Other Than One Minor Difference, Razorback Fans, Media Are All in the Same Boat

Borderline uninspiring game against FCS school Western Carolina in Little Rock can't come soon enough as summer drags on

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Aug 9, 2023 3:22 AM EDT

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – There's not a lot of difference between a true journalist covering the Arkansas Razorbacks and Razorback fans other than we're required to look at the team objectively and draw conclusions where the facts take us and fans get to look at the team through a distorted reality because they have the luxury of drawing conclusions with where their hearts take them.

It's why were able to look at last year's Arkansas football team and see 10-11 wins while we saw 7-8 wins and said if that mark could be met, it would likely be the product of a better coaching job by Sam Pittman than the nine win season the year before. Boy did the inbox immediately fill up with hate and vitriol after that little honest assessment went out about a week before last season began. However, it's hard to not admire and respect the loyalty and passion of Razorback fans even if a handful cross the line from time to time.

As stated earlier, beyond that, there's not a lot of difference. Fans get bored with rehashing the same stories over and over this time of year and so do we. Everyone's heard a dozen times over how much bigger and faster the team is than it was a few months ago, but let's tell it a 13th time by focusing on this one particular player you haven't thought about yet.

Everyone also knows quarterback KJ Jefferson is adjusting to the Dan Enos offense while hoping the time playing under center and making more reads will improve his draft stock, but here's another story on the same topic because Jefferson's latest quote is slightly different than the last. It's a lot like having dry toast for breakfast every morning for an entire month. It's technically something, but it grows tiresome quick. And that's not changing soon.

Pittman is happy with how practice is going and everything is all sunshine and roses because that's how it's been every spring and mid-summer heading into a football season at every program in America. Coaches talk about how amazing everything is even if there's a five-alarm fire behind the scenes because image must be managed. The only coach I can recall ever breaking this rule is Razorback basketball coach Eric Musselman when he came out before last season and said despite all the hype surrounding his new team, it wasn't going to be as strong as a lot of people thought because his players couldn't shoot the three. It was not only a breath of fresh air, but it was true.

Speaking of honesty, if there is a single media member out there trying to sell fans on him or her having all the goods on this team and knowing how this is about to play out, that person is straight up lying. We got to see about 20 minutes at the beginning of spring practices and most of that was spent staring down at a roster trying to figure out who in the world was even on the field after all the massive turnover. As for the preseason practices this past week, the media gets a carefully orchestrated 10-20 minutes to snag photos and take a few hastily written notes before being ushered out not knowing a whole lot more about this team than they did before they came in.

Just like fans, we're bored out of our minds right now while trying to scrounge up the slightest interesting content. If Jefferson really wanted to mess with everyone, he'd keep up with the player rotations, being mindful of when the last rotation the media is allowed to see, and then, just before communications director Kyle Parkinson sets about the task of rounding up the few stragglers who didn't realize time was up, let out a little yelp and start limping heavily toward the nearest trainer.

Within three minutes half the sports radio stations in Arkansas would have one of the many writers who attended workouts talking about concern because they saw KJ limping around and being looked at by the trainer. Meanwhile, Jefferson is happily bouncing around looking to see if Andrew Armstrong has drawn single coverage again and no one outside of the team is none the wiser.

And while the players prepare to practice another day in the heat, because if the media hadn't reported that it's hot man times over you wouldn't have known, fans are watching the Johnny Football documentary looking for a glimpse of the Razorbacks because it would be cool to see and helps pass the time 23 days out from the initial kick-off in Little Rock. Media members are also watching the documentary looking for a glimpse of the Razorbacks because it would be cool to have anything else to write about other than another position analysis because there are 23 more grueling days with little of nothing to pass time within the product before Little Rock.

When game week finally arrives, both fans and media are going to be so content starved that Western Carolina might as well be Texas A&M coming to town to open the season. Both groups will even pretend to care about kicking the dead horse on the whole War Memorial Stadium debate and what the weather is going to be like for a mid-afternoon start in the final three weeks of summer.

Clearly, until this team plays a meaningful game, even if it does happen to be against an FCS school, we're all in the same boat, thinking the same thing. Only 23 more days.

See, we're not that different after all.