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The Message Board Fallacy

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The Message Board Fallacy

Appreciate your takes true. Hindsight is 20/20 and that’s especially true this season. Who could have foreseen our kickers/punters single-handedly losing us 3 games against top 10 opponents, or the same team that should have beaten 3 or 4 top 10 opponents also shitting the bed against Illinois, Minnesota, and Purdue. Although the Purdue loss doesn’t look as bad today as it did last week.

Frustrating because this is a very talented team and the things we were told about it all spring, summer, and fall were accurate. Tough to watch them find new ways to lose each week.
 
I’d say TPB is highly concentrated with passionate fans who absolutely want us to be truly great. There’s no denying we all love our team.

I was on the fire Frost train because it fucking sucks hearing time and time again how close we are, especially when we have brutal, heartbreaking losses. Honestly, I don’t know what we should do.

I’ll agree with @kenyanfeline on this for the same reason that I’ve had the same experience. Can’t balance that personally due to the frustrating shit that consistently happens.

Here’s to hoping our Huskers, no matter the way, find a way forward. GBR
 
I know this is gonna go over like a fart in church on this site, but fuck it.

A couple points I think we can all agree on to get started:

1.) TPB is unequivocally the greatest Husker message board of all time. Hell, it might be the greatest message board in general of all time regardless of topic. That being said, it is not immune to what makes all sports message boards miserable from time to time: it becomes an echo chamber based solely off of the opinions of the the most emotionally attached fans.

2.) Local (and sometimes National) media reacts to coaching controversies by putting out headlines that will get clicks, generate reactions on social media, and hook people to a story.

Considering the above, I think we (as a collective Husker message board community) are misjudging the perception of our program from the perspective of the “average Husker fan” and non-fan alike. Which also leads me to believe we very well could be misjudging the perception of Nebraska’s administration as it relates to the direction of the program.

A few strictly anecdotal observations that have lead to this inference:

1.) I see a couple dozen pet owners a day, most of them Husker fans. I make small talk with all of them, and end up talking Husker football with most of the men. Over the last week, I had somewhere in the range of 20 conversations in my clinic venture to Scott Frosts future.

One guy said Frost should be fired. One guy.

The rest, every single one of them, said he should be given more time. They cited the usual reasons that many scoff at: we’re close, we’ve belonged on the same field as every team we have played including top 10 teams, we’re one kicker away, Frost is young and will learn, can’t keep firing coaches every 3-4 years, etc.

2.) I watched Big Noon Kickoff today and Rob Stone essentially asked the other 4 if Frost should be retained. They all said…yes. Bush, Leinart, Stoops, Quinn. 4/4 national media members said he needs more time.

3.) I look at Facebook and Twitter posts from the OWH and Journal Star from columns by Sip, Shatel, Dirk, etc. that are skeptical, to varying degrees, of Frosts future. There’s a whole range of comments under each of them but again, the vast majority of them support Frost, or at the very least say he deserves another year.


Bottom line: because of where we choose to get our Husker football fix (message boards), we are repeatedly exposed to the opinions that come from fans who are much more emotionally invested than your average fan. And based on the anecdotally observations I listed above, there is a huge disconnect between our collective perception of the program and reality. My guess is there’s also a disconnect between what we think and what Turd and Ted think.

I don’t really want to discuss the merits of keeping Frost or firing him in this thread. But I think many of us could use a wake up call to realize that the community in which we form our opinions from is disconnected from the rest of Husker Nation. We most likely are, unfortunately, a vocal minority.


Fun fact about the one and only guy in my clinic who said Frost should be fired: during one of his previous visits, he told me about some rumor he had heard. I asked him where he heard it. His answer: The Red Sea Scrolls.

Yep. The one and only person who told me Frost should be fired is a message board guy. We are the absolute fucking worst.
I’ve also met a fair amount who are okay with Frost being fired but don’t think he will be this year. The other big section of fans I talk to either blame Martinez or Frost’s assistants for all the problems and none of it is Frost’s fault.
 
I’d say TPB is highly concentrated with passionate fans who absolutely want us to be truly great. There’s no denying we all love our team.

I was on the fire Frost train because it fucking sucks hearing time and time again how close we are, especially when we have brutal, heartbreaking losses. Honestly, I don’t know what we should do.

I’ll agree with @kenyanfeline on this for the same reason that I’ve had the same experience. Can’t balance that personally due to the frustrating shit that consistently happens.

Here’s to hoping our Huskers, no matter the way, find a way forward. GBR

At the end of the day, no matter what anyone here thinks, none of us have any control over any of this and no matter how many times we keep giving our opinion on it it doesn’t matter. I know that sounds like a “well duh” comment, but I think we tend to forget that.

It is absolutely ridiculous to tie our emotions so tightly to a decision that isn’t ours to make.

Whether or not a coach is fired or hired or whatever, there will still be Husker football next fall.
 
I think you have situation where the least engaged fans are the most supportive.

Anybody who gives a shit about following college football knows that Frost’s tenure here is historically bad and there is essentially no precedent for it working out.
 
Well your take seems to be pretty “glass half full” so any way you may be leading these pet owners to more optimistic viewpoints?
 
I think that if he stays and we see similar stuff next year and finish below .500 it will be obvious to the passionate and non passionate fans alike.

Firing him now will cause a lot of division from the average fan all the way up to the biggest donors. And that’s a major consideration that Turd needs to take into account.

I think we hire a couple new assistants and hope it comes together next year. We might “get over the hump” or we might not. But if we don’t, it will be abundantly clear and we won’t be much worse for it.

For the record this is what I think Turd will be thinking. Because, like what others have mentioned, our individual opinions don’t matter.
 
Well your take seems to be pretty “glass half full” so any way you may be leading these pet owners to more optimistic viewpoints?
No, at least not intentionally. It’s usually some version of:

Me: “did you watch the game?”
Random person: “Yes, fucking terrible.” Me: “Super frustrating.”
“Random person: “Refs sure did fuck us.” Me: “Think Frost is gone?”
Random person: “Nah, he needs a little more time because *insert reason*.”
 
I think that if he stays and we see similar stuff next year and finish below .500 it will be obvious to the passionate and non passionate fans alike.

Firing him now will cause a lot of division from the average fan all the way up to the biggest donors. And that’s a major consideration that Turd needs to take into account.

I think we hire a couple new assistants and hope it comes together next year. We might “get over the hump” or we might not. But if we don’t, it will be abundantly clear and we won’t be much worse for it.

For the record this is what I think Turd will be thinking. Because, like what others have mentioned, our individual opinions don’t matter.

I disagree on we won’t be worse for it - we’ve got like the 75th ranked class coming in this year, and a probable lame duck coach is going to have a pretty hard time selling the future to improve that moving forward. Another losing season brings us that much closer to irrelevancy (although 5 in a row, 4 under Frost) certainly has us there already
 
Fucking stupid. We are 3-7 and have 1 win in the BIG.

3-9 and 1-8 in the BIG is a real possibility. In what world is that okay?

People that want Frost retained obviously are not objective and have posters of him of above their beds for other reasons. Give me a fucking break.
 
The pouting and fit throwing here will be a sight to see when everyone just goes about business as usual the morning after the Cockeyes game.
Why don’t you disappear yet again and head over to the scrolls to white knight again broski

I hope we keep frost now. I want to have something to laugh at next year. You have no idea how bad we will be without Martinez. It’s going to be glorious.
 
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