Which hurts more...

[kochHead]

Never hurts to be a Shocker fan

It's ALWAYS good to be a Shocker fan.

:wsu_posters:

How did you feel Saturday night at 6:30pm? I felt like ####.

[ISASO]

Saturday night I blurted out 'ball game' with about 10 minutes to go and sat in silence until the 1-minute mark, then left the room. To know that early that they were finished was awful.

I suppose no Bear fan experienced that today.

[ShoxFan963]

I was afraid something like this would happen (ISU winning) since last week. Neither team (WSU or MSU) looked like world beaters all season.

Hat's off to ISU.

+1
They played really well the last two games. I knew they were going to be really good next year, but I didn't think they would start clicking late this year. They are going to be giving everyone trouble next year.

[proshox]

Anytime your team has played with passion and managed to win a bunch of close games with "heart" it is more painful. So I think it would suck to be bears fan....

[Shox4u]

Seeing Will Creekmore cry like a little girl made my weekend.

Oh how I would pay money to see that! We listened on xm driving back from St Louis today. We were verry happy that Creekless lost

[GarH]

After Saturdays game I was thinking how painful and frustrating it was to be a Shockers fan this year, but after a day I know I'll be back next year cheering on the Shocks.

[WuDrWu]

Interesting question.


I think it was SBShock that said recently something to the effect of investing too much into something you had no control over and how negative that was.


I understand his point and while on one hand his comment has merit, allow me to offer a different view.


We all have something that moves us. For some of us lucky enough, it may be our family. But there are people out there that don't have much (or any) of a family or simply don't have family they get along with. Others may be deeply involved with their jobs or careers. Still others may be retired, out of work, or even working to just get by and not enjoying their work.

Some may play golf, tennis, knit, crochet, jog, go to school, read, travel, sculpt, plumb or any of 1000 other things they enjoy.

My point is, many of us follow and support college athletics because we not only enjoy the competition, but because it moves us. It may remind us of times we competed, we may enjoy making a difference in the lives of student athletes, it may be because its our way of paying it forward, it may be that we just hate KU so much we're willing to torture ourselves in search of the next high...etc.

And if something truly moves you, is it bad that sometimes it may get the best of you?

I don't think so. Perhaps I'm wrong, and I'd be willing to admit it. But it's my belief that there isn't enough passion in this world. Maybe if we cared about things more, we could accomplish more.

I don't condone they way some of the MSU team celebrated, but I might suggest that if some of our players had a bit more passion, we might have been playing or celebrating today.

There are 4 basic scenarios as fans:

1)No expectations, no results. This also usually equates to no fans.
2)No expectations, any results. Yea, what a pleasant surprise.
3)Expectation, results. Yea again. Depending on what the expectations were, either you did what you were supposed to or, splendidly, you exceeded expectations.
4)Expectations, didn't get the results. See Wichita State fan.


I think it's harder to be one of us. This weekend, it sucked to be one of us.

When I met my wife, she didn't have a clue what college athletics was about. She knew a little of professional sports, and that was about it.

Her first foray into college football didn't go well. Then winter came and I introduced her to WSU basketball. Maybe it was my charming personality and good looks (um no), maybe it was the floor seats, but I'm pretty sure it was the game. That beautiful game of college basketball...up close and personal.

She was hooked. Am I sure? She recognized Darrin Williams today at our hotel and challenged me if I thought so...I had no idea and had to assume she was correct, and she was. Our daughter has attended at least 90% of home games since inception. At 9 months my wife would stand against the wall next to the event staff to try and be comfortable. Our daughter cries when we lose....Saturday night was unpleasant.

When you care about something, it hurts a lot more than when you couldn't give two cents about the outcome. Indiana State celebrated today with about 600 fans, most of which became fans in the last month, maybe even the last 24 hours. Most of them will never know what it's really like to feel the passion of college athletics. I don't mean to diminish the team's accomplishments, they deserved the title, but when you don't invest the time, effort, money and heart into something, don't expect a lot out of it.

Bottom line, it's worse to be us.


Let me add that this is how it starts. I've returned home to see comments of clearing house, losers, fire the coach, not going to watch the NIT etc etc.

This is how it starts folks. You get frustrated, then apathetic. Before you know it you have Randy Smithson coaching a team that wins 4 road games in 4 years and you average 7k fans and can't afford a decent coach.

I would speculate that maybe 1 fan in 20 is as negatively affected by the season's results as I am. I am very disappointed and frustrated. But as I drove home, I reminded myself of a couple of things:

1)As much as it hurt me, it hurt those young men aged 18-23 about 1000 times worse. And how do you think Aaron Ellis' wife feels? How about Jessica Hatch? Lynn Marshall? Toure's (fantastic) parents?
2)Outside of the SIU game (and that was just a little bit), I have never questioned the effort of these guys. They played hard all year, just not as well as anyone wanted.
3)Nothing that happened this season, or this weekend, changed my mind of what I think of these fine young men and coaches. They've never done anything to embarrass the University that I am aware of, and as far as I know, they all are going to graduate or have already graduated.


#3 will always be more important than any win or loss.


And yes, it still hurts..... a lot.

[newshock1234]

amen doc

[wusphlash]

AMEN!

[WstateU]

Wonderful Doc! I hope everyone takes the time to read your post and reflect.

:good: :good:

[SHOXAAC]

Good post Doc...I attended STL for the first time, stayed at the Westin...on the second floor...the same floor as the team, which was fun.

This morning I arrived at the elevator the same time as Garrett. I know he didn't want to talk to anybody he didn't know (ME). I noticed his dobber way down into his chest. I told him to keep his chin up because as big as his is, he would do damage to his chest...he laughed thank God.

The ice was broken, as the elevator was long to arrive. I then asked him about his brother's year at Washburn.

He was very proud of his brother's accomplishment on the court, but his face really lite up when we started to talk about his brothers kinesiology degree and his future. I hope at least I was able to take his mind off this hurt for 5 minutes anyway.

The moral of the story is regardless of the in-the-moment critisisms we & I throw at these guys, they are breathing, bleeding human beings that have hearts and feelings just like anybody else.

With that said, I hope Garrett & the rest of the lads work real hard this summer and toughen & sharpen their skills to make another run at SLT nest year.

[ShockTalk]

Very nice post, Doc! Thanks!

:wsu_posters:

[ShockBand]

Awesome post, Doc.

Passion in what one does is a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. As fans we have felt the risk side hard this weekend, but I for one will not stop being passionate about my beloved Shockers.

I BELIEVE that we WILL drink from that championship chalice in the future. If I stop believing that, I might as well stop going to the games and find something else to be passionate about.

Stay strong. Stay passionate. Stay the course Shocker fans.

[Shockfan8]

Great read Doc........Thanks

[jocoshock]

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/06/2703766/missouri-state-has-had-to-bear.html