If only it were that easy.
I've scanned your "bleary Sunday morning" reactions to the 2nd of our now-weekly debacles and can see that we're all on the same general track. This "thread" could have fit nicely on the current end of "The Official Game Day Thread: LSU", but it is not just my "vent": it is an attempt to address the very problems you have all so well described.
"Losing is one thing, being a "loser" is something else entirely"
--Escambia'94 10/08/11 (right after the loss to LSU)
Though we call ourselves "Gator Nation", we are more a huge "extended family", one that celebrates members' success and suffers with them their failures. Our "favorite son", the "one" that ties us all together, "The University of Florida Fightin' Gator Football Team", is ill. It is losing "the big games" badly because too many of its players are "losers". What do we do? If this is a team of losers, what does that mean, and how do we change it?
OK, let's say a "loser" is "sick" in some way. Is it medical or psychological? Let's leave out the injured here--they are curable, most not "losers" at all. There is an important exception, I'm sorry to say.
Jeff Demps is NOT consciously or intentionally trying to hurt this team, on the contrary, but when it comes to football (as opposed to his 1st love, preference and aptitude, Track, in which he is most assuredly a WINNER), as an RB who must put himself in harm's way every time his number is called (and really, every time Rainey's is called as well, to block for him), he thinks too much about not getting hit--and rightly so: an everyday clean shot can and HAS taken him out of games.
You can do spectacular things running scared, but it won't get you through a season. One way or another, your teammates cannot count on you: game-planning with him, then almost weekly seeing him go down is a distraction AND an emotional let-down for the team. Neither an example nor a tone you want to set.
Now to the rest:
MOST of our "losers" have a psychological problem--but it's one just as contagious as the sneakiest flu. It's in their "heads and hearts". This goes all the way back to the glory days, when the Meyer/Tebow-led Gators were riding high. The recruiting-cycle right after our '08 Championship was a difficult one--already known as a Head Coach who favored and played his seniors, our depth was such that no young "prized recruit" could realistically believe he would play anytime soon, let alone as a freshman. Our rivals had a field day.
The NEXT year, Meyer & Co. did whatever they had to do within the NCAA constraints, said whatever they had to say in order to gather in talent--head cases and prima donnas were welcome. The "experts" called it "the best defensive recruiting class of all time"--but there were repercussions. A generational split in the locker room, selfishness and stupid penalties, trouble on and off the field--and a "loser" at OC, running the whole frustrating mess. The "patient" was critical.
In came Muschamp and a new regime, a new attitude and a new approach. We've been shedding 4- and 5-star "losers" ever since. Some have grown up, snapped out of it...others have somehow managed to hold on, but they're "deadwood", taking up space on the field, on the bench, available scholarships. A lot of work still to be done: the endless stupid penalties continue to be a "Gator trademark", a lingering mark of "the Gator Losers" and one that we MUST shed. You'll know we've REALLY "turned the corner" and are on the "road to recovery" when that STOPS. With the right players and good coaching, the rest will take care of itself.
Meanwhile, you begin to wonder what guys like Brown, Powell and Robison are HERE for. They WERE great prospects, but there's enough evidence now that they can't help us: they are not only not getting it done, they are a poor example to and a drag ON everyone else--as SP put it, "I'd rather have 70 with HEART than 85 flashy and not really trying". They're still here, so Coach Boom must see something--but unless they show it before the end of this season, they'll have to be replaced.
So, here we are:
Diagnosis: Loser
Treatment: Surgery--remove diseased tissue; where necessary, replace moving parts
Prognosis: Given time, the staff can and will return "patient" to full health, and MORE--In the words from the intro to "The Six Million Dollar Man", "We can make him BETTER--STRONGER, FASTER!" (Cue music and sound-effects)
I've scanned your "bleary Sunday morning" reactions to the 2nd of our now-weekly debacles and can see that we're all on the same general track. This "thread" could have fit nicely on the current end of "The Official Game Day Thread: LSU", but it is not just my "vent": it is an attempt to address the very problems you have all so well described.
"Losing is one thing, being a "loser" is something else entirely"
--Escambia'94 10/08/11 (right after the loss to LSU)
Though we call ourselves "Gator Nation", we are more a huge "extended family", one that celebrates members' success and suffers with them their failures. Our "favorite son", the "one" that ties us all together, "The University of Florida Fightin' Gator Football Team", is ill. It is losing "the big games" badly because too many of its players are "losers". What do we do? If this is a team of losers, what does that mean, and how do we change it?
OK, let's say a "loser" is "sick" in some way. Is it medical or psychological? Let's leave out the injured here--they are curable, most not "losers" at all. There is an important exception, I'm sorry to say.
Jeff Demps is NOT consciously or intentionally trying to hurt this team, on the contrary, but when it comes to football (as opposed to his 1st love, preference and aptitude, Track, in which he is most assuredly a WINNER), as an RB who must put himself in harm's way every time his number is called (and really, every time Rainey's is called as well, to block for him), he thinks too much about not getting hit--and rightly so: an everyday clean shot can and HAS taken him out of games.
You can do spectacular things running scared, but it won't get you through a season. One way or another, your teammates cannot count on you: game-planning with him, then almost weekly seeing him go down is a distraction AND an emotional let-down for the team. Neither an example nor a tone you want to set.
Now to the rest:
MOST of our "losers" have a psychological problem--but it's one just as contagious as the sneakiest flu. It's in their "heads and hearts". This goes all the way back to the glory days, when the Meyer/Tebow-led Gators were riding high. The recruiting-cycle right after our '08 Championship was a difficult one--already known as a Head Coach who favored and played his seniors, our depth was such that no young "prized recruit" could realistically believe he would play anytime soon, let alone as a freshman. Our rivals had a field day.
The NEXT year, Meyer & Co. did whatever they had to do within the NCAA constraints, said whatever they had to say in order to gather in talent--head cases and prima donnas were welcome. The "experts" called it "the best defensive recruiting class of all time"--but there were repercussions. A generational split in the locker room, selfishness and stupid penalties, trouble on and off the field--and a "loser" at OC, running the whole frustrating mess. The "patient" was critical.
In came Muschamp and a new regime, a new attitude and a new approach. We've been shedding 4- and 5-star "losers" ever since. Some have grown up, snapped out of it...others have somehow managed to hold on, but they're "deadwood", taking up space on the field, on the bench, available scholarships. A lot of work still to be done: the endless stupid penalties continue to be a "Gator trademark", a lingering mark of "the Gator Losers" and one that we MUST shed. You'll know we've REALLY "turned the corner" and are on the "road to recovery" when that STOPS. With the right players and good coaching, the rest will take care of itself.
Meanwhile, you begin to wonder what guys like Brown, Powell and Robison are HERE for. They WERE great prospects, but there's enough evidence now that they can't help us: they are not only not getting it done, they are a poor example to and a drag ON everyone else--as SP put it, "I'd rather have 70 with HEART than 85 flashy and not really trying". They're still here, so Coach Boom must see something--but unless they show it before the end of this season, they'll have to be replaced.
So, here we are:
Diagnosis: Loser
Treatment: Surgery--remove diseased tissue; where necessary, replace moving parts
Prognosis: Given time, the staff can and will return "patient" to full health, and MORE--In the words from the intro to "The Six Million Dollar Man", "We can make him BETTER--STRONGER, FASTER!" (Cue music and sound-effects)
