A Sea Of Red

Great game today for the guy's home opener.2-1 Win over Bluefield that wasn't anywhere near as close as the score would suggest. The Flames could have easily scored 6 or 7 goals with all the opportunities they had but the Rams' goalie was really on his game tonight. I give the Rams some serious credit though, an NAIA squad playing down a man for most of the second half against a D-1 team and only losing by 1 is a serious accomplishment.

On another note the Bluefield fans clearly don't understand how students at a Division-1 university cheer for their team (i.e. insults, complaining about missed calls, cheering loudly). Because they seemed incredibly offended by it.

Why do you have to insult and complain to cheer for the team?

Complaining isn't a requirement but it was happening and no it wasn't just me. The refs were letting a lot of things that should have been fouls go early in the game but calling a lot of "soft fouls". The insults weren't coming from me, there were a few guys standing up in the front row at midfield hurling most of the insults. And to answer your actual question, you don't need to complain about the refs and insult the other team to cheer for your own it just happens sometimes.

If you want to try to carry The LUnatics name, you have to realize those things don't just happen. And you have to try to influence those around you to cheer the right way too.

If there is one thing Jon, JDub, Bryson and the rest of the gang were excellent at, it was being what I will term, "annoying with class". yeah they cheered, got rowdy and were a thorn in the side of pretty much anyone that came to town, but they never ever insulted anybody. The kelsey Goss incident is mentioned on occasion, but that was an example of being a fan and being a friend. I mean the guy posed with them later with the signs if memory serves me correctly. If you're going to carry the mantle for the next four years, you need to get that stable nucleus of guys and gals who can be fans but do it the right way, and get others around them to buy in as well

I didn't think I, or those few guys in the front, were being that rude. I mean the "insults" were usual soccer things like "BROKEN ANKLES!!!!" and I think I yelled "MEGGED!!!" one time that's why I was surprised that the Bluefield fans were so offended by it. Being annoyed is one thing, but they took it so personally that they were telling the students to tone it down.

Be funny. Be clever. Don't do the typical. If you're gonna be a typical fan, don't use our name.

Another thing...do your homework. One thing that made Jon and the boys so good is they learned everything they could about guys...I remember the Collin Drafts incident where they had a giant picture of his girlfriend in the stands with them...use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the rosters, every bit of information you can gather

I was definitely planning on doing "social media stalking". A student fan group is only as good as it's jokes and opposing players' social media provides the best material. I learned that long before I realized I would be starting one.