What would be enough...?

[silverback]

Hello. MU 91 here, writing for the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Barron's, ESPN, etc. For credentials, just Google John Scott Lewinski.

I'm working on a story that leads me to sample the Marquette fans' views on the following topic ...

WHAT WOULD BE ENOUGH for fans to walk away from teams they support? (NOTE: I'm not indicating Marquette has anything like this in its history or in the program now, This is all speculative.) Joe Paterno and Penn St. protected a serial sexual predator who assaulted multiple kids for years. They still sell out every game. Michigan State hid Nassar’s crimes against hundreds of women to protect the athletic program. Brian Kelly allowed a student to die in a weather accident. Notre Dame Football looked the other way. Georgia annually fails to graduate half of their Black student athletes. I still see fans wearing Spartan green, an ND monogram or the Red Packers G. I’m going to interview experts and fans about this cognitive dissonance and what it would take form them to give up their favorite team, if anything.

All I'm asking here is, if it was clear MU allowed, say, Penn St. or MSU-like events to occur, would you walk away? What would it to take to cancel season tix and burn your t-shirts? (There is no need to ID yourself by name to comment.)

Thank you.

[tower912]

MU had some unfortunate events during the Buzz era.     I, an 1988 alum, suffered through terrible basketball, whispered threats to drop to DII, the Copa incident, the Pops Sims incident, etc.    I am pretty much stuck.    The Catholic Church has had multiple issues, I am still a Catholic.   I live in Michigan and still follow the Lions despite 65 years of futility.    Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State all had sexual predators.    Their stands are full.   To actually give up on MU basketball?    Maybe hiring Pitino.    Maybe not.     For sure, dropping from D1.   

[GB Warrior]

Accepting Jucos

[silverback]

Thank you, "Tower."

I should add that I'm approaching this objectively. There's no judging of answers here.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

MU had some unfortunate events during the Buzz era.     I, an 1988 alum, suffered through terrible basketball, whispered threats to drop to DII, the Copa incident, the Pops Sims incident, etc.    I am pretty much stuck.    The Catholic Church has had multiple issues, I am still a Catholic.   I live in Michigan and still follow the Lions despite 65 years of futility.    Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State all had sexual predators.    Their stands are full.   To actually give up on MU basketball?    Maybe hiring Pitino.    Maybe not.     For sure, dropping from D1.

Dropping to D3 for sure.

As a fellow Dukiet years sufferer, that wasn't enough...nor do I think a bad run like Georgetown is in the midst of would do. But an extended terrible run like DePaul where the school shows no interest in improving? Probably.

[tower912]

Dropping to D3 for sure.

As a fellow Dukiet years sufferer, that wasn't enough...nor do I think a bad run like Georgetown is in the midst of would do. But an extended terrible run like DePaul where the school shows no interest in improving? Probably.

That is what I was looking for.    A sustained run like DePaul's.  Especially if there were some scandals thrown in.   Very well stated.   

[WhiteTrash]

Michigan State or Baylor type situations would be the end for me. Knowingly and actively protecting sexual predators resulting in even more victims is too much for this father of daughters. I think I'd actively root against MU in that case.

DIII would move my interest to 1 out of 100.

DePaul like situation would make me hit the pause button for years until it turned around, 

[Dr. Blackheart]

MUBB and Marquette University have BOTH done well when the admin and hoops program are in lockstep. Both did poorly when they weren't. Glad there are grown up professionals running the show now.

[warriorfred]

Highly subjective response.  When would you walk away from a relationship, marriage, country?  Everyone is different and everyone has different "red" lines.

As a lifelong Packers fan, every Sunday was effectively, church, dinner with the family, afternoon with he Packers. I stopped watching after they lost to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game.  Mike McCarthy was the wrong coach and it was obvious for all to see.  Yet, the Packers continued with McCarthy for another three (3) futile seasons and wasted Aaron Rodgers's potential.

Felt the same way about Wojo after Hausershima.  Marquette settled for mediocrity for another two (2) seasons and I stopped watching, and almost stopped caring.

At this point, I don't care much about the Packers, and I am starting to come around to Marquette,

So, to give you a concrete response, three (3) seasons is the the answer.  But it has to be three (3) seasons of failure theater, where almost everyone on the planet knows you (Packers Management or Marquette Administration) are wasting time and money,

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Silverback, 
May want to talk to University of Hartford fans if there were any.  When they dropped to D3, they lost most of the university's largest donors.

[muwarrior69]

I guess waiting 108 years to win the World Series is not enough I don't know what is.

[WhiteTrash]

I guess waiting 108 years to win the World Series is not enough I don't know what is.

Not working and cold beer in the sun buys a lot of good will.

[Lennys Tap]

I’ve rooted for MU through periods when players weren’t all that good, coaches were in over their heads and administrators were incompetent. Up, down or in between my connection to Marquette has remained important to me. Would a scandal like MSU or PSU change that? No - I’d be angry and ashamed but I’d support MU’s effort to clean things up.

Now if we choose irrelevance and go DII? I’ll admit I’d lose interest. If the school didn’t care enough to support the program I wouldn’t either - but I put the chance of that happening in the foreseeable future at near zero.

[pbiflyer]

I could see where one day with NIL and transfer portal , ncaa sports could become like Major League Baseball with the haves and the have nots. Where if the stars all align, maybe the non state schools have a shot to compete. But the stars are all bought by the big state schools. I could see losing interest.

[withoutbias]

Keefe or Rocket being hired to a high level position at MU.

Otherwise MSU or PSU level situations. What Buzz’s players did and what he allowed and cultivated was bad enough.

[4everwarriors]

Finding out plagiarism filled the President's CV and still keeping him/her in that position. But, then again, it would depend on the context, aina?

#fromtherivertothesea

#neveragain

[Goose]

Doc

Great stuff for 4:41am

[Not A Serious Person]

Finding out plagiarism filled the President's CV and still keeping him/her in that position. But, then again, it would depend on the context, aina?

#fromtherivertothesea

#neveragain

I agree, Silverback’s question is context dependent.

[Uncle Rico]

Hello. MU 91 here, writing for the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Barron's, ESPN, etc. For credentials, just Google John Scott Lewinski.

I'm working on a story that leads me to sample the Marquette fans' views on the following topic ...

WHAT WOULD BE ENOUGH for fans to walk away from teams they support? (NOTE: I'm not indicating Marquette has anything like this in its history or in the program now, This is all speculative.) Joe Paterno and Penn St. protected a serial sexual predator who assaulted multiple kids for years. They still sell out every game. Michigan State hid Nassar’s crimes against hundreds of women to protect the athletic program. Brian Kelly allowed a student to die in a weather accident. Notre Dame Football looked the other way. Georgia annually fails to graduate half of their Black student athletes. I still see fans wearing Spartan green, an ND monogram or the Red Packers G. I’m going to interview experts and fans about this cognitive dissonance and what it would take form them to give up their favorite team, if anything.

All I'm asking here is, if it was clear MU allowed, say, Penn St. or MSU-like events to occur, would you walk away? What would it to take to cancel season tix and burn your t-shirts? (There is no need to ID yourself by name to comment.)

Thank you.

If they move the campus to Mequon

[tower912]

Rico jests.    But I think moving it would diminish my interest.   So many places that were part of my experience are no longer there.   Or have been radically altered.   But enough remain so that I can walk around and visit my memories.   Moving it to the suburbs would strip the last of those.   And to me, would take it away from the Jesuit vision of service and education to the community.

[🏀]

Systemic failure that allows a predator to prey is that does it for me. PSU, MSU.

I need more than a few bad actors (Buzz) to abandon MU.

Now if Buzz, Larry and Pilarz are all knowingly acting together, we got an issue.

[Uncle Rico]

Systemic failure that allows a predator to prey is that does it for me. PSU, MSU.

I need more than a few bad actors (Buzz) to abandon MU.

Now if Buzz, Larry and Pilarz are all knowingly acting together, we got an issue.

Depends on how much the program is winning

[brewcity77]

I'm going to swerve in the other direction. For me, it would be Marquette winning a title.

My sports attention and team passion has always centered on seeing things I've not seen yet. I grew up a fan of the Bulls, Blackhawks, and Cubs. After the Bulls run in the 1990s, then dropping back to mediocrity, I never had the same passion for the team. Even when Derrick Rose was at the peak of his powers, I just didn't have the need to tune in regularly. When the Blackhawks won their titles, I was paying attention all season long and locked in once the playoffs started, but since they've fallen off a bit, hockey has become an afterthought and even Conner Bedard is just someone I watch highlights of. Once the Cubs won the World Series, they had my interest the next summer, but having seen the peak that so many lived and died without seeing, my interest waned and now their games are something I just occasionally have on as background noise.

It's a combination of things. My disposable time for sports has shrunk as I got married, became a homeowner, and had kids. As a result, I prioritized the sports where I haven't seen my team reach the pinnacle. I saw the best the Bulls will ever be, I probably saw the best the Blackhawks will ever be, and I saw the Cubs do the thing that seemed impossible. The three teams I've really stuck with and whose results I am most attentive to are Marquette, the US Men's National Team (soccer), and Reading FC. The USMNT came sort-of close once (2002) but never got to the heights I hope to see (fingers crossed on 2026, but GGG...). Reading has gone in the opposite direction, getting relegated not just from the Premier League to the Championship, but again to League One, and while I can't watch them anymore unless they're in the FA Cup, I still follow their results and hope for a return to some semblance of success.

And then there's Marquette. I've never dedicated myself as much to a team/program as I have Marquette Men's Basketball. I don't know for certain that I would distance myself like I did other sports. But if we were to win a title, then fall back to a Wojo-level program, while at the same time my kids had more going on, more obligations, more sports and activities of their own, I can see a world where I would drift and while I'd always be a fan, never again be the diehard I've been for the past 20+ years.

For me, once you reach the mountaintop, it's perfectly reasonable to find new mountaintops to climb, or in this case, root for. I didn't think that way when I was younger, but as I've drifted away from many of those teams I used to live and die with the results of, I've discovered that's just who I am. It's also part of why I'm so desperate to see this team win a title. I want to be able to have my fandom be at arm's length, because I get so wrapped up in the college basketball season that it negatively impacts who I am at home. I care too much about this sport, about this team, to be as fully present as I should be for other things that are more important to my daily life. But I need that title to be able to put that healthy distance between me and the sport that consumes my attention more than any other.

[wombataholic]

After reading some of the responses, my reasons for walking away from the team for a while feel way pettier.

Wojo cutting Wally Ellenson once Henry Ellenson declared for the NBA was enough for me to quit paying any attention to the team until Shaka was hired.  I get that it's just business, but the team wasn't going to compete for a conference title or do any damage in the tournament.  And it's not like Wally was terrible either.  He was a good energy guy who could come in and play 10ish minutes a game as a glue guy.  Nothing wrong with that.  Anyway, the whole thing was just classless and I didn't want to support that.

But institutional failure to uphold a certain level of moral decency would be a reason for me to walk away again.

[tower912]

There is nothing wrong with your reason, wombataholic.   It is yours.  And it is an honest answer to the question.