Sports fans, by and large, are idiots.

This shouldn’t be a shocking statement. The word “fanatic” infers close-minded irrational behavior. And if you hear the phrase close-minded and irrational, how quickly does your mind jump to Yankees fans? My guess is 1.2 seconds, with only Glenn Beck coming to your brain first.

Message boards, blogs, tweets, whatever the medium – it doesn’t matter.* Fans will expel half-witted ideas and claims into cyberspace while other fans fire back equally irrational responses with lots of exclamation points. You know, because nothing says “I should be taken seriously” like a trio of exclamation marks.

Unlike our legal system, it’s better to assume stupidity until proven otherwise.

• The No. 1 vapid phrase found on message boards? “In my opinion.” Why would anyone ever need to write, “in my opinion”? It is obviously your opinion. You are writing it. Starting a sentence with “in my opinion” automatically disqualifies anything after it as amateur hour.

Sure, some fan bases are dumber and crazier than others – enjoying RichRod, Michigan supporters? – but every fan base has its share of mind-numbing morons. And the morons usually outweigh the rational supporters by a considerable margin.

Tennessee fans proved this with their one-year dalliance with Lane Kiffin. Every Georgia fan who calls for head coach Mark Richt and his 10 wins a season to be fired deserves the figurative dunce cap. The list goes on, but it will save 450 words to just say: The SEC.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin is far from immune from this measure.*

• Don’t worry, this isn’t another “show up to the games on time rant.” I’ll leave that to the whiny alumni on The Journal Sentinel’s message boards.

Remember how many fans were calling for head coach Bret Bielema’s head just two years ago? One 7-6 year and some UW fans were clamoring to start over. Never mind the fact that Wisconsin doesn’t have the national cache or history to bounce back easily with a new coach. Never mind that Barry Alvarez, the Savior with a capital S for Wisconsin football posted six seasons with a record equal or worse to Bielema’s 7-6 mark. As Bielema found out quickly, overreactions and a toddler’s memory are the norm for the average fan base.

Which leads me to the points of the column (finally).

Let me introduce what I would like to call the Five-Star Curse. It is a pretty simple theory. A high schooler with prodigious athletic gifts dominates his competition from Day One in high school. He fulfills all of the standards of a superb athlete, possessing the height, weight, speed, etc. A recruiting service – full disclosure: I work for Badgernation.com, a Scout.com website – sees that he satisfies all the tests on their clip board and they present him with the prestigious five-star rating.

And that about sums up the accuracy of recruiting services (See: The two-star Chris Borland, didn’t fulfill height requirement).

Instead of taking the rankings for what they are – educated guesses – fans cling to the five-star rating like Gopher fans and their glorious past (six time national champions!). Expectations are blown out of whack and if the player cannot meet the fans’ insane standards, he becomes a pi?ata for the misspelled ventings of a Journal Sentinel comment section.

Exhibit A: Brian Butch. Badger fans griping about Butch started the day he decided to redshirt his freshman year. Never mind the fact that Butch may not have carried 200 lbs. on his seven-foot frame, it was an affront to the state of Wisconsin that the McDonald’s All-American dare sit his first year out to bulk up.

When Butch actually did take the floor, the focus was constantly on what he did not do instead of the value he provided. For every missed six-footer that sent the drunken fan into a rant, the three point shooting, rebounding and defensive presence were ignored. Finishing his collegiate career a First-Team All-Big Ten selection and a member of two Big Ten title teams did not sway the Butch bitching fan base. The fact that he dislocated his elbow junior year and the Badgers lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament without him – a true testament to his value – was conveniently ignored.

With Butch moved on, the new Five-Star Curse for the Badgers belongs solely to offensive tackle Josh Oglesby. The Milwaukee native came to Wisconsin as one of the top prospects in the nation – No. 1 tackle by Rivals and No. 2 by Scout – and was often written about as a “future NFL pick.” Much like Butch, Oglesby’s career hasn’t taken the “ideal” track, becoming a source of frustration for fans last year.

The fire was already stoked for this season, with head coach Bret Bielema employing a classic motivational tool Monday after beating UNLV: “[There] were some loose ends that should have been cleaned up a year ago and it is just something we are not going to tolerate and if he continues to do those things there will be changes.”

It didn’t take long scanning the Journal Sentinel comment’s section to find the words “bust” and “Oglesby” in the same sentence.

Although I am sure the average Badger fan is a connoisseur of offensive line play, it seems a tad harsh to refer to Oglesby as a bust.

After all, he did start ten games last season and played in all 13 games his freshman year. He is a starter on one of the best offensive lines in college football. He was a part of the offensive line that paved the way for 278 rushing yards Saturday.

Oh yeah, and despite Bielema’s proclamation, Oglesby did earn the start for this Saturday.

So the question is a simple one. If Oglesby came from relative anonymity in rural Wisconsin and had the same credentials listed above without the Five-Star Curse, would he be considered a bust? A junior who appeared in 23 games in his first two seasons, weighs in at 335 pounds on his 6-foot-7 frame…

Even an idiot can answer that question.

Michael is a senior majoring in journalism. Call him an idiot at [email protected]