New Years Resolution: Commit to being a Die-hard Arizona Wildcats fan

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Sep 13, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats linebacker Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea (44) high fives fans after defeating the Nevada Wolf Pack at Arizona Stadium. Arizona won 35-28. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats fans come in all shapes and sizes, and have all sorts of attitudes, how about we all decide to be die-hard fans?

Chat rooms and twitter commentary from fans were a mixed bag in 2015. There were fans who had nothing nice to say about the program, the coach, and the players assuming they should perform at the highest level no matter what string they were or what the circumstances. And there were fans who were sympathetic to the teams situation on any given day and were supportive yet constructive.

Complaints ranged from calls to fire any number of coaches to expecting the sixth string middle linebacker to play like a pro. If you asked Coach Rich Rodriguez, he would have agreed on the latter and he also would have pointed to silly mistakes and no bye week.

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The season started out fantastic; the team was firing on all cylinders, and then Scooby Wright III went down for the first time (star No. 1) followed by Anu (star No. 2). There would be a second injury for both of them.

After that, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th string middle linebacker was sidelined with injuries. It didn’t stop there! Nick Wilson got injured, then two key offensive linemen during the game against the Washington Huskies. Samajie Grant was injured during the ASU Territorial cup game, the injuries never stopped. Players were forced to play positions they weren’t initially planning on playing. Top that off with no week to rest and recover and late night games which required traveling overnight back to Tucson. It was a trying time to be associated with Arizona Football.

Injuries not being an excuse according to a lot of vocal, non-relenting fans, but to others, it was a completely valid excuse. Granted silly mistakes could have been avoided and the Cats could have won more games including the game against USC.

Excuses or not, die-hard Arizona Wildcats fans were seemingly drowned out by cantankerous extremely critical and sometimes mean fans.

March 14, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; An Arizona Wildcats fan before the championship game of the Pac-12 Conference tournament against the Oregon Ducks at MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Wildcats defeated the Ducks 80-52. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Funny, there was a time during the 2015 football season and a Wildcats fan posted in the closed chat group that she supported the team no matter what and was disappointed but was tired of reading all the vitriol about her Cats. You would have thought she would get no responses to her post. She was pleasantly surprised, it was one of the most popular posts in the chat room last season. The multitude of positive die-hard fans came out of the woodwork and mentioned that they have not wanted to comment on negative posts because they feared they would be torn apart for their views.

A true or Die Hard Fan is defined as follows:

A person who vigorously maintains or defends a seemingly hopeless position, outdated attitude, lost cause, or the like.

The question is, does consistently criticizing your team no matter if they win or lose constitute “defending a seemingly hopeless position?” Well, it may, but the sentiment in the definition probably relates more to a fan who will die of humiliation backing and defending their team under any circumstance.

Next: Who is a die-hard fan exactly?

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