#I went into super extra hiatus this summer because choosing not to interact with pensblr after the pre-free agency was the best thing for me

[coffee-at-annies]

Maybe it's just me about sports in general, but it feels like fans are quicker to gloat about the players even though they've been contributing in other ways (on ice and off ice) when a team is struggling. Scenario: Team A is on a 10 game winning streak in November, all is good from the outside, every player is praised. But come February they hit a massive losing streak and the wheels come off: depth players are scapegoated despite all their efforts, players shuffled around the lineup with some not fitting in their new lines, chemistry is off and every player is getting blamed even unfairly. Then comes along the hindsight takes of should've kept this, should've traded for that when nobody has no clue whether the team would've been better off had they done that.

And while we're at it, is it unpopular to feel bad for BJC? Ever since Hextall protected him over Canner + signed his extension, the fanbase at least from Pens Twitter quickly soured on him when he couldn't sustain his hot start. A one year extension would've been more reasonable instead of two, I get why they wanted him exposed to Seattle instead, he's played decently but he's getting a lot of flak whenever the Pens are slumping. To quote a random post online I came across from a fan of another struggling team, it's easy to say that a team needs to replace a depth player (esp when he is an older player playing beyond his actual capabilities as a fill in for injury) even though he's not been bad, but fans wouldn't say that if the team is on a roll. Y*he tweeted out his pre-extension vs. since then which is why I shared this.

Hey sorry its been over a week. My brain was pretty broken when you sent this and then I forgot it existed because ADHD is like that sometimes. I’m gonna do my best to address some of what you said and my opinion on it.

it feels like fans are quicker to gloat about the players even though they've been contributing in other ways (on ice and off ice) when a team is struggling

I’m a little unsure what you mean here. Gloat is the word that’s throwing me off. I think you’re talking about fans talking shit, but usually when I think of the word gloat, I think of I told you sos or I was rights and I don’t really associate talking shit with gloating unless you’re saying I called it, I knew they’d be terrible. Currently Ren and I are gloating because we were right that the pens would figure their shit out and all we needed to fix the PK was for Teddy to come back from war. I’d consider shit talking a player gloating if you’re gloating about being right about someone sucking.

Sports fans are fickle. They’re quick to panic and quick to react. They’re quick to bet and quick to fold. A cold streak gets people scared really easily. A hot streak gets people euphoric in a way that makes it feel like we can never lose again. Hockey is an inherently silly sport. Ice is slippy. Sometimes bounces just don’t go your way. The Devils had a franchise record win-streak snap on Wednesday because of 3 no-goal reviews. Matt Murray technically got a shutout despite the puck hitting the back of the net. Shit happens. You gotta roll with the punches.

As for the scenario you outlined, that was basically the pens last season. We can what if and speculate but that’s all it is, speculation. The thing is you can’t stop fans from speculating. What ifs are a part of sports. So much of sports is up to chance that you can’t predict everything so well what if this happened or this happened or this happened. Its a talking point. Sports has a lot of those.

A thing I think that’s worth mentioning is that fans aren’t the only ones doing these sorts of talking. Reporters are people to and they’re some of the people driving the narratives. Of course they are, its their jobs. They’re paid by the word and by the click. The reason everyone was talking about Geno’s contract woes after R*ssi broke the story is because it was easy money in a slow offseason news cycle.

These people are paid to tell us stories, but that doesn’t mean they’re unbiased. I personally really like JFresh on twitter because he’s very up front about how ZAR is his emotional support defensive analytics darling. R*ssi has always been really up Geno’s ass and Y*he has always been weirdly hard. A lot of reporters like to be hard on players and call it tough love or objectivity and I’m like nah. I’d honestly prefer a reporter who tells you their favorite player than pretend they don’t have one. They’re fans with opinions too and if they view someone negatively then it will embolden some fans who are fickle.

is it unpopular to feel bad for BJC

I’d say no but I already talked about him vaguely here. Look you can’t make people say nice things about a player they’ve decided to hate. Look at how pensblr feels about archibald and desm*th. Pens twitter has decided to hate BJC and there’s not much you can do about that. You can’t make a worstie into a bestie even with the best playing. Plenty of ppl still don’t like Archibald despite the fact that he’s playing pretty good for us.

it's easy to say that a team needs to replace a depth player... even though he's not been bad, but fans wouldn't say that if the team is on a roll

Fans absolutely can and will. We’ve been on winning streaks and I’ve still criticized desm*th. He can get a shutout and I’d still think he’s a streaky goalie and we need someone with more consistency. People love to assign blame and find fault. The team being on a roll will quiet some of the opportunistic haters but it won’t quiet everyone and people will always talk shit. There’s always something someone could do better and those sorts of people will find it.

The best you can do is curate your online experience and block people. You are not obligated to give everyone the time of day or every thought the same amount of weight. If all they post is negativity about BJC and they don’t have a nice thing to say then what is the point of continuing to listen to them? They obviously aren’t going to change their mind so why keep giving them space and a platform. Its not even worth it to argue because arguing online is using your own platform to give them more visibility. This is why people who send Anon hate won’t block you first, they want you to platform their assholishness and validate them by responding publicly, by getting upset.

If this is making you mad, then take steps to remove yourself from it. I’ve got ppl in hockeyblr blocked because they wouldn’t have a nice word to say about the pens if it killed them. I’ve got ppl in pensblr blocked because I didn’t like how they talked about players and fellow fans and I didn’t want to see it on my dash. Curation of online experiences is hard, but if something is making you mad or angry, you can take steps to distance yourself from it. Its kind of the same principle as don’t like, don’t read, but for the shit people say online.