I have to come to the realization that it may never again be in my lifetime what it was in the Golden Era of our Championship and LOB years when we were the best team in the NFL not named the Patriots. It's easy to support a winner. Games become THE place to be, knowing with 99% certainty that you will go home happy.
Of course we diehards will always support our team in our own ways, when times get tough. But it's completely unrealistic to expect the 12s to "hold the fort down" during the building and lean years when it's that much easier for opposing team fans to come to the games and take over due to the product on the field (or lackthereof).
Having been a season ticket holder since 1997, I've seen mostly a dominant home crowd where the screams are deafening. Many a gameday I would go home with ringing ears and a very tired and dry throat where I could barely speak. But even then, the amount of away team fans was always predicated on how well the team was doing. Still, yes, the Packers fans ALWAYS travel well. The team's fans that travel the best - regardless of how well we are doing - are the Packers and 9ers fans. There's others too, but those stand out to me.
Winning cures this stuff. Instead of a near 50% ratio, it bumps back down to the normal 15-20% when the Seahawks are kicking ass. It just is the nature of the beast. We don't have to like it, but nothing changes until the team takes to the skies and flies to the top of the NFL.
Now that I've moved away, I don't get to see more than maybe 1 game a year. I'm okay with that because I feel like I got to live through the absolute Golden Era, and after February 2nd, 2014, I will be forever satiated in that regard until my last breath.
One bad loss against a great team is not going to suddenly sour me on my convictions that this team is still building something special with Mike. I can feel it, even after a stinker. I look forward to seeing the next cycle of change and happy days again on a more regular basis, including winning all or most of our home games.
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