Not All Is Well In Fanville: “what a waste of an afternoon”

There’s quite a debate going on right now over at the 67s’ bb. It appears that the posters are aligned into two camps: those who are upset by what they saw at the London (and Saginaw) game(s), and those who feel that, since the 67s were playing the best team in the league, losing wasn’t really that big a deal.

I think, for those in the second camp, they are missing the point of the first group. The main cause of upset, and I happen to agree with this myself – disclosure here – is not that they lost to London, a better team. No, it’s that they gave up. They packed it in. The game was far from over, but they decided they couldn’t win and so stopped trying.

Those in the second group say, ‘This was just one game, and it was London, and they were discouraged. So what that they gave up.’ Unfortunately, this discouragement leading to poor play/ bad attitude/ poor work ethic has been an ongoing and consistent problem with this group since the beginning of the season!

There is nothing that upsets fans more, then when the team (who has talent, nobody in the first group was saying they didn’t) doesn’t try. We are not expecting them to win every game, win the OHL championship every year, but we are expecting them to work hard every shift.

This lack of effort has been very glaring to those of us who have watched this team over the last few years. You can argue that past 67s have or have not been more skilled than this present team or others in the league. But past teams managed to win the big games, at big moments. They worked hard, and they had enthusiasm, and they tried. Zenon Konopka is legendary for this. Lance Galbraith too. The 67s have always been a gritty, grind-it-out team. I’m proposing that fans that follow the team closely can readily tell that this current group is very much lacking players of this ilk.

And so fans have every right to make note of it. And no, it is not being ‘spoiled’ or ‘turning your back on your team.’ It is clearly because they have been such fans over a period of time that they can see that something is not right. They’re still going to games, they’re still talking about the team, they’re still supporting them by trying to figure out what is wrong. IMO, a fan isn’t someone who only gushes about their team, only saying positive things that won’t hurt their feelings. As long as what they’re saying is intelligent criticism I see nothing wrong with airing concerns. Hopefully someone is reading them, and listening.

Of course, they could all be suffering from mono . . . (And I'm not being flippant.)