I apologize if I interpreted your posts as being more negative than you intended them to be. I will however respectfully disagree with you somewhat about being a homer and homerism. Why is it so dangerous to be a homer? I think it better to be to much of a homer than to much of a hater. Being a hater can cloud judgment as bad or worse than being a homer. Under this regime we had one pretty good season and lost one game....... and lost it by doing all the things the coach said we could not do if we were to win. Yet the frustration of the fans after one loss has led to many unfair and over exaggerated criticisms of our players and coaches. IMO that is haterism.
Honestly, I don't understand how some people enjoy being fans of a team they come on here and run into the ground with some of the comments that are made about it's players and coaches. Some people wonder why we get no respect from the national media...... I wonder why we can't get it from our fan base. IMO most of the criticisms have been leaning more towards hater than homer........ with a few balanced posts mixed in.
Sometimes when I get worked up I can come across more strongly than I intend. I actually
like Sparano. I like Penny.
Where I wig out is when blind spots are coddled and used as excuses to keep status quo, whenever status quo is so blatantly flawed. This is where homerism hurts the most: Let's say a coaches blind spot coincides with a constituency homerism -- he might just start believing, "Hey, Penny
can be the next Brady!" like so many here appear to actually believe Penny is the second best QB in the NFL next to Brady, or even equal. They actually believe all that junk about "arm strength" developed in the offseason, etc.
Then you get such stuff as Henning saying ALL OF HIS SKILL POSITION PLAYERS [referencing WRs] ARE STUDS!
Now that is just laughable and so patently not true: but if he actually believes even a fraction of that statement, it does not bode well for the Phins chances at upgrading the position. He actually appears to believe it and the Trifecta's strange drafting at that position seems to back it up. Which gives us 4 out of 5 possession WRs very marginal in talent and gamebreaking skill... 4 out of 5 fairly easily shut down WRs.
This is how homerism kills: you actually start believing the sycophantic press articles about yourself and discount any criticism or critical analysis as uneducated or misguided, and you begin feeding into systemic blind spots: you believe your draft picks are good just b.c you drafted them; you believe your personnel changes are ironclad just b.c you made them; you begin locking a team into a talent rut b.c you arrogantly begin believing you are simply two steps ahead of the system and don't need talent [in a player's league] to be successful; you begin saying things like, "Our QB can make ALL the throws..." whenever all talent and pro scouts around the league know differently.
Then you get into a game where your starting QB is so limited and uncomfortable [can't throw downfield unless full mechanics and plenty of time to set and step up] that he attempts 29 passes and ONLY THREE OF THEM TRAVEL FURTHER THAN 15 yards past LOS.
Meanwhile your only WR playmaker is running wild in the secondary.
This is how homerism kills a team.
It lets a second year coach get slightly arrogant -- enough to come into a tougher season without any high level upgrades to the second most important skill position on offense.
This is why I call for accountability and clear-eyed thinking. Any time a team gets SO HIGH on marginal players that it excludes upgrades at that position, it kills a team's success. Every time.
LD
