kearly":moawwgy6 said:
I've been at the games, and I dunno, I kind of feel that the regulars are as much a minority as the internet version of the fanbase is, just in a different way. Point stands though. I never really saw anyone outside the stadium who actually believed in Whitehurst the way you described, by my experience at the games would support your version. I am proud to be a Seahawks fan, but there were some gamedays I was a lot less proud. And that was even true after we won in blowout fashion. Seems like the dumbest fans always get tickets, and then stand out like a sore thumb. You know they are just 10% of the whole at most, most fans are well behaved and smart, but the thing about vocal minorities is that they don't feel like a minority when they are so obnoxious.
I think this sub-group of fans at the game just want to win no matter how it happens, whether it's sustainable or not, and usually without thinking about it too much. There was a degree of mystery with Whitehurst, I think that's what some fans latched onto. That plus very few people really know how to evaluate talent. Even most bloggers suck horribly at it.
See, yeah. I disagree that the fans at the stadium are a minority. They're much more indicative of the majority than us internet fans. We're the weird geeks who obsess over details, stats, etc. The majority are fans who just go, "Go Seahawks! Win the Super Bowl! Blaaaaaaah!"
I work a very blue collar job and with a large number of different people. Sports is often a topic of discussion. It is really sad just how few of the people I talk sports with at work really don't know that much beyond things like "Beast Mode! Legion of Boom! Russell Wilson." When you have a good team like we do, it's easier for such casual type of fans to focus on good players like that. But in not as good years, the same types of fans are forced to go for "I heard that this Whitehurst guy might be the next big thing for us. Go Charlie!" I can't tell you how many guys at work I argued with over Wilson vs Flynn last year. It was insane. They were all going off nothing but listening to Softy get excited about Flynn. That was it. Period. That was why they had the opinion they had. No other reasons. Yeah. Yikes.
If I've learned anything in my time on this Earth, it's that the lowest common denominator rules all. And it's most definitely a much larger portion of society than it's opposition. Whatever the topic. Whatever the issue. The dumb, lesser informed rule all. Why? Because there's much more people who can't bother to take the time to cultivate knowledge/good taste than there are those who do.
Two and a Half Men and CSI average something like 15 million viewers a week. Parks and Recreation, Breaking Bad and Mad Men get around 2-3 million. The Wire, arguably the best TV show of all time, got under 1 million. I could go on and on talking about the amount of box office films like Transformers and Grown Ups bring in. But I rather not continue to nauseate myself. The point is good things rarely are enjoyed by the masses. For the reason that good taste/knowledge takes effort. Effort is something most people cannot be bothered with. And the exact same rule applies to the amount of knowledgeable football fans. Seriously, Kip. You know how many people out there would be willing to put in the time you do, trying to understand and learn about football? Like a half of a half of a %. I wish I was exaggerating.
Just because some of us here might know what we're talking about, don't make the mistake in thinking most others do as well. That's a gigantic assumption. One not worth making.
You are correct though in that a lot of fans just want to win, regardless the reality of the situation/player. They want to think the next guy is going to be the next big find. It's the reason we've had fans think Mike Teel was anything more than a 6th round draft pick that unless for Tim Ruskell, wouldn't have even been drafted. But this brings me back to the misinformed fan point. If you pay attention and do your homework, you'd have known on draft day that Rutgers fans were surprised that Teel was even drafted. And you'd subsequently have known that expecting anything of such a player was beyond foolish. But once again, not everyone is working with the same set of information/knowledge. And that is my entire point. Most people aren't. We're the minority. We're the weirdos here.
