Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t have to fool me because I never thought to ask the right questions or get non-biased information? Well, shame on everyone involved.
Why in Arizona is it our tendency as fans and media to simply buy into the hype and be more naive than the kid in high school who believed the school’s pool was actually on the gym roof? (Contrary to popular belief, that was not me back in the 1990s.)
Could it be the easy road is the one in which we believe whatever is the readily accessible storyline?
It is certainly one explanation. It is simplest to think every quarterback for the Cardinals will be “the one”, this will finally be the Coyotes year or the D-backs’ bullpen has finally been fixed with big names despite previous struggles. But how many times can we read a headline like “Bruce Arians is the right coach because he worked with great quarterbacks”? Didn’t Ken Whisenhunt coach Ben Roethlisberger — a name Arians is also connected too — before coming to Arizona? Wasn’t Denny Green the coach who created Daunte Culpepper when his name meant something and rejuvenated Randall Cunningham’s career? Vince Tobin once coached the Bears vaunted defense and yet never came close to the same success in Arizona and oh, so did Buddy Ryan.
We live in a fairweather state which only truly and fully engages with a team when they’re a winner and have some championship aspirations.
Each and every one of those guys were lauded as the “savior” upon their arrival and run out on a rail faster than any of the criminals who called the Valley home in the old Wild West days.
Could it be because those are the storylines we’re fed and we don’t push for anything else?
This is probably closer to the truth. In an age when everything has been TMZ-afied it’s tough to chastise many media people the same way it is tough to blame the Kardashians for taking advantage of the celebutant culture to make easy millions. Media has become about pageviews and ratings spikes. It’s “what have you done for me lately?” So those creating the content chase any angle could be more divisive than Coke versus Pepsi or more outlandish than the idea of Miley Cyrus being fully clothed and acting normal.
Even I’ve been prone to it over the years. Just Google my name along with Kevin Kolb’s and you’ll see why.
What it really comes down to though is the passion, or lack thereof, of the fans. We live in a fairweather state which only truly and fully engages with a team when they’re a winner and have some championship aspirations. Thus, instead of seeking the truth, it’s necessary to overhype and under criticize early in every season.
The band Muse said it best in their song Madness:
“And now, I need to know if it’s real love.
Or is it just Madness,
Keeping us afloat, mmm.”
Do the non-diehards here really love the teams or is it some perverse desire to be popular keeps them coming back and looking for blind hope without analysis?
Shame on us if we don’t ask that question and expect more because what we’re currently doing is madness which is barely keeping us afloat as a major sports market.
Just ask the Coyotes.
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Greg Esposito
Espo is a Valley sports fan who has been lucky enough to write for numerous outlets about the teams he loves. His opinions are sarcastic but all come from that special place in his heart for Arizona sports.