What is closer to realism...

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

After 20 ish years of supporting this club 8 unconsciously and 12 consciously , since my first game Southend United 5 - 3 Bournemouth I have been an optimist.

I come on this board nearly everyday to associate myself with this club and the fans because I can't stay away. If we win, If we lose or if we draw, I can't wait until the next game.

I even look forward to pre-season friendlies, I went to Dartford in pre season to see Southend United even though I had know idea at all who any of the players were.

I find myself posting things that you can read and think, what a ridiculously optimistic person this bloke is. I'm probably not as optimistic as I might come across, it's hard to describe exactly what you mean unless you closely analyse everything you say, you need to react to what you have said first I suppose. And I am definitely not scared of admitting I'm wrong a lot of the time.

I was thinking the other day after reading a really negative thread about how ****ed we really are and all of these different stories and rumours of things people have heard. I thought of this question.

What is closer to realism, being optimistic or being cynical? Vote in the poll and post your comments.

 

[Beefy]

I'm generally an optimistic person (I think) but when it comes to SUFC I think it's best to be neither optimistic nor cynical. I think most of the news we get here speaks for itself and doesn't need to be spun either way.

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

Having spoken to Dave this afternoon i gave him the idea of this thread and said it could be Shrimper related in chit chat or life related in the pub, seeing as the idea emerged from the clubs future i thought it relevent to chit chat

 

[OldBlueLady]

Cynic, pessimist, realist - all pretty much the same really, unfortunately, if you're not an optimist then you don't have that feeling of hope to cling onto.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I think to be a Shrimper you must be, deep down, an optimist.

It's all about hope over expectation.

 

[fbm]

A mix of the two really. I'm optimistic about SUFC because I want to be. It's entertainment and I don't want to moan about something that is essentially meant to be enjoyable. It's hard enough enjoying some of the games, let alone the state of the club.

 

[Pak Power]

I think most supporters of league(s) one and two need to be optimists. Otherwise there would be nobody in the stands at all!

 

[Firestorm]

optimist on the pitch, Pragmatist off it

 

[Strykr]

your definitely one of the most optimistic posters on here dave!

I think a healthy blend of pessimism and optimism is the way to go. after all these years were back in league 2, skint again, typical Southend, on the other hand, that feeling i get just before kick off is definitely optimism, as is that pre-season, "this could be our year" feeling.

pessimism certainly cushions the blow when we get beaten by morecambe etc!

 

[Eastblack]

Aren't all supporters optimists? Would you go game after game if you truly expected your team to get thumped.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Aren't all supporters optimists? Would you go game after game if you truly expected your team to get thumped.

I honestly believe that some revel in the misery.

 

[shallowshrimper]

Since supporting any team let alone southend united has very little to do with logic or rational thinking and everything to do with emotion, being constantly optimistic or pessimistic is very unlikely. Me I tend to go from super optimism one day to completly depressed the next ( sometimes in just a few hours). I think most of the time I lean towards glass half full but following southend has my emotions behaving like a runaway pendulum sometimes.

Still maybe thats the attraction, being on a roller coaster that so often looks like its coming off the rails but always just seems to hang on. But like most of us southend are my team and I will follow them through good and bad, enjoying the good times and putting up with the bad.

 

[Eastblack]

I honestly believe that some revel in the misery.

That's why they come on here!

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Neither, by definition reality must be halfway between the two as optimism/cynicism are polar opposites of ways at looking at reality. Faulty question OBD.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Neither, by definition reality must be halfway between the two as optimism/cynicism are polar opposites of ways at looking at reality. Faulty question OBD.

The more you think about it the harder it is to answer, but depending on life experiences, life is usually more likely to give you good stuff than bad, but that's not in every case! Football on the other hand, is not more likely to give you good things! Especially when supporting the team we support!

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

The more you think about it the harder it is to answer, but depending on life experiences, life is usually more likely to give you good stuff than bad, but that's not in every case! Football on the other hand, is not more likely to give you good things! Especially when supporting the team we support!

You're either some kind of philosophical genius operating on a different plane to the rest of us, or a bit ill. I'll be optimistic :thumbsup:

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

You're either some kind of philosophical genius operating on a different plane to the rest of us, or a bit ill. I'll be optimistic :thumbsup:

Just call me Plato. :nope:

 

[BrentwoodShrimper]

From my very first Southend game Boxing day 1993 thumping Charlton 4-2 (after I had just moved
to the area!) - the days of Jason Pineapple Lee, Ricky Otto etc, to the lows of a cold drizzly new years day
in league two losing 1-0 to a lousy Mansfield, to the emotion of beating Man U, to the awsome noise of our crowd
at White Harte lane (league cup), to the wonder of lifting the lgue one championship after Wayne Gray's goal beat
Bristol City ( when 18 montbs earlier we were almost out of the league and then Tilly took over) and to the despair of seeing
our players walk away last summer and Tilly sacked- I have to be an optimist, club wise. Board wise now a cynic

 

[shrimp in orbit]

can't see the point in being cynical in any aspect of life - just an excuse for not getting involved in life. But surely in football it is part of being a supporter to believe that the next match has hope, the next season may be great, the next signing a superstar.