The Fan Triangle

[VFL-82-JP]

Lads?

@VFL-82-JP has a little Scottish in him.

Heh, I do have a bit of Scottish blood. More Welsh, but some Scottish.

But the real reason I use 'lads' is because I was looking for a term of friendly regard for 'young men' that doesn't take two words to say every time. Young men gets super boring and repetitive if you have to say young men every few minutes. And when you're talking about young men who play football frequently, as we do here, the term young men can quickly start to sound almost trite.

Can't use "boys" because that has come to have racial connotations in some circumstances, and I have no desire to make any of the young men or their families uncomfortable.

So...lads. All the friendly camaraderie of boys ("hey boys/lads, let's go get a beer") without any of the potential misunderstanding.

p.s. Based on very limited feedback, it actually seems that 'lasses' is also more favorably received than 'girls' by some. So that works out well, too.

p.p.s. The other Scottish term I really like is "fash," As in, "dont fash yourself about it." It's like don't worry about it, or don't sweat it. I don't remember where I learned it. Heh.

 

[ksgovols]

4.5 for me.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

[duplicate post]

 

[SayNoToJorts]

If you are going to be in a fan triangle I’ve heard it’s best to set ground rules beforehand

 

[MWAVolfan]

What kind of Vols fan are you? What motivates you when you watch our lads play? What motivates you when you come to volnation.com to chat?

Seems to me, speaking in generalities, the three strongest motive forces for Vols fans are: enjoying success where we find it, demanding championships, and supporting the student-athletes who don orange for us. There are other motivations, but those seem to cover most of it when you really boil it down to essentials. And we are all some mix of those three elements, stronger in one than another perhaps.

So I came up with a triangle as a way of talking about how we're different from each other, and how we share viewpoints, too.

View attachment 347217
As you can see, I put some dots at a variety of places on the triangle. Mostly, they're extreme points. Here's what I think they mean:

1. Sunshine Pumper -- focuses entirely on the good ... more wins would be better, of course, but the key is that we did win some good games.
2. Nega-Vol (most of the time) -- unless we just won the National title, red-hot angry for what we missed, what was left on the field.
3. Parent, Close Family -- 100% devoted to the players and their success as individuals.
4. College = NFL Light -- healthy balance of demand for improvement and enjoying success we have ... but don't think of the young men as people.
5. Care Bear -- Kind of like a Sunshine Pumper, but with a balanced focus on the lads' well-being, too.
6. Tough as Nails -- very demanding, but tempered by love for the young men who play for us.
7. Perfect Fan -- pretty demanding of success, tempered by care for the student-athletes and appreciation for success where we find it.

Where are you on the triangle? I'd like to think I'm at (7), but I'm probably guilty of not thinking of the lads as much as I should. I'll try to do better.


[it is no coincidence that the "perfect fan" dot is in the orange area of the triangle...I did that on purpose, of course, haha, moved the definitions around until it fit pretty well ... sue me, I'm a Vols fan ]

There's a whole section of that triangle that is non-existent. "Enjoy Success Where We Find It" . There's no success to be found. Does this mean Sunshine Pumpers are rendered non-existent? LOL

 

[Cobb-Webb 1989]

What kind of Vols fan are you? What motivates you when you watch our lads play? What motivates you when you come to volnation.com to chat?

Seems to me, speaking in generalities, the three strongest motive forces for Vols fans are: enjoying success where we find it, demanding championships, and supporting the student-athletes who don orange for us. There are other motivations, but those seem to cover most of it when you really boil it down to essentials. And we are all some mix of those three elements, stronger in one than another perhaps.

So I came up with a triangle as a way of talking about how we're different from each other, and how we share viewpoints, too.

View attachment 347217
As you can see, I put some dots at a variety of places on the triangle. Mostly, they're extreme points. Here's what I think they mean:

1. Sunshine Pumper -- focuses entirely on the good ... more wins would be better, of course, but the key is that we did win some good games.
2. Nega-Vol (most of the time) -- unless we just won the National title, red-hot angry for what we missed, what was left on the field.
3. Parent, Close Family -- 100% devoted to the players and their success as individuals.
4. College = NFL Light -- healthy balance of demand for improvement and enjoying success we have ... but don't think of the young men as people.
5. Care Bear -- Kind of like a Sunshine Pumper, but with a balanced focus on the lads' well-being, too.
6. Tough as Nails -- very demanding, but tempered by love for the young men who play for us.
7. Perfect Fan -- pretty demanding of success, tempered by care for the student-athletes and appreciation for success where we find it.

Where are you on the triangle? I'd like to think I'm at (7), but I'm probably guilty of not thinking of the lads as much as I should. I'll try to do better.


[it is no coincidence that the "perfect fan" dot is in the orange area of the triangle...I did that on purpose, of course, haha, moved the definitions around until it fit pretty well ... sue me, I'm a Vols fan ]

8.
You have bled orange from a kid on up

 

[VFL-82-JP]

8.
You have bled orange from a kid on up

I think maybe Longevity and Motivation are two independent variables.

But maybe...where do you see (8) being on that triangle?