I almost titled this “Why is everyone so negative?” until I remembered that the majority of what you end up hearing in this country whether it’s national news media or a message board represents the extremes of opinion, thus that which grabs the most immediate attention. Notice I said majority as I hope this post falls into the minority of posts or reports that truly make the most sense but aren’t sensational or provocative enough to get much attention. My message as it relates to our current football team in no particular order:
-underperforming so far in certain areas: Yes indeed. When we are at our worst we look lethargic, lack energy and enthusiasm, and in some cases lack confidence. Pringle isn’t healthy. If you watched his long return his gate is off for whatever reason. He’s playing hurt and is pressing. Risner is dinged up. If I’m guessing, I think the week off was not an easy one on the team. I think thr general approach from Bill and staff after a performance like we had in Nashville is the “boot in the ass” approach. The team looked like it. We knew Baylor was a game we would win and we got out to a lead and didn’t start the second half with any emotion. Flat as hell in fact. Baylor is not a good team as we all know right now. However, they’re getting better each week and they certainly still have athletes. They burned us a couple times. Now, that said, when we needed to answer we did. That’s a positive. Both offensively and defensively. Wide receiver play is obviously unacceptable to date. Well, to be accurate, it’s unacceptable at Nashville, and still unacceptable but less so vs Baylor: There wee obvioulsy continued drops but also some nice plays... ie zuber first td. If we don’t get the wr equivelant of the putting yips we will, in my opinion, continue to improve. It just amazes me that this fan base in particular wants to take a snapshot of any detail good or bad about our play and extend it throughout the season. Like the wr play is going to be shitty the remainder of the season and the defensive line for example can just show up on game day and continue to perform like they have without any additional day to say improvements. The fact is, like it is every year, that no team nor any position groups within the team, remain static throughout the season. Individually and collectively we are going to progress or regress relative to our competition. This is fact, I played basketball at KSU and I saw both sides of this coin. This is what bill preaches and is the most unsexy part of our program to many and the sexiest part to many others. You know, the “just find a way to get a little better every day” comment that has made our program what it is because he truly means it and he has recruited kids that will buy into it. It is totally like hearing Swahili to others, mostly in our fan base, that don’t truly understand what it means. Therefore it goes in one ear and out the other and you hear things like the following.... “we just need to recruit better players”, “our wide receivers suck & it’s going to kill us the rest of the year”, “our oline is horrible this year”, “our dline is awesome”....etc, etc, etc. The bottom line with me is this. What’s happened to date is really meaningless in the sense that our realistic season goals are still entirely intact. We can’t go undefeated and even if we had we weren’t going to be a playoff team in all likelihood. This team has the players and coaches to win the Big 12. It’s still in play. What isn’t meaningless about what’s happened to date are the intangible components of the team makeup that none of us “experts” including myself has any clue about. Are we able to progress as a team in the midst of our struggles. I have seen nothing to give me the idea that we have bad seeds, divisiveness, pouting, self pity, or any other number of characteristics that send teams down the road of regression. I know every week is an opportunity to take a snapshot of our progression but don’t make the mistake of taking for granted and overlay that this the way it will be from here out. Good or bad. There is no guarantee we will have a team that develops into a championship group. We may indeed regress. My money is on Bill and our program which has proven the majority of the time that is exactly where my money should be. We are not entitled to anything folks: it’s elbow grease and nails on the chalkboard at times to be truthful but I for one enjoy the process. Try to enjoy seeing where we go. We have the tools. I hope we come out Saturday and have some good fortune in Austin and perform to our ability. If we do, I think it’s game on. All the best to our coaches and players. They’re the people doing it. Sorry so long winded. We
-underperforming so far in certain areas: Yes indeed. When we are at our worst we look lethargic, lack energy and enthusiasm, and in some cases lack confidence. Pringle isn’t healthy. If you watched his long return his gate is off for whatever reason. He’s playing hurt and is pressing. Risner is dinged up. If I’m guessing, I think the week off was not an easy one on the team. I think thr general approach from Bill and staff after a performance like we had in Nashville is the “boot in the ass” approach. The team looked like it. We knew Baylor was a game we would win and we got out to a lead and didn’t start the second half with any emotion. Flat as hell in fact. Baylor is not a good team as we all know right now. However, they’re getting better each week and they certainly still have athletes. They burned us a couple times. Now, that said, when we needed to answer we did. That’s a positive. Both offensively and defensively. Wide receiver play is obviously unacceptable to date. Well, to be accurate, it’s unacceptable at Nashville, and still unacceptable but less so vs Baylor: There wee obvioulsy continued drops but also some nice plays... ie zuber first td. If we don’t get the wr equivelant of the putting yips we will, in my opinion, continue to improve. It just amazes me that this fan base in particular wants to take a snapshot of any detail good or bad about our play and extend it throughout the season. Like the wr play is going to be shitty the remainder of the season and the defensive line for example can just show up on game day and continue to perform like they have without any additional day to say improvements. The fact is, like it is every year, that no team nor any position groups within the team, remain static throughout the season. Individually and collectively we are going to progress or regress relative to our competition. This is fact, I played basketball at KSU and I saw both sides of this coin. This is what bill preaches and is the most unsexy part of our program to many and the sexiest part to many others. You know, the “just find a way to get a little better every day” comment that has made our program what it is because he truly means it and he has recruited kids that will buy into it. It is totally like hearing Swahili to others, mostly in our fan base, that don’t truly understand what it means. Therefore it goes in one ear and out the other and you hear things like the following.... “we just need to recruit better players”, “our wide receivers suck & it’s going to kill us the rest of the year”, “our oline is horrible this year”, “our dline is awesome”....etc, etc, etc. The bottom line with me is this. What’s happened to date is really meaningless in the sense that our realistic season goals are still entirely intact. We can’t go undefeated and even if we had we weren’t going to be a playoff team in all likelihood. This team has the players and coaches to win the Big 12. It’s still in play. What isn’t meaningless about what’s happened to date are the intangible components of the team makeup that none of us “experts” including myself has any clue about. Are we able to progress as a team in the midst of our struggles. I have seen nothing to give me the idea that we have bad seeds, divisiveness, pouting, self pity, or any other number of characteristics that send teams down the road of regression. I know every week is an opportunity to take a snapshot of our progression but don’t make the mistake of taking for granted and overlay that this the way it will be from here out. Good or bad. There is no guarantee we will have a team that develops into a championship group. We may indeed regress. My money is on Bill and our program which has proven the majority of the time that is exactly where my money should be. We are not entitled to anything folks: it’s elbow grease and nails on the chalkboard at times to be truthful but I for one enjoy the process. Try to enjoy seeing where we go. We have the tools. I hope we come out Saturday and have some good fortune in Austin and perform to our ability. If we do, I think it’s game on. All the best to our coaches and players. They’re the people doing it. Sorry so long winded. We
