10-15-2019, 11:36 PM
(10-15-2019, 11:24 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I've caught some of the infighting on here in bits and pieces. I really don't read the boards all that often anymore, so please excuse me for not being totally caught up and/or for butting in here. A few things caught my eye and just figured I'd try to offer an opinion. I'm kinda hoping this serves both as decent conversation, while also being a middle ground of sorts. And I apologize in advance if I ramble or you find it boring.
So... I used to do a pretty decent amount of posting on here. And to be honest, a lot (most) of those posts amounting to arguing. Back and forth with this person, back and forth with that person, and so on... And at the same time, falling into this camp, or that camp. This side or that side. Right/Wrong. And on and on (and on...) it went. Same argurements, same posters, same conclusions.
After awhile I kind of just stepped back and asked myself why I kept wasting my time with this? Is it enjoyable? What's to be gained by getting it online spats and pissing matches with fellow Bengals fans?
It took way too long to finally figure out that a.) this is a huge waste of time b.) I really don't care all that much about how others support this organization.
If I'm being honest, I think a lot of what made me get caught up in little b.s. disagreements, and bets, and what have you, was really two things: 1.) Being angry about the team and venting here, and 2.) Being right. I was pissed about the state of the team and was more than willing to argue with anyone who wanted.
Yet, no matter how many posts were made, by how many different people, people rarely changed the "type" of fan they were. And that was really the crux of most disagreements. The type of fan, the approach of the fan, the overall mindset. That is where I think most of the disagreements started. Not in the stats, not in X's and O's. But just a fundelmental difference in why they followed/watched/supported tbis team.
What I'm trying to say, is there's all sorts of fans, with all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of reasons they ended up here. None are right or wrong, and none are better or worse.
Some people watch and follow from the perspective similar to that of a GM, or like a fantasy team. That's cool. Some may enjoy tailgating and the gameday experience. And that's cool. Some are local, some aren't. Some young, some old. All cool. Once you consider all of this you come to realize this results in different expectations, different knowledge, different investment, different everything.
The point is, there's nothing to be gained by wasting time arguing with fellow fans. There's no right and wrong, and none of us are entitled to tell any other anything different. If fans want to vent and complain then let them. It's not your place to tell them otherwise. And if people want to look for bright spots, same thing. You're not changing peoples minds and you cant force people to adopt your thinking.
The fact of the matter is this: If this was a much better team, and a better organization, then you'd see little to none of this. This causes negativity, and this fuels the bickering.
My advice is this, save your anger and frustration for the product for the product, not fellow fans. Try as you might, you can't win arguments on here and there are no internet points. There's nothing to gain by spending post after post trying to convince others that they're wrong. Unless you count time lost as a net gain.
So anyhoo, hope this made some sense. I just think people get to caught up in bs on here. And that's no knock. I did too. It's to get caught up in. But, really, it just isn't that serious, is it? Make your points about the team, maybe share some laughs and move on. Getting caught up in all the melodrama just isn't worth it. Save that time and energy for literally anything else.
Just my 2 cents...
I'm just super super impressed that you have no edits in this.... and also not so impressed by imagining you putting this in WORD first.
Either way, great sentiment.
