The Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada’s sports teams have fallen on hard times this season. The football, soccer and volleyball teams all have losing records. If the teams continue to struggle, fans may begin to lose faith in the Wolf Pack and stop caring. File photo/The Nevada Sagebrush

I was born and raised a Green Bay Packers fan. Anyone from a small sports town knows that a sport is much more than entertainment to people; it’s practically a religion. Moods change with how a team fared in its last game.  And the first rule any fan is ever taught is to support your team no matter what, good or bad.

Well, this fall, Nevada’s sports teams are certainly testing that rule. The football team is 0-2, losing badly to Notre Dame and Colorado State. The soccer team is 3-6 and although improvement is shown, it’s still a long way from being competitive and the volleyball team went 1-2 for a fourth straight weekend. I’m as big of a Wolf Pack fan as anyone, but lately it just seems like there’s been nothing to cheer about.

Perhaps the fault is mine. I firmly believed this was going to be a very good season for Nevada sports. The football team was ready to step into the spotlight and become the Western Athletic Conference’s next BCS buster.

The volleyball team, which returned so many players, would be ready to step up and challenge the elite teams in the nation. And the soccer team, which struggled so much last season, would band together and show that this team was ready to compete.

In short, I got my hopes up, only seeing the upside and ignoring everything else. I trashed talked my way through the summer, telling everyone this would be one epic fall sports season.

Boy, was I wrong. To say that this season has been a disappointment doesn’t quite cut it. I know I recently defended soccer head coach Jaime Frias and I still stand by that argument. But it’s not just that the teams are struggling. It’s the way the teams are losing.

It’s the realization that after a year, the same problems plague the teams as last season. There is something disheartening to see Nevada clearly overmatched or making stupid mistakes that are costing the team games.

It takes a really bad start to the season to make even the most die-hard fans think a victory is unlikely at best.

I love the fact that the Wolf Pack is willing to take on some of the better schools in each sport. But I am even more discouraged to see just how far behind those schools Nevada is.

It’s frustrating because Nevada seems to be stuck, unable to take the next step to becoming an elite school in terms of sports.

Fans can only take so much losing. Once sports teams start to bear the grunt of jokes and insults among their own fans, it is clear that people have given up on the teams.

Now, I am not going to stop going to Nevada’s games. I love watching sports on every level. I think that is true for a lot of people. The real question is how much will they care? The sad part is I don’t think a lot of people care at all.

I’d like to say that I still believe in these teams and I wouldn’t be totally lying if I did. There’s always that small spark of hope that things will be different this week. The problem is when winning becomes a surprise, fans have already lost faith in their team. Now, it’s up to you Nevada…win me back.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@nevadasagebrush.com.

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