Tned
10-06-2010, 10:17 AM
I originally posted this in the Town Hall discussion, but since I know many have posted their thoughts in that thread and won’t come back, I decided to post it here as well.
Just some thoughts I would like to throw out there related to how Broncos fans are turning on each other. Kind of the Broncos community version of “brother fighting brother”.
Far too many people consider forum discussions a zero sum game or maybe an all or nothing proposition.
Meaning, if poster A is upset that Cutler was traded than there is no way he could be considered anything but a McDaniels hater, because he has criticized one aspect of McDaniels tenure, therefore he must be a hater.
Conversely, if someone defends the trade of Cutler or calls Cutler a whiny bitch, then that person is a McDaniels apologist, even if they have been critical of him in other areas.
All or nothing. No room for compromise or accepting that some praise or criticism can be made without it being tied to past events.
Take myself, I have been critical of McDaniels for the handling of the Cutler and Marshall situations, more so than the act of getting rid of it. I have stated that as the head coach he has every right, and should have the power, to get rid of players he doesn't believe fits his team. However, I take issue with "how" he went about both of those trades and in discussions on here about such, have voiced that opinion.
At the same time, I RAVED about how he ran training camp last year. RAVED about his enthusiasm on the sideline. Talked about how I loved that nothing is left to chance, that he thinks through everything -- has a plan for everything. Made the team more fundamentally sound -- better tackling, etc. The list of praise for McDaniels is long and encompasses well over a year of posts....
But, I'm a McDaniels hater, because I have voiced criticism about how he handled certain things.
:confused:
I just don't see how that math adds up.
My point is not to get into a discussion of those things, or whether or not I'm a hater, but to say that I think we focus WAY too much on pigeon holing or labeling people -- drawing a line in the sand and saying that a poster MUST be a McDaniels hater or McDaniels supporter. Saying that if they are a McDaniels supporter, they MUST hate the ex-Broncos players/coaches, and conversely, if they don't rant about how evil the ex-Broncos are, then they MUST be considered a McDaniels hater.
I don't know about where you guys live, but in my world, life simply isn't that black and white. As an example, there are many TV shows that I love, EXCEPT for the fact that they tend to interject "conservative bashing" into their storylines quite frequently. I don't say, "I will never watch that show again", but instead take the good with the bad.
Ok, not the best example, but hopefully you get the point.
If you try and live life as if everything is black and white, then you are going to be disappointed, angry or whatever a great deal of the time, because most things in life are in those shades of grey.
Yes, we have a few zealots on both sides of the argument that either hate McDaniels to such an extent that even if he won the SB next year they probably wouldn't come around, and we have some that hate the ex-Broncos and Shanahan so much, that just about anything short of death wouldn't be enough to erase their hate, but the facts is we really don't have many of those zealots.
Instead, we have a lot of people that are passionate about the Broncos. Have strong opinions, and are EMOTIONALLY tied to those opinions and get upset and angry when people feel differently. As a result, they feel that in order to 'prove' their opinion is correct or to ‘protect’ the opinion that they are emotionally vested in, they must destroy the other person's opinion.
Honestly, do we really need to try and destroy the other person's opinion, or attempt to belittle/discredit those with alternate views, in order to be more secure in our own? I don't think it should be necessary.
You know the old saying, "opinions are like mouths, everyone has one" (I cleaned it up)? There is no reason that it has to be zero sum. That if I hold opinion X then I must destroy your opinion Y, because they can't both survive.
I think McDaniels has done some very good things in Denver already, and could win a lot of games in Denver over an extended period of time, BUT I also think he has made rookie mistakes along the way. Those opinions do not have to be mutually exclusive.
I can love my wife, but still hate some of the things she does -- just like I drive her bat-shit crazy with things I do.
Life is not a zero sum game. Everything doesn't have to fall into black and white, love/hate boxes.
If everyone could simply take a step back, RESPECT other poster's opinions, even if they are different than our own, and not ASSUME you know the motives or ulterior motives behind the opinion of posters that disagree with you, then all posters, all opinions, should be able to live together in harmony.
Just some thoughts I would like to throw out there related to how Broncos fans are turning on each other. Kind of the Broncos community version of “brother fighting brother”.
Far too many people consider forum discussions a zero sum game or maybe an all or nothing proposition.
Meaning, if poster A is upset that Cutler was traded than there is no way he could be considered anything but a McDaniels hater, because he has criticized one aspect of McDaniels tenure, therefore he must be a hater.
Conversely, if someone defends the trade of Cutler or calls Cutler a whiny bitch, then that person is a McDaniels apologist, even if they have been critical of him in other areas.
All or nothing. No room for compromise or accepting that some praise or criticism can be made without it being tied to past events.
Take myself, I have been critical of McDaniels for the handling of the Cutler and Marshall situations, more so than the act of getting rid of it. I have stated that as the head coach he has every right, and should have the power, to get rid of players he doesn't believe fits his team. However, I take issue with "how" he went about both of those trades and in discussions on here about such, have voiced that opinion.
At the same time, I RAVED about how he ran training camp last year. RAVED about his enthusiasm on the sideline. Talked about how I loved that nothing is left to chance, that he thinks through everything -- has a plan for everything. Made the team more fundamentally sound -- better tackling, etc. The list of praise for McDaniels is long and encompasses well over a year of posts....
But, I'm a McDaniels hater, because I have voiced criticism about how he handled certain things.
:confused:
I just don't see how that math adds up.
My point is not to get into a discussion of those things, or whether or not I'm a hater, but to say that I think we focus WAY too much on pigeon holing or labeling people -- drawing a line in the sand and saying that a poster MUST be a McDaniels hater or McDaniels supporter. Saying that if they are a McDaniels supporter, they MUST hate the ex-Broncos players/coaches, and conversely, if they don't rant about how evil the ex-Broncos are, then they MUST be considered a McDaniels hater.
I don't know about where you guys live, but in my world, life simply isn't that black and white. As an example, there are many TV shows that I love, EXCEPT for the fact that they tend to interject "conservative bashing" into their storylines quite frequently. I don't say, "I will never watch that show again", but instead take the good with the bad.
Ok, not the best example, but hopefully you get the point.
If you try and live life as if everything is black and white, then you are going to be disappointed, angry or whatever a great deal of the time, because most things in life are in those shades of grey.
Yes, we have a few zealots on both sides of the argument that either hate McDaniels to such an extent that even if he won the SB next year they probably wouldn't come around, and we have some that hate the ex-Broncos and Shanahan so much, that just about anything short of death wouldn't be enough to erase their hate, but the facts is we really don't have many of those zealots.
Instead, we have a lot of people that are passionate about the Broncos. Have strong opinions, and are EMOTIONALLY tied to those opinions and get upset and angry when people feel differently. As a result, they feel that in order to 'prove' their opinion is correct or to ‘protect’ the opinion that they are emotionally vested in, they must destroy the other person's opinion.
Honestly, do we really need to try and destroy the other person's opinion, or attempt to belittle/discredit those with alternate views, in order to be more secure in our own? I don't think it should be necessary.
You know the old saying, "opinions are like mouths, everyone has one" (I cleaned it up)? There is no reason that it has to be zero sum. That if I hold opinion X then I must destroy your opinion Y, because they can't both survive.
I think McDaniels has done some very good things in Denver already, and could win a lot of games in Denver over an extended period of time, BUT I also think he has made rookie mistakes along the way. Those opinions do not have to be mutually exclusive.
I can love my wife, but still hate some of the things she does -- just like I drive her bat-shit crazy with things I do.
Life is not a zero sum game. Everything doesn't have to fall into black and white, love/hate boxes.
If everyone could simply take a step back, RESPECT other poster's opinions, even if they are different than our own, and not ASSUME you know the motives or ulterior motives behind the opinion of posters that disagree with you, then all posters, all opinions, should be able to live together in harmony.