wool is low 24/7

[mic]

you want to know why I say we have the most negative and ridiculous fan base out there.. Read this thread on 24-7..
Do you people remember the Croom Years.??

[mic]

At least Coach 34 dropped a little knowledge on it....

[BeastMan]

Our fans have this constant impending feeling of doom. It's crazy

[FlabLoser]

What thread?

[engie]

Yep. I don't understand that mindset and never will.

Our fanbase is pretty "game ignorant" overall. Many only follow MSU and aren't fans of the actual sports they are following -- and this becomes clear over time by their lack of overall perspective. They are too high on us in the good times and too low on us in the bad times -- and they don't know how to smooth the curve and stay the course, thus essentially hurting MSU in the process.

Our biggest problem is that we don't set expectations in reality--both good and bad. This was most recently obvious by the amount of grief that I have caught after practically every loss over my initial predictions about how good this baseball team should be(starting in December with the first preseason polls). Of course, things going well doesn't move the needle...not in relation to MSU anyway...

[Todd4State]

Our fans have this constant impending feeling of doom. It's crazy

I think it's an unhealthy defense mechanism. "If I think we are going to do bad, it won't hurt as bad and when other fans make fun of me, I can say I expected it, and if by chance we pull a 1999, I'll somehow enjoy it more."

Another bad thing about MSU fans is some of our fans become fans of certain coaches- like Polk, Steve Smith, Bobby Wallace, etc. and they do things to sabotage the current MSU coach. Could you imagine if a group of Alabama fans really liked, say Jon Gruden, and they did everything they could to destroy Nick Saban in an effort to get Gruden?

That and MSU fans affinity about not wanting our coaches to cuss.

And tearing down walk-ons who are basically there because they love the team and don't play except in blowouts like Joe Iupe, but our fans constantly say that they suck. WTF? Of course, if we tell that walk-on to shove off like Pat McMahon did to Grisham's kid, then people get pissed off and are like "Why didn't we just let them walk-on and sit on the bench?"

[Todd4State]

Yep. I don't understand that mindset and never will.

Our fanbase is pretty "game ignorant" overall. Many only follow MSU and aren't fans of the actual sports they are following -- and this becomes clear over time by their lack of overall perspective. They are too high on us in the good times and too low on us in the bad times -- and they don't know how to smooth the curve and stay the course, thus essentially hurting MSU in the process.

Our biggest problem is that we don't set expectations in reality--both good and bad. This was most recently obvious by the amount of grief that I have caught after practically every loss over my initial predictions about how good this baseball team should be(starting in December with the first preseason polls). Of course, things going well doesn't move the needle...not in relation to MSU anyway...

You mean like "NO ONE makes the base running mistakes we do in the SEC"? Meanwhile, we have a right fielder that LED the SEC in outfield assists last year and I highly doubt that was all against OOC teams.

I call what you are describing as the Bermuda Golden Triangle Syndrome. Basically out of touch with sports outside of Starkville and maybe whatever local high school sports team that their kid goes to.

[gravedigger]

I think it's an unhealthy defense mechanism. "If I think we are going to do bad, it won't hurt as bad and when other fans make fun of me, I can say I expected it, and if by chance we pull a 1999, I'll somehow enjoy it more."

Another bad thing about MSU fans is some of our fans become fans of certain coaches- like Polk, Steve Smith, Bobby Wallace, etc. and they do things to sabotage the current MSU coach. Could you imagine if a group of Alabama fans really liked, say Jon Gruden, and they did everything they could to destroy Nick Saban in an effort to get Gruden?

That and MSU fans affinity about not wanting our coaches to cuss.


And tearing down walk-ons who are basically there because they love the team and don't play except in blowouts like Joe Iupe, but our fans constantly say that they suck. WTF? Of course, if we tell that walk-on to shove off like Pat McMahon did to Grisham's kid, then people get pissed off and are like "Why didn't we just let them walk-on and sit on the bench?"

********************
Pretty accurate take there. There are a couple more reasons. One is that most fans on here arent old enough to remember much more than the early 90's. We experienced a decade before that of no bowls. (minus 80 and 81). The 70's were bad except for 74. The 60's were horrific. One thing that those decades did to fans was lower expectations to a point that the 90's seemed nearly impossible. THe letdowns in the mid 90's and 2000's were harder on the newer fanbase because their expectations were far higher never having experienced more than a couple of years of tough times.

It's all relative to when you started watching State play. Mine was the mid 70's. Attention spans are shorter now.

[Requiem For A Dawg]

You have up admit, we suck pretty bad on the base paths. There really is no disputing it.

[mic]

Ok I have to stop going over there.. I just read the Vandy Football thread and you would have thought we went 4-8 last year and our offense was like it was under Croom.. I get it we didnt finish well.. we lost to the National Champs. An A&M team that beat Bama and prob was 2nd best if not the best team in country last year and an LSU team in baton Rouge where we never ever win. The Ole Miss game sucked I agree there and we gave 2 shits about playing a very good Nortwestern team in the Gator bowl and if we had played halfway decent we would have won that one. The coaching staff made some bad and questionable decisions and looked like we were going thru the motions at times which i dont understand but that happens basically everywhere unless ur winning 10 or 11 games.. So here is what Mullen did about it..
Gonzo better WR coach than Brew. Recruiter we will have to wait and see
DT upgrade to melvin
Collins much better Wilson at DC
I like Turner more than Wilson at DL coach.
So Mullen made moves and all were upgrades.
Im not saying Mullen is the next coming of Saban or the Ole Ball Coach or even a top 10 coach out there. But look what he has done with the whole landscape of our program in just over 4 years .. and just for the record the OBC won 7..8..6..7..7... his first 5 years with the Cocks..

[engie]

You have up admit, we suck pretty bad on the base paths. There really is no disputing it.

Sure there is disputing it. Do we make boneheaded baserunning mistakes? Yes. Absolutely. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

We also pick off a bunch of extra bases because of that same aggressiveness that goes ignored by our fanbase that -- as this thread indicates -- loves to focus on the bad all the time. No one notices it when it works in our favor -- only when it fails.

[CadaverDawg]

you want to know why I say we have the most negative and ridiculous fan base out there.. Read this thread on 24-7..
Do you people remember the Croom Years.??

Am I the only one that is not getting the link? What thread are you guys referring to?

[mic]

Sure there is disputing it. Do we make boneheaded baserunning mistakes? Yes. Absolutely. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

We also pick off a bunch of extra bases because of that same aggressiveness that goes ignored by our fanbase that -- as this thread indicates -- loves to focus on the bad all the time. No one notices it when it works in our favor -- only when it fails.

Agree 100%.. plus we prob lead the country in DP turned..

[Requiem For A Dawg]

Being aggressive and being bad at base running are not synonymous. I have no problem with someone getting thrown out trying to pick up and aggressive bag when the OF goes lazily after the ball or picking up 2nd wen they read the ball through the cut home.
I do have a problem with a runner tagging up at 2nd when the runner hasn't even tagged at 3rd and runs up his back.

[Todd4State]

Being aggressive and being bad at base running are not synonymous. I have no problem with someone getting thrown out trying to pick up and aggressive bag when the OF goes lazily after the ball or picking up 2nd wen they read the ball through the cut home.
I do have a problem with a runner tagging up at 2nd when the runner hasn't even tagged at 3rd and runs up his back.

When you take more chances, you are going to get burned every once in awhile and you are going to look like a dumbass. That's the downside. But if you are aggressively smart, you minimize that. Personally, I do think we do a good job of that overall. Does that mean that we never ever make mistakes? No. Does that mean that we are a bad baserunning team? No. I do agree that being aggressive and being a bad baserunning team are not synonymous- but the question is are we a bad baserunning team, and again, I think the answer is no.

But to answer your first question, yes I have seen worse baserunning than what we do. A LOT worse. From big leaguers. I remember a couple of years ago sitting in St. Louis helpless as Pete Kozma tried to take an extra base on Jeff Francouer. It didn't end well. I read an article about Derek Jeter getting thrown out at third for either the first or third out and he's probably a HOF unless we find out he has used steroids. I could go on- and I'm talking about professionals at the highest level of baseball screwing up.

I think the issue with some of our fans is the things that you said you don't have a problem with- they do have a problem with. (And I might have a problem with it given the circumstances, and I might not). Heck, I remember one time we stole third base and were SUCCESSFUL and some people thought we were dumb. WTF? That's like Dan running a jump pass against LSU to win the game and it working and me saying we are stupid. But like engie said, I think the issue with some of our other fans is ignorance of the sport. (Not you)

But your last sentence- how often has that happened this year? Once? Because we make one stupid baserunning mistake does that mean we have "an issue"? That's like making an error in the field and saying that we have an issue with our defense and are a poor defensive team.

In baseball, unfortunately you're dealing with people and people are going to screw up from time to time. A lot of times they know what they did and the lesson is learned. You have to allow some margin for error within reason.

Teams that are bad at base running do not have a stolen base percentage of 76%- which is higher than LSU's 71%, which granted does not tell the WHOLE story- but I do think it's an indicator because it includes some pick-offs as well as not getting a good jump, as well as outfield assists against, which is a stat I can not find. Also, I consider not taking a base when you should a base running mistake and that is not captured in a stat as well. In other words, there really isn't a good stat that totally encompasses all of base running. There is a saying in baseball that in order to create runs, you have to be successful on 65-70% of your steals. In fact, we are 12th in the SEC in getting thrown out stealing.

I think engie touched on the other issue with MSU fans and that is not pointing out when we do something right. Like getting a run home on a squeeze or something like that.

Back to your last sentence- I have no problem with someone saying that was a bad play, or it shouldn't have happened. But it's asinine to suggest that there is a team wide issue when it happens once a year.

[biscuit]

There is no link