THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The highs and lows of fandom, near and far

Watching the game itself was painful enough.

The graphic afterward made it worse.

"First win in UNC history when shooting under 30%."

Unfortunately, we're not talking about the University of Northern Colorado here.

The graphic popped up after North Carolina defeated Boston College 58-47 in an ACC men's basketball game the other night.

North Carolina. The storied Tar Heels.

I caught the second half of the re-air on one of those Bally sports network channels.

I barely recognized what I was seeing.

The Tar Heels, perennial national title contenders for decades, had a hard time getting off a thought, much less a shot, against a fairly ordinary opponent.

They used to have guards who could break people down off the dribble, wings that could shoot, bigs that could dominate.

There was none of that on this night.

What in the name of Phil Ford is going on here?

Michael Jordan? Dean Smith?

Both teams played hard, but the only reason North Carolina won was because Boston College couldn't shoot either. It was a win for the Tar Heels, but hardly something to be proud of.

Which got me to thinking ... what happens when the teams you grew up rooting for just aren't that good anymore?

NORTH CAROLINA.

Georgetown.

UNLV.

UCLA.

The Tar Heels became an acquired taste, through a friend who enjoyed their selfless style of play. They were playing in the Final Four long before anybody called it the Final Four, and kept up that level of play for decades.

North Carolina won a national title just five seasons ago, beating the lovable Zags.

That seems like such a long time ago.

Georgetown games in the 1980s were must-see TV, especially when Patrick Ewing was playing there, and even for a few years after that.

But, other than a couple seasons when his son coached the Hoyas, once John Thompson resigned as coach, Georgetown has pretty much faded into oblivion. Not even Ewing, now the head coach, can make the Hoyas relevant again.

We're now just left with the memories, characters from the faded VHS tapes — Michael Graham, Mark Tillmon, Victor Page ...

UNLV was the Runnin' Rebels long before it was advantageous to be the runnin' anythings — back when there was no shot clock, no 3-point line.

But as it turned out, UNLV was only relevant when Jerry Tarkanian was coach, from the 1970s to the early 1990s. When he left, the Runnin' Rebs basically fell off the college basketball map.

During the Freddie Banks/Armon Gilliam heydey in the 1980s, somebody made a spinoff video of "Walk like an Egyptian" by The Bangles. It was called "Walk like a Tarkanian."

(... "All the cops in the doughnut shop sayin' 'Re-bels, Re-bels ... Re-bels, Re-bels ... )

There are no such videos these days.

UCLA was never going to continue at the level it was at in the 1960s and early '70s, winning 10 national titles in 12 years. But the Bruins have at least stayed somewhat relevant over the last few decades, winning a national title in 1995, advancing to a couple Final Fours a decade later, and were the other team in that thrilling national semifinal with the Zags last year.

Some people say it's boring when the same old Blue Bloods win every year — that the emergence of "New Bloods" is nice for the sport. That would partially explain the nation's love affair with Gonzaga, which is fine. While college basketball in general has gotten worse with all the one-and-dones, Gonzaga has somehow gotten better, and has risen past most of the pack and is now, year in and year out, considered a national title contender.

That would come as a shock to Zag fans of the 1980s and early '90s, used to seeing their lovables making their annual early exit from the conference tournament.

Now, they're the darlings of the NCAA tournament.

I GUESS I don't mind when a few "New Bloods" pop up on the college basketball scene.

Butler was a cute story a few years ago, but is no longer relevant.

Gonzaga, on the other hand, isn't going away anytime soon — much to the chagrin of most of the rest of the teams in the West Coast Conference, who figure to keep getting pummeled by the lovables for another couple of decades.

But it's also good when the Blue Bloods are good — just like in other sports.

When USC football is good, it makes the rest of the Pac-12 look good. When Notre Dame is good, like 'em or not, there's more interest in their games.

It's more fun to knock the Yankees out of the playoffs than to beat them during a .500 season.

Who doesn't either root for the Cowboys — or want their team to pummel them?

Some folks might root for the Patriots to return to their Tom Brady level, just for the satisfaction of beating them.

HOW DOES this apply locally?

Coug fans are undyingly loyal, win or lose ... mostly lose.

When their teams are good, it's almost like they're waiting for their Cougs to ... well, you know ...

They're happy to beat the Huskies every now and then in the Apple Cup.

Vandals fans are similarly loyal. A new football coach means new enthusiasm — optimism for a return to the glory days of the 1980s and early '90s.

Especially after things didn't go as planned during their 22-year detour into FBS — though they did win three bowl games during that time, which was nice, but just seems odd when compared to the rest of that stretch.

With a new arena for basketball, there's similar hope for a return to the good times in that sport as well — though it, too, was decades ago.

Zags fans have it made these days.

During this two-month stretch, the question isn't "Will they win?" but "How much will they win by?" A 16-point win apparently constitutes a nail-biter.

Most of their tough games are in November and December, then resume again in March — when perhaps this year, the lovable Zags bring home that first national title, with the parade in early April.

I even know some people who are Oregon State fans.

Born in Salem, I grew up a Beaver fan. Used to listen to OSU football games while raking leaves in the backyard on Saturday afternoons. One of our neighbors said he knew Dee Andros — that raised him up a peg or two on the neighbor scale.

But the football team went some three decades between winning seasons. They once played their rival to a scoreless tie.

The basketball team was once among the nation's best for a few seasons, but that was back in the early 1980s. Every so often, like last year's Elite Eight run, they tease us again.

"Well, at least our baseball team is really good" doesn't get a lot of "Amens" at parties.

BACK TO college hoops, the West looks better when UCLA and Arizona are good. Same when UNLV was good.

(The lovable Zags seem more of a national curiosity that just happens to reside in the West.)

Beating Kansas doesn't mean as much when many other teams are beating them too.

Same with Kentucky.

Same with Duke and North Carolina — well, maybe not Duke. Any win over Duke would be cause for a parade. When the Zags finally got a chance to put one on North Carolina a few years ago at The Kennel, the Tar Heels were a shell of their former selves. But that didn't make the win feel any less important to fans of the lovables.

Outside of folks in Waco, as well as Zag fans, will anyone remember who won last year's national title?

In the end, Blue Bloods or New Bloods, we'll keep watching.

But hopefully, they'll shoot better than 30% in their next win.

(Naturally, a couple days later, North Carolina hung 100 on N.C. State.

Such is fandom.)

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.