• Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
  • Consider registering! Fewer and higher quality ads, no emails you don't want, access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Even if you just want to lurk, there are a lot of good reasons to register!

Are you a toxic sports fan?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
Steve19

Steve19

Watching. Always watching.
Staff member
Looking back over history, it is fair to say that the last fifteen years are one of the most successful eras for Ohio State in major sports (i.e., football, basketball). Year after year, the Buckeyes have reloaded to make a run at a national championship, BCS bowl, B1G title, or NCAA tournament. It truly is a great time to be a Buckeye fan.

Unfortunately, fans sometimes lose perspective. They forget that finishing at the top every year is never guaranteed, especially when a team comprises young adults, who are balancing academic and sporting commitments at a leading university. At the extreme, these fans become toxic, losing the ability to see their boundaries as fans.

Toxic fans lose the ability to see that they are not players or coaches. They make assumptions about things such as player motivations to go pro, what is going on in the locker room or in practices, or team dynamics. They treat their assumptions as fact and then want to argue with everyone who fails to see the world from their viewpoint. They continually re-state the obvious (e.g., 2013 pass coverage troubles in football, 2013-14 late season outside shooting troubles in basketball), as if the coaches and other fans are failing to react to their brilliant insights. They assume that players and coaches not only read their incredible insights on BuckeyePlanet, but see their brilliance.

Fans who are not toxic don't assume insights that they do not have, treat those insights as facts, and then assume that the players and coaches read or accord any importance to their messages. They understand that they are posting on a site with Buckeye fans who do not continually need to be reminded about opportunities for improvement that we all see.

Are you a toxic fan? If you see yourself in these cameo portraits, then you have something to think about (Are you in a toxic relationship with your team?).

One of the pleasures of being an Ohio State fan is a championship or national title run in several sports every year. Let's enjoy this run and support these Buckeye athletes.
 
Bleacher Report = meh

tl;dr - you're on a MESSAGE BOARD. BP is excellent in many ways, one of which is the attitude that you're only a fan and it's going to stay that way. That said:

I think there's a difference in lamenting poor shooting or bad pass defense (for instance) vs. expecting your brilliance on BP to be read and reacted to by the coaching staff. Usually those get weeded out pretty quickly on here.

Being a fan of Ohio State doesn't mean you can't observe that something needs to be worked on. Generalizing, posting stats, showing trends, etc (I wish the pass defense was better) is better than criticizing (I wish player X didn't exist on this defense or would stop shooting the ball or whatever)....

Just because you're not a coach or player doesn't mean you give up the right to make observations, even those that are plain to see.

EDIT: But yes - enjoy the ride. this is clearly not the dark ages of the late 80s or anything scUM had to deal with in the 2000s. There is an expectation of excellence but there has to be some temperance from the fans at the same time.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Jagdaddy said:
Why would one ever bitch while with their Dad in a bass boat?


This is a good point; except that I don't see how one can find anything to bitch about while with one's Dad in a bass boat.
Click to expand...

The Bollman years and JT's love for field goals still make for a wonderful conversation starter. By the time he gets to the Stanley Jackson era, his ashtray is full.
 
Upvote 0
The problem with labeling view points is that it's polarizing.

The "toxic" fans then see the people who consider themselves "reasonable" fans as condescending, self important air bags who have nothing better to do than tell others how they should feel and what kind of fan they should be.

We've danced this dance here before, it really doesn't get an online sports message board community anywhere.

I think Clarity's original, simple directive is still best. Debate/question/criticize away, just don't bash the kids.
 
Upvote 0
Exactly, jax. Even though I rarely agree with the pessimistic crowd here on BP, I most definitely respect their opinions a great majority of the time. Hell, even during the dark days of the tatt scandal, things were heated from time to time, but there wasnt even a glimpse of what most message boards call a meltdown.

I've noticed a large influx of new posters that have jumped into the fray lately. Most have fit right in. There are a few that have been toxic. Not as fans in a broader sense so much, but to what we, as a community, have built up over ten + years here. Criticism has always been fine. Calling for the job of the most successful hoops coach at tOSU since the 60's has always been, and hopefully continues to be, bullshit that BP is above. If this place ever gets to the point that calling for a successful coach's job isn't mocked, I'll be on my way.
 
Upvote 0
BUCKYLE said:
Exactly, jax. Even though I rarely agree with the pessimistic crowd here on BP, I most definitely respect their opinions a great majority of the time. Hell, even during the dark days of the tatt scandal, things were heated from time to time, but there wasnt even a glimpse of what most message boards call a meltdown.

I've noticed a large influx of new posters that have jumped into the fray lately. Most have fit right in. There are a few that have been toxic. Not as fans in a broader sense so much, but to what we, as a community, have built up over ten + years here. Criticism has always been fine. Calling for the job of the most successful hoops coach at tOSU since the 60's has always been, and hopefully continues to be, bull[Mark May] that BP is above. If this place ever gets to the point that calling for a successful coach's job isn't mocked, I'll be on my way.
Click to expand...

Because Matta is overrated. It's plain and simple. Like how Doc Rivers only won a ring thanks to his all-star cast in Boston. How Erik Spolstra has won anything simply bc of his star cast. Matta is similar in that he gets fanstastic talent based on his awesome recruiting, but when it comes to developing that talent and getting the most out of his guys, or adjusting in game, he is overrated. I say it now, I will say it tomorrow, I said it last week. Sure you are going to have some success with recruiting like that, but if we want to get over the hump and win a ring, something needs to be done to start developing these guys. A team with SR Craft, SR Smith, Juniors LQ, Sam Thompson, Shannon Scott, Tre Mac, and Amir Williams, SHOULD NOT have been so bad.

There are far too many OSU fans who think their beloved coach or so and so could never be wrong. They won't listen to outside perspectives bc they are so far up so and so's butt they don't want to listen. Just as a lot of OSU fans were over JIM BOLLMAN for a long long time.

I don't know why I am bothering since it's clear your little merry band of brothers don't like to hear opinions that disagree with you all and your mighty faction. Or as you call it your "community".

I'm not going to start another massive debate in this thread though so I well end my rant now.
 
Upvote 0
HOLYBUCKEYE10 said:
Because Matta is overrated. It's plain and simple. Like how Doc Rivers only won a ring thanks to his all-star cast in Boston. How Erik Spolstra has won anything simply bc of his star cast. Matta is similar in that he gets fanstastic talent based on his awesome recruiting, but when it comes to developing that talent and getting the most out of his guys, or adjusting in game, he is overrated. I say it now, I will say it tomorrow, I said it last week.

There are far too many OSU fans who think their beloved coach or so and so could never be wrong. They won't listen to outside perspectives bc they are so far up so and so's butt they don't want to listen. Just as a lot of OSU fans were over JIM BOLLMAN for a long long time.

I don't know why I am bothering since it's clear your little merry band of brothers don't like to hear opinions that disagree with you all and your mighty faction. Or as you call it your "community".

I'm not going to start another massive debate in this thread though so I well end my rant now.
Click to expand...
WHO says he is overated? You and what are your credentials..I am waiting for anyone else in the media, journalists, even mouthy talk show hosts, no one else is saying it! Where are all his former players who think He cost them a national title or a career in the NBA. Where are they?
 
Upvote 0
HOLYBUCKEYE10 said:
Because Matta is overrated. It's plain and simple. Like how Doc Rivers only won a ring thanks to his all-star cast in Boston. How Erik Spolstra has won anything simply bc of his star cast. Matta is similar in that he gets fanstastic talent based on his awesome recruiting, but when it comes to developing that talent and getting the most out of his guys, or adjusting in game, he is overrated. I say it now, I will say it tomorrow, I said it last week. Sure you are going to have some success with recruiting like that, but if we want to get over the hump and win a ring, something needs to be done to start developing these guys. A Team with SR Craft, SR Smith, Juniors LQ, Sam Thompson, Shannon Scott, and Amir Williams, SHOULD NOT have been so bad.
Click to expand...

You don't win over 200+ games at a non-basketball school like Ohio State without coaching talent.

There are far too many OSU fans who think their beloved coach or so and so could never be wrong. They won't listen to outside perspectives bc they are so far up so and so's butt they don't want to listen. Just as a lot of OSU fans were over JIM BOLLMAN for a long long time.
Click to expand...

:lol:

I don't know why I am bothering since it's clear your little merry band of brothers don't like to hear opinions that disagree with you all and your mighty faction. Or as you call it your "community".

I'm not going to start another massive debate in this thread though so I well end my rant now.
Click to expand...

Then don't come back. It's that easy numbnuts.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top