Why S2 and forums make it hard to be a fan

The internet does a lot of wonderful things, at anytime of the day I can log on and become totally immersed in sports, porn, or crazy cat videos. However, the internet also has a dark side to it, I am an opinionated bastard, so the lure of chat rooms and forums is too difficult to resist.

I love the Blazers have been a fan basically as long as I can remember. I watched basically every single Blazer game with my grandmother for years. Its was exhilarating and disappointing both but I always tuned in. My grandmother died, and I moved across the country, this made watching games live more difficult and my viewing audience changed as well. First it was Iamatrailblazerfan.com and the live game chats and then that went away and I transitioned over to S2.

I love Blazer fans especially the overt homers like Riverman, his positivism has kept me grounded for years. Whenever I would get too out of control, or suggest blowing up the entire team he would be there to offer encouragement about the team and back me off the ledge. Some of the homers on S2 are a different beast altogether. Some of these fans go to far, any criticism about the team and your automatically labeled a troll or an idiot.

I am a passionate person, but most of all I hate being wrong. If I write LA takes too many jump shots and then get called an idiot for saying it suddenly I am rooting for him to go 6-21 from the field. If I suggest the team does not play good defense, and people call me an idiot, I slowly begin to relish watching the team give up 120 a night. Yes I say some outlandish things, trading Lillard and Matthews for Conley and Allen for example. I still love both of those guys and they play terrific defense but I am big enough to admit that trading a all star PG still in the middle of a rookie scale contract might not be the best plan. However, I also have a lot of reasonable takes, for example my fix the Blazers thread.

Here is what I am asking from my fellow S2 users, stop attacking people and stop attacking peoples posts. 90% of most responses on this forum are very generic one line comments that rarely discuss basketball. Hate someones posts, think what they wrote is stupid, man the fuck up do some research and show them through logic, stats and basketball terminology why they are a moron. You provide sound arguments in a reasonable manner slowly you will win people over. I do not always agree with Riverman but whenever he writes something I give him the courtesy of reading what he writes and responding in kind.

I am sick of finding myself rooting against my favorite team in order to prove a point on the internet. I love the Blazers, I love talking basketball, but I am beginning to hate what my interactions on forums like this one are doing to me. I may have directed the focus of this thread towards homers, but all you the world is ending or blatantly negative posters need to stop your shit too. If you have a take back it up with research, good writing, basketball knowledge and facts. However, make sure you remember you are also claiming to be a fan of this team, take a second and enjoy life when things go well. MOST OF ALL ADMIT WHEN YOU MAKE A FUCKING MISTAKE OWN IT EAT YOUR CROW AND MOVE ON.

Lastly, for all you long time posters remember this is not your fucking forum anymore, it is the official forum of the Trailblazers. Noobs will come and they will go but as the longest tenured members here you should be the most welcoming. If you do not want new posters, by all means tell Slypokerdog and I am sure Portland can find a forum who would be happy to welcome new members.

Go Blazers!!!!

 

Welcome back to the forum and keep the passion rolling, Cmeese.

 

Thanks that is my plan

 

"Lastly, for all you long time posters remember this is not your fucking forum anymore, it is the official forum of the Trailblazers. Noobs will come and they will go but as the longest tenured members here you should be the most welcoming. If you do not want new posters, by all means tell Slypokerdog and I am sure Portland can find a forum who would be happy to welcome new members."

It's ironic that I agree with much of your post but really take exception to the "official forum of the Blazers" stuff - so fukkin what? Am I or anyone else supposed to change or bow down/bend over because of that? If it's not the posters forum then whose is it really? - because posters make the forum! And because of many of the posters who have been here a log time and all the activity I would think that is why it became the "official forum". A little over the top buddy.

 

Go Blazers! Thanks meese, we go way back as fans and although we've disagreed, we've always had being blazer fans in common. Your fix the blazers thread was an interesting read and when folks actually write about the team, I enjoy the site. I stepped aside when some posters cross the line and seem to invite confrontation. Your thread made me want to post again. Yeah, I'm a fan, never liked the terms homer, jailblazer, rookie, etc....but it's a sports site so you're going to get all kinds of psycho babble and alpha male woofing here from time to time. The ignore button works to an extent but the guy I want to ignore never shuts up so he's in every other word balloon whether ignored or not. That's life!

 

It's hard to stick you into a nice stereotypical box if you start being reasonable like this. It's almost like you're *not* a gimmick poster.

 

Yeah, this madhouse won't be the official board forever. We didn't ask for this; Denny just wanted more money. Once it's not, will you leave? No, of course not. So we oldies still own your asses!

 

Rooting against your favorite team just so that you could be right on the internet is one of the stupidest things I've ever read.

 

That was mostly is reference to a few long time members who like to dismiss all comments from anyone without 2000 posts. I just believe that every poster whether they have 11 posts or 11000 should be treated the same. Obviously this is a great forum, it is a large part why it was chosen as the official forum and why I came back. I just think it needs to be a bit more inviting to new posters. Sly did a great job welcoming a few Spurs fans that transitioned over here and would like for more of that to continue and a little less shut up rookie.

 

I've known meese for years as a poster on Blazer sites and one thing he can really do well is keep a thread alive, even if it takes controversy to do it, he'll do it. I started a thread, (the only one I've started here) on complimenting players game to game and it fizzled. Meese started one on trading Lillard for Conley and it got a zillion responses. Give cmeese credit, you responded to his thread if even to say it was the stupidest thing you've ever read. He got a response which is what any art is designed to do.

 

I cannot affect the Blazers winning percentage by yelling at my tv from 3,000 miles away all that accomplishes is it scares the cat. However, I certainly can relish in knowing I was right and milk that for a self esteem boost. Illogical my thought process maybe but I doubt it is even the stupidest thing written on this forum let alone that you have ever read.

 

That is true that thread was like 8 pages long in a matter of hours. 95% of was calling me stupid and 2% actual debate. There are a lot of threads on here that fizzle out quickly without fighting, which is said because the ones actually about basketball should be the popular threads and the fighting should die off in small 2 page threads.

 

It's dumb, for sure, petty and insecure. I do it myself all the time.

 

A team you have rooted for as long as you can remember, watching every game for years, and then you join an internet forum, and in 5 short months, you start rooting against guys on the team just so something you said can be seen as right. I didn't say THE stupidest, I said one of. But the day I root against a favorite team of mine(outside of losing for lottery spots) just so I could have been right over someone on the internet is the day I get off the forum. That's just fucking stupid.

And you turn it on others. That's the beauty in it. It's the homers getting you so riled up that you actively root for failure in your favorite team. And it's their fault. Not your inability to ignore what they said, find it meaningless, or, still root for continued success while seeing a flaw. Oh no. It's the homers fault. I might see someone on the team poor at a specific skill. If I point it out, and someone disagrees with me, that's on them if they don't want to notice, or who gives a shit. I'm certainly not going to go and root for Aldridge to miss shots that could help us win, or for Lillard to play poor defense, so that watching the game, the whole time in my head I can think Yeah! Bookmark that minute mark. Gonna give the guys on the interwebs hell for that one tonight!

My apologies for not having any stats to back up what I say. I guess I can go through other posts I found worse. But seriously, if you're letting people you don't know get you riled up to where you start hating on your team, look in the fucking mirror, and maybe think about either an adjustment or a break.

 

If only they let men join curves, I know I am tougher than most of those women and would not need to rely on the internet as much for self esteem boosts. Then I could just go back to using it for porn and watching dudes get kicked in the nutz on youtube.

 

Sod off you bloody wanker!

Err I mean welcome to the board.

 

I think forums like S2 (which is not remotely my first so the transformation has occurred slowly over years) can and do have a similar affect on people to that of fantasy football. I do not generally outright root for the team to lose. I want Portland to win, but I want them to win because of a certain player or despite the play of a certain player. I am a Ravens fan but if I am playing fantasy football and someone has Pitta and Ray Rice you better believe I am rooting for someone else to be dominant. I have not quite got to the point of other fans where I relish in all things negative about the team. I want the team to win more than I want to be right, I would apologize to every blazer fan in the world that I ever doubted the team if only it meant a title. I long for that day to come but in the meantime I want to be right and I want the world to know it. I was born in 83 and have been a Mariners and Blazers fan for a long time, that is a lot of seasons without a title. Being right about something helps me cope with first round defeat after first round defeat.

 

On the subject of old-timers: a lot of us (probably a dozen or more, most of whom are regular posters still) have been posting together for 15+ years, on various boards. So we do come off as totally insular and suspicious of newbs because, well... we are. Hell, Ed O. doesn't post much anymore, but I've been on the same forums and mailing lists (remember those?) since 1996. There's a ton of continuity we all have, and, like an old married couple, we bicker about pointless crap but know everyone's moods and tendencies.

This week was my annual meltdown week. It happens. Stress at work, a bad stretch for the team, and suddenly I hate everyone and everything. I still feel like a disappointed 12-year old when we lose, especially this year after starting off so well. It's been tough this week. But eventually, the fever breaks, and I'm making jokes again.

"You should have caught us in better times. We were purists then."

 

One thing I'd add is that, since you are new here, you don't know that we've had like 500 threads over the past 4 years on whether LA's penchant for taking mid-range jumpers is a good or bad thing. Given that, you can't expect to start yet another such thread making the pronouncement that he's taking too many jumpers and it's hurting the team, as if you've received some divine inspiration on a new thought. and not expect to get a bit of blow-back.

Oh, and by the way, YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!