Do high expectations reduce enjoyment?

[Necromancer Beth]

Anticipation has a habit to set you up for disappointment.

 

[Thaihawk]

Having been a Hawk for over 60 years, a member for about 40, I, unfortunately look at games in the half empty vein. This, I guess stems from my initial years following my team, when wins were few and far between heavy losses.

Now, I get much more enjoyment from a win, than disappointment from a loss.

My expectations are high this year as I think it will be a very even year. However, the winner will come from the top 4, and possibly the top 2. so that's where we need to finish.

 

[ACTion Hawks]

Re: Do High Expectation Reduce Enjoyment

Yes.

Some key points...

1. Hold on to an inner pessimist, everything will then be a pleasant surprise.

2. Don't believe the media making bullshit predictions, or Champion Data saying we have the best list, or anyone making any sort of predictions. They are all shit, but like a broken clock, will occasionally be correct.

3. Just be happy to take the four points, one-week-at-time. Don't look further than your weekend dose of joy, then will be many more of them than if you only look for the one big moment in September (see point one)

4. Don't believe the media...again!

Footy existentialism.

Thanks for the advice, especially the bolded part It seems I am not alone.

 

[macdaddio]

We smacked the Crows who are ladder leaders and we gave then their only loss.
We smacked Freo and gave them their biggest loss for the year, they were 6th on the ladder at the time.
We beat the Pies who are flag faves.
We did this with out our captain..
Also we were 6-2 after 8 rounds last year this year we are 5-3 so that's 1 win 1 loss difference.
Expetations are there because we all know how good a side we are and put a side all the media build up, we are a very good side and hence why we expect so much...

 

[frankc]

I tend to disregard the general media hype. I am just enjoying the fact that we have a competitive team that can challenge for the top four and a grand final berth.

 

[frankc]

We smacked the Crows who are ladder leaders and we gave then their only loss.
We smacked Freo and gave them their biggest loss for the year, they were 6th on the ladder at the time.
We beat the Pies who are flag faves.
We did this with out our captain..
Also we were 6-2 after 8 rounds last year this year we are 5-3 so that's 1 win 1 loss difference.
Expetations are there because we all know how good a side we are and put a side all the media build up, we are a very good side and hence why we expect so much...

very true. Our only disappointing loss has been to Sydney.

 

[go hawks!!!]

I tend to disregard the general media hype. I am just enjoying the fact that we have a competitive team that can challenge for the top four and a grand final berth.

hmmmmm, very sensible, i'm inclined to agree

 

[TAITA]

High expectations - probably not, unrealistic expectations - definitely.

It seems that many believe not only the media, but our own hype that it is our destiny to win multiple premierships with this team. And as the 'failures' have mounted, conversely the expectations and urgency have increased. It's like we are owed something or dare I say it, envious in our own way that we haven't emulated Geelong's dynasty.

Those multiple flags may or may not eventuate, all I can tell you for sure is premierships are damn hard to come by - the 'perfect storm' in so many ways.......

If I had one piece of advice - the journey is long but just as important as the destination, so savor every win and appreciate what's gone into it rather than kicking the shit out of blokes because the club owes you a flag.

You have the privilege of watching 2, 3, 4, maybe more, Hawthorn greats of all time in the making weekly - enjoy it.

 

[hawksfan71]

I havent enjoyed this year much, for some reason. Maybe the fact we got beaten from being in front for the 9th effing time to a team I cant effing stand, that just made me want to throw up, its taken to now to get better!

Also the bad kicking is pretty depressing at times, set shots etc.!

I think the huge hype and then all the naysayers bagging us cos we arent tope 8 (or werent the other week). So I think high expectations do reduce enjoyment yeh. I remember going to a game a couple years ago, it was against the tigers in fact in 2010 and we had lost 6 games in a row and we won by a kick, it was a great game, because both teams were fighting for the win.

I have been reading Big Footy with interest this season. There has been some great debate and thoughts out there, but I have also noticed (and felt myself) a lack of real enjoyment in the year so far. This got me thinking, is this due to:

1. the gameplan?
2. the results? or
3. our expectations meaning anything but a 150 point flogging is considered an underperformance?

Although I know the gameplan is a bit painful, as often pointed out by Henry Jr it has generally led to us being either way ahead in terms of scoring shots or at the least competitive. i can understand this being a factor in the pain though - I too would prefer to see Buddy leading to the ball and us scoring lots of goals on the run

Our results - when you look at it a bit objectively, we are not doing bad. Although people hate to admit it, we may not have played a perfect four quarters yet, but we have played some good footy in every match and have been winning convincingly or competitive in all bar one match (and even then we were still in it in the last quarter).

So then we come to the expectations. Every week I notice in the preview we have comments like "if we don't win then we are not true top 4" and in all the reviews we concentrate on the negatives - ie beat Saints but let Kosi kick five!, or Only won against Freo because of one good quarter! The reality in these matches is that we may not have played great but we won them all and won them all with ease, but lots of us don't seem to be enjoying it.

I remember back in 05/06 when we were rebuilding we celebrated the smallest victories (Buddies first multiple goals, a great mark by Roughy, a bit of mad bravery by Campbell Brown, Willo being the only 184cm key forward and doing it easy. Now we don't seem to get excited, even when Cyril takes a mark of the year contender. We are taking that for granted and whinging about the bad stuff, rather than exulting in the fact we have some great players. Sometimes in form, sometimes not - but always trying and often doing breathtaking stuff.

This season is one where any one of ten teams could win it. This means there are a lot of games we cannot take for granted and we should go into every match confident, but realising that we will not dominate for the whole game, teams will challenge us and we (the supporters) need to do our bit to get OUR team over the line.

 

[Agent Smith]

High expectations - probably not, unrealistic expectations - definitely.

It seems that many believe not only the media, but our own hype that it is our destiny to win multiple premierships with this team. And as the 'failures' have mounted, conversely the expectations and urgency have increased. It's like we are owed something or dare I say it, envious in our own way that we haven't emulated Geelong's dynasty.

Those multiple flags may or may not eventuate, all I can tell you for sure is premierships are damn hard to come by - the 'perfect storm' in so many ways.......

If I had one piece of advice - the journey is long but just as important as the destination, so savor every win and appreciate what's gone into it rather than kicking the shit out of blokes because the club owes you a flag.

You have the privilege of watching 2, 3, 4, maybe more, Hawthorn greats of all time in the making weekly - enjoy it.

But it is our destiny...

I think our goal kicking has tarnished spectator enjoyment so far this year. It's what fans generally love to see the most, and to miss so many shots at goal turns a day out at the footy into a frustrating time sometimes. If we were kicking straighter, even with the same win-loss ratio, I think ppl would be enjoying this year far better.

 

[apiro]

Yes, in general high expectations can lead to greater disappointment when we lose and conversely less exhilaration with each win.

My expectation for Hawthorn is we finish top 4 this year and display weekly we are premiership contenders. This has nothing to do with the media hype or the bookies odds. After last year, the improvement shown by some of the youngsters and recruits, the reasonable injury toll (albeit no Hodge), I simply can't run away from this expectation.

 

[Hawka19]

Spot on. I remember in April 2008, I had a good chat with a mate and weighed up the pros and cons before concluding that 2008 was our year. For it all to unfold as it did, 90% of the season was very enjoyable. This year, I'm just wanting it all to be over with. I think the next premiership (hopefully in 2012) I'll breathe a huge sigh of relief and go back to enjoying the game again.

 

[Roger Rogerson]

We smacked the Crows who are ladder leaders and we gave then their only loss.
We smacked Freo and gave them their biggest loss for the year, they were 6th on the ladder at the time.
We beat the Pies who are flag faves.
We did this with out our captain..
Also we were 6-2 after 8 rounds last year this year we are 5-3 so that's 1 win 1 loss difference.
Expetations are there because we all know how good a side we are and put a side all the media build up, we are a very good side and hence why we expect so much...

Enjoyment is subdued because reservations exist as to whether we are a GREAT side or not. The Geelong monkey, the prelim loss, two close losses this year suggest that we may not be a great side...but that is the pessimist in me. Until we get the results over the top sides we threaten to be another bulldogs or Port of the 00s. And prob the biggest reservation for mine is the game plan.

I am waiting for us to click and our good players to hit form.

 

[macdaddio]

Enjoyment is subdued because reservations exist as to whether we are a GREAT side or not. The Geelong monkey, the prelim loss, two close losses this year suggest that we may not be a great side...but that is the pessimist in me. Until we get the results over the top sides we threaten to be another bulldogs or Port of the 00s. And prob the biggest reservation for mine is the game plan.

I am waiting for us to click and our good players to hit form.

I agree we are yet to show reason for us being a great side, but i feel that right now we are a very good side and hence why i have high expectations.
Good sides not only make the finals, but they win finals and we have the capability to win not only a final but a prelim and then maybe also a grand final.
I think we have clicked now and starting to show why we are a genuine flag threat..

 

[Fastback]

For the first month of the season I found myself getting agitated throughout games as we really are a Jeckyll and Hyde type side at the moment. There'd be patches of footy you know we're capable of interspersed with lazy or unnecessary over use of the footy resulting in easy goals to the opposition.
Now I just sit quietly and try to understand what the players are doing and which players are showing improvement, of which there are plenty, and appreciate that we are slowly building ourselves up for a fairdinkum tilt.