[jayswin]

I posted this in the gear grinding thread, but then thought it would be a legitmate topic for the FOI forum. I'm interested in how people follow the Flames; as in how much effort do you put into worrying/caring about the direction of the Flames? And has it differed over the years for you?

I would also like to preface this by saying this isn't a shot at those that post negativly, as if anything I admire their ability to come on here and express displeasure year after year. They're true Flames fans, as it would be easy enough to say "screw this team, they suck, I'm out".

I have officially changed my way of following the Flames, and it feels great.

I read the FOI forum and it's full of vitrol and hatred for the Flames and managment. Every day people log on and express frustration, and make sarcastic comments about the organization and players, and explain how the Flames are pathetic and going nowhere. They watch the games, and post a message per minute after losses, but only a few fans stick around to post anything after a win.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they don't have a right to be that way, and I don't think they're bad fans like some people say. But it just isn't for me anymore. Three or four years ago I would be all over every move and constantly critisizing the team and getting worked up over everything that happened, and worrying about the future of the team and all that.


All it leads to (especially these days) is getting more frustration out of following the Flames than enjoyment. And to me, that defeats the purpose of watching sports, Frustration is for work and real life problems, sports are supposed to be an escape from that.

The moves and decisions the Flames make are out of my control, personally. So many come onto this message board getting bent out of shape and expressing frustration every day at the Flames, year after year, calling for firings, belittling players and managment and just generally posting vitrol towards the team.

I've now made my role as a fan to simply turn on the game and cheer for a win.

Flames franchise heading in wrong direction? Okay, that sucks, but no time for that now, the games starting, hopefully they win.

Flames should have traded away good players for potential future good players but didn't because they want to win now? Cool, that directly benifits me right now, because there's three Flames games on this week.

We have no plan for a goalie after Kipper leaves? Alright, hopefully they come up with a plan, and if they don't I guess we won't be a good as if they do, but right now Kipper's still playing, hopefully he gets a shutout tonight.

"Who cares if the Flames make the playoffs, they won't be good enough to make any noise, Flames management is so stupid!!!". Oh well, playoff hockey is awesome, and better when the Flames are there. They have a worse chance at advancing than the team they're playing against, but hopefully they pull off an upset.

I don't feel I'm any less of a fan, as I still watch every game and hope they win every time I turn on the TV, but the trades/direction of the team/question marks this past few years have become such an annoyance, to the point of majorly taking away from my enjoyment of following the Flames, and the reason I started following the Flames was for enjoyment. So this new way of following the team has brought back that enjoment.