Are you ever consistently happy as a UK fan?

[Wonderstruck]

Legitimate question. Could a bit of a "duh" question too. Of course you're happy. You're always happy. Why, even suggesting otherwise, you can't do anything except say something really awesome, even though the natural response would be to be biting and sarcastic, but you're not doing that, because you're completely happy.

Okay. I see a lot of miserable UK fans. Like, they're mad at everything; Cal and his tweets. The dusty rafters in Rupp Arena. Alternate jerseys (which seems like a really sore subject sometimes). It's complaint after complaint after complaint. So let me ask you to internalize a little bit. Are you ever consistently happy as a UK fan? Is your temperament something you're even cognizant of as a fan? Does this even matter to you (and it very well may not)?

And if you can be completely honest with yourself, you know some people and wonder they put themselves through the agony of being a UK fanatic, because it seems that being a UK fan is bringing a lot of pain to them, and their energy would be better spent doing something more...productive?

Thoooooughts?

[Lighthouse]

Yes!!.....

[Spiritof96]

Yes. I am almost always happy in my fandom. I don't really get those that aren't.

[KevinHall]

Overall I'm happy. I don't like this constant change of players that result in an entire new team nearly every season. That more than anything has worn on my fanhood. I still watch them every time out but I don't think I am getting the enjoyment I once did. I'll probably start pulling back some this season. Lots of other things to do in life that I need to get to before all of my time gets away.

[Matt Dillon]

Kevin pretty much sums it up, for me. Overall, pretty happy, although I don't like the one and done thing. UK sports isn't my entire life any longer. I learned, a long time ago, that there are other things in life besides UK bb and fb.

[Joneslab]

I think a lot of people come off as more miserable than they are online.

Message boards in particular are good places for two things. One, ranting. And two, sort of creating this psychological ward against bad stuff. I think a lot of UK fans really believe in reverse psychology and try to talk about the worst possible outcomes so that they might not happen.

I think if you talked to a lot of these people in the real world, they'd look like your average pumped-up-beyond-all-belief UK fan. Online they come off as bitter and sometimes angry. This isn't the real world.

[Joneslab]

Kevin pretty much sums it up, for me. Overall, pretty happy, although I don't like the one and done thing. UK sports isn't my entire life any longer. I learned, a long time ago, that there are other things in life besides UK bb and fb.

The people whose "entire lives" are UK sports are probably as nonexistent as the Yeti.

However a lot of people take this very seriously. I do. If you don't I don't really understand why you're here. But taking it seriously doesn't mean taking it as seriously as family or life and death. That's stupid. But it's also dangerous to start thinking that it doesn't have any import at all.

Because when you do that, a Pandora's box starts to crack open. Suddenly you start looking at the game as just watching college kids throw a ball. And then you start wondering why you even put any emotion in it at all.

When the emotion is stripped out of being a sports fan a person might as well not be a sports fan. There are way more important and world-altering things you could be doing.

[justafan]

The people whose "entire lives" are UK sports are probably as nonexistent as the Yeti.

However a lot of people take this very seriously. I do. If you don't I don't really understand why you're here. But taking it seriously doesn't mean taking it as seriously as family or life and death. That's stupid. But it's also dangerous to start thinking that it doesn't have any import at all.

Because when you do that, a Pandora's box starts to crack open. Suddenly you start looking at the game as just watching college kids throw a ball. And then you start wondering why you even put any emotion in it at all.

When the emotion is stripped out of being a sports fan a person might as well not be a sports fan. There are way more important and world-altering things you could be doing.

Is there no "in the middle" ? Must we either be completely over-the-top, or "not a sports fan" ?

I think there are plenty of fans in the middle. For example, I know a number of fans that don't know/care one iota about recruiting. Personally, I am in that category. I take an interest once a player signs, or really once they arrive "on campus". One can choose to invest a little bit of time and not a "life consuming" amount of time.

There are plenty of "lurkers" on the boards. Those fans that want a little extra information, but don't need to join in the conversation.

To each his/her own - but I definitely don't think its all or nothing.

[Joneslab]

Is there no "in the middle" ?

Definitely a middle.

I'm just pointing out the problem people might run into when they start saying, "It's not life and death!"

Of course it's not life and death. We all know that. But the slope can get pretty slippery from "It's not life and death!" to "It's just a game!" to all of a sudden you look at teenage kids on a TV and wonder why you're giving any part of your life at all to it.

I think UK basketball is just another kind of cultural tribe. To me it's kind of like an extended family, and I like that. I also love the Commonwealth and I like the fact that you can drive through Williamsburg and see UK flags flying and drive through Owensboro and see the same thing. I like that my own family has all these personal connections to UK basketball. My father-in-law wouldn't miss a game and was a huge fan even as he was dying of cancer.

So it's important. How important it is differs for each of us, but still I think it has a profound place in people's lives.

[Owllycat]

why wouldnt u be happy to be a UK fan, UK just becomes part of your life and yeah you shouldnt make it the center of ur life, but sometimes i find myself doing that. only sad part of it is when its the off season and ur trying to find something else to do cause u come so bent on watching the sports everyday at least then all of sudden season is finished, but i would say yes im always happy to be a UK fan.

[justford]

For me it is a two sided sword. The one and dones have added excitement but I miss the closeness or getting to know the four year players. But at the end of the day, I am happy to be a UK fan.

[Spiritof96]

For me it is a two sided sword. The one and dones have added excitement but I miss the closeness or getting to know the four year players. But at the end of the day, I am happy to be a UK fan.

Same for me. In some ways the one and done thing means you get to see a larger number of stars wear a UK jersey but one or two years is just too short. I miss when senior night really meant something.

[Joneslab]

I'd argue that we know more about these players than we ever have even if they're just here one year. They tend to burn really bright.

I'm not sure how much that matters. "Knowing more" isn't the same as getting to watch them four years. I personally wouldn't care if I knew anything about them as long as I followed them as basketball players. But seeing so much of them can bring you closer to a player; Karl Towns is a guy that if he would've played twenty years ago and left after one year, you might not have been as close to. But because we knew so much about him and the media loved him, we were able to get a really close-up look at his personality. Nerlens Noel was much the same way.

There have been beloved players in the past that I knew virtually nothing about. I just learned a few months ago some stuff about Gerald Fitch that I never knew. That whole era was full of multi-year players who to this day are pretty blank slates.

[GOCAT15]

I've been an ecstatic fan the last 6 years, other than the first week in April every year, other than 2012 of course. It's still hard to swallow when a team that "IS" the best team that year doesn't win the title, but that's what makes college basketball so exciting.

[DA#23]

I just learned a few months ago some stuff about Gerald Fitch that I never knew. That whole era was full of multi-year players who to this day are pretty blank slates.

He fought somebody on a plane and he hit 3's, what else do you need to know?