Hopelessness is mostly a mindset in sports. Anything can happen at any time, but extended periods of struggle and/or losing wears on fan bases and teams alike. You lose too much, and everyone around a team — especially at the college level — starts to think that’s just how it’s going to be.
It’s hopelessness, of course. As a Syracuse Orange fan, you’ve certainly felt it before — most of the GERG era, the end of the Shafer era, and now, it’s creeping into the Dino Babers era here in year five. The key, as always, is making sure that feeling is temporary for your fans (and players).