Where are the loyal Derrick Rose fans at?
Derrick Rose, the kid from Chicago and star for the Chicago Bulls, has been through a lot over the past few years. After winning the MVP award in 2011, Rose has had a string of bad luck with injuries that have forced him to miss a plethora of games. Injuries are out of everyone’s control, yet Rose seems to take heat for getting hurt too much, and his once growing star has now fallen tremendously.
At 23 years old, Derrick Rose became the youngest MVP in league history and had established himself as a clear-cut superstar. His humble nature, quiet personality and fierceness on the court made him of the most popular players in the NBA. The city of Chicago had been spoiled for so many years with the play of Michael Jordan, and now they had another star player who was ready to lead them to the promise land.
Rose is a hometown hero and legend in the city of Chicago. Growing up on the south side, Rose wasn’t supposed to be in the NBA, as he grew up in a tough area. Not many people make it out of the neighborhood he grew up in, and without the guidance of his three older brothers and loving mom, Rose would probably have gotten into the drug game and gang life that many kids from the south side are apart of.
After having a legendary four-year high-school run and a successful one year in college, Rose was selected number 1 overall in the 2008 draft, by his hometown Chicago Bulls. And from 2008-2011, Derrick Rose showed no mercy towards anyone on the court, and did things physically that point guards are just not supposed to be able to do.
He defied basketball physics.
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Whether it was dunking over centers, being a one man fast break, controlling his body mid-air; Rose was bringing excitement back to the city of Chicago and the fans loved every bit of it. The relationship he had with the fans was different from what other star players have with their respective fan base.
Rose is just like the fans, he was born and raised in Chicago, so he understood what kind of basketball the fans wanted to see every night. And he delivered in spectacular fashion. His star was shining bright, not just in Chicago, but around the basketball world. He signed a lucrative shoe deal with Adidas that boosted his popularity even more and made him a global star.
The NBA and its fans fell in love with Rose because of how he played the game and how he acted off the court. His love for his mom, the game of basketball and his humble manner made him lovable to everyone, and it seemed like he could do nothing wrong.
By now you know the story. Rose tore his ACL in the final minutes of game 1 of the 2012 playoffs, and his reputation and star status has been going down ever since.
The following season Rose sat out the entire year, including the playoffs, and the uproar began.
Fans everywhere began to question Rose’s toughness and love for the game. Rose wasn’t ready physically and mentally to come back from a devastating injury, but fans didn’t care. They wanted him back right away and on the court helping the team.
Rose was on the bench for the entire 2012 playoffs, and people all over the internet began to make memes making fun of him and stating on twitter how “soft” he was for not playing.
A fan in Chicago actually sued Rose for not playing, yes that’s not a misprint. The guy sued Rose claiming his depression and weight gain was caused by Rose not playing. Good lord what has the world come too.
This was just the beginning of Bulls fans turning on Derrick.
To Rose’s credit, he has never cared what people say or think about him because he has tunnel vision. He’s focused on things that he can control and that is a good way to live life.
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Rose returned the next season on a mission to prove the haters wrong, but things didn’t go too well. Rose played in just 10 games before tearing the medial meniscus in his right knee against Portland. Surgery was required and he was lost for the season.
The haters were back again, making fun of Rose for getting hurt and calling him fragile. Bulls fans were beginning to get tired of Rose because of his injury issues.
The national media did its worst as NBA analysts proclaimed Rose was “done” and would never return to elite status. Some even said that he should retire. Retire at 25 years old? Keep dreaming.
Rose is a determined person and is willing to put in the work to achieve a goal. After his first three seasons in the league were successful, the next three were full of hardship and adversity. Anyone who knows the real Rose wasn’t surprised that he didn’t give up.
Rose was able to play 51 games last year but the injury bug didn’t leave his side. From sprained ankles to hamstring strains, Rose was unable to ever find a rhythm during the season, and although he averaged 17.7 ppg, fans still wanted more and weren’t happy with him.
Rose’s bad luck continued as he had a re-tear of his meniscus in February and was forced to have surgery again. This time he was only out for about 6 weeks though, and returned to the playoffs. Rose showed explosion and speed during the playoffs, and started to look like the Derrick Rose of old.
Who else in NBA history has gone through three knee surgeries and come back and show explosion and speed? You would think that fans of the NBA would appreciate Rose for the hard work he put in to come back and display that type of speed and burst, even after the injuries.
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This was not the case, as fans still continued to bash him for comments about thinking about the future, or taking care of his son, or shooting too many threes. It is almost as if the fans want Rose to do what they want, or else they will bash him, since it’s the easy thing to do now.
There are people who are literally sitting in front of their computer waiting for Rose to get hurt so that they can poke fun at him.
Many Bulls fans have already given up on Rose, and his latest eye injury caused an even more uproar in Chicago. People in Chicago act like Rose is getting hurt on purpose, but injuries are part of the game. Him getting elbowed in the eye is part of basketball and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent injuries from occurring.
Fans however don’t care and only think about results. They don’t care about Rose’s future health and well-being. Their mindset is that he’s getting paid a ton of money to play basketball but instead just sits on the bench and does nothing.
That is not the case at all. The work he had to put into his rehab sessions was tough, but he got through it.
It seems like there are no longer any loyal Derrick Rose fans and that is sad to see. Yes, Bulls fans will continue to cheer for him when he does good, but will quickly turn on him once anything negative happens.
Loyalty is about being there for someone in good or bad times. All the fans were there for Derrick when he won MVP, so where are the people sticking up for him when he is going through a hard time?
Are we that selfish and superficial as a society where we only support people if they are doing good?
Rose has two years left on his contract and he needs to win a championship to secure a future in Chicago.
It will be curious to see how this season plays out with the new offense. Rose is expected to miss the entire preseason but that is not a big deal. The Bulls need Rose healthy for the playoffs. They are good enough to win games during the regular season without him having to do much. The Bulls aren’t getting pass LeBron unless Rose is 100 percent healthy mentally and physically.
To the fans that are loyal and support Rose no matter what, kudos to you and keep doing what you are doing. Your faith in him will pay off in a big way, because this guy was meant for greatness. Someone who has three serious knee injuries and comes back to play the way that he did in the playoffs is a hard worker and a dedicated individual.
To all the trolls out there who hate on Rose and claim he is soft, how about you tear your ACL, put everything you have into coming back, then tear your meniscus, come back again, re-tear the same meniscus again, and still come out standing.
There has never been a player who has had these type of injuries to come back and still average 20 points, while displaying speed and explosion. Instead of questioning Rose all the time, how about appreciating the work he has put in to come back year after year.
He is doing all of this so that he can bring a championship to his home city, and it is a guaranteed fact that if he does, all the haters, trolls and un-loyal fans will jump right back on to support him.