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1M) Unrealistic Preseason predictions
These are often based on the ever popular “development” of players that somehow takes place at a rate of 4x the rest of the nation in places like South Bend and most SEC schools. Lost a bunch of players? That’s okay, their replacements will likely be better. Stunk last year? That’s okay, they learned a lot and are now working as a team. Any time you add 50% to the win total from the previous year as a starting point, there’s a pretty darn good chance you’re a homer.
2W) Ratings Entitlement
You should be rated in the top 25? Really? That 6-6 record last year really justifies that? Oh that’s right, you really should I was mistaken. Ratings are basically worthless until the last few weeks of the season anyways. But feeling you should always be in the top 25 is a bit overzealous.
3M) The “We’d be undefeated in another conference” argument
While it’s true that some conferences are tougher than others in any given year, every team plays a couple of tough games and every team has a rival or two that really gets up for your team and gives it their best shot. The “well, the only reason why our record is X is because we’re in the Y conference, where we just beat each other up” argument is a sure sign of a homer who is using his or her conference homership to justify the performance (usually under-performance) of their team. It’s just such a ludicrous of a claim. “We’d be undefeated” or “one loss at most” if we played in such and such a conference”. Yeah, well next time you play a full schedule in that conference you let me know.
4W) Feel like even though you lost, there refs cheated you.
I personally hate HATE blaming the refs, for about 2000x reasons. You have to believe that sometimes your team was outcoached, out played etc. I do acknowledge there are some instances that the refs actually do alter the way the game plays out, but not even close to the amount of times that they are blamed.
5M) Our recruits are all future stars
Excellent call on the refs, Wesley. While I strongly feel that making refs a full-time job is a very easy way to improve the game (they’re all part-time now), and many a game have been decided by bad calls, in the end it’s up to your team to win it. If you have put yourself in a position to have the refs screw you out of a win, then that’s on your team. For example, the refs screwed BC pretty hard in the Emerald Bowl, but that’s not why they lost.
This leans a little on the first point, as many use it as a reasoning for why they are going to be so good in the upcoming season, but many homer fans believe their recruits to all be amazing and future HOF’ers in waiting. Now, I follow recruiting (as does Wesley), but it’s more fun and guessing than it is a science. Think about it, these are young kids who are being graded out at 16, 17, 18 on how they’re going to be when they’re 21, 22, 23. Do you remember your body growing up? Remember how much it changed? How much a kid is able to learn, work out, understand a system, become a leader, etc., four to five years after they are a junior or senior in high school is such a wild guess. Obviously some kids show more promise than others, but far too often people (especially big homers) put too much emphasis and belief on recruiting rankings. Particularly if you’re a fan of a traditional powerhouse, it’s pretty safe to assume that most of the kids coming in are going to be regarded by the recruiting services as pretty good. How will they turn out? Who knows…but what I can tell you is that you’re going to have a couple starts, a couple duds, and the rest in the middle…just like EVERYONE ELSE.
6W) Thinking your team has players that are above other standards
Get in a fight? Impossible! Unsportsmanlike Conduct? Nuh-uh! Fail a Class, no way! Our favorite team has no faults.
We did everything the right way. And we are better for it!
7M) Over estimating your importance
What I mean here is giving your specific school’s traditions, chants, etc., undue flattery in the larger picture of college football. Things such as “Oh, you didn’t know this is the battle for the old oaken fiddle? It’s HUGE! My personal favorite was reading from an Ohio State fan how one of the greatest things in all of college football was some random asshat from the band running out and “dotting the i” (in Ohio script the band forms). He was shocked to hear that no one else gives a shit. What your team does with your fan base can be great to you and your fellow fans, but don’t think that the rest of the world A) Knows what they are, and B) gives a flying fart. Chances are they don’t on either account. Assuming we do just shows how me centric and super homer you are.
8W) Media Bias against us.
It’s a setup basically, we are so high profile, the media is essentially setting us up to do things wrong. Every time our players leave their rooms they are under the microscope! No other teams get this sort of bias against them waiting for them to falter . I guess it just goes hand and hand with being that good.
9M) Overestimating performance at the next level
Another good point with the media bias. I’m getting torched today…
Listen, I know we’re all homers a bit and for those of us who are really into it, we want to see the players that we have come to know and cheer for do well later on in life after they step outside of the college football arena. The problem with the super homers is that they think just about EVERYONE from their school will be drafted, and are appalled when A) Not everyone from their school is drafted, and B) that they’re all not taken in the first round. Often these homers will use stats based on a sliding scale of how good they believe their conference to be. You’ll hear arguments like “Sure, player x had 400 more yards, but that’s because they played in conference Y. If my guy had played there, he’d probably have 1,000 more yards. Plus, he’s proven he can do it against tough competition.”
Here’s the thing…the NFL isn’t College Football. It’s just not. Some positions translate more directly (corners, for one), while others are so much harder to predict (QB’s being the toughest). When people asked me about Matt Ryan a couple years ago, I told them “I don’t know”. He was a great QB at BC, but even the best prospects wash out in the NFL over 50% of the time…so who knows? Not everyone that went to your school should be playing at the next level, and only a rare one will actually thrive.
10W) Claiming that actual rivalries really aren’t
You know who you are ND.
RECAP:
BCMike drafted: preseason predictions, undefeated in another conference, all recruits are stars, overestimating importance, success in NFL
Wesley drafted: Ratings entitlement, refs cheated you, infallible players, media bias, dismissing rivals
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