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The Fickle Fan
Last Saturday, as Colt McCoy's passes floated in the thin Wyoming air and the senior quarterback was struggling through a first-half performance that was not up to his usual high standards, an old and feared creature reared its head: The Fickle Fan.
Across message boards in Longhorn land, rumblings began that McCoy was off his game and we should replace him with Garrett Gilbert.
Think how ludicrous that is. McCoy is a senior who has won 36 of his 43 career starts and is one of the best players in the country. Gilbert is a freshman who will be the Longhorns' next star, but the guy has thrown eight passes as a college player.
That's how the fickle mind works, though. Never satisfied with anything less than constant success, the slightest wobble sends the fickle fan scrambling for other options. "What Have You Done For Me Lately" is on heavy rotation on the fickle fan's iPod.
It's been a while since the UT faithful have shown even a hint of capriciousness when it comes to their quarterback, which is why Saturday's outburst came as such a surprise. Fans have been spoiled for the last six seasons with McCoy and Vince Young. Before those two, Texas often had one eye on the field and one on the sidelines for who the next quarterback would be. The highlight, as it were, was the duel between Major Applewhite and Chris Simms, which forced UT fans to choose sides over who should be leading the team. The joke at the time was that the best position to play at Texas was backup quarterback.
More recently, Longhorn supporters have been vacillating on who should be the running back, creating an amusing "favorite player of the week" rotation among Vondrell McGee, Cody Johnson, D.J. Monroe, and most recently, Tre Newton.
The feelings aren't isolated to Texas. In half the Southeastern Conference, fans seem to be mustering only grim acceptance of their quarterbacks, just weeks after declaring those same players as superstars.
Fickle fandom has a pair of psychological roots. First is the notion that you know more than the coach does, and can clearly see where one player's shortcomings end and another's potential begins. The second is the need to be the first among your peers to know about something new; the same as discovering a hot new band or great new movie. Knowing that the backup quarterback was going to be great before he even hits the field stokes the fickle fan's ego.
It's understandable to get anxious and look for someone to blame when the Longhorns struggle against lesser opponents. And the quarterback, because he touches the ball on every play, is often the scapegoat. Add to that the high expectations for an unbeaten season and the knowledge that Gilbert, who has all the makings of great player, is just one step away, and the temptation to call for new blood is appealing.
At those times, though, remember that the fickle fan is the unstable fan. Patience and loyalty separate the real fans from the fickle ones.
