I was gonna put this in the review thread, but I want to move out of the general grumbling and have some real talks. If mods think otherwise then do your thing.
I woke up this morning to a notification that a full day seminar I had on was rescheduled. Which means I’m bored. And when I’m bored I pick fights.
I read through last week’s team announcement thread, and made note of every poster that expected a loss, and wanted to to rub it in all of their faces that they didn’t get the catharsis of the loss and therefore can’t really enjoy the win.
Don’t give me “huuuuuurr happy clapper” or “it was only by three points against the bottom side”. The comp is way more even than it’s ever been and there’s not that much difference between the top and bottom sides like there used to be. Halfway through the season there’s one game between 3rd and 12th. No such thing as an easy game any more.
I left out first time posters (I assume they were just reading the lay of the land and wanted to fit in) and those who wanted the club to say to our forward line “we have no faith at all in you turkeys so we’re putting in someone who doesn’t train with you to try and do your job for you” because that’s a whole different thing.
I got real keen to stir some sht to fill out my Monday. But then my stupid dumb empathy kicked in and I thought about why some supporters can’t seem to find excitement in watching their favourite team play footy and get enjoyment out of a win. There’s gotta be something going on. Is it the stress of the pandemic? Are you still traumatised from “the saga”? Have you not been happy since your childhood when Essendon won flags and soda pop cost a nickel and kids didn’t have their Fortnights and their Pokemons and instead went outside and started fires so your general disappointment in adulthood itself is projected on to the club?
The saga coincided with a mental breakdown I had a few years ago so I still sometimes equate the club’s recovery from that with my own personal recovery. So every now and then when we have a disappointing performance I can’t help but think that I’m faltering as well. It’s a very easy trap to fall into.
I get around that by finding the positives in the Bombers performance the same way I find positives in my own life.
Thanks for pointing out how bad it is to tell yourself you’re going to have a very bad day before you’ve even reached that day. Even worse to continue to beat yourself up when the day turns out better than expected.
Essendon won and we have some things to improve and work on. Mondays are always brighter after a win.
I think that the second line cancels out the first. Our young boys held up against a team that came hard at them in the last few minutes. That should give us confidence that they can do it again.
Yeah I don’t really get the “I’M CRYING HARDER THAN YOU WHICH MEANS YOU’RE AN IDIOT” line of argument.
People treat this site as catharsis, which is a) just a bad coping strategy and b) eventually makes it a materially worse experience for everyone else.
If you’re not enjoying something… maybe don’t do it.
Hrmmm, I never want or expect us to lose…however I find it increasingly hard / frustrating to watch us and that sometimes makes it hard to enjoy a win…
Multiple reasons, I actually struggle to watch any game due to the umpiring, not calling favouritism or conspiracy theory, just grey rules with even greyer interpretations …I hate watching a good piece of play get killed by a non existent free when obvious ones are missed etc etc.
Secondly, poor skills / decision making. Now I’m not the type of poster who says “good teams don’t do this” etc. - I watch enough football to know that poor skills and decision making are a league wide issue, sometimes I watch a player under zero actual pressure kick the ball 20 metres in a teammates direction who is 10m in the clear, only to stuff that kick up by 10m and kick it directly to the other team. Or kick at goal with little to no actual pressure and miss everything (Ham as an example yesterday). And yes I know the general pressure at that level is intense.
Seeing people who have played this game their whole life and are supposedly professionals, paid well to do what they do, stuff up simple basics annoys the crap out of me. (And no I don’t think I could do better, but I’m not a professional footballer). If it happens here and there then so be it, but it happens way too often which make some enjoy the win less as half of our great passages of play get stuffed up.
I also think it’s hard to enjoy a win when you have no trust in the team to back it up…so people rather look to the negative side so they don’t get too disappointed when it “inevitably” falls apart.
I wish the team and all the players nothing but success but it’s been a long time since anyone could say they have confidence in the team week in and week out, hence why I think a lot of people appear to not enjoy a win as they see it as “hollow”.
Belllchambers - seemed reinvigorated
Merrett - Crows played him back into some form
Laverde was good until injury/
Ridley shining light in defence
Cahill had a good second game as you could want.
McGrath finding lots of the ball
our back 6-7 is pretty good.
midfield were on top of clearances early good sign without Shiel - a lot of people were worried about this.
Forwards still look short especially once Laverde went off. Hopefully this is rectified. But performed ok given (Stringer, Daniher, Fantasia all out)
I had a seat near a guy at Windy Hill all through 1984/1985 who appeared to be constantly p1ssed off with our performance. He’d sit there shuffling his feet around, cursing at the players like he had Tourettes, no matter how far ahead we were. When we scored a goal (which was very very often) he’d go silent and sit there with his arms folded in a defiant “yeah well that’s just the exception that proves the rule” posture. I think it’s a personality type - we all need footy to fill some emotional hole, and this was his particular itch that needed to be scratched.
I’ve never understood the general BB negativity, but I accept that it’s just how some people think. I hate the fact that we’ve been ordinary for 20 years, but I live in hope and that basically keeps me going.
Having said that, the negative posts are almost always wittier than the positive ones, take the following for example … comedy gold.
Tom Bellchambers? Whilst all countries are removing their statues we bring one in.
The umpiring though, I think sometimes we have an expectation of perfection, but that’s something we’ve never seen. It’s holding something to a standard that doesn’t exist. Maybe the new standard is “inconsistent” and we just need to adjust to it the same way the players do, however infuriating it is.
How long would we need to sustain success for you to trust the team again?
i said all week i expected us to win. no matter who played, because Adelaide are 0-7. i had lengthy discussions with many that we’d win
i wasn’t impressed with the changes though. I’d still prefer BZT to be playing and we’re still a tall forward short. and well, hibberd proved everyone wrong imo, his game was passable
i really think you’d be better off just enjoying the win instead of looking for arguements and making a millon quotes on a internet forum though of people you think are wrong. there is clearly a sarcastic tone to a lot of your quotes if you know the posters too. not all, some. take care of yourself man
Yeah it was against the bottom side, but it starts somewhere. They held on in desperate scrappy footy. It’s not like many teams are much better than others in desperate scraps. I reckon some of the worst footy gets played in finals because of the win-or-go-home desperation. You cannot replicate that in training. Experience in resilience is good no matter who it comes against.
And yes lots of great positives for individuals and groups of players!
