Hog Hell

It seemed like an incredibly fitting end to the Arkansas Razorbacks’ season. The team looked in control for much of their contest against the number 17 ranked LSU Tigers on Friday (Nov. 29) only to have their seemingly first conference win of the season, in their final game of the season, blown by an easy 49-yard pass by freshman backup quarterback Anthony Jennings, who had just entered the game for injured starter Zach Mettenberger to a laughably wide open receiver Travin Dural. Then with a final opportunity to retake the lead and win the game Razorbacks sophomore quarterback Brandon Allen fumbled away their chances. He must really like cleaning egg off of his pickup truck.

After two seasons in Hog Hell, you would think that Razorbacks fans would be getting pretty accustomed to watching losing teams, but they still seem to be dumbfounded by the team’s struggles and enveloped in a combination of anger, sadness and obnoxious delusion (which I’ve found is not uncommon for Hogs fans whether their favorite team is 10-2 or 2-10).

Maybe it’s just because I’ve lived in the state of Arkansas for the majority of my life, and maybe similar things occur everywhere (although from what I’ve read and seen, it doesn’t appear to be as bad elsewhere) but it often appears as if the majority of the Razorbacks fanbase has an unhealthy relationship with their favorite college football team and almost always have unrealistic expectations and incredibly homer-ish (the inability to be objective about one’s favorite sports team) attitudes toward the Razorbacks.

Razorbacks fans thought that last season’s 4-8 (2-6 in SEC play) team under interim head coach John L. Smith, who took over following the controversial (even though it shouldn’t have been and only was in the state of Arkansas) firing of Bobby Petrino, was the real year in Hog Hell. Many thought that the hiring of Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema would automatically transform the Razorbacks back into a winning football teams with aspirations of a good bowl game or at least any bowl game.

These aspirations are typical bits of the sort of delusions of grandeur that Razorbacks fans spout off each season. Certainly a team coming off one of its worst seasons in school history under a new coach, new system and many new players would not be successful enough to make a bowl appearance in a rebuilding year. That never happens (unless you’re apparently coached by Gus Malzahn). But, many Razorbacks fans just knew it would.

What happened instead was an even worse year in Hog Hell than the previous season as Bielema lead the Razorbacks to a 3-9 record and the school’s first ever winless SEC slate in his first season at the helm. The team won its first three games of the season over cupcake schools like Louisiana-Lafayette, Samford and Southern Mississippi (and wasn’t that impressive looking much of the time) only to lose their remaining nine games of the season consecutively by being outscored by a whopping 172 points in the process.    

Now these numbers shouldn’t be all that alarming for fans in what is a rebuilding season, but fans either didn’t expect the team to have the usual hiccups of a rebuilding season or they simply didn’t understand what rebuilding seasons are. One year is much too little of a sample size, but there’s honestly no telling how Bielema will do in the long run as head football coach at the University of Arkansas. Yet, many in the fanbase already want his head on a stick or to be run out of town. And, many who expect the Razorbacks to win constantly and act as if they have never seen their favorite team utterly suck before (have they already forgotten the previous season?) feel like they have the right to egg the pickup truck of “their” team’s quarterback.

This is where we run into some of the biggest problems and delusions that are a part of much of the Razorbacks’ fanbase.

Razorbacks fans have this way of acting like their favorite team is a national powerhouse that is supposed to win every game they play no matter the opponent. They believe the team is supposed to be treated like they are on the same stage as Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, etc. However, the team is simply not a national powerhouse and rarely, if ever, has been. In the era of the BCS rankings they have never been ranked as the best team in the country or the second best even for a week. In the team’s 100-plus year history it has won one national championship, almost a half century ago in 1964, a decent 13 conference titles, but none in their 20-plus year history in the SEC and has only produced a relatively miniscule two Pro Football Hall of Famers. Yet, the fans act like the team is one of God’s gifts to college football.

Why?

This gets us to another major problem with much of the fanbase, or so I’ve been told. Multiple people have told me before that the Razorbacks have such a crazy fanbase because it’s the only major sports team in a state without any professional sports teams and really other big college teams. The “only team in the state” theory somewhat makes sense, but doesn’t mean the fanbase has the right to shut their brains off when it comes to their favorite team. Part of the reason Hogs fans are often so delusional is just a part of dealing with sports fans, who are often the least objective and reasonable people on the planet, but, once again, it would seem that the Razorbacks’ fanbase is worse than most. Razorbacks fans often act like they own some stake in their favorite team; like they are a part of their favorite team. This is why when things don’t go well with the team they feel they have the right to do things like egg the QB’s truck. It’s also why they feel they have the right to call analysts and experts like Tim Brando and Kirk Herbstreit names and mercilessly bully them on social media sites like Twitter simply for giving their opinions on the Razorbacks or for predicting them to lose a football game. Many Razorbacks fans take it personally when somebody says something about their favorite team, as if it’s a part of them. They truly feel offended if somebody was to pick an opponent to win a game over the Razorbacks or if somebody says something even the slightest bit negative about their favorite team.  Many will absolutely hate every single thing I’ve written here.  

This is the type of delusion that leads to years in Hog Hell like the last two. People believe that because it’s the Arkansas Razorbacks they are supposed to always play well, win games, never have losing seasons, never be talked negatively about and compete for national championships (even though they’ve hardly ever done this last thing). When the team ends up with one of its worst seasons in the history of the school like this season people freak out, even though years like this should be expected and in rebuilding years, especially. Being a fan of a sports team is a great thing and a fan’s loyalty to that team is sacred. However, sports fans should desperately attempt to be a little more reasonable about their favorite teams and Arkansas Razorbacks fans seem to be one of the fanbases in this country most in need of this lesson.