Wichita State: vs SMU (02/12/23)

[Stickboy46]

So you’ve cheered for the other team because you want our coach to be fired? Probably a yes.

You can support the team, cheer for them, and still want change. Not that hard.

I have been sufficiently vocal about believing that IB is not the best option and should be let go. But I root for our team each game. If you don’t, I’m not sure why you are on a WSU message board or even purporting to be a WSU fan.

This is one of the reason why if I choose to bet on a WSU game I will only bet if its a game I think WSU will win. I just don't bet if I think we will lose and will never bet on the other team. Don't feel right having a rooting interest against the Shocks.

[BostonWu]

This is one of the reason why if I choose to bet on a WSU game I will only bet if its a game I think WSU will win. I just don't bet if I think we will lose and will never bet on the other team. Don't feel right having a rooting interest against the Shocks.

You can't bet with your heart or you'll inevitably lose big.

[Stickboy46]

You can't bet with your heart or you'll inevitably lose big.

Can't lose big if you don't bet big .. i generally just bet weird parlays with low entry costs. Point being, i don't feel right rooting against the shocks.

My winning bet from yesterday:
Shock ML
Walton 10+ pts
CPJ 10+ pts
CPJ over 12.5 pts
WSU to win and walton to score 15+
Over 139.5

nice 6x payout

[Kel Varnsen]

Wow talk about misinformation.

You said you didn't support the team no matter what. So...what is to be inferred here?

[BostonWu]

You said you didn't support the team no matter what. So...what is to be inferred here?

Where did I say that?

[Kel Varnsen]

Where did I say that?

boston.jpg

[pinstripers]

You can't bet with your heart or you'll inevitably lose big.

If you always bet against the Shox you are a winner every game in some fashion.

[SubGod22]

This is one of the reason why if I choose to bet on a WSU game I will only bet if its a game I think WSU will win. I just don't bet if I think we will lose and will never bet on the other team. Don't feel right having a rooting interest against the Shocks.

You can bet against the Shox and still root for them to win. One is a logical decision based upon evidence. The other is emotional fandom. I have a small group of friends that bet small amounts on a number of games, and sometimes that includes bets against our rooting interests. I've never heard one of us ***** about losing a bet when our team wins.

[BostonWu]

boston.jpg

So let me break this down for you. Your interpretation or assertion of what I said and my fandom is that I won't support the team under any circumstances. And the key words you are playing on are "under ANY circumstances."

Yes I have my limits, which is the point I was trying to convey by stating I'm not a "blind lemming."

Now let me further explain what I mean by that. Currently I have full faith in Saal to fulfill his duties. My expectations are that he will do his job well. Now if IB returns next season then I am out. The program is dead to me at that point and you can wake me when a new coach is in place. So yes, my support has its limits.

[BostonWu]

If you always bet against the Shox you are a winner every game in some fashion.

It's called the emotional hedge and I use it often and win monetarily more times than not.

[WuDrWu]

As opposed to the emotional connection of the rent a teen college basketball atmosphere with players that don't know or care one iota about me?

Didn't you recently say you're a long time Bengals football fan? But you live in Kansas? How is that different from a team a couple minutes into Missouri that has long been the professional team of Kansas, Nebraska and at least western Iowa? I love you Doc, but I get so tired of that tired line of thinking. Like residents of states that don't have a professional team aren't allowed to watch and enjoy the sport and support the nearest team to them.

It's also difficult to have much emotional investment in a program that's fallen hard the last couple of years. Those people could stay and watch a close game between two bad teams or get where they needed to be to watch the two best teams in the NFL go at it, one being the local favorite. It's really not a difficult decision. And watching on your phone is not anywhere near the same as watching on a legit TV with your friends and family without the distractions of bad basketball going on around you.

Not saying the WSU game wasn't entertaining. But there's still a big difference between two bad basketball teams playing for nothing and the two best NFL teams playing for the ultimate prize.

As a fan of WSU athletics you have every chance to meet and get to know the coaches and student athletes, and you don't have to be a millionaire plus to do that. I'll bet the vast majority of posters here (and WSU fans in general) have met at least one coach or student athlete if not multiple ones. And it takes almost no effort to do that and usually no money.

I'll bet that only a tiny fraction of Chief fans have ever met a player or coach.

My comment about them being in Missouri was just to accentuate the disconnect between fan and entity. Yes, I am a Bengal fan. I root for them every game and have for more than 45 years. I do not set my watch by the Bengals. They don't get my money or my time (unless it's game time and it's not interfering with much else). The connect is so much greater with WSU athletics it's not even funny nor is it debatable. And if you're realistic, it is for you too (or at least it is for 99.9% of the fans around here). The ONLY thing that's really different is like you said, one game didn't really matter much (WSU) and the other was the most important game of the year in that sport. I get that. But you have to acknowledge that also part of it is being a bit of a bandwagon fan (not saying you specifically, but in general). Fans are fans of winners. Fewer fans support under all conditions. Chiefs fans are no different.

Again, I get the difference in the 2 events. My point is for those that left....you cared enough to go in the 1st place. Obviously it means something. I don't get why you then choose the other path. I get not going to the game at all. I get hosting a huge party and whooping it up all afternoon. I don't get leaving once you're at the game and the game clearly isn't decided.

Like I said, maybe it's just me. And it's not personal towards anyone (at least as far as I am concerned).

[AndShock]

It’s the Super Bowl. I wouldn’t be surprised if people would have or did leave early due to commitments even if the Chiefs weren’t the ones playing. I blame the AAC and/or WSU more than the fans.

To add, I’m not quite sure I even understand the complaint about leaving early in this instance. I usually have to get up for work at 3 AMish now. If I decide to go to a 6 PM game and leave at half should I just not bother going at all? Or is the complaint only because they’re leaving to go to an event?

[SubGod22]

I think some of those that attended the WSU game were thinking the game would be over in time for them to make it to their Super Bowl watch parties. When that became evident that it wasn't going to happen, they had choices to make. Stay and watch what was in effect a meaningless game in the grand scheme of things and miss the beginning of the biggest game of the season or leave in time to get to their Super Bowl watch party. I give those people props for even attempting to go to the WSU game to begin with. Obviously, judging on the abysmal attendance of the game, most opted to not go and watch on TV and prep for the Super Bowl.

I'm not sure I'd condemn those that left early considering they showed up at all when everyone had an easy out for not going.

Personally, I grew up a fan of the Chiefs and Royals before any college team. While WSU has always been my college of choice, I didn't have the same connection with WSU as I did with the KC teams growing up. Mostly because when I was of an old enough age to really understand sports and get into them, WSU was rarely, if ever, on TV. And as a young fan with a father who didn't really enjoy crowds, TV was the best avenue for my fandom. We did attend a weekend series of the Royals most every year though. I didn't attend my first WSU basketball game in person until I believe HS when my brother took me to watch a game against Ole Miss and to watch a guy he'd played with during his time at Cowley who had moved onto Ole Miss. We were still there to watch WSU, but this would have been in the mid 90s. Hell, I may have actually still been in middle school.

Maybe it's my anxiety or simply lack of feeling important enough, but the only time I've met any coach or player was when I was officiating at WSU camps. I've worked both men's and women's basketball at that point. I've met Marhall, Jans, Haier and Okon. I've briefly talked with Stutz and I remember having dialogue with Marcy Sudbeck during one of the women's camps as she was running the clock or book on a court I was working.

Outside of those camps I had some brief dialogue with Tad Boyle while officiating games for the YMCA and I believe his son was on one of my courts.

Maybe it's on me for not having more interactions, but that's also not something that I seek out. I've had a few interactions with Royals and Chiefs over the years in passing. So I don't personally see any difference between WSU players and coaches and the Royals or Chiefs players and coaches in that regard. I grew up with more emotional investment in the Royals and Chiefs than WSU because most of my connection was only though what I could read in the Eagle. I know in Middle School we had a class where we always had access to the paper and my first action was to always hit up the sports section and read what I could on WSU. Then I'd read what I could on the KC teams, but as stated, I was also getting KC news on TV or Sports Center as well.

But for me, be they college or pro, I simply don't seek out an audience with either. I'm just not wired that way. I had opportunities to be more formally introduced to 3G back in the day and declined. I don't feel the need to go out of my way or ask others to go out of their way for me. Not that there's anything wrong with those that do enjoy those interactions. I just don't see myself as important enough either way and that just how my mind is wired, right or wrong.

It all kind of comes back to my not wanting to be noticed or known. If I won the lottery or somehow came into money I'd have zero problem giving but I'd also want no recognition of it.

This is a long winded way of simply stating that I don't see a difference in the two because my place within both are pretty much the same. I'm a fan of both pro and college and my impact on either is minimal and will always be minimal. They both can bring me great joy or sadness for a variety of reasons and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of all things Chiefs and appreciate what they're doing until the day it ends. I hope WSU brings me back to that point again, but it's not there right now with basketball.

We're a softball school now.

[ShockTalk]

I agree SubGod22. In fact, as a kid, I did get to meet, even briefly talk to, several St. Louis Cardinals players including Stan Musial and Ken Boyer. I did not live in the St Louis area, but always been a fan. These players, right or wrong, were my heroes. I still have score cards from games that I went to with my dad. I watched Stan the Man's funeral on TV in 2013. My wife didn't really understand, but I even had to wipe some tears away.

I'm a WSU grad. I've followed the basketball team (baseball and some other sports) since high school. I've spent a lot of time and money, over many years, on WSU sports. Yet, I do not feel the same attachment. Maybe it would have been different if I had been able to go to games here as a young kid, but I don't think so.

[shoxlax]

If the majority of people think IB is gone as indicated in the poll (even though it is somewhat close) what harm is there in rooting for the team in an effort to win some games and make this a positive experience for our players, especially the ones we have a chance of keeping? It ain’t like we are getting the number one draft pick.