Is BFTB littered with negativity?

There's not a lot going on, so let's talk about the site for a minute. See this?

That's from Reddit, on the comments of my post this morning about Dwight Freeney and Max Starks being absent/idle during OTAs. Sure, Redditors are known for hating everything, but this isn't a uncommon thought about BFTB. I see people on Twitter, Facebook, and even in our own comments section saying that the staff is too negative.

We've actually been through this a few times with the /r/Chargers subreddit. A few people get noisy about their dislike of BFTB and try to get me (or Dana) banned from the subreddit, and that's when a grand swell of BFTB fans show up and show their love. I could've waited for that to happen again, but I wanted to have a discussion about it.

We on the BFTB staff are fans first and writers seconds. Do we want the San Diego Chargers to go 16-0 on their way to a dominating Super Bowl victory? Absolutely. Can any of us actually say that we believe that will happen? I don't think so. At least I can't.

I get lots of people telling me that I'm not a "true fan". It happens way more often than I'd like to admit and it's always in response to me being level-headed instead of hopeful. When I said that the team wouldn't, and shouldn't, sign Quentin Jammer to be the starting Strong Safety, I was told I wasn't a true fan. When I said that Philip Rivers' contract makes it easy to cut him in 2014, so he needs to have a good 2013, I was told that I wasn't a true fan.

When the heck did idiocy become a necessary part of sports fandom? Am I not allowed to think about the future of the team, or any of its current or former players, as anything less than perfect without losing my "fan card"?

I've spent more than half of my life living within an hour of Philadelphia. Philadelphia sports fans have a reputation for booing anyone and anything, but they're misunderstood. Philadelphia fans boo players/teams when they perform poorly, and cheer louder than any other fans when the same players/teams perform well. The fans want success. They want to push a successful team to another level. They do not want to be told to cheer for a bad team, or a bad player, just because that's their home town team. You have to earn their cheers and their fandom.

Maybe I spent too much time in that area, but I still don't think that makes me (or anyone else on the BFTB staff) negative. I want the team to be successful and I'm not always thrilled with the decisions they make, because I don't agree that all of them are a step towards being a successful team. Then again, I'm not an expert. Let me say that again for those that can only read in bold: I am not an expert.

I am a fan. These are my opinions. The rest of this staff is comprised of fans with opinions that aren't always in line with my own or with the team. We are free-thinkers, which sometimes makes us wrong and sometimes makes us right.

For what it's worth, I don't think the Chargers suck and I think they got better simply with the changes they made at GM and Head Coach. I'm just not sure that "better" equals more wins in 2013 than they had in 2012.

Use this as your After Dark/open thread post for the evening. GO PACERS/PADRES.