Drinking the Kool-Aid, is it a bad thing?

First off, this is my very first post on this board since I just found out about it this morning. Call me oblivious, since I had no idea that Om and Tarhog had come over and created this site. Some of you may recognize my username since, that is the same username I have used for the past 10 years, or maybe not, since I do not post a ton.

If this thread was posted inaccurately, could someone please direct me to some rules and posting guidelines for future posting?

Now to the actual topic, is drinking the kool-aid for a team, a bad thing?

I, personally, do not think it is a bad thing, but that is usually because I drink gallon's of the stuff when it comes to the Redskins. Seriously, I am like Charlie Brown about to kick a football that Lucy is holding. Every time, I think she will not pull away the football, but when I go to kick it, she pulls it away. Who thought bringing in Steve Spurrier was a good idea? This guy. Zorn's staying medium? I was up for it. Throughout everything, I always held on to the belief that the Redskins will be great. I do concede to prior years not being a good year, except for Gibbs. That man is awesome, and no matter what others say, will always be the quintessential coach and changed the culture at FedEx Field in his second tenure.

Anyway, back to my point, that no matter how many times they have let me down, the start of the season is here, and in my mind, this could be the year that they go all the way. While a person who does not drink the kool-aid, how do they feel at the beginning of a season? Is the season already lost before they step on to the field? What do they look forward to? To me, these are all things that come to mind if I think drinking the kool-aid is bad. I will take my "suspension-of-disbelief" and watch the Redskins come Sunday.

Thoughts?

There is a good chance we come out and drop 40 on the Texans. With a healthy dose of Morris and just asking Griffin to be efficient and throw around 30 times we can definitely execute and blow up most defenses.

I'll never not say anything but we win..I get up for every season and every year I think 19-0!!

PS, welcome bro. You're going to love the community feel here.

MikeSr619 said:

PS, welcome bro. You're going to love the community feel here.

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Thanks!!

I remember a couple of years ago, Boone said he was having trouble getting into the season as the eve approached. I had a hard time identifying with that, but I get it now. This off season has been a difficult one, and as such, I've been having a hard time getting up for things. When I get excited, my optimism is boundless. I'm waiting for that excitement still this year, should come any day, right?

I will say I NEVER turn a game off. Until the final gun sounds, no matter how dire, I am figuring out ways in my head for us to come back and win, no matter the situation. And in years previous, 10-6 was my standard pick if I didn't think we were going to have a great year.

Kool-Aid is good. So is realism, I come to understand that side of things too.

Welcome aboard! I just jumped to this site myself...

Getting to your topic - NO - there is nothing wrong w/ being jazzed up and drinking the Kool Aid. Listening to sports talk, or reading posts on other sites, watching local tv coverage, people always say, "pump your brakes, don't get too excited, take a measured approach," blah, blah, blah. WHY?? I never get why some people feel they need to convince others to be less enthusiastic. It's the start of the season - WHY NOT get jacked up!! For me, especially the first friggin' game of the season, it's more fun going into the game excited.

I'm with you. Pass the burgundy and gold Kool Aid!

Welcome!

I consider myself something of a realistic optimist. I hope for the upside always but I see the flaws as well and usually tempers my expectations. I am not a classic "cool-aid drinker", per se. Having said that, the beginning of every season is usually a time of hope and optimism for me. I nearly always see great things in our team this time of year and believe that a Division title and playoff birth are in the offing.

Nothing wrong with optimism before the season starts. I don't think that's all that unusual.

Me? I have to admit I'm far more cautious after 15 years of Snyder-ball. These days the best I can do is go into week one thinking "You never know. Anything's possible!"

Not exactly Kool-Aid anymore. I don't expect success. I've down-shifted to just hoping for it.

Anyway, welcome to the board. Regarding rules and such, here are a couple links:

http://www.bgobsession.com/gateway/382-what-were-about.html
http://www.bgobsession.com/gateway/80994-new-thread-discussion-topic-guidelines.html

And by the way, if you look hard enough in the rules, pretty sure Boone and Neo changed the official beverage around here from Kool-Aid to Homebrew.

Plenty 'nough KoolAid around here but most of it is sugar free.

Goaldeje said:

I remember a couple of years ago, Boone said he was having trouble getting into the season as the eve approached. I had a hard time identifying with that, but I get it now. This off season has been a difficult one, and as such, I've been having a hard time getting it up for things. When I get excited, my optimism is boundless. I'm waiting for that excitement still this year, should come any day, right?

I will say I NEVER turn a game off. Until the final gun sounds, no matter how dire, I am figuring out ways in my head for us to come back and win, no matter the situation. And in years previous, 10-6 was my standard pick if I didn't think we were going to have a great year.

Kool-Aid is good. So is realism, I come to understand that side of things too.

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TMI!!!

As for the Kool-Aid...don't like the taste anymore. After the Zorn years, it was "guarded optimism."

Now? I cannot look through rose colored glasses anymore. I see the blatant flaws and am not excited about the season in the "we will win many games" sense. However, I am excited football is back. I was screaming at the TV loudly last night for the refs to stop treating the Seahags with favoritism, my heart was pumping...blood boiling a little. Glad to have football back.

I guess it's easier to see the flaws and expect less...then the disappointment is not so severe.

Welcome aboard BCS!

Elephant said:

TMI!!!

As for the Kool-Aid...don't like the taste anymore. After the Zorn years, it was "guarded optimism."

Now? I cannot look through rose colored glasses anymore. I see the blatant flaws and am not excited about the season in the "we will win many games" sense. However, I am excited football is back. I was screaming at the TV loudly last night for the refs to stop treating the Seahags with favoritism, my heart was pumping...blood boiling a little. Glad to have football back.

I guess it's easier to see the flaws and expect less...then the disappointment is not so severe.

Welcome aboard BCS!

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Thanks Elephant!

What do you expect? You stopped posting cheerleader pics in chat because, you know, there weren't games being played.

It's been a hard off season.

Expect the worst, hope for the best.

(Oh, and welcome, BCS!)

Blue Collar and Enforcer - welcome guys

BCS, our culture here may be a little different from other boards - we try to police ourselves and we don't have 'Posting Rules'. Literally the only prohibition here, other than to treat other members like you want to be treated (see 'What We're About') is that we do not allow political, religious, or overtly controversial topics to be discussed on BGO. We tried for the better part of 5 years to have a forum for those discussions and to keep the community feel of civility and respect here, and we found that even people we otherwise loved could not step up to the plate on that front. We not only had to close that forum, but we had to say goodbye to a few folks who consistently created discord here. Hopefully, we are beyond that now. Other than that, there are no 'rules' here.

Play nice.
Treat other members with respect.
Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Do unto others ....you know the drill.

We have a pretty good mix of homeristic optimists, 'keep it real' skeptics, and outright negative pessimists here. They're all right and wrong at the same time. I move fluidily from one group to another depending on mood, the last game, and what I feel the membership needs at any given time. Sometimes, I force myself into homer mode, just because someone has to be that guy.

One of the things we really think makes this place special is our member-generated blogs and articles. All members after a few posts can start their own personal blog here. We certainly encourage that if you have something to say.

As for 2014, I'm pretty bullish on our chances this year.

Welcome aboard, gentlemen. We're a good place - just have fun with it.

For those of us who are staff, we probably try to balance the homerism with reality. We're fans too and try to provide unique insights to the team. Feel free to reply to my blogs with any measure of optimism or pessimism.

New meat! New meat!

First, in the general sense ... the day I stop being excited about opening day of a new NFL and Redskins season, please point my wheelchair toward a cliff and give a stout shove. Burgundy and gold football has been in my blood since I was 10. 43 years and counting. I figure I have maybe 35 more before I no longer recognize what the beginning of September means. In a complicated, cynical adulthood, few things remain that are pure escapism, pure entertainment, pure passion. Redskins football is such a thing. And the always-present possibility that THIS just might be year the team climbs the mountain again, well, it's more than a sugary kid drink ... it's just this side of Life's Blood.

As to the more immediate, grounded sense ... to me, for anyone other than a truly unhappy sort there is enough to be excited about about this specific team to make optimism easy. There's a GM. Wasn't too long ago that alone would have made many a Redskins sourpuss smile. There's a new coach, selected by that GM, with a credible pedigree; a young, qualified coordinator of the sort we used to only dream about in the post-Norval days. There's a very young QB we've already seen do historic things, heading into year three with so much potential and promise it's not a stretch for even the skeptic to concede that the generation-long march in the desert searching for The Franchise may finally be over. And there is talent spread up and down the roster, on both sides of the ball, deeper than we've seen here in many seasons. No, not a finished product, but trending up. Sharply.

So it comes down to expectations. If anything but a playoff berth is one's base expectation heading into 2014, he may well be disappointed. Because we can't know how long it might take for the new coach and all the developing talent to hit their stride and turn potential into hard results. But to look at where this team and its fans have come from for most of the past 20 years, and look around today, it seems to me it would take an unhappy soul to not look to Sunday afternoon with anything but anticipation.

Bring it on.

Im glad you used more than 4 words this time, bro. That is how I feel every single day of the year about football.

Did something happen at ES this summer? I wouldn't know of course but an awful lot of converts this week alone. Nice to see some of the old guard so Welcome home!

I think what Om meant to say was, "no."



(Sorry I can't help it. It's too easy! Ok ok I'm done. I promise.)