Joe Bryant said:
"Only people who have season tickets, have supported the team and were at every game should have an opinion on the University or team and this team's performance."
What do you think?
IMHO, the statement should not be taken at face value.
Here's the problem with that kind of statement, it usually derives from a person who is too possessive of their local sports team, often to a point of fanaticism and usually someone with limited critical thinking skills/ability.
The person reads all the articles, reads all the blogs, gets all the games or goes to them and needs to be the "Guy" Hey look it's the "Niners Guy" or the "Seahawks Guy"
And if you contradict anything they say, or have a different opinion, you will just carpetbombed by them over and over again.
This can happen in real life or it can happen on the Internet.
Look at all the dedicated team threads here in the Shark Pool. Not hard to find the "Team Guy" in each thread. The guy who believes he has read everything, talked to everyone, has all the team history, and is the exact right armchair GM to run the team. Anyone else is wrong, any other opinion not valid and God Forbid you commit the crime to not think like them.
All it does it drives away subscribers, potential subscribers and general participation. Lots of people would like to talk football without being personally attacked again and again and again. Honestly, try talking some Patriots football here and dare to have a different opinion than the homer crowd. You will be attacked. It's not if, it's when. It's my long standing criticism of Yudkin, whom I like on a personal level, but that he let too many of the Patriots homers get away with it for far too long. Same with the Steelers. Same with the Browns. Same with the Eagles. There are just some specific teams on this board where some of the long time established homers will go on the offensive when they don't like you or don't like your opinion.
The quote you quoted isn't a football issue, it's ad hominem, it's derailing from a football matter to a personal matter because for a person with low critical thinking ability and poor logical reasoning, to attack the person means to invalidate their viewpoints.
A month ago, the same poster and I went back and forth about Jimmy Graham and his contract status and why a team would or would not give up two first round picks in a trade. And like clockwork, the other guy simply ran out of steam because he had nothing left but his own viewpoint against NFL trends and then started to go on the attack.
One of the great things about sports is that two people who have nothing else in common can find common ground. Rich guy and poor guy. Educated guy and blue collar guy. White collar job or ditch digger. If you love football, you can have common ground. It CAN be a great thing, how sports fits into the culture and socialization between people.
However the reality is that a lot of people out there are jack offs. They feel entitled to not just their opinions but also everyone elses.
As a business person, all I can say is each time it's allowed to happen on FBG, it costs you money. It's food off your plate, off the plates of your Staff, their kids and devalues the brand and the site. The "You Need A Thick Skin" to participate here mantra that I see some of your members push, ones with tens of thousands of posts and feel like they have ownership to some small section of FBG as a personal fiefdom, is just a soft weak cover for a lack of excellence to their fellow fan and a general lack of civility.
My suggestion Joe Bryant? Go register a regular guy account sometime and just post about football like a regular guy in here, without the weight of your Site Admin/Owner label, and go in as an "unknown" and see how often you are attacked for things like liking one QB over another or daring to see some football issue one way when the thread "Team Guy" needs to exert to you who is the biggest stick in his little Net fiefdom. Then ask yourself if you were just a regular guy, would you want to subscribe? Would you want to participate regularly? Would you want to talk football everyday here under those conditions?
I've always said here in the Shark Pool and in the FAA, never look for the better answer, look for the better questions, because the better answers reveal themselves on their own that way. IMHO, start asking a different kind of question on why someone would make a quote like that and even moreso, act that way on your board, and I think you'll find the answers to be patently disturbing.
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