What Kind of Fan Are You?

[QC Thundercats]

I know all of us who continuously come back to this site to talk or read about our lovable losing franchise are definitely true fans, otherwise you wouldn't spend any time or an extra thought on the team. But I often see such heated debates and arguments break out about who cares more, who knows more, who's just being a troll or a hater, or doesn't know how to analyze advanced stats.

What I was always curious about, and what I think maybe could help everyone understand other posters' perspectives, is to know what kind of fan they are, and how they view the team. So when you start to get upset about a post and are firing back your witty repartee, you can check to see how they identified themselves, and realize that that's just how they like to cheer for the team.

(And then proceed with your sarcastic post if it is truly hilarious and/or contains funny cat pics)

So I decided to break it down into 4 defined categories. None of them make you any more or less of a fan, but it does take a measure of your optimism/jadedness into account. These categories are:

1) Eternal Optimist - You are more hopeful than most fans. You wake up everyday always excited about the Bobcats, excited to read any and everything about them, and cheer your head off every chance you get. Even though there are struggles, you feel like now is the moment it can turn around, and every new game you feel confident that we can win.

Why can't your favorite player make a huge leap and become an all star, or why can't the Bobcats make the playoffs this year? Why not us? You definitely don't get along with "The Critic," and you may often find yourself bothered with general criticisms of the team or players at length, as you feel it is your duty as a fan to bring the team up and always stay positive for them.

Like any proud parent to their children, you prefer to overlook any flaws and not focus on the negative, rather turning your focus on their promise and potential, although you sometimes tend to over-accentuate any accomplishment they make in order to encourage positivity.

2) Glass Half Full - You like to take a more objective, realistic view of the team. You can acknowledge all of the Bobcats' flaws and shortcomings, and understand that they need to be addressed. But you also have more confidence in the players and coaches to accomplish their goals, and often give them more benefit of the doubt.

So if a player is struggling or having a hard time adjusting to situations, you tend to give a longer leash before passing judgment, even if you truly know deep down that a player or coach is likely not going to meet expectations. You like to give the Raymond Feltons, Derrick Browns, Paul Silas', etc. extra chances, maybe more than they deserve, because you know they can turn the corner, you've seen some good things they've done before, despite what the trends are showing. However, given enough time and evidence to show that something is not working, you have no problem cutting bait and looking for the next option/solution. But you take much longer getting to that point, you're just trying to make absolutely sure that your hopes and dreams in fact aren't going to get realized, even if it is a little late.

3) Glass Half Empty - You are basically the same as the "Glass Half Full" fan in your analysis of the team, but rather than having a strong sense of optimism for things to work out, you are quicker to decide that something isn't working. This may be accompanied by an underlying touch of pessimism, that more things seem to happen for the worse for us, whether caused by management, the league, or the universe, as per usual ("Of course we didn't win the lottery with a franchise changer this year, we're the Bobcats." "Of course we didn't make the right trade and our coach turned crazy, the front office has no clue, yep, we're the lolcats!!")

You are still an objective, realistic fan, but if things aren't going well, you don't need to see anymore and are ready to move on to the next solution. You may not have as much patience with a player or coach as the "Half Full" guys, since you have enough experience seeing what does and doesn't work. You may also feel the need to vent and rant frequently to get over your frustrations, but can quickly rationalize again and are ready to root the team on.

Now, you do have hopes and dreams of the team becoming great, but you may need the Bobcats to prove to you that they won't tear your heart to shreds again before you can fully trust in them.

4) The Critic - You are the most misunderstood fan of all, and you are often accused of being a hater, but you prefer to be brutally honest in your assessments, even if most people don't want to hear it. You may even enjoy being sarcastic and getting a rise out of people, but deep down, you truly are a fan, and would love nothing more than to be a dominant dynasty and win the next 10 titles. The problem is that anything less than competing for a championship is a failure. (Your name may also be Larry Brown.)

You are a very hard fan to please. You expect excellence, and even if there is some level of success, you can't be satisfied with just that. "So what if the Bobcats won, if they keep playing defense like that, they will get blown out 90% of the time!!" "A 10 game winning streak won't last forever, we can't rely on that!!!"

Because there is always something to improve on, you feel it is not necessary to complement a player or the team simply for doing their job and meeting expectations - this only meets the baseline of being a competent professional. You feel it is your duty to temper everyone else's optimism to show that we shouldn't be satisfied with a team thats not yet fully competitive, to point out all the issues they still have to those fans who either can't or don't want to see the issues. And yes, you do have solutions, and always like to point out what they should have done, and what they need to do to win a championship

You may seem very curmudgeony on the outside, but very deep down in your heart of hearts is the childlike superfan, who wears your Bobcat's pajamas to bed, who watches every stream possible at all times to catch games, sitting at the edge of their seats at the edge of agony and ecstasy over every play of the game.

For me, I consider myself a Half Glass Full kind of fan. I think I can be pretty objective in analyzing the team, but I know I do hold out hope a little longer than most people in thinking that things will work out with a particular player or coach. So lets see it, where do the rest of you stand as fans.

Also, feel free to assign someone to a category you truly think they are, despite how they voted.

[Toocool]

Glass Half Full.
Always been more optimistic than pessimistic in my approach, and unfortunately for the most part I'm 90% let down.
A good quote is 'if you never have expectations, you will never be disappointed.'
However, I always have expectations and often, as is the case with the Bobcats I get disappointed.

However, with this batch that we got, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about them. I feel we have some nice young pieces, just missing a piece or two and some development time.

[Dcarnys]

I consider myself a Glass-Half full guy according to that. I'm supportive, I look for the good to take out of things and see that things aren't as bad as they seem. At the same time I'll call out when someone sucks, is a lost cause or admit when a prediction I made is wrong.

[CampNightmare8]

Glass Half full kind of guy

[Chef]

i voted half full but then read the descriptions and decided i should have gone half empty.

i thought i was half full because i am optimistic that one day i will enjoy a seat at the very front of the bobcat's bandwagon. it is just a matter of time before we stop discussing the draft 10 months in advance, spend all day thinking of good fake trades and just concentrate on enjoying a 55 to 65 win season and multiple rounds of the playoffs.

but, i know basketball and it does not take me very long to form an opinion after watching a guy play a few times. history has proved to me that i am usually correct in my opinion and only occasionally has it been shown that i prematurely judged a player. i am not being negative when i say i feel kemba will not be a good pg, hendo is not worth resigning, tyrus will never be a good player, biz won't hit his ceiling but i feel it is an honest assessment. but the optimist in me would like to be proven wrong.

[KGE]

I have always been a glass half full fan, but last year and the pre season this year has turned me into a glass half empty fan.

Hopefully it will not take much to turn me back!

[Plowright]

I'm a realist right now, but I change with time and knowledge. I used to be a glass half full fan, then I was a glass half empty now I am pretty scientific with my comments and try to keep my heart out of debates. I voted critic... but I dont know how to build a championship team, nobody does apart from GM in Training obviously, duh

[fan_of_a_fan]

I'm a "Glass Half Full" fan. I'm optimistic because I'm a firm believer that things always get better eventually. Pessimism is for miserable fans or people that don't understand the game. As a former basketball player myself and current coach, I know that things won't always go your way. Wins and losses come a dime a dozen, but nobody should ever criticize effort when it is put forth. If you think you're afflicted as a fan about the losses, then trust me when I tell you that most of the players on the Bobcats feel worst than you do, but they can't hang their head through the adversity, and they shouldn't. Even though I'm a Utopian of sorts, I'm also quick to point out what I believe is an integral problem with the Bobcats if I continue to see it persist and it's a obvious concern. I never been the type to be bias or show favoritism for the sake of it. Yes, I do have players on the team that I might take a more special interest in than others because I like(d) what I seen from them in the past, but I'm not the kind of fan that put the wool over my eyes when they perform badly.

[Felton for Prez]

I fall in to the half empty category. I think more people do, actually, but don't want to admit it.

Kudos to a new and well thought out thread.

[CatNation]

compared to most people I'd probably lean toward Eternal Optimist though I think last season has knocked us all down a notch. I'm usually all optimism before a season but I'm already feeling somewhat negative on Henderson and Bismack. Hell before last season I was hyped at the idea of Carroll and Reggie being legit shooting options but now I've come to terms with their horribleness. oh well