Sunday was the first time in my life that I’ve ever wondered why the hell I waste my time watching the Cats.
It wasn’t the worst we’ve gotten beat, worst we’ve played, a result of unlikable players or realization that so much of sports is fluke things going your way-it was because this loss felt……disgusting? And it wasn’t the football.
Hazing scandal or not-the football related failures merit the criticism they receive. I almost feel like the football failures are secondary to what I sensed from other fans. I spent all Saturday thinking about the situation and what I realized was that, whether you agree or disagree with the decisions of the administration regarding the scandal-you are in pain.
This pain is solely due to Gragg and Schill and every other public rep of NU. You may in pain with the damage done to kids in this program, you may be in pain with the face of the university being dismissed seemingly on an impulse-but it seems everyone agrees that there is low confidence in the future. I didn’t go to Northwestern-for those of you that did I can’t imagine seeing a place I care about so much so numb to the damage they’ve done to people,
The fans, the team, the program and the school *should* be in pain with what has happened. The problem I see is that not only has no Northwestern representative spoken to address the pain and validate it, but they’ve actually only spoken to do the opposite.
The “Cats against the World” shirts-do we think thAt was a bunch of rebellious kids just trying to cause trouble because they were bored? No. It was an expression of pain and they were publicly criticized for it.
Wilbon saying Gragg is doing a great job when he has become the de facto leader of the program until a new coach is appointed-yet has not stepped forward to foster healing from anyone-even the players! Gragg not taking questions from the players on Zoom, Schill doing nothing except perhaps making things worse-all subsequent actions have ignored the impact on everyone who these events impact.
Furthermore-the first person they put forward publicly to address what happened is…..David Braun? Who the hell is David Braun to us? We have ZERO relationship with him-he has ZERO credibility with anyone publicly. In times of uncertainty people crave stability; David Braun is not capable of offering it to anyone publicly because he is literally just a name to us,
Finally, there were stories of, and will continue to be stories of our fans being harassed at games for the hazing in the program. This could have been mostly avoided if we simply did anything to control the story instead of letting it spin out of control. In that regard, Schill is actively responsible for furthering the pain,
Throughout all of this we needed a leader, we needed someone to vow to us that what we’re seeing on the field is personally unacceptable to them-the players needed a shepherd for the program-and all everyone had received is being told that they’re wrong to feel the way that they do.
It wasn’t the worst we’ve gotten beat, worst we’ve played, a result of unlikable players or realization that so much of sports is fluke things going your way-it was because this loss felt……disgusting? And it wasn’t the football.
Hazing scandal or not-the football related failures merit the criticism they receive. I almost feel like the football failures are secondary to what I sensed from other fans. I spent all Saturday thinking about the situation and what I realized was that, whether you agree or disagree with the decisions of the administration regarding the scandal-you are in pain.
This pain is solely due to Gragg and Schill and every other public rep of NU. You may in pain with the damage done to kids in this program, you may be in pain with the face of the university being dismissed seemingly on an impulse-but it seems everyone agrees that there is low confidence in the future. I didn’t go to Northwestern-for those of you that did I can’t imagine seeing a place I care about so much so numb to the damage they’ve done to people,
The fans, the team, the program and the school *should* be in pain with what has happened. The problem I see is that not only has no Northwestern representative spoken to address the pain and validate it, but they’ve actually only spoken to do the opposite.
The “Cats against the World” shirts-do we think thAt was a bunch of rebellious kids just trying to cause trouble because they were bored? No. It was an expression of pain and they were publicly criticized for it.
Wilbon saying Gragg is doing a great job when he has become the de facto leader of the program until a new coach is appointed-yet has not stepped forward to foster healing from anyone-even the players! Gragg not taking questions from the players on Zoom, Schill doing nothing except perhaps making things worse-all subsequent actions have ignored the impact on everyone who these events impact.
Furthermore-the first person they put forward publicly to address what happened is…..David Braun? Who the hell is David Braun to us? We have ZERO relationship with him-he has ZERO credibility with anyone publicly. In times of uncertainty people crave stability; David Braun is not capable of offering it to anyone publicly because he is literally just a name to us,
Finally, there were stories of, and will continue to be stories of our fans being harassed at games for the hazing in the program. This could have been mostly avoided if we simply did anything to control the story instead of letting it spin out of control. In that regard, Schill is actively responsible for furthering the pain,
Throughout all of this we needed a leader, we needed someone to vow to us that what we’re seeing on the field is personally unacceptable to them-the players needed a shepherd for the program-and all everyone had received is being told that they’re wrong to feel the way that they do.
