First off, please don't tell me how to prepare for the season? I won't do it to you.
Second, many of the fans that share your pre-season outlook are the worst if (IF) things go south.
They (again, not all) are the ones that turn otherwise civil boards like this into a giant crapfest.
So, feel free to gulp kool-aid... I applaud you sir.
But please let me approach this season as I'd like...
Thanks!
Feel free to do it for me. You are an adult. You can live your life your way. I just have never understood why people decide to take pessimistic approaches to anything.
As for what happens when the season goes south, I have a feeling that you see a good mix of the optimists and pessimists turning the board into a giant crapfest. That's what tends to happen when people are angry and bitter. And the pessimists certainly aren't any less angry and bitter when the season goes down the shitter.
In fact, if I've noticed anything on other boards, it's the so-called "realists" (pessimists) who generally make the forum a toxic place. Every young player is a bust until proven otherwise. Every season is a losing season until proven otherwise. And when a season proves to be a losing season, they're not any less angry than the rest of us. But they are certainly quick to make everyone know what a bum player X is or what a bust player Y is.
Basically, we all have our own way of dealing with losing. It's usually not pretty. The idea that only the optimists get upset, bitter, angry, and look to assign blame when the team loses is simply not true. However, I still feel that the idea that being optimistic right now does nothing to hurt you or make the losing worse is true.
Even if I were a skeptic now about the Rams chances, I'd be just as pissed about the Rams not doing well. That's just how I react to losing. I become angry and bitter. I wasn't any less angry and bitter during 2009 when I knew the team was trash.(but I was a lot more apathetic about watching the team)
Again, you can do whatever you want, but I don't understand the mindset of assuming the worst while preparing for the season. It doesn't make the losing feel better. It doesn't make it easier. But that's just one man's opinion, and I'll keep enjoying this delicious kool-aid.