LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I think your perspective on how other fans should act during the playoffs is influenced strongly by what team to follow. As a Redskins fan, it drives me up the wall hearing Patriots fans complain about their team throughout the year on their way to another 12-4 season. It really bugs the hell out of me. But it's their call and I leave them to it. That's how they choose to express their fandom.
Similarly, it must be exceptionally irritating to see a Blackhawks fan complain about our stars not properly aligning during the finals. And I grant, there is a line between specific critiques of players/coaches/ownership and a flat "we suck" and I admit to crossing that after seeing two pretty crap performances in a row. I wasn't overly thrilled with our first two periods tonight either. First period: two shots on goal, three penalties in a do-or-die game. Not comforting.
Look at it this way: if you've followed this series, you know Tampa has spent some 70 minutes more with the lead than Chicago has. There haven't been very many bright spots for us. In fact, the only real bright spot is that it's somehow 2-2 and that we'll live to play again, at least one game of which will be in Chicago. That's very exciting. That's great! I'm thrilled with that. And after we won game 1 and 4, I was right there to post something positive. I had hardly anything negative to say during the Wild series because I would have had to analyze tape to find any mistakes. We had the lead for almost the entire series. Hell, did we ever lose the lead? Now that's a series that I kept my quibbles quiet for.
But this is a different beast and there have been a lot of specific players (Cumiskey, Kane, Hossa has made some bumbling mistakes, Sharp, Bickell, Crawford in 2 and 3, though he had a great game tonight) that have hampered the team's performance overall, while Q has made some baffling line switches. Teravainen really needs more minutes. Bickell never should have started. I think it's totally fair for me to point all of that out. It isn't fair for me to flatly criticize the team and organization as a whole when they've offered me such a great experience as a fan. I'm like this with all of my favorite teams, but with the good ones sometimes I miss the forest for the trees.
I hope that clears some things up. Sorry if I've been a pain in here lately.
Similarly, it must be exceptionally irritating to see a Blackhawks fan complain about our stars not properly aligning during the finals. And I grant, there is a line between specific critiques of players/coaches/ownership and a flat "we suck" and I admit to crossing that after seeing two pretty crap performances in a row. I wasn't overly thrilled with our first two periods tonight either. First period: two shots on goal, three penalties in a do-or-die game. Not comforting.
Look at it this way: if you've followed this series, you know Tampa has spent some 70 minutes more with the lead than Chicago has. There haven't been very many bright spots for us. In fact, the only real bright spot is that it's somehow 2-2 and that we'll live to play again, at least one game of which will be in Chicago. That's very exciting. That's great! I'm thrilled with that. And after we won game 1 and 4, I was right there to post something positive. I had hardly anything negative to say during the Wild series because I would have had to analyze tape to find any mistakes. We had the lead for almost the entire series. Hell, did we ever lose the lead? Now that's a series that I kept my quibbles quiet for.
But this is a different beast and there have been a lot of specific players (Cumiskey, Kane, Hossa has made some bumbling mistakes, Sharp, Bickell, Crawford in 2 and 3, though he had a great game tonight) that have hampered the team's performance overall, while Q has made some baffling line switches. Teravainen really needs more minutes. Bickell never should have started. I think it's totally fair for me to point all of that out. It isn't fair for me to flatly criticize the team and organization as a whole when they've offered me such a great experience as a fan. I'm like this with all of my favorite teams, but with the good ones sometimes I miss the forest for the trees.
I hope that clears some things up. Sorry if I've been a pain in here lately.
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