Arizona Football: Wildcats Fans, Your Team Needs You!

Arizona football Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, his coaches and his team are having a hell of a week. Wildcats fans, your team needs your support.

Where would the Seattle Seahawks be without their 12th man, their fans? According to Keith Goldner (MMQB.SI.com), ‘Over the last three seasons, the Seahawks have gone 8-0, 9-1, and 7-1 at home—24-2 in total.’

I have experienced a Sunday in downtown Seattle on game day, and Seahawks fans attend games in droves.

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Put Seattle aside, our Arizona Wildcats basketball team is working on extending their 38 home game winning streak at McKale.

None of these teams successes happen without their faithful fans. Arizona football fans are loyal, but there is always this loud voice of the few that over-run the steady support of the many. The hope is that the team hears the support of the many and can tune out the cries of the few who seem to not be happy in life and have transferred their feeling of success in their own lives onto the team they love so much.

Steve Rivera (GOAZCATS.com Senior Writer) broke my heart a little in his piece about how Rich Rod is feeling right now in ‘For Arizona’s Rodriguez losing has been ‘miserable … absolutely miserable.‘

"You can see it in his face. It’s the look of a winner not winning.You know it’s killing Rich Rodriguez … one play at a time.“Miserable… absolutely miserable,” said Rodriguez when I asked him how the last two weeks have been for him after two of his worst back-to-back losses in his career.“Outwardly we try to be as positive as possible because it’s not like the guys aren’t trying,” he said after practice on Tuesday.Then he said, “I haven’t slept much.”"

I spoke to Rivera, and he reiterated his thoughts on Rich Rod’s state, “You can tell it’s been tough for him.” I share Steve’s sentiments, you can just hear it in Rich’s voice, when a reporter asks him how he’s doing, he musters whatever positivity he can and replies in a flat voice,”okay.”

You want to do something to help out, anything, even give him a hug if that would help. Some fans don’t think that he and his coaches are doing everything they can, but no one walks in their shoes, so how could anyone know?

Sep 26, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez signals from the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the UCLA Bruins at Arizona Stadium. UCLA won 56-30. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Haven’t we all been there? Under pressure at work, trying to motivate your co-workers on a project, getting everyone on the same page, and working to be successful?

It’s not easy to get all of management and all the employees to work as a team sometimes. Afterall, we are all human, and humans are fallible, if we were all perfect, the world would be a boring place to live.

Maybe it was the full moon? I know I had the week from hell the last week or so, nothing seemed to go right. Maybe Mercury is in retrograde or something. Hopefully, Mercury decides to rotate in its normal direction if that is indeed the issue, and we can all smile again.

Sometimes you have to hit bottom to work your way back up. Wasn’t it Scarlett in the movie Gone With the Wind who said, “After all… tomorrow is another day.”

It must be killing him, he is a winner at heart, and he wants more than anyone to right the ship and get our team winning again. Wildcats fans should know that the team and coaches are doing everything they can do, even losing sleep over this, to bring wins back to Tucson.

The best thing fans can do is to support their team through thick and thin. Did these extremely critical fans think even once that maybe they don’t know everything? Jeez, you’d think they never had a down week or two in their lives.

Heck, I am a Lakers fan and no matter what I have not faltered for the last three seasons and even though it’s been hell, I have not faltered. The injuries kept coming and coming. Each time they got one player back and healthy, another one would get hurt and not be able to play. Sound familiar?

Arizona Wildcats

The last NBA season was excruciating, riddled with injuries and the fickle fan would switch teams, but not me, I am and will always stick by my Lakers just like I will stick with my Wildcats. You can be positive, supportive, constructive and still be a good fan. But when you dive off the deep end asking for heads to roll, jumping to conclusions and think you know more than the coaches do, then you are walking the fine line. Are you a true fan? Or you are just a fan when they win?

I find that when you stick with a team who happens to lose a game or two or 20, when they win, the feeling is glorious. That’s because you lived with the team through ups and downs, not just the ups.

But what are the teams real issues? Or what is it that the fans need to understand, let’s explore some answers from my fellow writers.

Nick Latta (AllSportsTucson.com) explained what he thinks the issues are in his article ‘Arizona Wildcats Football: The Defense Isn’t The Problem.’

"Right now Arizona’s offense isn’t working. When the offense isn’t moving the ball, the opposing offense is getting the ball with great field position. Not only that but the Wildcat defense isn’t getting enough time to rest because the Arizona offense is only on the field for a minute or so.A lot of people have been blaming the defense as the reason for the losses, but I am not buying it. The past two games Arizona’s defense has been on the field for almost 70 minutes. Spending that much time on the field is dangerous and at some point the defense will break."

Gabe Encinas (AZDesertStorm.com) sums up the recruiting debate well and asking for time for the recruits to develop in his article ‘Arizona football: Rich Rodriguez’ recruiting has taken heat for lack of depth this season‘

"Is the lack of depth a major concern for Arizona right now? Certainly. But Rich Rod’s best recruiting class to this point hasn’t even developed. Fans might have gotten pretty greedy after winning the Pac-12 South, which took two miracle happenings vs. California and Washington. Development isn’t going to happen overnight, and all these recruits need is a little more time to develop and build something great at Arizona."

Our Wildcats are trying, they want to win, their coaches are working hard to come up with a formula that results in success. The Wildcats care and want you all to be happy, but don’t kick them when they are down, lift them up with your support, it can’t hurt and the team and coaches will feel a whole lot better that the fans have their backs.

Back your team Wildcats fans! Be honest with yourselves, if you took just one of the tackles that just one of your Wildcats took in a game, you would be on your back for a week recuperating.

DON’T LEAVE EARLY AND STAY ALL 60 MINUTES!

And I’ll see you in the stands until the very last second of play.

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