of any given football fanbase attempts to excuse or deflect blame from their favorite program? Sometimes facts are facts. We don't have to be happy about them but they still exist.

I saw it from Missouri Tiger fans who tried to blame a girl who was sexually assaulted/raped by MU's starting running back.

I saw it from Iowa Hawkeye fans who still frantically claim that there was nothing wrong with a workout that sent 13 players to the hospital with potentially life threatening conditions.

Now I see it from Nebraska fans who excuse hiding news of coaching changes from recruits until after they have signed on the dotted line.

Why?

Admittedly, the Nebraska example is not nearly as serious as the first two but I still see it as an issue. I'm glad Bo Pelini is the coach at Nebraska and I think he has done a good job on average, but there are some problems here.

As a side note, my fiance and I are getting a bit of an insider look at NU's facilities and doing a meet and greet with the coaches tomorrow. Bo was supposed to be there but now I'm not sure he will make it. I've seriously thought about asking him "so what staff changes are going to be made . . ." I'm not sure he would think it is as funny as I do. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Because that is the definition of being a fan. It shouldn't be too surprising.

I disagree. One can root for a particular team, follow them closely, be happy when they do well and still be objective about things surrounding that team... However, that person may not be very popular amongst the majority of the fanbase who live in blinding denial of anything they perceive as making the program appear negatively.

Roark, I think we'd get along well.

I completely agree, however, in your statement you say "majority of the fanbase." And that is exactly my point....fan is short for fanatic and a fanatic will blindly follow their team. The majority of fans are like this. Obviously, both Carlfense and yourself go against the grain. I can certainly put myself in your category as well.

My point was and still is that you shouldn't be surprised that this is the stance people are taking. Not disagreeing with you in the least.

 

[NUance]

This whole thread is BS. If Bo had let this scandal run amuck on the eve of NSD it’s likely we would have lost a bunch of guys from our recruiting class. Then we’d be screwed and you same guys would be complaining that Bo handled it wrong. Really, it’s a no-win situation from Bo’s perspective. No matter what he does some jacka$$ is going to get on a soapbox and start complaining.

There. My rant is over. So this jacka$$ is getting off his soapbox. It’s offseason, so think I’ll follow hockey for a while.

 

[robsker]

Carlfense, you've got a legal mind. What about the possibility that Sanders' issue is legal, and therefore not a matter of public record right now? Don't you think we'd have to hesitate talking to the recruit at that point?

It cannot be stressed enough that Jackson said he'd still have come to Nebraska had he known. That's probably a knife that cuts both ways, but it's pertinent. It minimizes the impact a great deal.

You could say, Charles, we can't discuss specifics, but Coach Sanders has some personal business to attend to and we don't know his status for the upcoming season.

Except that we do know his status .. so that would be a lie too. But I see your point. What you are driving at... I assume, is something like... "Charles... there will be some changes in coaching --- that we cannot discuss --- but here is why you should come here anyway..."

 

[robsker]

Why is it that a significant portion of any given football fanbase attempts to excuse or deflect blame from their favorite program? Sometimes facts are facts. We don't have to be happy about them but they still exist.

I saw it from Missouri Tiger fans who tried to blame a girl who was sexually assaulted/raped by MU's starting running back.

I saw it from Iowa Hawkeye fans who still frantically claim that there was nothing wrong with a workout that sent 13 players to the hospital with potentially life threatening conditions.

Now I see it from Nebraska fans who excuse hiding news of coaching changes from recruits until after they have signed on the dotted line.

Why?

Admittedly, the Nebraska example is not nearly as serious as the first two but I still see it as an issue. I'm glad Bo Pelini is the coach at Nebraska and I think he has done a good job on average, but there are some problems here.

As a side note, my fiance and I are getting a bit of an insider look at NU's facilities and doing a meet and greet with the coaches tomorrow. Bo was supposed to be there but now I'm not sure he will make it. I've seriously thought about asking him "so what staff changes are going to be made . . ." I'm not sure he would think it is as funny as I do. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Because that is the definition of being a fan. It shouldn't be too surprising.

I disagree. One can root for a particular team, follow them closely, be happy when they do well and still be objective about things surrounding that team... However, that person may not be very popular amongst the majority of the fanbase who live in blinding denial of anything they perceive as making the program appear negatively.

Nice. I agree with you Roark. Well stated.

 

[junior4949]

To the original question, I guess it all depends on the circumstances. When Clownahan was the coach, there were a lot of Nebraska fans that called a spade a spade. Of course, there were the sunshine pumpers telling how everything was peachy but for the most part fans were real about it. Then, you can take TO. To Nebraska fans, he's sacred ground. This is where we start to make excuses. A lot of other fanbases see a coach who threw out a lot of what he stood for when he brought LP back to play and allowed some of the other "thugs" to play. Bo's more in TO's shadow of being somewhat sacred ground.

 

[trob0508]

Offseason is the worst time of the year. All these people come up with stupid a$$ threads to start rumors and now evidently to bash our head coach. Look Bo did not lie in his teleconference, when they asked has anyone been fired? no noone has been fired (yet). Has anyone been hired? at the time no, the hiring was not official so therefore he did not lie again. Bo handles his team how he wants to handle it and people need to learn to accept that. He is not going to come out and tell the whole nation what is going on each and every day about every single detail. This is how he chooses to handle the media and I like it. This is Bo's team and he can do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants. He does not owe the fans anything and being a fan you have to trust your head coach (minus the whole callahan years). I think everyone needs to take a step back, breathe, and relax. Its a long time until the season starts off again, lets not ruin this great recruiting class and the offseason with stupid pointless threads!!

 

[carlfense]

Offseason is the worst time of the year. All these people come up with stupid a$$ threads to start rumors and now evidently to bash our head coach. Look Bo did not lie in his teleconference, when they asked has anyone been fired? no noone has been fired (yet). Has anyone been hired? at the time no, the hiring was not official so therefore he did not lie again. Bo handles his team how he wants to handle it and people need to learn to accept that. He is not going to come out and tell the whole nation what is going on each and every day about every single detail. This is how he chooses to handle the media and I like it. This is Bo's team and he can do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants. He does not owe the fans anything and being a fan you have to trust your head coach (minus the whole callahan years). I think everyone needs to take a step back, breathe, and relax. Its a long time until the season starts off again, lets not ruin this great recruiting class and the offseason with stupid pointless threads!!

You bring up an excellent example of the groupthink mentality I was talking about.

In fact, Bo does owe the fans something. Without our support, without our money, without our interest, there IS NO NEBRASKA FOOTBALL. Period. Nebraska Football is bigger than Bo Pelini.

Also, perhaps you missed the part where I said that Bo is doing a good job on average. You're naive if you think he is doing a great job.

 

[EbylHusker]

It's a cornspiracy! :ahhhhhhhh

 

[carlfense]

Honestly I don't think this is a big a deal as people are making it.

Realistically, it might not be that big of a deal. That said, I give it 24 hours or less before national news is running with it. That's not because they are out to get Nebraska . . . but rather because it's a juicy sounding story. All the better because they can run a picture of Bo yelling on the sideline with the articles.

We shall see.

Indeed. I hope they don't.

http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/51000-college-football-live-on-espn2/

As I suspected.

 

[JTrain]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias

 

[The Dude]

Until the full details of exactly what's going on emerge––and that may sadly never happen––it's difficult to determine whether what Bo did was the right thing or not. We don't have all the facts. Personally I don't feel the need to condemn or defend the program. I just don't know enough about the situation or the extenuating circumstances that might have made going public with the Sanders deal a problem.

Honestly I don't think this is a big a deal as people are making it.

Pretty much, this.