I appreciate that Bell said something that gets lost in a lot of these discussions, something I have thought a lot: you can support NU when Bo was coach and now that Riley is our coach. One doesn't have to be a bad coach for the other to be a good coach. They are not mutually exclusive.
Actually I think Bell is the one wrong here. NU had overwhelming fan support while Bo was here and NU has it now. The sellout streak remains. It is Bo who enjoyed popular support that declined to only minority support in the end.
Maybe Kenny still does not understand that Bo ignorantly played an us against the world game with the team. There never was such a situation from the outside...not from the fans or local media, IMO. But Bo seemed to think so and he clearly acted like it was true. When it was a bit true IMO was in 2007 when some fans including me turned a bit on the team overall when some, I think, perceived some attitude and effort from PLAYERS that was unacceptable (one LB in particular can't recall his name). Actually I guess I didn't really turn on the team but I did turn on a few players plus Cally.
I don't think it's very reasonable to expect the players to completely differentiate between fans still (supposedly) supporting the team while constantly belittling the head coach and coaching staff, complaining that the team can't win any games that matter, mocking them when they lose badly and even taking plenty of shots at the players - particularly Martinez but many others - albeit to a much lesser extent - including Bell.
I'm not saying the vast majority of fans didn't still "support" the team - as in show up, cheer for them, follow them, etc. - but as the complaining gets louder and more frequent, it's pretty easy to think that that's all you're hearing anymore, even if it's still the minority.