What Does It Mean To Be a Fan: For Our Younger Fans

After a loss like tonight, a lot of younger fans are understandably pretty crushed, not necessarily because of how we played or any particular statistic, but simply because there are a lot of young fans in the middle of a pivotal time in NC State history and it generally sucks losing to those jerks.  As a not-so-old fan, I wanted to maybe relate to some of those that are in my same age group and younger.  Please forgive me if I ramble.

A BRIEF ANECDOTE…

In 2005 I was a sophomore at NC State, still hitching rides to the football games with my father because he had a parking pass ‘real close’ to the stadium so… I wasn’t going to pass that up.  I can remember getting a few of my friends together and riding down to the stadium with dad for my first NC State – UNC football game since I was attending State (the year prior obviously being a game @Chapel Hill).  I remember that the game was sub-par for most of the day, but the last half consisted of NC State taking a 24-14 lead followed by three incredibly long UNC drives resulting in a touchdown and a few field goals.  NC State lost the game 31-24.  After having seen how successful NC State had been in some of the years prior and getting my first ‘adult’ experiences at Carter-Finley at a student rather than the son of an alumni, the high of this new experience was quickly smashed by the harsh reality that we simply weren’t that good.

I was so mad I couldn’t even speak the entire afternoon.  My father didn’t try to tell me how stupid I was acting or how I was over-reacting to ‘just one game’.  He just made small talk with some of my friends and kind of let me be.  When he left campus for the 2 1/2 hour drive back home, he just kind of gave me that ‘Sorry, kiddo’ look, gave me a hug, and said, “We’ll get them next time.”  He didn’t try convincing me that it “wasn’t that big of a deal” or explain to me that he didn’t drive all that way just to see me act anti-social, as I probably would have been tempted to in a similar situation.  Rather he told me that he knows how disappointing it is to invest yourself in a game like that and have it turn out the way it did… in a humiliating defeat.

BUT THEN AGAIN, BEING AN NC STATE FAN NEVER WAS JUST ABOUT WINNING…

It’s not because we can’t win and not even really because we haven’t won on a grand scale that I make this statement.  There is almost a mysticism about following the Red and White that you have to believe in if for no other reason than to remain a rational, sane member of society.  Even the hardest, coldest, most numerically devout members of this community must have some part of them that is emotionally invested (even if they were to argue with me, I would call BS all day long).  When you follow NC State, it’s like joining the mob: you buy into the idea of what the organization is just as much as the business they conduct.  Once joining the fold, it doesn’t matter if business is up or down; the idea of what NC State stands for is still just as valid before a game as it is after.  So… what does it mean to be an NC State fan?  The way I see it, there are three things to consider..

1. Undying Loyalty.  I can’t say that there aren’t loyal UNC fans, but I do see a lot more cars on the road with removable UNC magnets than I do NC State decals.  Loyalty to a fault is exactly the identity of NC State as a fan base and it is what keeps us coming back to the games week-in and week-out even when times are rough.  We don’t know why we do it; we just do.  I was as harsh on Tom O’Brien as anyone for being so damn loyal to his staff even when it seemed obvious that there may have been a problem, but really he was probably being a better Wolfpacker than anyone.  Loyalty is becoming an uncommon virtue and one that only those with the strongest characters exemplify.  As a fan base, we are loyal to our teams.  Without that loyalty, how can we expect them to be loyal to our institution?
2. Playing With A Chip On Your Shoulder.  Honestly, if NC State regains national prowess and even retakes their basketball and football series over UNC anytime in the distant future, I don’t know if we would know how to deal with it.  Honestly, I prefer things that way.  Think about it: when you watched movies like Star Wars as a little kid, which side do those movies always have you root for?  The unsuspecting underdog, right?  That is who we are and it’s part of what we thrive on.  NC State loves a good fight, especially one where the cards are stacked unbelievably high against us.  Another analogy might be the old infantry saying that if you wake up and see the enemy all around you, you aren’t surrounded; you’re in a target-rich environment.  That is exactly the situation that Mark Gottfried stepped into.  A coach having left his former post under the auspice of poor off-court behavior and various media accusations steps into a position where a fan base’s expectations couldn’t be higher next to some of the nation’s best basketball programs.  Rather than seeing it as a ‘bridge too far’ or as a job position surrounded by the enemy, he has jumped into his position, unafraid, and declared it to be a target-rich environment.  So too do we, as NC State fans, live our lives surrounded by the various jackasses elsewhere in the state and beyond that insist on railing us on the success of their programs.  Let them have their fodder.  It makes beating them for a sixth year in a row on the grid-iron even more satisfying.
3. Never Accepting “Enough”.  Through the last few coaching searches, NC State has heard about ceilings and potential so much that it’s almost a cliche discussion to even start.  Basketball, in particular, has proven to be a tall mountain to climb simply because of the comparison that is drawn between our lack of success and the success of rivals UNC and Duke.  Listen, we can’t take anything away from what they have accomplished, conspiracy or not.  They win.  It sure would be nice if we won, too.  But there are some who think it’s unreasonable to think that NC State could win again and even possibly win more than UNC or Duke.  There are some within our own fan base and within the mass media that feel NC State is simply “that other school” that doesn’t understand that not everyone can be on top and we happen to be a part of “everyone”.  As fans, we call bullsh*t.  Being an NC State fan is acknowledging that “enough” is never enough.  Did we just have an 8-win season in football?  Awesome… let’s go for 9.  Did we finish in the Sweet Sixteen in basketball?  Outstanding… let’s go for the final four.  Did we make the super regionals in baseball?  Great… let’s take a trip to Omaha.  There is no limit to what NC State is capable of and there is no reason why we should ever allow anyone to place a limit on us.  Debbie Yow understands this and her Wolfpack Unlimited slogan is part of it.  We will not be told by anyone other than ourselves what is “good enough” for our program.  As fans, we refuse to believe and actually challenge the concept that anyone can hold us back.  NC State is capable of great things.