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Ten Most Delusional Fan Bases in College Sports

Discussion in 'Sooner Football' started by Jacie, Mar 12, 2015.


  1. Jacie

    Jacie SoonerFans.com Elite Member

    10. South Carolina Football Fans: The Gamecocks’ fans see their beloved program as one of the best in the SEC. But in order to be the best, you do have to win some big bowl games, right? Sure the Gamecocks have won three consecutive postseason games, but not once in the entire 16-year era did they even play in a BCS contest. Furthermore, in the 22 years that SC has played in the SEC, they’ve finished with a losing record in-conference 12 times. It’s only been the last three seasons, which all featured 11 wins, that South Carolina has put up double-digit victories since moving conferences.

    Many South Carolina fans consider the Gamecocks an elite program but it is far, far too premature to put them in that category. They have had some big personalities come through Columbia lately, including the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, Jadeveon Clowney and their current coach Steve Spurrier. The attention that these personalities have received, much of it off the field, has helped build South Carolina fan’s delusion considerably.

    9. Michigan Football Fans: The fans of the Maize and Blue see themselves as rooting for one of the all-time elite programs in college football history. That may be true, but many of those same supporters also believe that Michigan is currently a great program. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Over the last ten years, Michigan is 2-6 in bowl games; twice missing the postseason altogether.

    In that same time span, the Wolverines are averaging only 7.7 wins-per-season. Those aren’t the numbers of a great or elite program, they instead scream mediocre. To put Michigan fan’s delusion into perspective, over the last ten years, Wisconsin is averaging 9.4 wins-per-season. To call Michigan football elite is to ignore logic.

    In the entire 16-year BCS era, Michigan never played for a national championship. The same can be said about many big programs, but Wolverines fans have taken it harder than most.

    8. UCLA Basketball Fans: Over the last six seasons, UCLA has missed the NCAA Tournament twice and hasn’t even made it past the Sweet Sixteen. To call the Bruin’s current program elite, as many UCLA fans do, is weighing history drastically more than their current results. The Bruins haven’t won the national championship since 1995, despite coming very close three times in the mid-2000s. To be fair, UCLA is still a good basketball program playing in a good conference. But they are no longer one of the elite schools to play for in the nation.

    They’re that classic fan base that cannot stop living in the past.

    7. Alabama Football Fans: Is ‘Bama currently the best program in college football? Yes, obviously – the Tide has won three national championships in the past five years. But if you ask fans of the Crimson Tide “who is the best program of the last 25 years?” most would say Alabama. People forget that between 1997 and 2007, Alabama had eight seasons where they lost at least five games; often more than that.

    Would you believe that in the past 32 seasons, Alabama has only won the SEC title five times?

    Tide fans act like their team has been the greatest in college football year after year despite the numbers proving otherwise. Not to mention their fans now genuinely believe that they will win the national championship every fall. Such expectations are simply unrealistic.

    6. Syracuse Basketball Fans: Syracuse has been a very successful program during the Jim Boeheim era. The Orange(men) even won the national championship in 2003 — thanks to the sensational freshman Carmelo Anthony. But many fans of the Orange believe that the school is one of the 5-10 best college basketball programs in the country, and it’s simply not true. SU, under Boeheim, has only reached the Final Four in four of his 38 seasons. In contrast, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, the only head coach with more wins, has won four national championships and reached the Final Four 11 times in 33 years leading the Blue Devils.

    Syracuse is consistently one of the most talked-about teams every year – they’ve even been ranked No. 1 during the season numerous times in the past decade. But when it comes to postseason success, the Orange falter more than some of the other “elite” schools – for whatever reason. Syracuse fans are notorious for citing excuses – like Fab Melo’s suspension or Arinze Onuaku’s knee injury – as reasons why they can’t get it done in March.

    5. Oregon Football Fans:

    Ducks’ fans believe that their squad has reached the elite status in college football. Remember their “Bring on ‘Bama” signs? That sums up the consensus attitude of their supporters despite the fact that the Ducks have never won a national championship. Granted, they’re in the middle of their most successful stretch in program history, but still; they’ve never gotten over the hump.

    Part of the delusional has to do with school’s relationship with Nike and its ever-changing uniforms. Oregon is looked at as a flashy program right now, and it attracts some of the top speedsters in the country because of it. But it hasn’t always been that way.

    Historically, the Ducks aren’t even a power in their own conference – now the Pac-12. Five schools – USC, UCLA, Washington, Stanford and Cal – have won more conference titles than the Ducks. Oregon has only won five conference championships since 1958. Hard to believe, right?

    4. Indiana Basketball Fans: The Hoosiers are one of the most iconic and historic programs in all of sports. But Indiana’s fans are boisterous about the Hoosiers still being an elite program. The Hoosiers have only been invited to five NCAA Tournaments over the last ten seasons and haven’t gotten past the Sweet Sixteen since 2002. What about those numbers says elite?

    There’s a lot of debate about “blue blood” programs in college basketball. Indiana certainly has the history, with five national championship banners hanging in the rafters, but the Hoosiers haven’t won one since 1987 and seem to be slipping further and further away from the conversation. They aren’t even considered one of the top programs in the Big Ten right now, much less the entire country.

    The Hoosiers’ superiority complex over the other schools in Indiana, namely Purdue and Butler, is comical. The Boilermakers and Bulldogs have both been invited to the NCAA Tournaments more times (six) than Indiana has over the last ten seasons. Not to mention the Bulldogs have been to two recent Final Fours. IU isn’t even the best program in Indiana in recent years — but don’t tell its fans that.

    3. Arkansas Football Fans: Despite all evidence to the contrary, Razorbacks’ fans are quite vocal about their program’s prestige. They take pride in being in the SEC, the best conference in the land, and consider themselves one of the better programs in the nation…for some reason. In the last decade, they’ve only reached the postseason five times. They’ve never even won an SEC championship, much less come close to winning a national championship since joining the league. The only title the Razorbacks claim is from way back in 1964.

    Since 2004, they’re averaging a marginal 6.8 wins-per-season. They also went 0-8 in the SEC last year. No respectable program should ever do that, regardless of coaching changes. How Arkansas fans can brag about anything is astonishing. The SEC is undoubtedly the best conference in the nation, but Razorbacks fans can’t really claim that their program is contributing to that fact

    2. Kentucky Basketball Fans
    : The Wildcats are one of the most successful programs in college basketball history and are currently one of the top schools that high school stars want to play for in the nation. Year after year, they reload talent and put one of the best products in all of college basketball on the floor. But, their fans have quite unreasonable expectations.

    Literally every year, their fans believe that the Wildcats will win it all; starting all freshmen or not. That’s just not possible, regardless of what 2012 taught us. Wildcats fans don’t want to hear that. Not only are they obsessed with winning the national championship every year, they consider Kentucky to be by far the greatest program in college basketball history. UCLA has 11 national titles – three more than UK. Wildcats fans will point out that most of those came in a different era – even though the same can be said about the majority of Kentucky’s.

    There is no room for debate in the mind’s of Kentucky fans and that type of closed-minded thinking is inherently flawed.

    1. Notre Dame Football Fans: Is there a more overrated team in all of sports? Over the last 20 years, the Fighting Irish are a woeful 3-10 in the most important games of them all — bowl games. Plus, they posted an 0-4 record in BCS bowl contests, including a 42-14 whooping at the hands of Alabama in the 2012 BCS title game. They haven’t won a national title since 1988.

    Despite these blatant facts, Notre Dame fans still consider the Fighting Irish to be an elite program. Need more proof? Notre Dame has only two 10-win seasons since 1994. Northwestern also has two 10-win seasons since 1994. That’s all you need to know.

    The fans of the Fighting Irish are as delusional as any in all of college sports. They view their team as an elite and respected program even though they have had relatively no real success for an entire generation. Obviously Notre Dame has an extensive history, one of the grandest in all of college football, but that history is buried deep in the past. But good luck getting any Fighting Irish fans to admit that.
     
  2. soonergirlNeugene

    soonergirlNeugene New Member

    I'm not really sure Oregon belongs in there, certainly not ahead of the likes of Michigan and Alabama. Same for UCLA tbh. Fans out here aren't the kind of fans that you see in the South or the Midwest. They may be loud and crazy on gameday, but football just doesn't live in their hearts the same way. Oregon comes the closest of any Pac-12 school though. It's still not the same. "Go Ducks" isn't a greeting, cheer, goodbye, and absolution like "Roll Tide" "War Eagle" and "Boomer Sooner." They are proud of their team, but unless it's gameday, it's sort of like the same way you might be proud of your local post office being faster than the one the next town over. It just doesn't soak right down into their identity out West. And UCLA is a thousand times worse.
     
  3. Pride1Mom

    Pride1Mom Member

    Oklahoma State fans in anything.
     
  4. BoulderSooner79

    BoulderSooner79 SoonerFans.com Elite Member

    Being delusional isn't all bad. It's one way to keep the spirits up after an 8-5 season.
     
  5. Bourbon St Sooner

    Bourbon St Sooner SoonerFans.com Elite Member

    To call Alabama one of the most delusional fan bases when they've won 3 of the last 5 titles smacks of "Please read my article. I need web hits." The most delusional fan base bar none is aTm. They think they are an elite program. They've won one conference title in 20 years. They've had one season of note since RC left (Johnny Foosball's frosh year). And the only national title they have is 75 years ago.

    Go ahead aggie. Chant sec! sec! sec! alongside the piggie fans because that's basically what you are.
     
  6. BoulderSooner79

    BoulderSooner79 SoonerFans.com Elite Member

    I think Bama is down to 3 titles in the last 6 now, so yeah, delusional. :highly_amused:

    And I now pledge to be a delusional Sooner fan for '15
     
  7. SoonerForLife92

    SoonerForLife92 New Member

    Could not agree more. I've met numerous ridiculous fans from other fan bases. However the few fans of a&m I've experienced blow away those others with their arrogance lately.
     

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