I want someone to clearly explain this to me...

I'm not a huge fan of creating sides, but I do so to lend explanation. The bigger divide for me is the Blazer "believers" versus the "non-believers".

From my perspective, the best analogy I can think of is to look at being a Blazer fan like I look at being Christian. I can't understand those that call themselves Blazer fans, but don't believe in this team. To your point mags, the non-believers use the defense that they are realists. Someone even used the term "atheist" yesterday. Which made me ask myself, so wait, if Blazer fans believe like Christians, and you call yourself an atheist, then I think we've identified the conflict and why these contentious discussions keep occurring.

I'm of the opinion that you aren't a Blazer fan if you don't believe in this team. Some may disagree, but that's my perspective. It sheds light on why the Blazer atheists call themselves realists, and why they tend to seek to tear down, or discredit, what Blazer fans believe. So, I guess my point is, if you aren't a believer, why post on a Blazer board if your goal is not to troll? It's like going to a Christian forum to post and argue with all the believer what's wrong with Christianity.

To be clear, I don't care if you're Christian, or atheist, or Hindu. But I do question why someone would post their non-believer opinions in an attempt to troll, if not change, the way Blazer believers think?

This isn't a religious debate, just using an analogy to lend explain what I've noticed on this forum.

 

Hmm, so by this logic, you believed last year and the year before that we were contenders as well because as a Christian I don't pick and choose what day to believe in God.

God has no flaws, he is perfect. The Blazers have many flaws

As a Christian, I believe God is perfect. As a Blazer fan I can see with my own eyes their flaws on defense, the bench, lack of front court depth and points in the paint scoring

I think your analogy is WAY off base.

 

Absolutely. And multiplied ten-fold in sports media. The very term "contender" is kind of a joke, as if there's some kind of magical binary label that separates the good teams from the bad. The power rankings, the rating formulas, the contender lists, and all the rest of the analyst mumbo-jumbo is basically just a bunch of manufactured talking points meant to rile up sports fans (see how well it's working here?) with almost no bearing on who will actually "contend".

I think there's some confusion flying around regarding what you mean by having "belief" in a sports team. Are you talking about rooting for and supporting the team, no matter what? Or are you talking about having heartfelt confidence that the team will win it all every single season?

 

What's the argument, again?

 

While I do believe there are 'trolls' that post on this forum (people who take a particular stance for a reaction...), I don't think that posters sharing the opinion that the Blazers might be playing above their heads right now and might come down is the same thing as trolling.

The Blazers are good, and we all pretty much know that at this point. There seems to be some variance in opinion of exactly how good they are. I believe they're good, and I also agree with MM that there are some critical issues about their defense and their bench. That doesn't make watching the games any less enjoyable to me, and it doesn't make the wins any less sweeter.

A lot of what you're talking about is a philosophical question about what it means to be a fan of a team. I think the answer to this question is different to everyone, and it's kind of funny that this really comes out when a team starts winning beyond everyone's expectations.

 

That people working for MIT lack substance

 

Perhaps, but this is what gets lost in the heated discussions. Throw in the sporadic troll that seeks to only get a rise out of people, and you get a lengthy mess of boring discourse. My point is not to call anyone out, but to have fans ask themselves to be upfront about where they are coming from (i.e. believer or non-believer). It's much easier to understand one's opinion when I know where they are coming from. Although I stand by my analogy that it doesn't make sense to me for an antheist to argue with Christians on a Christian forum.

 

HAHAHA

That just might be the stupidest analogy I've heard in my entire life.

 

Can't fix stupid.

 

You must be an atheist.

 

It is stupid. You may have me on ignore though, so you didn't pick up on that from my previous post.

 

I won't go as far as to call it "stupid" but it's not a good analogy.

 

I'm a Christians and I don't think it's a good analogy either.

 

What the hell happened to this thread?

 

It's ok if you can't relate.

 

Because... Lot's of critics of "the analogy". It's a great analogy if people can't explain why it's not, let alone offer a better analogy.

 

It's a bad analogy because belief in a higher power is almost completely unrelated to belief in a sports team. Comparing the two is nonsensical.

 

It's easy to give a better analogy.

A fan is like a parent. Even when their child does wrong, they still love them. They amplify the smallest accomplishments, and stand firm against any negativity that is tossed their way. Regardless of where their team sits, they will always love their team.

Believing in God is loving a being that is perfect, does no wrong and will always overcome. If that were the case, our team would be winning each and every title ever existing.

 

Yes and it has been one heck of a long time since we seen them be the best team on th court
20 plus times before Christmas.

I enjoy watching this team play, there are things I wish they would do, there a plays I wish they would run, there are things I wish Stotts would do, but I enjoy watching them play every game I watch. It has been one hell of a long time since I could say that.