Monday, September 24, 2012

Fickle Fans

The sun arose in Iowa City, Iowa Sunday morning.

The way some fans reacted to Iowa’s stunning 32-31 loss to Central Michigan Saturday, it made you wonder about that warm glow in the sky.

As predicted, Iowa fans were not in a joyful mood after losing to a Mid-American Conference school on a field goal with seconds remaining. Their team is now 2-2 heading into the Big Ten Conference season. Some say Iowa is a break or two from being 4-0. The Hawks are also a play or two from being 1-3.

Hawk fans expressed their displeasure on post-game call-in shows and Internet message boards. Frankly, this Iowa squad isn’t a strong one. Many knew that coming into the season. It was termed the two words every fan hates: rebuilding year. But sometimes fans follow their hearts instead of their heads. Isn’t fan short for fanatic?

One thing that amazes me about fans is their short memories. You don’t hear much about the coach’s salary when the team is winning. But when the team is losing, fans cry about how much the coach is earning. I guess money equals victories.

Iowa fans were not happy with coach Kirk Ferentz Saturday. There were calls and message board posts demanding his firing. But Ferentz isn’t going anywhere. He’s been at Iowa since 1999 and has a long-term contract. Reports say Ferentz would receive about $20 million in a buyout scenario.

In the past, Iowa fans were concerned Ferentz would leave the program for an NFL job. Now, some wish a NFL team would take the coach away. Be careful what you wish for Iowa fans.







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Iowa can still having a winning season,the Big Ten is fairly weak and a lot of games could go either way. The fans will continue to whine but I think hes still a solid coach. To finish above .500 they need to improve each game and get some breaks

Paul Delger said...

Thanks for your comments. Saturday home against Minnesota is a big game. Iowa cannot afford to keep losing games at home if it wants to have a respectable season.