My Take on Moral Wins in Sports And Why It's Okay to Be Upset At Your Team

Remember in my intro post that I would be talking about things that would make people upset?! Well...here it is...ON MY FIRST OFFICIAL POST! Hehehe. I want to discuss why I, as a sports fan with an old-school mentality, do not accept moral wins whatsoever. Take my favorite college football sports team for instance, the Tennessee Vols. Under Coach Butch Jones, they have done some decent things. But in the conference they are in (SEC, which stands for Southeastern Conference), decent isn't good enough. GOOD isn't good enough. While I understand things are a work in progress, that seems to be a broken record within this once-proud and feared college football franchise. While Vols usually win against teams they are "supposed to win" against, over the last few years, it seems like the Vols can’t win when it counts the most. The Vols have yet to beat Florida in the last decade and Alabama in the last . Maybe it’s just me, but most unbiased sports fans ain’t gonna care one bit about the stats in a game (unless you’re a big star in sports such as Peyton Manning, LeBron James, Adrian Peterson, Kevin Durant, etc.). All that matters to the average (NOT hardcore) sports fan is the win-loss column and whoever wins a championship.

I can understand and see why many Vols fans (and other people) celebrate moral victories. I don't have any problem with people celebrating moral victories. But moral victories are not registered in the win-loss columns. Moral victories don’t have you fighting for a conference title. Moral victories don’t give you a shot at a bowl game. Moral victories don’t put you in a position to play for a championship game. Losses plus good efforts don’t equal titles or get you in bowl games or playoffs. ACTUAL WINS ARE WINS AND ACTUAL LOSSES ARE LOSSES. No average sports fan cares about the extra stuff. That’s just how sports are. I didn't make the rules on that, folks.

And here's something else that bugs me when it comes to sports. When a team loses and you show emotion about them losing...you're called a hater. What's the heck happened to having pride in your team even if they lose. Yes, you have their back, but it doesn't mean that you have to accept every loss! When you are upset at your team and don't jump on the bandwagon of the latest winning team, it shows you are a true fan of your team and not just there when they win. And should your team truly prosper, you have bragging rights over everyone else as you can say in all honesty that you stuck with your squad through thick and thin. Newsflash people...it's okay to cheer for your favorite teams AND criticize them when they goof up. It's all a part of being a REAL sports fan. Cheer your head off, scream at the TV (or at the game if you're there live) when they are stinking up the joint. Never be afraid to be passionate about the teams you love, whether they win or lose. But as UCLA Bruins football coach Henry Russell ("Red") Sanders once said..."Winning isn't everything; It's the only thing".