It has been proposed that fans who actually root for the Patriots start their own forum.
I think this is a great idea. I know I don't spend all this time here because I'm some sort of "objective" football expert. I'm a Patriots fan only and would love to have a game thread where "we suck, we're awful" wasn't considered commentary.
Apparently one poster has agreed to leave our game thread alone. If we kept the other whiners out, we could actually have only rooting and constructive criticism in the game thread.
Since we'd be composed solely of fans who've followed the team more than two weeks, we might have some intelligent discussions too.
What do you think "homers"? sounds like a winner to me!
Somewhere along the way, being 'objective' has come to mean 'being from the sky is falling crowd'.
The people who claim they are objective nowadays are just bandwagon jumpers, trolls, kneejerks, haters, chicken littles, or our new breed of trolls, the internal NEM/NSA style Patriot 'fan' troll from the original 'sky is falling crowd'.
What I don't like is that being objective actually meant something quite different a year ago, but now it means that you are a kneejerk Patriot 'fan' troll. It used to mean that you liked the Pats but could rationally discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the team without making a bunch of blanket statements and jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst.
I have never had a problem loving the Pats to death and hating all our opponents with passion, yet also being objective about the strengths and weaknesses of the Patriot team. The glass is not empty or full, it simply is what it is.
Apparently though, enough Pats trolls have hijacked the concept so now being objective means the sky is falling or that you are an a-hole like this pf1996 clown or the NSA/NEM guy.
IMO, being objective is NOT about being negative for the sake of being negative or relentlessly beating up on certain players just because. But apparently, that is the new definition of being objective around here.
But as always, it is the same old problem around here. There simply is no middle ground between the sky is falling, and homerville where the glass is always full (even during years when it isn't). Unfortunately, the reality on the ground will NEVER reflect these two extremes, and therefore this site will never really have as much meaning or intelligent discussion as it could.
Personally, I have never had a problem being proud of the team and at the same time realizing what our strengths and weaknesses are. That is completely different than being negative just for the hell of it, or thinking that the sky is falling because the game didn't go according to the plan, or jumping to conclusions about players based on limited knowledge or information. Or panicing that a game is won or lost simply because of a bad play or two.