SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
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Normally the first football game of the new season for me is like sticking my finger into an electric outlet. I've been mellow and relaxed all summer and suddenly I'm watching a game that MATTERS!
That may still happen but so far I'm very calm and relaxed. Part of it is that I see this game almost like the basketball team's games in Canada: as a first look at the team I'll be rooting for this year. If we win, great. I'll be full of optimism. If we lose and it's close, I'll see the good things that could lead to victory in other games. If we lose and it's not close I'll be frustrated but probably not depressed. I've seen a lot of seasons that began poorly and wound up being good years. The bar is not set low for this team but it's not sky-high. either. 6-6 and a bowl game would get us off to a good start in the new conference. I'm hopeful of better than that, of course. but we could have some bad games and frustrating performances and they will be just part of the picture, individual chapters in a book. We looked bad in a lot of games last year but the season had a very happy ending.
Emotionally, I think I'm in a better situation than those Clemson and Georgia fans who are thinking "National Championship" and could loose it on August 31st. (Editorial comment: this is why a tournament at the end of the season is so much better than this "the regular season is a single elimination tournament" nonsense. Football is the sport that requires the greatest degree of coordination among the greatest number of players. And college football features a kaleidoscopic lineup that changes each season. It takes a season for a team to find out how good they can be. Again, look at our basketball team last year. Should that season have been a single-elimination tournament? Nobody with dreams of a national championship should lose them in August.)
That may still happen but so far I'm very calm and relaxed. Part of it is that I see this game almost like the basketball team's games in Canada: as a first look at the team I'll be rooting for this year. If we win, great. I'll be full of optimism. If we lose and it's close, I'll see the good things that could lead to victory in other games. If we lose and it's not close I'll be frustrated but probably not depressed. I've seen a lot of seasons that began poorly and wound up being good years. The bar is not set low for this team but it's not sky-high. either. 6-6 and a bowl game would get us off to a good start in the new conference. I'm hopeful of better than that, of course. but we could have some bad games and frustrating performances and they will be just part of the picture, individual chapters in a book. We looked bad in a lot of games last year but the season had a very happy ending.
Emotionally, I think I'm in a better situation than those Clemson and Georgia fans who are thinking "National Championship" and could loose it on August 31st. (Editorial comment: this is why a tournament at the end of the season is so much better than this "the regular season is a single elimination tournament" nonsense. Football is the sport that requires the greatest degree of coordination among the greatest number of players. And college football features a kaleidoscopic lineup that changes each season. It takes a season for a team to find out how good they can be. Again, look at our basketball team last year. Should that season have been a single-elimination tournament? Nobody with dreams of a national championship should lose them in August.)
