Originally posted by Memphis9er:
Originally posted by BrodieFan:
Originally posted by Apples:
Originally posted by BrodieFan:
Originally posted by Apples:
Originally posted by WillistheWall:
The people in this thread are like emo 9er fans. "nooo we... must lose! *slits wrists* all better" holy hell no wonder people call us the 40 whiner fans.
I think it's ridiculous that we can't say anything negative at all about our team without being called a "fake fan".
We haven't had a winning season in 7 years, and I don't think we've done anything this offseason that would greatly improve us...so why can't I predict a losing record? 
Nobody is stopping you. Someone might ask why you need so much emotional support to make your prediction. After all, it's the easiest, safest and most simple-minded prediction anyone could possibly make after not having a winning season in 7 years.
Ah, so predicting a winning season makes you brave and intellectual, and gives you a sense of being better than everyone else.
Got it. 
No, you don't have it. I've said this a million times. It's a safe and easy bet to predict failure. It's always safe to predict failure in this kind of thing. After all, 31 teams will fail to win a championship and most teams will fail to reach the playoffs. Courage and intellectual capacity have little or nothing to do with this. A prediction is a bet. Predicting success doesn't mean someone is smart or brave (in fact, as we see on these discussions, it may be a sign of delusional thinking) - just that they are ready to make a prediction or a bet which is against the odds. And, it's easier to go with the odds. That's all. Nothing personal.
Well you could be brave for predicting a winning season after 7 loosing ones.It certainly takes more courage than assuming the worst is going to happen.I agree about the intellect part of it,you can be smart and still get mired down with the looser mentality.I have no doubt that Apples is an intelligent guy,but I think he has been stigmatized by having to put up with what we have all had to deal with for the last 7 years.Some people just get into a rut and assume that things will remain bad forever.It is a personality trait,some people are optimists,some are pessimists but neither makes you a bad person or any less of a fan.
And you have to remember, that "fan" is just short for fanatic.
Of course, you have to be a bit of a homer to think a team that has been among the bottom of the NFL at worst and mediocre at best will suddenly be great (or even good) until they prove it on the field.
And of course, the path of least resistance (and heartbreak) is to assume the worst, or at least, to not allow yourself to get caught up in what may be false hope.
But, at some point, reality has to set in for both sides. Like in all things, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle of two opposing view points.
And, given what this team has been like for that past few years and what changes we have (or haven't) made this year, there is no reason to assume gigantic change in either direction.
We are, most likely, about a .500 team. So, anyone predicting us to go more than a game or two above or below .500 is probably overly negative or drinking too much Kool Aid.
And the difference between a .500 team going 10-6 or 6-10 is just 2 games that do or don't go in their favor. If they split them, they are .500, if they win or lose both they are 10-6 or 6-10.
That is where we are at. Will 10-6, if it happens, be good enough to win the division or make the playoffs? Only time will tell. Much will depend on how many of those wins came within our division and if they were against the right teams.
But anyone thinking we are significantly better or worse than a .500 team with a shot of winning or losing a couple extra games that put us over the edge or drop us under a winning season, isn't paying attention and is allowing their negativity or their homerism to cloud their judgement.
That is just where we are as a franchise. And until/unless we come out and peform signifcantly above/below the .500 mark for a good 6-8 or more game stretch, it will be pretty hard for anyone to claim we have progressed or regressed beyond that.
