Friday, August 22, 2014

Supporting a particular team

Why support a particular basketball team. Lots of reasons. You are an alumnus. The team is in your local area. You have friends or relatives that are alums. You particularly like the coach at the school. The list is almost endless.

The reason I started following Little Rock was simple. I got completely disgusted with the hypocrisy at Fayetteville back during the Nolan Richardson days, and at that time Little Rock was the next-closest D1 program. (UCA was not D1 at that point.) After my first year as a fan during the Moncrief disaster, I had the advantage that Porter Moser and Steve Shields have been the coaches in the intervening years. Both played my style of basketball - hard-nosed and disciplined. They have run clean programs, at least on the surface. I have not had to hold my nose to root for the team, as some fans have to do with their programs.

And that pretty well fulfills my demands as a fan. I do not require that they win a given number of games to keep my support. My happiness is not bound up in the program. I root for them to have fun, and they have provided me with lots of fun. I think we have had a class program, which lets me hold up my head as a fan. In other words, I have had a blast being a Trojan fan. I do not take it too emotionally when they lose, because that is their problem, not mine. I do not consider that they are "obligated" to win for my sake. The bleacher ticket prices are still within my budget. They have a beautiful, fan-friendly arena. There are lots of reasons for me to be a fan of the Trojans.

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