"The Culture Of Losing" - Is It A Birmingham State Of Mind When It Comes To UAB?
Good afternoon. Just finished officiating about 4 youth flag football games earlier this morning. I was partnered with a young man who I would later learn is a UAB student. Voluntarily told me that he was going to Legion Field today to hang out with the "Classic" crowd. When asked was he going to the game, he stated no, the game wasn't important to him, he was more into the tailgating/social event aspect of it all, I said cool, but then I mentioned UAB, and that's when it struck a nerve with him. He couldn't express himself enough about how he felt towards the football team, and at the end of the first end of his very passionate and heartfelt rant, was a statement that I've heard far too often from coworkers/psuedo-associates, many of whom are too damn cheap to even purchase a ticket to go to a game, but love to stick their chests out about how "big" a fan they are of certain other teams/schools.
Anyway, he would then tell me that he is a student at UAB, but had reached his breaking point with the football team's losing, that he was tired of going to UAB games and pretty much knowing what the end result was going to be, he also mentioned that the season opener against Troy was the last straw for him. I shared with him how often I've heard that from other people, but couldn't help but wonder how many thousands of others have come to the same conclusion & have elected to stay away? This young man also went on about UAB's lack of facilities and how they weren't ever going to be able to compete in Conference USA with their limited budgets, resources, and all. Time was not on our side, and I really wanted to talk with him in length after our games, but he had other sports to go officiate elsewhere, I had one moment to ask him if UAB could get on a notable winning streak this season and be in at least the hunt for a divisional crown, would that alter his mindset? He said emphatically, yes, because he was tired of the team's losing ways, afterwards we shook hands and called it a day. Afterwards, I got to thinking about all the conversations this year I've had that I could recall with people about the Blazers football team and how most of them were met with genuine disdain & dismissal, and my #1(Losing) & #2 (Legion Field/Facilities) reasons would somehow come out of their mouths. Let's face facts on this one thing, we know what the Blazers are up against from a bureaucratic, journalistic and political point, but, I can't help but feel that this young man I worked with today may be symbolic of the fan in this area that wants UAB Football to start winning....& start winning now...
That after some time, people who are starving badly for a winner, only to be disappointed time and time again, get frustrated(like that young man I worked with today) to the point where they simply lose any and all interest in the team, and I know that's gotta be a bit hurtful to the players, and to some degree, even the coaches. Hell, I know they're not going out expecting to lose, but I can't get the feeling out of me that unless something great happens for this team this year, that "culture of losing" that Coach McGee spoke of some time ago may become that much more fortified. I really, really feel that this upcoming game against the Road Runners of UTSA and the following Saturday against Middle Tennessee are must wins, & with little to no sincerely good news on the horizon for this program in the foreseeable future (in regards to facilities & new stadium on campus), winning games may be their only option to winning some of these disillusioned fans back, but the ones that hate Legion Field as much or more than I do, but won't attend games because that one reason, I don't see what more the Blazers can do to get them to return and support the team, which goes back to "Gorilla's" observation of how desperately important getting that new stadium on campus would be, but we all know the deal on that, which leads a question I wish to toss out on this topic, in addition to all else, is the system bot just as much a contributor to the "culture of losing" that has plagued UAB Football?
Sorry for the long diatribe, I had to get that in...Going to find a working radio and listen to the game...Go Blazers! I like my Road Runners "extra crispy!"
(This post was last modified: 10-28-2013 06:44 AM by Matrix.)
|