Can A Fanbase Hurt A Team?

[Revengevol]

Yes

 

[WesternKyVol]

Now I realize that this doesn't apply to the entire fan base, but I wonder if our expectations makes the team perform a certain way. My thought is that that while we have all of the talent in the world, it's inhibited by their fear of letting others down which doesn't allow them to harness their full potential. Here's my reasoning:

-We talk about improving the passing game all offseason and in the first game, Dobbs overcompensates by forcing throws and choosing not to run, which is what he does best.

-Even when you think about last year where a large part of the fanbase had high expectations and it was evident that the team felt it with their "play not to lose" mentality. It was only when they were down against Georgia where they pretty much had nothing to lose when we started playing out best.

And I get it, when you play for a school like Tennessee, you need to be able to handle high expectations. And I also feel the same frustrations everyone else feels when we struggle. But instead of expressing our frustrations which could possibly be contributing to the poor play, wouldn't we be helping the team by showing more support and avoiding the negativity? Think about it, would you perform better at your job in a supportive environment, or in an environment where you're always criticized and you never live up to their expectations?

All I've seen on this board and on Twitter after the Appalachian State game is anger and criticism, and it's been the same theme for the past few years every time something bad happens. Maybe we as a fanbase can help the team succeed by being more positive and minimizing the pressure, because the negative mentality has yet to yield a championship.

Are you being for real? Is this parody?

 

[BeardedVol]

I get and understand getting upset and some criticism. It's a message board and all views are welcome. It's the ALL negativity and NO positivity that gets said over and over in every post that I don't get. There in no problem saying you don't like this or that in a a post but when you are posting it in every thread and never mentioning when good things happen(and they do happen) it gets old. We gotcha,you don't like it but move on.

If we are being honest about how the team performed, and the coaches coached, there really wasn't much to be positive about.

The W, yeah we can be positive to some extent, but it took going into overtime with a sunbelt team, and a miraculous end zone fumble recovery to actually pull that off. For once in a long time I find it hard to be that positive about the W.

Defense, for a first game not bad, good half time adjustments, but was gashed by the jet sweep on the outside, and our line got very little penetration despite supposedly being bigger stronger and faster.

Offense. I'm sorry, but there is really nothing to be positive about in this performance. It was bad overall, even for a first game, especially considering the talent we returned.

Special Teams, same as offense, bad overall even with so much returning talent.

Coaching, Butch is still playing super uptight. Debord still can't adjust his plan to a changing defense. Don Mahoney still can't teach the O-line how to block. This is year 4 and we are still seeing the same issue at positions that we saw in year 1, and that's coaching.

When the negatives outweigh the positives, you are going to get the sort of posts and threads we have on here right now.

 

[Special Ed]

Short answer: NO

Long answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo.

 

[VolinMC]

If we are being honest about how the team performed, and the coaches coached, there really wasn't much to be positive about.

The W, yeah we can be positive to some extent, but it took going into overtime with a sunbelt team, and a miraculous end zone fumble recovery to actually pull that off. For once in a long time I find it hard to be that positive about the W.

Defense, for a first game not bad, good half time adjustments, but was gashed by the jet sweep on the outside, and our line got very little penetration despite supposedly being bigger stronger and faster.

Offense. I'm sorry, but there is really nothing to be positive about in this performance. It was bad overall, even for a first game, especially considering the talent we returned.

Special Teams, same as offense, bad overall even with so much returning talent.

Coaching, Butch is still playing super uptight. Debord still can't adjust his plan to a changing defense. Don Mahoney still can't teach the O-line how to block. This is year 4 and we are still seeing the same issue at positions that we saw in year 1, and that's coaching.

When the negatives outweigh the positives, you are going to get the sort of posts and threads we have on here right now.

What you you just said is fine and no problem. I get all that and agree with most of it.
What I am talking about is when it is just the same thing posted over and over again in different threads. It is one thing to not like what happened and voice your opinion and totally different to constantly repeat the same thing all the time and make snide comments.

 

[photovol]

Can a team hurt the fanbase?

 

[VOLINVONORE]

The fan base can hurt and can help a team. The over hype seen on this and other boards can cause the minds of most everyone to believe don't need to produce at their maximum effort to have success. After the Appy game, they should have a different/improved attitude which will produce a better product on the field. We still need to complete passes in the outside at 20-30 yard range. However, one can not complete then if he don't throw it.

 

[Evet Vols]

While there are certainly some overreactions and moronic posts, this is a forum to discuss Tennessee sports. There were a number of very concerning issues last night. What exactly would you expect from a passionate fan base given the circumstances?

I watch the games. It amazes me when I do check the forum during a game people on here are like canibals. It is like they love to say after a turnover or missed block how terrible TN is. Some on here can't watch the game but post constantly.

 

[Tennessee Waltz]

While there are certainly some overreactions and moronic posts, this is a forum to discuss Tennessee sports. There were a number of very concerning issues last night. What exactly would you expect from a passionate fan base given the circumstances?

There are a lot of areas that must be addressed but given how this game played out and what we've seen from this current team I see most of the deficiencies as anomalous. We played a bad game against an opportunistic opponent that was aided by our lack of focus and a few crucial calls that went against us. College football is and always will be a game of momentum. We did a terrible job of creating any with our own unforced errors yet still came away with a win. I have a hard time believing these guys suddenly forgot how to play or coach.

 

[Iam4utalways]

After a win I'm neither embarrassed or disappointed. We are on track for a great year. How great can they be? 2016 is a special year for the Vols!

Go Vols!

 

[MWAVolfan]

Now I realize that this doesn't apply to the entire fan base, but I wonder if our expectations makes the team perform a certain way. My thought is that that while we have all of the talent in the world, it's inhibited by their fear of letting others down which doesn't allow them to harness their full potential. Here's my reasoning:

-We talk about improving the passing game all offseason and in the first game, Dobbs overcompensates by forcing throws and choosing not to run, which is what he does best.

-Even when you think about last year where a large part of the fanbase had high expectations and it was evident that the team felt it with their "play not to lose" mentality. It was only when they were down against Georgia where they pretty much had nothing to lose when we started playing out best.

And I get it, when you play for a school like Tennessee, you need to be able to handle high expectations. And I also feel the same frustrations everyone else feels when we struggle. But instead of expressing our frustrations which could possibly be contributing to the poor play, wouldn't we be helping the team by showing more support and avoiding the negativity? Think about it, would you perform better at your job in a supportive environment, or in an environment where you're always criticized and you never live up to their expectations?

All I've seen on this board and on Twitter after the Appalachian State game is anger and criticism, and it's been the same theme for the past few years every time something bad happens. Maybe we as a fanbase can help the team succeed by being more positive and minimizing the pressure, because the negative mentality has yet to yield a championship.

We have the same expectations we had in the 90s. Didnt seem to affect the team back then.

Besides, this board represents only a minute portion of the entire fan base.

I dont think a fan base can hurt a team, but a team can definitely hurt a fan base.

 

[jbr82]

I get and understand getting upset and some criticism. It's a message board and all views are welcome. It's the ALL negativity and NO positivity that gets said over and over in every post that I don't get. There in no problem saying you don't like this or that in a a post but when you are posting it in every thread and never mentioning when good things happen(and they do happen) it gets old. We gotcha,you don't like it but move on.

The coaches are going to point out all the mistakes to the players. Their were tooooooo many mistakes for a #9 group of veterans

 

[wmcovol]

I would hope the players don't give a F*** how disappointed or embarrassed their fans feel about them

Deep down, they really don't. They appreciate the support but your opinion/comments mean nothing to them.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Fan base really, really shouldn't phase our players. Not even a smidgen.

Any fan base is gonna shake out like a bell curve. Small number of eternal sunshine pumpers over on the far right, small number of hate & vitriol negavols on the far left, and then a big mountain of folks in the middle, whose attitudes slosh around like beer in an Octoberfest beergirl's mugs.

When you have hundreds of thousands of vocal fans, there's always gonna be someone saying something nasty, and when things aren't going well, you're always gonna have a lot of them.

All coaching staffs teach their players this; heck, all the upperclassmen in most programs teach the freshmen this.

It's all water off a duck's back to them. They only pay attention to what their coaches, families, and friends are saying. Not us strangers.

In short, they appreciate us without ever listening to any one of us. Just as they should do.

 

[kiddiedoc]

There are a lot of areas that must be addressed but given how this game played out and what we've seen from this current team I see most of the deficiencies as anomalous. We played a bad game against an opportunistic opponent that was aided by our lack of focus and a few crucial calls that went against us. College football is and always will be a game of momentum. We did a terrible job of creating any with our own unforced errors yet still came away with a win. I have a hard time believing these guys suddenly forgot how to play or coach.

I agree with the first part of your post. However, I'm just not sold on the coaching ability of our staff. At the end of the day, it's on them to have the team ready to play and to have a scheme in place that utilizes our skillset to beat the other team. Nobody can possibly argue that we don't have SIGNIFICANTLY better players than Ap St.

It would be easier to stomach had we not blown the leads last year, lost due to terrible end-game management, and called very questionable plays that may have cost us games. Our OL still looks lost on pass pro. Our WRs still can't get the ball. Our QB still makes bad decisions. At the end of the day, the coaches have to take the heat.

I'll back off and see how the team responds this week and in the Florida game. We have a chance to make two statements, then we can re-address the issues.