Monday, October 6, 2008

Winning is supposed to be fun, right?

Do you still have fun watching your team play? I ask because I'm starting to wonder if anyone does anymore. I have now been on air in Columbia for four Gamecock football wins. The fans sort of enjoyed this weekend's victory on the road against Ole Miss, but after the other three it's been nothing been dissatisfaction. Even this weekend, there was still some grumbling about which QB was playing after snapping a six game SEC losing streak. Meanwhile, after Florida won an SEC road game by 31, my email box included among other complaints the completely insane suggestion Tim Tebow begin splitting time evenly with John Brantley at quarterback. A look at the assorted Gator message boards shows almost no one happy about anything except for UF covering the spread and the performance of the young running backs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying fans should never have anything but positive things to say after a win. It just seems like things have gotten out of balance for a lot of people to the point where the wins bring no joy and the losses only heighten the perpetual misery. That's no good.

One place I imagine people are enjoying things quite a bit is Vanderbilt. This is a great story, and it's happening in a year no one saw it coming at all after several years when people thought it could happen. With the loss of guys like Chris Williams and Earl Bennett to the draft, Vandy was supposed to take a step back this year even though everyone knows Bobby Johnson is a very good coach. The Commodores are using a secondary which may be the best in the SEC to create just enough chances to eke out these wins. Unless Vandy loses seven straight, which they won't do, they're going bowling for the first time since 1982 - crazy, but cool. Meanwhile, over in Knoxville, things are not quite so pleasant.

The folks in Madison are nowhere as happy as they are in Nashville. Not only did Wisconsin lose again in a big game, as they invariably do, but the band was suspended for the Ohio State game. No Fifth Quarter with the band playing polkas? That's a sacrilege up there.

I mentioned here on September 24 that UF offensive line coach Steve Addazio would love to get the Syracuse head coaching job. Now he's got former Miami Dolphin and Syracuse star Rob Konrad publically calling for him to be hired. I still think its a long shot, but you never know what could happen.

Can someone explain exactly how Hank Goldberg keeps his gig as "Hammerin' Hank for ESPN? I don't always see his weekly segment where he picks games against the spread, but whenever I do there's always something that stands out to me. He never has a winning record - going into this week it was 10-14-2. It's not like Hank is some beloved national figure. He's a former Miami sports radio host who also regularly gives out bad picks for the Triple Crown on ESPN as well. When the whole reason for a guy being on a program is his supposed gambling brilliance, shouldn't he at least be able to beat a flipped coin?

No comments: