Posted by NoleCC

The July 2010 Jimbotron Fan Confidence Meter is showing a bit of patriotism this month, even though there is yet another decline in fan confidence. In fact, we’ve seen a steady decline since the beginning of March, when the Jimbotron was at an all time high. Why? News out of FSU continues to be great. So far there hasn’t been too much in the way of players doing stupid things (one theft problem aside). We haven’t heard about any awful injuries. The defense is gaining weight and strength. Pretty much everything news-wise is good. In fact, it’s been good news since Jimbo took over. So what’s up?

• Summer doldrums arrived. This is the absolute worst time of the year to be a college anything fan. The summer reminds us that there’s still a long haul until the beginning of the college football season. I think that affects fan confidence as attentions are turned to distractions like baseball.
• Stale news is boring. Newspapers, bloggers, whatever. This is the time of year where I feel like, “Man, I’ve read all this before.” Right or wrong, that affects my enthusiasm until the beginning of August, when there are fresh stories to report about the team.
• Realistic expectations are setting in. Sure there was plenty of afterglow knowing that FSU won the Gator Bowl and a new era debuts in 2010, but a peek at the FSU football schedule, coupled with tepid season ticket sales and bad news (Gulf oil spill, still crappy economy) has at Debbie Downer affect on general opinion. Maybe that spills over into the confidence poll too.

Granted, the poll is a tiny sample size of the FSU fan base. But, what I find most interesting about it is that I have a consistent bunch of voters. That means that a relatively similar sample over time is losing confidence in the 2010 season.  What does that mean? Who knows. I leave it opened ended for the fun of it. Perhaps some expectations were over the top to begin with and a corresponding decline in confidence means that poll voters are in line with an 8 win season instead of 10. Either way, I think the August 1 poll will be relatively flat, and then we’ll see where it goes from there.

Happy 4th of July! Go Noles!