Fighting over football attendance is like dancing about architecture

“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture—it’s a really stupid thing to want to do.”
—Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled “A Man out of Time Beats the Clock.” Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.

If you are looking for a good nerdfight, try to figure out the origin of the phrase “dancing about Architecture”.  There is a very large camp that Martin Mull coined the phrase in a way to describe something as totally pointless.  So take something that you think is pointless and say it is like “dancing about architecture” as I do not think that anyone in their life has ever danced about architecture in their life.

Kentucky football fans have gone on their own exercise in pointlessness recently as almost immediately after Kentucky’s 38-14 win over Jacksonville State, twitter blew up not with congratulations for the team and a hearty “GO BIG BLUE” but with fans fighting and nitpicking over the official announced attendance by the UKAA.

The above picture was taken by John Clay some forty minutes before the game.  I really have no problem with that.  It’s not like anyone was going to confuse the picture of solitary fans that long before the game as an official indicator.  It’s the continuing fighting and bickering after the game that has me riled up.

For all intent and purpose, some 54,000 tickets were sold or distributed to the game against Jacksonville State.  And that is what Kentucky announced as attendance.  No big deal.  Teams generally announce the number of ticket sold as paid attendance for years now and no one really gives it much of an afterthought.  But for some reason, there has been a contingent of Kentucky fans that made it their duty to hold UKAA accountable and demand that they release the actual turnstile count like it was as important information like making sure every vote got counted in the 2000 presidential election.

And it really is an exercise in futility and built up energy that for the life I me I can not fathom.  I know that some people staked their reputation as being the voice of the fans and predicting a turnout of 28,000 fans for the game.  When it was nearly double that, they cried foul.  While they may feel bad for making a bad prediction, I still don’t get the energy wasted in being up in arms on this.

It’s simple.  Despite the vote of confidence in Joker Phillips, there is still a faction that feels that they can change this declaration by trying to organize a “stay home and send a message” campaign and thinking that they can make the UKAA fire Joker by sending this message.  To be honest, the idea of boycotting something always seems silly to me and the idea of promoting a boycott against something you profess to love is downright stupid.

One of my favorite movies of all time is “V for Vendetta” and while I do believe in the power of the people, I am also a very realistic person and realize there is no Guy Fawkes moment in promoting people to stay away from a football game and then fighting about the attendance when it does not meet your self fulfilling prophecy.  It’s pointless, it’s petty, and it’s a waste of time.  Kentucky has made up their mind on Joker Phillips and like it or not, he is our coach.  At this point, you’re not being noble or righteous.  Just self serving and small minded.

It’s your decision to support the team like a true fan or to try to keep up your own unproductive counter movement.  It’s also my call to mock your movement and call your out on your fandom.  Fact is, you are not coming off as a bad fan, but you are hurting this team that you you profess to support with all your heart.

Plus by staying home and trying to undermine the attendance count, you missed a pretty good football game.  You missed the unlikely story of a long time Wildcat finally getting his moment in the spotlight and running for glory on the Commonwealth Field.  And you missed the superhuman efforts of two defenders playing their hearts out for the fourth to last time on their home field.  You certainly will be cheering Danny Trevathan and Winston Guy on Sundays next year, but you were to focused on trying to “prove a point” that you missed their efforts on Saturday?

Look.  It’s a free country.  Nitpick if you want.    I just know that part of being a fan is being at the games no matter what and supporting your team no matter what.  And worrying about turnstile counts more than Trevathan’s tackles does not seem to fit that definition.

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