Is there a Differance Between a Pessimist and a Realist?

Some of us wear blue goggles and so sometimes we find a poster that feels the need to be a realist to bring us back down to Earth. Do you think that these posters sometimes cross the line to pessimist and become guilty of the same offense that we are accused of? Namely losing touch with reality on the other extreme?

Yep, sometimes they try so hard to be objective and fight their blue that the pendulum swings too far and all we hear is doom and gloom.

I am 100% totally and completely guilty of being a pessimist. I don't know how to fix that. I truly believe what I say to be true, and am often wrong.



I am not trying to bring others down, I just don't know how to believe in BYU in this game anymore.



If they win on Saturday that will change. If they don't, I suspect I will crawl into a hole for a while.

There is a big difference between being a pessimist/realist and a troll. We have a few pessimists on the board and for the most part, their stormy cloud attitude is livable. We currently have a troll on the board though and that is another story.

Answer: a pessimist claims to be a realist, a troll claims to be a realist, there are no realists.

It seems that every year there's a handful of FBS teams that stand head and shoulders above everyone else. The best team may slip up and look vulnerable for a game or two, but they finish out the season and then blow up their opponent in the national championship. Compared to the top team, every other team will have weaknesses and deficiencies. Realistically, you can acknowledge the flaws and admit that they may cost us some games--we're thin at CB because of injuries, pass protection has been poor for a couple seasons, and poor passing efficiency (bad throws and dropped balls) means we'll have a tough time catching up if we have to play from behind.



The big difference between pessimists and realists is that the pessimists having trouble seeing the positives. Placekicking has been great so far this year, the front seven have been playing phenomenally, and our backs ran Texas so far into the ground they fired their D-Coordinator mid-season.



A pessimist wrings every last drop of misery from a loss, and walks away from a huge win cringing because at some point in the season someone will undoubtedly exploit our weakness and make us look like a top 35 team instead of a top 10 team.



Every year there might be 1 or maybe two undefeated teams after all the bowls are played, and at this point of the season it's definitely not us. It's a bit more painful for us because we all want BYU to win another national championship, and the only way this will happen is if we go on a 25 game win streak against quality opponents AND we're undefeated at the end of the season AND a few other teams lose late in the season.



Pessimists fear that we'll find a way to lose this weekend.



Realistically, we've got good odds to notch a win and start a winning streak.

Good thread. There will be ALOT more pessimists of BYU loses Saturday. Look at all the pre-pessimists (I usually am one) almost insulating themselves in preparation from a loss.

Credit you Northern. And I think ALOT of folks aren't far from that. Bronco has to find a way to win this game.

Credit Rley Nelson and McKay Jacobson for catching the chucked duck at USU, bc that would have created a major funk for this whole program. Now BYu faces a similar disaster like game this week. Fans afraid to believe. I is sort of astonishing,

BYU athletics sells Cougar-blue koolaid in vats and always has. I've learned that while the nectar is sweet to the initial taste, like artificial sweetners, it comes with an after-taste, and thence why I have become what I believe to be more of a realist. If I didn't care about BYU sports, I wouldn't be here. Some people can handle loss better than I and seem oblivious. My hats off to them and they have a talent in an area I do not. I learned as a kid that playing with fire can get you burnt, but fire has it's redeeming qualities.



I've been around long enough to see that most fans begin a whole lot more optimistic then they are a few years down the road. Bottom line is that I would consider myself a realist, but I'm still here.

Probably, but I doubt we can tell. ;)

It has been pointed out very well above. Reaslism is the ability to see both strengths and weaknesses. Pessimism is the curse of only seeing the weaknesses. Trolling is taking away all strengths and weaknesses and only predicting a win where it is utterly impossible to lose (Idaho State) and then saying the team has a weak schedule. Any win is because the competition is inferior, not becuase the winning team played well. I think I range somewhere between optimist and realist. At the start of every year I hope for an undefeated season, and continue to hope for winning out after each loss. However, I realize that winning in college football is not that easy and that BYU is traditionally a good, not a great team. And there is nothing wrong with that.



Our special season will come again, but they only come once in a very long while. Even the powerhouse teams not named Alabama only have special seasons once every decade or so.



So, we should temper our expectations a little and realize that it is fun to watch these kids play their hearts out and represent us well. But we may only see a national championship once in our sports viewing life. Those born in the 1900's and on saw the 1984 one and a lot of losing in between. I don't count the 1984 as my national championship because I didn't even watch football as a 6 year old. I am still waiting for the national championship to occur in my sports viewing lifetime, but it may not be for a while. I am young though, so I can be patient.



Special seasons happen a little more often, about once a decade. This could still turn out to be a special season, if we run the table.

BoiseBYU wrote:
Probably, but I doubt we can tell. ;)

It is easy to tell. Take note of their predictions and see how close they come to reality - because reality is what it is. Realists should be closer to reality in their predictions than pessimists or optimists.



A couple of years ago, I won the regular season CC prediction game while getting called a pessimist and a troll all season. Last season, my prediction for wins and losses was spot on, as usual.



This year - I predicted a BYU win in a close game at UVA. I was right - until that late interception. In the end - I was very close.



Then, I sipped the blue kool-aid, and predicted that same close win vs Texas. BAM. Blowout. I was more optimistic than most of you - but reality made me a pessimist on this one.



IDK on this Utah game. I expect a close game with big plays. I do not expect either team to quit. Even though Hadley is suspended, I will still predict a BYU win in this one. Call me an optimist, if we get blown out.



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I think that optimists are closer to realists than pessists are



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After reading this thread I don’t know that pessimist truly describes me. I would say I am a one game pessimist. The Utah game. Let me explain.



• I predicted, even expected, a win against UVA.

• I didn’t think we would beat Texas but that was when I thought they were a true #15 ranked team and the team that lost to UVA would be playing. I was wrong on both counts

• If we beat Utah on Saturday I only see two more losses this year: two of either USU, Wisc or ND.



We hear the trite saying all the time that, “I am as big of a BYU fan as they come.” I will say that about myself. I don’t know how anyone could love this team more than I do. I lost my job in the spring and decided to start my own business but still bought our season tickets. In 24 years of following BYU football since I was a student there I have only missed 2 games either in person or watching on TV. I spend way more money per month on DirecTV than I should so I can get all of the BYU games. I bought the OTA device from DirecTV so I can get BYUTV in HD. I could go on and on.



I know that there are many like me, probably many who are more invested. But the Utah game each year makes or breaks the year for me. 2006 would have been a failure if we had lost. I stopped watching the 2011 Utah game after the Jake Heaps gymnastics exhibition. I still haven’t watched most of last years Utah game and when the lowlights are played on TV I change the channel or shut my eyes.



I have run every possible scenario of this game on Saturday in my head and in all 1,743,956 different outcomes, every one has BYU giving up a turnover for 6 pts, which I am petrified will be the difference in this game.



I get physically ill the week of the Utah game and after a loss to Utah. I find myself depressed and not able to function normally for days after. When we beat Utah I find myself irrationally happy and upbeat. I am not this way about any other game or experience in my life. I am passionate about a lot of things, but the Utah game is a completely irrational and illogical experience for me. I can’t explain it or fix it. I’ve tried. I don’t know how.



So I guess I would say that I am a pessimist for the Utah game and close to an optimist for every other game. Unless we lose to Utah. And then, frankly, I find that I am just angry for the rest of the season and don’t care nearly as much.

I don't know what label to put on myself. I like to think that i'm objective at least. Hopefully nobody thinks I'm a pessimist. I'm usually trying to look at all the angles, that's just how I think, football or not.

Maybe we need a shrink on the board or a sports psychologist. By the way, why has wolfman not chimed it. It would help him to bare his soul on this.



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scott715 wrote:
Maybe we need a shrink on the board or a sports psychologist. By the way, why has wolfman not chimed it. It would help him to bear his sole on this.



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I took a sports psychology class.

hawkwing wrote:

Maybe we need a shrink on the board or a sports psychologist. By the way, why has wolfman not chimed it. It would help him to bear his sole on this.



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I took a sports psychology class.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I'm way more optomistic after attending Bronco's coaching show tonight. He was playful and laid back and acknowledged that he didn't manage the rivalry appropriately in the past by acting as though every game was ONLY the next game to play. He said he realizes that this game will always involve a different feeling among the Cougars, but he needs to keep them loose.



JD Falslev and KVN both have given me a pulse that the team really wants this game.

I'm a pessimist, glass-is-half-empty guy by nature. But it serves a purpose as it balances out my wishful thinking when it comes to BYU winning.