A Commentary on Fans in General

This is, in my opinion a very good article written by a Georgia Bulldog blogger.

Act Like Your Momma Raised You Right. . .

‘The question is where they got the idea that this was acceptable behavior . . . and the answer, shamefully, is that they got that idea from the tenth most loathsome person in college football.

It’s not just college football, though . . . it’s college basketball, too. Heck, it’s not even just sports; civility is on the wane in life, and you’re reading this on one of the reasons why.

Last October, when Georgia lost to Tennessee, I devoted nine sentences of a sixteen-paragraph, eight-point posting to the Volunteers and what I wrote continued to be cited by Big Orange fans at least as recently as last weekend. Since the author of the posting linked to at the end of the previous sentence indicated that he wanted to meet me, I sent him a cordial e-mail explaining my position, outlining where I was proven wrong (e.g., in my statement that Tennessee would not attend a bowl game) and where I was proven right (i.e., in my statement that Lane Kiffin would not remain in Knoxville for long), and letting him know I would be happy to arrange to meet with him if he planned to be in Athens when the Vols came calling next fall. He wrote me back a gracious e-mail and all was well.

The anonymity of the internet makes it easy to dehumanize your opponent, who seems like less of a real person when he is just a screen name and a screed. When you glimpse the individual underneath—not the message board moniker who needs to get a life, but the person with a name and a job and a family who has a life—it becomes a lot harder to view him the way, say, this guy views me.’

– Dawgsports.com
2/10/10

I think he raises some very good points. Worth a read.