UCLA Football makes a classy gesture to Utah

All the more so because UCLA did nothing to draw attention to itself or its gesture.

I agree so much here. We as a fanbase and this site in particular trash OSU so much for the borderline deranged level of importance they lay on college football, something almost entirely meaningless big picture. Then you look at how so many on here react to Michigan football and it's like... Sure, we're probably not as bad or obvious as them, but we do the exact same thing in placing way too much importance on it. I'll give everyone a day of grace, but there is absolutely no reason for football to dictate your mood once you wake up Sunday morning. There's no reason to be assholes to people on here who just casually enjoy rooting for Michigan football and didn't ask to be bombarded with 50 reasons why everything sucks and Michigan is done when they post some innocent topic on the board with an ounce of optimism. There's no reason to lash out in comments because someone has a different opinion on something, directly related to UM football or otherwise. This isn't everyone here, there are some amazing folks, but I feel strongly that it's the pervasive tone of the board. 

I might face some backlash on this part, but the last few points bring up one of my main complaints about behavior here in that it's just an unwelcoming environment. People who post double comments, didn't refresh in time for a new post and make another thinking it's the first, make a topic that the board doesn't view as completely necessary, etc. just get railed in the comments. So what, some naive dude has a game reaction that should probably go in the snowflake threads. Let the mods do their jobs. What does calling them a dumbass do? How does it add to the forum? You think an opinion posted is bad? If your response is some snarky putdown rather than a true response intending to address the points and promote conversation then what is the point? Why even bother? I just wish the cynicism and pessimism, regardless of whether its justified, would stop manifesting itself this way. I look forward to every fall Saturday because regardless of the result, I get to spend time with my family doing something we enjoy together and that means infinitely more to me than a football result. While that exact motivation won't be there for everyone, just try to enjoy football for what it is. I look at UMHoops, an admittedly smaller community, and am just in awe of how much higher the substance ratio of the discussion is there. Some of that comes with success in the basketball program, but even in rough times it's almost always a generally respectful environment where people can drop arguments if the discussion is going nowhere positive and there aren't a million unwritten forum rules that will get you 100 people calling you a moron. I'd just be so damn happy if more people here could either respond respectfully or ignore/downvote/move on if they can't do that to a particular comment.

Anyways. Awesome thing for UCLA to do in the wake of tragedy. College football should unite us more often. 

The problem is not specific to this site. Comment sections just seem to draw ad hominem attacks, and it's ... it's tiring, honestly. Someone says, "I don't mind the second half offense against Rutgers, I'm just happy we won" or someone says, "I'm glad we won, but the second half was deeply worrying," and either way, the responses call the posters idiots, or mock them, or suggest they don't understand the game. And before you know it, the entire comment section is people yelling at each other.

Why it's not possible to say, "gee, that person has a different opinion than I do -- let me try to explain why I see it differently," here or on any other comment section, I find almost tragic, and representative of a similar schism across our country.

Damn it would be nice to hear, "I disagree, but I can certainly understand why you feel that way."