The use of the term 'We' from ANY football fan

[miamipat]

I for one don't use the word "WE" and until BB calls me for advice or tells me to suit up I won' use it.

 

[signbabybrady]

I try my best to use it as little as I can but it still gets a bit irritating when you see posts like 'WE' should draft so and so or 'WE' should sign Randy Moss to an extension or why did 'WE' not win the Super Bowl? ect,ect,ect:

Does the use of 'WE' as a fan irritate you just a bit when you read a post saying 'WE' should have done this,or do you think 'WE' is acceptible?.

All I know is that 'I' am only a fan just like 'YOU' and its 'OUR' team but have no say in anything that goes on and the use of the term 'WE' becomes fantasy as if in our own minds we think that any of us have any input or any real importance into this organization with the exception of yelling and rooting for the team and buying logo stuff ect:

When a poster uses 'WE' does it bother you the least bit or not?

What is the difference between We and Our in your context. Our team is nasty and we will return to the SB. The team is nasty and they will return.

If you don't like we you shouldn't like our.


Bottom line is the players while they contribute will be long gone before us so I think it is OK for us to use we because the join we when they come aboard and we will still be there when they are gone.

 

[JR4]

WE are the 12th team member on the field .... ask the players.

It is probably people who object to people using 'we' that sit as like
lethargic tree toads at games .... totally not involved.

You wonder why people like this even go to games. Certainly these people should never use the word 'WE'.

 

[richpats]

Just as long as it isn't a conditional "we" as in....

(when things go well)

WE have the best offense!

(then if things go bad)

They really sucked out there today.

 

[IcyPatriot]

I try my best to use it as little as I can but it still gets a bit irritating when you see posts like 'WE' should draft so and so or 'WE' should sign Randy Moss to an extension or why did 'WE' not win the Super Bowl? ect,ect,ect:

Does the use of 'WE' as a fan irritate you just a bit when you read a post saying 'WE' should have done this,or do you think 'WE' is acceptible?.

All I know is that 'I' am only a fan just like 'YOU' and its 'OUR' team but have no say in anything that goes on and the use of the term 'WE' becomes fantasy as if in our own minds we think that any of us have any input or any real importance into this organization with the exception of yelling and rooting for the team and buying logo stuff ect:

When a poster uses 'WE' does it bother you the least bit or not?

We are not annoyed by it at all.
We are annoyed by spygate threads.

 

[letekro]

"We" has two advantages: 1. It's obvious to the reader who the poster is referring to (as opposed to "they" which could be confused with the other team); 2. It's shorter than typing "the pats", "the team" etc.

IF this stuff really bothers you, you should consider joining a fight club or something. Decompress a little bit.

 

[spacecrime]

I try my best to use it as little as I can but it still gets a bit irritating when you see posts like 'WE' should draft so and so or 'WE' should sign Randy Moss to an extension or why did 'WE' not win the Super Bowl?

You sound like one of those guys who correct strangers when they say "ATM Machine" and "PIN Number.".

 

[BradyManny]

No, but interestingly enough people who are annoyed by fans doing this annoy me.

(No that’s not directed to this thread specifically, I’ve seen people make this point on a lot of other boards as well.)

WE directly support and keep the franchise alive by buying tickets and merchandise.

Co-sign. I'll use "we" if I want to. The Patriots don't exist without the fans.

 

[naclone]

yeah, if players are going to call me out for not making enough noise when I'm shelling out $100 to watch THEM do their job, I'm gonna go ahead and consider myself part of the team.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I think it's fine for fans to use "we" when speaking of their teams.

The practice reflects both our level of engagement in the success of "our" team as well as the reality that "we" are in effect part of the franchise because we advance the "brand" of the franchise by purchasing memorabilia and bearing witness to our support.

Finally, anyone who read the grieving threads out here in the week after the SB knows how emotionally invested many of us are in this team. It is indeed "our" team and "we" suffer and rejoice together.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

No, but interestingly enough people who are annoyed by fans doing this annoy me.

(No that’s not directed to this thread specifically, I’ve seen people make this point on a lot of other boards as well.)

WE directly support and keep the franchise alive by buying tickets and merchandise.

:agree:

Big "me too."

 

[fgssand]

We are all bozo's on this bus.....

I have no problem with "WE" as it's cool to be passionate about the team one follows and adding a "we" into the discussion works for me.

A simple matter of semantics......if one gets all worked up over "we" references...then "that one needs to go home" (wow a Firesign theater and a Mr Wizard in the same post).

 

[Deus Irae]

I try my best to use it as little as I can but it still gets a bit irritating when you see posts like 'WE' should draft so and so or 'WE' should sign Randy Moss to an extension or why did 'WE' not win the Super Bowl? ect,ect,ect:

Does the use of 'WE' as a fan irritate you just a bit when you read a post saying 'WE' should have done this,or do you think 'WE' is acceptible?.

All I know is that 'I' am only a fan just like 'YOU' and its 'OUR' team but have no say in anything that goes on and the use of the term 'WE' becomes fantasy as if in our own minds we think that any of us have any input or any real importance into this organization with the exception of yelling and rooting for the team and buying logo stuff ect:

When a poster uses 'WE' does it bother you the least bit or not?

Unless the poster is a member of the team, using the term "we" is obnoxious. The players who are legitimately among the "we" devote their lives to keeping in shape, learning the ins and outs of even the most minute of things which might help, and many will end up with lifelong injuries as a result of playing. The coaches spend so much time working that families are neglected and they become almost hermit-like.

Fans, on the other hand, get liquored up and blow off steam cheering for people who can do things that they can't. There is no "we". For fans, it's a game and a way to pass the time. For players, it's a job. Buying an iPod doesn't make you a part of the Apple corporation, and buying a ticket or shirt doesn't make you a part of the Patriots organization.

 

[unoriginal]

As a person who is critical - in both a good and bad sense - of the coaching and players on this team, I hate when I lapse into saying "we," as it confers some intimacy with (and therefore detailed knowledge of) whatever I'm evaluating, which I simply don't have. For those reasons it also eats at me when others fans do the same: "We need to make some changes at RT" or "We could do so much better in FA" or "Look for us to draft a linebacker at #7!" like we're Pats quality control staff or something.

That said, there sometimes aren't any better alternatives. Do I keep saying "The Pats" where I would use "we"? On a fan site, it makes me look like I barely follow the team at all and/or aren't invested in whether they win or lose.

 

[PATSNUTme]

I hope that we announce something soon about Colvin. Then we will know what our cap space is when we start free agency. Also, I hope that we have signed Moss to a cap friendly deal so we don't have any threads saying what are we doing about Moss.

We have too many spygate threads and we should be thinking about he future of this team. What kind of a team will we have out there next years is my concern.

And yes, I don't think we will sign Samuel so who are we going to replace him with.


How the hell can you be a true fan without using "we" when talking about the Patriots?

 

[jcdavey]

We is fine - there's no political or grammar correctness in football

i remember marty schottenheimer catching a little heat for his "when the bullets start flying" comment a couple seasons ago from some dumbass fan in san diego who is an ex marine.

also kellen winslow jr took alot of heat for his soldier comment in college

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Personally, I've always resisted the 'we'--on the grounds that I'm not actually a Patriot--but, oddly enough, since the SB, I've been finding that "we" pop into my thoughts more and more.

 

[primetime]

i remember marty schottenheimer catching a little heat for his "when the bullets start flying" comment a couple seasons ago from some dumbass fan in san diego who is an ex marine.

also kellen winslow jr took alot of heat for his soldier comment in college

Because they're completely different. Calling yourself a soldier or talking about flying bullets during wartime on national television is alot different than using a personal pronoun to refer to a team you pull for.

 

[BradyManny]

That said, there sometimes aren't any better alternatives. Do I keep saying "The Pats" where I would use "we"? On a fan site, it makes me look like I barely follow the team at all and/or aren't invested in whether they win or lose.

Yeah, I challenge someone to refer to the Pats as "they" & "them" all season instead of "we" or us".

We (the fans) are along for the ride, too, so I'm comfortable just lazily slapping a we in front of every sentence pertaining to the Patriots.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Yeah, I challenge someone to refer to the Pats as "they" & "them" all season instead of "we" or us".

As I pointed out upthread, I can say you'd be hard-pressed to find a post on this board where I use "we" or "us" to mean the Pats, rather than Pats fans. [Not the least of which is the fact that you can't search for those terms. ] It was a distinction I was very scrupulous about making in the past. I'm still not entirely comfortable with dropping that distinction, but I certainly don't have any problems with anyone else doing it.