Caution: LA is coming to steal your NFL team in 2011

[KenFSU]

I will never, ever understand the sector of the Jacksonville population that seemingly revels in pointing out the team's flaws and gleefully listing reasons to not support the Jaguars.

It all comes back to the inferiority complex that needlessly permeates this otherwise fine city. I think a lot of it is simply a defense mechanism. Accurate or not, people think they see the writing on the wall for the team's future in Jacksonville, and choose to turn their backs on the Jags before the Jags have the opportunity to turn their backs on them.

[copperfiend]

I will never, ever understand the sector of the Jacksonville population that seemingly revels in pointing out the team's flaws and gleefully listing reasons to not support the Jaguars.

I think it happens in every sports town. It could be worse. We could be in Detroit, Oakland or Cleveland right now.

[ac]

As a city, we do tend to "break up with the hot girl way out of our league before she can come to her senses and dump us" quite often; figuratively speaking.

Either that or we treat her like crap 'til she leaves.

[Wacca Pilatka]

It all comes back to the inferiority complex that needlessly permeates this otherwise fine city. I think a lot of it is simply a defense mechanism. Accurate or not, people think they see the writing on the wall for the team's future in Jacksonville, and choose to turn their backs on the Jags before the Jags have the opportunity to turn their backs on them.

I hate to say it, but I think you're right.

I love Jacksonville so much...it's beautiful, people are extraordinarily nice, the history is fascinating, the climate is great...and yet it constantly seems to look down on itself.  And with the Jaguars' situation, it's like people are absorbing and internalizing all the garbage that's been said about Jacksonville since 1993.  Statements to the effect that ticket sales have always been this bad are being thrown around like fact, and a large segment of the reaction is a bunch of people either saying "you're right, we don't deserve a team" or "I can go to the game but I choose not to because the Jaguars are unworthy, here's a list of marginally accurate reasons why!"  It's incredibly frustrating to me.  I love everything about Jacksonville, I always have, I argued with anyone who would listen for years and years as a kid as to why it should have a team, and I'm watching itself shoot itself in the foot while I'm buying all the tickets I can to try to help.

Whether this ship sinks or repairs itself, I'll be on it to the end.  I can only hope this turns around.  I've rooted passionately for a number of teams in my life, but nothing in sports has garnered more passion from me than rooting for the Jaguars.  I'm not from Jacksonville, I've never lived there, but it's my city, and whether the people in the uniforms are going 0-16 or 16-0, they represent my city.

[Steve]

I think it happens in every sports town. It could be worse. We could be in Detroit, Oakland or Cleveland right now.

Those fans do complain more than we do, but they complain on the way to the game, during the tailgate, at the game, and then after with friends.

A little different, right?

[JaxNative68]

I will probably be back when my children have grown to the point where I am not spending every weekend coaching their t-ball, football and soccer teams.  When I am not coaching their teams on the weekends, I like to take them to do the other activities they enjoy, fishing and golf.  During the week, I only get to see my children in the morning for about an hour and in the evenings for about three hours, so I really value my weekend time with them.  Right now they and their interests control my life . . . and I would have in any other way.

With my son's interest growing in football, I may be back sooner than I realize.

On a side note, when I was going to the games, I still bitched about their performance.  Complaining is human nature.

Also, the amount of money isn't the real issue, as is the value that you get for that money.  I can get angry and let down for free in this world, no need to pay for bad emotions.

[Wacca Pilatka]

I will never, ever understand the sector of the Jacksonville population that seemingly revels in pointing out the team's flaws and gleefully listing reasons to not support the Jaguars.

I think it happens in every sports town. It could be worse. We could be in Detroit, Oakland or Cleveland right now.

Oh, sure, the volume of negative fans is enormous anywhere.  I live in the Redskins' (secondary) market, where opinion shifts violently back and forth at light speed from Super Bowl expectations to "OMG WORST TEAM EVER!!!!111!" from one week to the next (although this year, for obvious reasons it's stayed in the latter category).  But we have a much smaller margin for error.

What I'm getting at is in the wake of all this depressing news about the ticket sales drop, there's a disturbing number of supposed Jaguar fans who seem to go out of their way to list all the reasons not to buy tickets or support the team (that is, on the T-U forum and jaguars.com, not really this one).  A lot of them are based on antiquated facts such as the departed GM or certain departed players.  It's like it's become trendy in some circles to bash the team or to brag about having the means to buy tickets, but choosing not to.  There's people on the Jaguar message board who never pass up the opportunity to mention that they are no longer ticket buyers, to rip on the stadium (which I think is quite nice, especially compared to the current and former Washington ones), to advocate for driving to Tallahassee to watch the game rather than buying tickets, even to speculatively crow about whether this could be the last season in Jacksonville coming up.  It's self-cannibalization.

[David]

It all comes back to the inferiority complex that needlessly permeates this otherwise fine city. I think a lot of it is simply a defense mechanism. Accurate or not, people think they see the writing on the wall for the team's future in Jacksonville, and choose to turn their backs on the Jags before the Jags have the opportunity to turn their backs on them.

Actually i've had to snap myself out of that exact line of thinking.

It's like "well they're leaving anyway, so why bother supporting them?"

If everyone does feel that way and acts on it by not showing up, it'll only accelerate their departure.  I think we're at a crossroads in our relationship with the NFL right now but there's still time to turn it around. Plus, we're not the only team L.A. is looking at.

(the following is a loosely related side rant, sorry!)

A lot of people say there's no passion in pro-football, but i've seen some of the other team's fans and I have to disagree with that. Philly nearly burnt the city down after they lost to the Pats during the Superbowl here in 2005, ok so that's misdirected passion but still, a lot of cities do have a passion for their teams. Personally I feel more of a connection with a team that shares the name of the city I live in, as opposed to a college I never attended that's 70, 160 or 350 miles away.

Plus, unlike college games,  most of the ladies at the NFL games aren't twelve-fifteen years my junior so I can let my eyes wander without having to guess how old that girl who looks 22 really is.

"If a woman tells you she's 20/and looks 16/she's 12. If she tells you she's 26/and looks 26/she's damn near 40"

[ac]

JaxNative-

Hey, that's fine.  I don't have the skill for coaching, but I'll be in the stands for mine when the time comes.  

So, about seeing value: What will it take to restore value for you?  What adjustment needs to take place?

As an aside, not intending to be judgmental, but for me I had to make an adjustment in my own thought process.  I had to decide that no one can let me down or anger me without my consent.  Sounds like self-help BS, and I'm not always successful at it, but I have certainly calmed down quite a bit re: the Jags and my Noles, and life in general.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Actually i've had to snap myself out of that exact line of thinking.

It's like "well they're leaving anyway, so why bother supporting them?"

If everyone does feel that way and acts on it by not showing up, it'll only accelerate their departure.  I think we're at a crossroads with our relaitonship with the NFL right now but there's still time to turn it around. Plus, we're not the only team L.A. is looking at.

Absolutely right.  There is a window of opportunity to turn this around.  There is enough money in Jacksonville to support pro football.  There is enough passion in Jacksonville to support pro football.  The team has had perfectly respectable attendance in most years before this one.  There are plenty of people who care about the Jaguars.  

This is a critical time for the team's future in this city.  The last thing anyone should do is assume defeat and hand the Tony Kornheisers and Michael Silvers the victory they've sickly been pursuing since the beginning.  No one is going to do an end-zone dance over my city's misery if I can help it.

[Shwaz]

Shwaz:  take the football out of your ass and grow up.
1) baby einstein dvd's are a sham, there is no proof to what they claim
2) play dates are for disgruntled mom's who have no friend and hate their lives.

Coming from a guy with a Ty Webb avatar I'll take this as a joke.

I will never, ever understand the sector of the Jacksonville population that seemingly revels in pointing out the team's flaws and gleefully listing reasons to not support the Jaguars.

It all comes back to the inferiority complex that needlessly permeates this otherwise fine city. I think a lot of it is simply a defense mechanism. Accurate or not, people think they see the writing on the wall for the team's future in Jacksonville, and choose to turn their backs on the Jags before the Jags have the opportunity to turn their backs on them.

This is the only real excuse I've heard thus far! Disliking the Jags has become fashionable... and it comes from both transplants and natives.

[Omarvelous09]

Can't imagine Jacksonville without the Jags...but maybe that'll make room for an NBA team!!! YEA BOY!!

[JaxNative68]

Tony Kornheiser is an idiot.  How can someone become a sports reporter when they have probably never played a game of organized sports in their life.  I guessing he can not throw a ball of any sort more than ten yards.  I assume the only balls he has played with are his own.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Tony Kornheiser is an idiot.  How can someone become a sports reporter when they have probably never played a game of organized sports in their life.  I guessing he can not throw a ball of any sort more than ten yards.  I assume the only balls he has played with are his own.

No kidding.  And I grew up around DC, so I was stuck with him for years and years before there was an Internet. 

His only topics are inanities about the handful of stars he does know, claiming not to know the players on any non-marquee team (inevitably: "Go ahead, name five (Jaguars/Titans/Bills/etc.).  You can't!"), making cracks about Waffle House that betray the fact that he's never been inside one, hyping the Redskins to death when they win one game, beating the Redskins to death when they lose one game, and ridiculing the bad marketing departments of certain DC-area teams (fish in a barrel).  Oh, and lies about Jacksonville.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Can't imagine Jacksonville without the Jags...but maybe that'll make room for an NBA team!!! YEA BOY!!

That'd turn me from an NFL fan to an NBA fan...