FalcFans Forums

BB, I'm not talking about debates about what the team does or does not do on the field. I'm talking about with people dealing with their issues about the Falcons.

Someone comes onto the board, and says, "OMG! We suck! I can't believe they lost!"

And then someone posts a repsonse saying, "Hey guy, calm down. It's no big deal. If you get this worked up over a single loss, you shouldn't even watch the games."

That's what I'm talking about. If someone posts something about "We suck! We can't throw! The coaches suck! The OL sucks! The defense sucks!" By all means debate them on the "merits" of their posts. Saying something like, "You're wrong. The OL isn't that bad. It's Week 3, we have a long way to go. Chill out" then I find that okay.

But when you're saying to people that you should watch Oprah or The View which is borderline, saying "You should stop being a fan" that's where I want to draw the line. Which leads IMO to "You're not a real fan" and "I'm a bigger/better fan than you, so therefore my opinions count and yours don't", etc.

I've just noticed over the years that the quickest way a thread devolves from football talk into insults is usually when a poster questions the quality of another individual's or a group of individual's fandom or resolve for suppporting the team. Frankly, it should not matter. The guy can be a misinformed Bucs fan for all I care. It doesn't matter, all posters are equal.

And note my statement earlier in this thread:
I'm going to make an effort to change.

Basically, I don't care what kind of poster you are. Most posters are in 3 camps:

1. "The Fickles." AKA the Flip Floppers. After wins, they are ultra-positive, after losses they are ultra-negative. Their moods change very fast.
2. "The Pessimists" Even when the team wins they pick out every flaw, and when they lose they have a field day.
3. "The Optimists" They see the positive in every thing and the opposites of the pessimists.

My point is that regardless of what type of a fan you are, you're not going to agree with others simply based on them being a different type of fan. I realize that. But keep it to football. I don't want to see things like FalconWease's 2nd sentence in this thread: "I wonder why they remain fans at all." or PB's "I often question if many of these people are true Falcons fans."

Aren't you commiting one of the sins that you came out against, when you "dictate" what kind of response someone chooses to express their displeasure with someone who keeps on harping on the same theme irregardless of his/her merit?? Give me a break, the Oprah statement was totally harmless, and within ALL message board protacols. No name calling, no harrassment, nothing but pointing out maybe his viewing habits might need a lottle tweaking. I have read in my time here much worse. Telling someone to "Shut-up", when they are expressing themselves within the guidelines is much worse IMHO...in fact if i had used that in my response i would have been crucified. At some point there has to be a place for humour/sarcasim in a open forum as long as it is in good taste. And even if you decide that there isn't a place for that here, then you have to outlaw it across the board. I didn't see you respond to the Quote by him, that was much more serious than a "Oprah" reference. Then again I think you and i both know what the real deal is, you are a grown man, i don't have to spell it out to you.

I could not have put what you said any better.

I do think you misinterpreted what I meant by "I wonder why they remain fans at all" or I may have been inartful in my choice of words. I did not in any way intend for it to be that someone is less of a fan or that they don't deserve to be fans - it is that I do not understand that if they are always unhappy (this is a tiny minority) why do they continue to follow a particular team? For example, I used to follow the Hawks, then they became so misreable for so long that I just gave up. I mostly gave up on the NBA until I moved to Texas and started following the Spurs. Yeah, I jumped on the band wagon, but it kick started me back into following the NBA again. Besides Malik Rose's Cheesesteak shop made great food (I lament that it is now closed).

I think these "negative Nancys" are fans, but why would you want to do that to yourself? That is what I don't understand. It was more of a one over the world statement that I just don't get their thought process rather than assualting their credentials as fans.

Trust me, I have been on boards that if you did not meet certain criteria, you were not deemed a worthy fan - that is the furthest thing from what I was intending.

W

Somewhat similar for me in regard to the NBA. I'm a Blazer fan and haven't ever been a fan of any other team. There was a period of time I didn't watch the NBA at all because I didn't like the Blazer team. Now that they have some quality players I'll watch again.

A former Blazer, Kermit Washington, opened up a fantastic restaurant called "Le Slam" next to a 24-Hour Fitness serving up low carb meals. Unfortunately it wasn't located well and he didn't get the crowd from the 24-Fitness he expected. So it's a shame but it went under.

I'm saying that when threads start off discussing the way someone posts, the way someone thinks, the way someone reacts to something, then it really has no place here on this forum. That has nothing to do with Falcons football. If you want to discuss those types of matters, then take it to the FalcFans Lounge.

There is plenty of room for humor and sarcasm on these forums. And your Oprah statement was not totally harmless. You bascially implied the man was a pussy by saying he should go watch a show like Oprah or The View.

Some Bucs fan comes on the board and says, "Michael Vick sucks! He's the most overrated player in NFL HIstory." Now what do you do? Anybody's normal reaction will be "Hey, you don't know what you're talkign about because you're a Bucs fan!"

And I'm saying that I would prefer to weed those types of responses out of this forum. I would rather see you come back and debate him on the content of his post, discussing things like Vick's winning %, or passer rating, or pointing out other examples of overrated players.

You may be the biggest Vick fan in the world and can't stand it when someone criticizes your favorite player. So be it. And when someone else makes those criticisms, you basically have 2 choices: A) Arguing with this person and bringing up points about why Vick is good or better than this person believes or B) Choosing to ignore the posts. Option B is definitely a very easy choice to make.

I take Option B for the most part when it comes to little war of words BB that you and Birdman have on multiple threads. Call me unfair or a poor admin, whatever. I just ignore it. If the mods think that it has gone too far, then they have the power and discretion to lock threads and issue warnings.

But I just had a problem with this thread in that it basically talked about Falcon fans rather than Falcon football. But what I'm going to do now is move this thread to Lounge because that where it belongs.

I'm saying that when threads start off discussing the way someone posts, the way someone thinks, the way someone reacts to something, then it really has no place here on this forum. That has nothing to do with Falcons football. If you want to discuss those types of matters, then take it to the FalcFans Lounge.

There is plenty of room for humor and sarcasm on these forums. And your Oprah statement was not totally harmless. You bascially implied the man was a pussy by saying he should go watch a show like Oprah or The View.

Some Bucs fan comes on the board and says, "Michael Vick sucks! He's the most overrated player in NFL HIstory." Now what do you do? Anybody's normal reaction will be "Hey, you don't know what you're talkign about because you're a Bucs fan!"

And I'm saying that I would prefer to weed those types of responses out of this forum. I would rather see you come back and debate him on the content of his post, discussing things like Vick's winning %, or passer rating, or pointing out other examples of overrated players.

You may be the biggest Vick fan in the world and can't stand it when someone criticizes your favorite player. So be it. And when someone else makes those criticisms, you basically have 2 choices: A) Arguing with this person and bringing up points about why Vick is good or better than this person believes or B) Choosing to ignore the posts. Option B is definitely a very easy choice to make.

I take Option B for the most part when it comes to little war of words BB that you and Birdman have on multiple threads. Call me unfair or a poor admin, whatever. I just ignore it. If the mods think that it has gone too far, then they have the power and discretion to lock threads and issue warnings.

But I just had a problem with this thread in that it basically talked about Falcon fans rather than Falcon football. But what I'm going to do now is move this thread to Lounge because that where it belongs.

*Polite golf clap*

Heres to you Pudge. *Raises cup of Pudges favorite hard drink*

I have really enjoyed reading all this. Many fans express their real frustrations or enjoyment
so much better in person, is why I try not to take things personal on any board.

I doubt the biggest ego on any board makes them the biggest ego in life. This game lets us go back to being boys again, while we try to express our boys frustration and enjoyment
with adult talk....

Thats why its so interesting when you actually do get to meet someone you've spoke with for years but never met... I know for me the person I meet is always more down to earth than the person I read.

ONE LAST THOUGHT:

Thats me on the BOARDS!! Since I know its only for 5 days so what?? I guess the more we discuss this the more I see my difference when posting. I care about the Falcons. My number (1) care is they do well enough to keep me interested till about December I probably really care the few years I think we can get to the superbowl which was once in the 80's.
98 took me by surprise, and ir was such an overwhelming experience, I couldn't even be disappointed until about a month later.

AGAIN, I try to post for fun, for me its maybe pointing out the negitive; but all week I am usually mentally tough to not have very highs or very lows, so its fun to point out multimillionares screwing up too(:

You are so right Cereal,...when I've met people after years of reading their posts, they are way calmer.lol I wish to ask more from Falcons fans in a new post.