schadenfreude sucks
This NCAA tournament run has brought my level of distaste over schadenfreude to new heights. Do we really need to mock VCU, Kansas, Florida, and Syracuse fans at their moment of despondency? I thought the Kansas fans in particular came off as good people and good sports, while M fans came off a RCMB wannabees, and very poor winners. I hope this board trends away from laughing at the misery of every opponent we beat. Schadenfreude is pretty trendy but I dislike it immensely coming from Michigan fans in general, and this board in particular. I'm somewhat ok with it directed at MSU, or Ohio State, or Notre Dame, though I could easily do without it. but see no reason to start a thread, laughing at the misfortune of every team we defeat. Overall, from what I've seen, I would rate Kansas basketball fans, and Nebraska football fans as much classier in defeat or victory than what Michigan has to offer.
In addition- I slept with your wife. Go Blue.
April 11th, 2013 at 11:39 PM ^
Damn you!
I think there's a difference between antagonizing someone after their team lost and laughing at people acting like idiots after their team lost.
I have an ex-coworker Buckeye fan who went out of his way to rub in our loss moments after it happened on facebook. I said nothing to him or about him, I was just clearly disappointed in the loss and he felt the need to tell me how much Michigan sucks and how awesome the Buckeyes are (which made tons of sense in that contaxt).
Now, if I had posted something ridiculous on the internet for everyone to read and some stranger laughed about it among his friends, there's really nothing wrong with that.
You suffer from the common, sad flaw that afflicts 90% of our species, which is the tendency to generalize a conclusion based upon limited data in order to simplify your world. Like a guy who has cross words at a grocery store with someone of a certain ethnicity and then extrapolates that most people of that ethnicity must be jerks, and he now despises that ethnicity. Certain generalizations can make sense given a broader range of data. Say for example – people over 80 tend to drive slower than people under 80.
But when it comes to making this ridiculous, broad conclusion about the entire Michigan fan base, from one or two posts on a blog or website or two having fun with the suffering of other fans, you expose your own mental weakness. The simple fact is that every fan base, just as in every culture, has the vast majority of its members hovering somewhere in the moderate middle, but there will always be that small percentage of eccentrics and extremists at both ends. Any remotely bright Michigan fan will tell you that as much as we rail against Buckeye and Spartan fans, we know that the vast majority of their fans are decent, moderate people just trying to harmlessly root for their team. Michigan is no different. We have our idiot fans too, just as Kansas does, just as Nebraska does.
Buckeye and Spartan fans are idiots. I've met every single one of them just to be sure.
If you were mocking Kansas fans after that game you're crazy. That was one of the luckiest wins I remember seeing in the tournament. It is one reaosn the tournament is great... for some. If I were a Kansas fan after that game I don't know what I would have done besides cried.
Well, it depends on what you're mocking them for. If you're making fun of them simply because their team lost and they're disappointed about it, just to rub it in, I agree with you. But if, in the true idea of Schadenfreude, a Kansas fan does or says something completely idiotic because their team lost, it's fair to laugh at them for it.
The Syracuse example still works pefectly. That was a hard fought game that Syracuse narrowly lost. Yet one of their fans decided to ruin a quite expensive TV over it, and then brag about it on the internet. It would be just as OK to laugh at that guy had it happened after the Kansas game as well.
April 10th, 2013 at 10:16 PM ^
How was it lucky? Making great defensive plays and draining 30 footers isn't luck.
Schadenfreude exists when you're playing in the National Championship?!
I laughed at 'RIP Otto the Orange'. But then I remembered Syracuse isn't on gordie's list of approved schadenfreude sources. Is three hail mary's enough? Do I get absolution from God or do I have to go directly to gordie?
I agree entirely. I'm all for taking the piss out of someone losing their perspective on sports. However, somehow I get the feeling that many of the people who post the schadenfreude threads here take things just as seriously and are often just taking delight in others misery.
I was pissed about the loss, and decompressed Tuesday by not reading anything about basketball except a post or two here. Yesterday, I realized that if Michigan hadn't gotten there, I would have been cheering for Louisville anyway.
For this team to get to the final game and make it entertaining, in spite of terrible officiating, was quite an accomplishment. And the way Louisville looked, I'm not so sure competent officiating would have changed the outcome, anyway.
This year was about establishing Michigan as a perennial contender. Mission accomplished.
As others have pointed out, in the sports world at least, schadenfreude is most enjoyable when in response to excessive fan behavior. I'm not sure there's a word or phrase in either English or German that captures the RCMB response to Michigan's loss, but obssessively pathetic might come close, when easily 20 out of 25 threads and 90% of the posts on their first page for several hours were devoted to a game the Spartans didn't even play in..
A State fan I know very slightly was posting on Facebook after the Florida game at how bummed he was, and a couple of his buddies chimed in. I was tempted to post something like "From a lifelong Michigan fan, truly sorry your guys lost so we can't play again in the Final Four – Big Ten rules!"
I didn't do it but I wish I had. I can't imagine anyone from Spartyland doing that if the roles were reversed. I would've felt like the classy Michigan fan most of us are. Moral superiority feels better than trashing the trashy. That would be redundant.
punched McGary in the nuts, Syracuse still thinks the better team lost, etc. So sick and tired of hearing before each game how we were going to have to face <insert insurmountable challenge here>. Screw them. Louisville won the championship fair and square and we gave them a helluva game. Go Blue.
April 10th, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
Are we allowed to mock them and Clappy? I mean, they:
[x] ordered Sweet 16 rings
[x] made commemorative popcorn boxes for a meaningless December game
[x] cut down nets after losing to Ohio State
[x] didn't know Syracuse would play zone
How can you not relish in their defeat?