Why I'm skeptical (WARNING: KIND OF HOMO PHOG.NET-ESQUE POST)

[michigancat]

I've been a KSU Men's basketball fan for as long as I can remember.

My earliest memories of following them closely come from the 1988 NCAA tourney when I was six years old..  I remember making my parents telling me what days there were games so I could wear my purple shirt to the first grade.  I remember getting so excited after learning what an "upset" was when we beat Purdue.  It wasn't long before Scooter Barry broke my heart, and I thought to myself, "What the f#ck kind of name is Scooter?  WTF?!?"

Ever since then KSU Men's basketball has torn me down every time I get my hopes up.

I remember getting my giant thin-paper brackets from Pizza Hut so I could follow my Cats through the tourney.  I lost interest after filling out "Xavier" and "Minnesota" the first day.

After going nuts after Dana beat Roy in the B8 tourney, I rushed home to watch some dude without a neck from Tulane hit a buzzer beater to beat us.

After the New Mexico blowout, I thought, "Hey, that Manny Dies is just a freshman.  We're gonna be good!"

Most of you should know what happens next.


KSU MBB had done nothing but fail miserably every time there was a small window of optimism as long as I can remember.  That's why I'm skeptical.


Sorry for the gayness.

[Saulbadguy]

I really hadn't become a big college sports fan until about 2001.  I didn't really grow up in a household that cared about college sports. My dad went to Temple for a couple years, and then Emporia state.  Mom, went to K-State for a couple years, and then Emporia state. So I was raised a K-State "fan", but we never went to Manhattan, never really watched any games or anything, etc etc.  Keep in mind i'm 24 so I "grew up" in the late 80's/early 90's.  We were more Chiefs fans.  Still pretty dissapointing. I remember 1995, Steve Bono and Lin &@#%in Elliot.  1997, &@#%ing Grbac. Royals, too.  I idolized George Brett of course, but after that...yeah.

I started following the college sports in 1999 and up, and most recently started attending games and such in 2002+.  Met my fiancee, and now im at all the events for the most part.  All i've really known is crapty K-state basketball.  I've known good K-state football, and crapty K-state football. 

I guess my point is, i've never witnessed any of "my teams" be that good at anything (save for a couple of Chiefs years where they choked, and 2002/2003 KSU football, pretty good). I'm still optimistic every year for the Chiefs, Royals, K-State, even though I know they won't compete for a national title. Maybe some day i'll get to experience the feeling of "winning it all." (I was only 4 when the Royals won it all.) 

 I walked out of Bramlage Coliseum on 1/11 telling my fiancee "This is probably the worse i've ever felt after a K-State sporting event." I made us stay and watch the Husker fans celebrate on the court.  3 days later, as we walked out of Allen Field House, I told her "This is probably the best i've ever felt after a K-State sporting event."  Ultimate low, ultimate high. 

[fatty fat fat]

Basketball has always been 2nd tier.

But, I think you are skeptical because you hate seeing the woolites think they are "right" because of the 3-2 start. You also fear a "fools gold" type of year this year where we make the NCAA's....but don't make it for another 3-5 years after having gave Wooly a 5 year contract.

Again...This season is easier to enjoy because ku is sucking. If ku was 5-0 in conference play and we had lost to them I wouldn't feel as good. It's like ku football....everyone thinks they are on the rise but in reality it is because of our downfall that everyone thinks that.

[michigancat]

Basketball has always been 2nd tier.

But, I think you are skeptical because you hate seeing the woolites think they are "right" because of the 3-2 start. You also fear a "fools gold" type of year this year where we make the NCAA's....but don't make it for another 3-5 years after having gave Wooly a 5 year contract.

Again...This season is easier to enjoy because ku is sucking. If ku was 5-0 in conference play and we had lost to them I wouldn't feel as good. It's like ku football....everyone thinks they are on the rise but in reality it is because of our downfall that everyone thinks that.

You're pretty much right, especially the fools gold part.  I need to see no more "embarrassing" losses (@BU, CU) and one or two more "good" wins (ku, @TT, @OU).

It really sucks that they have never been anywhere in the neighborhood of how good they were when I started being a fan.  At least you were lucky enough to start following them in the bad years.

[ksu_FAN]

Whatever our level of hope/optimism, the folks that post here and K-Statefans bball are a rare breed; people who are more loyal K-State bball fans than football.  Football is king at K-State and most people "invest their emotional energy" (and money) into the football team and kind of passively watch K-State basketball from the side.  Like Rusty, they've been burned enough, but they don't invest as much as Rusty does and b/c they are passive they pretty much blow off K-State's struggles.  Its a condition.

I was a K-State fan as a kid, but I didn't really follow K-State basketball until that same 88 season, one of the highlights of K-State basketball history.  Its been pretty much downhill from there.  There is reason to be skeptical.

However, at the end of the day, its basketball.  I can't bring myself to be a synic b/c it wouldn't be fun anymore for me.  When hope arises for these moments (and most have been very brief the last 10 years) I'm going to ride it until it crashes.  B/c its just basketball, its pretty easy to pick myself back up again. 

I think Rusty is a great K-State basketball fan and he's one of the few I know around here that has been a constant through most of the crazy message board basketball era.  I do tire of his cynicism (especially now that is seems to show in nearly every post), but I will never question his passion for the Cats on the hardwood. 

Hopefully the Cats can do enough to get him to buy in with the rest of us lemmings.

[JavaCat]

Next time. Title = Why I'm Gay. No warning needed.

[ksu_FAN]

[michigancat]

However, at the end of the day, its basketball.  I can't bring myself to be a synic b/c it wouldn't be fun anymore for me.  When hope arises for these moments (and most have been very brief the last 10 years) I'm going to ride it until it crashes.  B/c its just basketball, its pretty easy to pick myself back up again.

Actually, being a cynic is a lot of fun.  It's kind of like betting against your team.  If I'm right...well, I get the pleasure of being right and the chance of a better coach and real basketball success.  If I'm wrong, Wooldridge is in the NCAA tourney every year.  It's that gray area of mediocrity that almost scares me the most.


Java, that's just mean, pal.

Cheers!

[ksu_FAN]

[JavaCat]

What's next? A Nolan Richardson Love thread?

[BarryMcCockner]

Everyone has their own approach.  I choose to be as optomistic as possible and hope for the best during the season, and wait until the lest game is played to evaluate more objectively.  I hope that is the approach the administration has.  It also helps that having met many of the players and coaches, they are an easy bunch of guys to cheer for.  We don't have the Manny Dies/Travis Reynolds/Pero Vassadfjhasdjklfhsavich/Tom Asburys around that made it tough for many to be a fan in those years.

[Saulbadguy]

I'm also an optimist at heart.  I also have extremely low expectations.  Aww shucks.

[michigancat]

Everyone has their own approach.  I choose to be as optomistic as possible and hope for the best during the season, and wait until the lest game is played to evaluate more objectively.  I hope that is the approach the administration has.  It also helps that having met many of the players and coaches, they are an easy bunch of guys to cheer for.  We don't have the Manny Dies/Travis Reynolds/Pero Vassadfjhasdjklfhsavich/Tom Asburys around that made it tough for many to be a fan in those years.

Jarret Hart?

Diarra?

[BarryMcCockner]

Never met Hart.  I have met Diarra.  Seems like a really nice guy.  You have a problem with him Rusty?

[michigancat]

Well, Diarra committed a crime and received no punishment for it.

Hart committed the same crime twice and had to sit out against Bethune Cookman.


Where was the outrage?  Perhaps that particular crime is only wrong if a coach does it.

[Saulbadguy]

What crime?

[BarryMcCockner]

I know alot of good guys who have committed said offense, which is why I don't have a problem with Hart.  He may be a great guy, he may not, but I've never met him so I can't give an opinion.

In regard to your coach, it's not that single offense that I have a problem with, it is the 15 years of offenses within the program that illustrate a pattern.

[michigancat]

I know alot of good guys who have committed said offense, which is why I don't have a problem with Hart.  He may be a great guy, he may not, but I've never met him so I can't give an opinion.

In regard to your coach, it's not that single offense that I have a problem with, it is the 15 years of offenses within the program that illustrate a pattern.

Well, give Wooldridge 15 years...



Have you met Manny Dies?  Pero?  Asbury?

[BarryMcCockner]

Yes on all 3.  Manny actually wasn't that bad in retrospect...just not real mature.

You're trying too hard Rusty.  Compare 5 years of JW to 5 years of Huggins and get back to me. 

I just stated that his personality and demeanor makes it easy to pull for him.  Just like Serge...I'm not trying to claim that he is going to even be all Big 12, or even start, but again, he is an easy guy to cheer for.

[JavaCat]

Alright Barry, I've let it slide too many times. It's opti-, not opto-.

[ksu_FAN]

Yeah, Wooly has had a few blips with players.  Hart the biggest one and Diarra had a slip as well.

I don't think it compares with the run Dies, Pero, and Duane Davis put together.  Davis was probably the biggest downfall, losing the 2nd best PG TA had brought to campus was the beginning of the end of TA IMO.  Losing Pero didn't hurt as bad, but the way it went down... well, that was ugly.

[michigancat]

You're trying too hard Rusty.  Compare 5 years of JW to 5 years of Huggins and get back to me. 

That really wouldn't be fair to Wooldridge.

[BarryMcCockner]

Alright Barry, I've let it slide too many times. It's opti-, not opto-.

Let's see how I can explain this.  I was thinking along the lines of "optometrist", you know, 'opto' being the root for "vision"...seeing things through purple tinted glasses...yeah, that's it.

Optimistic.  hmm.  Damn, guess I made my annual mistake...glad it's out of the way so early in the year anyway.

[BoWinkle]