Rah Rahs and the Wah Wahs

Last week the guys at Every Day Should Be Saturday captured the message board dynamic that develops on most college fan sites. Posters tend to gravitate towards a half-full or half-empty mentality. On the BC site, the camps are known as the rah rahs (everything is great) or the wah wahs (the sky is falling). The difference in perspective was never more evident than when someone on Eagle Action posted Stewart Mandel’s response to a BC questions.

FROM SI.com:

"Is there a more overlooked team in college football than Boston College? The Eagles have won 32 games since 2002, including their share over top-25 teams (West Virginia, Virginia Tech and the last Notre Dame team that was supposed to be the second coming), and have won five straight bowl games. What is it going to take for Kiwi and the boys to get the respect that they deserve from the national media (including a certain columnist who issues power rankings on this site)?
-- Matt Fitzpatrick, Brookline, Mass.

Simple -- beat Virginia Tech on Thursday. Those are some nice accomplishments you listed off, Matt, but they don't exactly scream national power. Tom O'Brien is a good coach, but his teams never finished higher than third in the Big East prior to Miami and Virginia Tech's departures last season. Those bowl wins you speak of came against the likes of Colorado State and Toledo. This year's 6-1 team certainly looks like the best of O'Brien's tenure, and a strong record in the loaded ACC would certainly help BC's credibility, but as of now the teams it has beaten are a combined 16-27. All that considered, I'd say a No. 13 ranking in this week's AP poll shows considerable respect, but if it's not enough for your liking, beat the No. 3 team in the country on national television and I don't think you'll be hurting for respect the rest of the season."

On Eagle Action both camps said: "See!?! This is what we have been saying all along."

I fall in between the two groups and agree with my old colleague Stewart. TOB is a pretty good, but not alltime great coach who needs a few big wins.

I would like to think that the outcome of the Virginia Tech game will unite these two disparate message factions into one family of people who believe or don’t. There is peace in Northern Ireland. Can there be peace on the Eagle Action boards?