Laxtothemax12
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- Jan 14, 2013
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OU Football last two games...yikes.
The football boards must be melting down. There are some really tough posters over there. I dropped Hale's board because I got tired of all of the complaining. I don't mind criticism but some seem to feel we are entitled to a national championship every year and their personal life depends on it.
Our fans (perhaps all fans, I don't know) tend to keep things simple (or perhaps more apt, simplistic): For them, a defeat is almost always one person's fault. It seems to strain their powers of critical thinking to consider the possibility that there could be any number of factors that contribute to our team losing, that maybe, just maybe, more than one person is to blame.
Mike Stoops has been the go-to goat for years now; before him, ironically enough, it was Brent Venables, and back then, dozens of posters were calling for Brent to be axed and Mike to be brought back. I have no data to back me up but I would bet three months' rent that easily half the people calling for Mike's head in recent years were pleading for Bob Stoops to bring his brother back a few years ago.
This kind of reaction to a loss is exactly what is wrong with college football as a whole... Fan/media reaction to losing a game is beyond ridiculous, and i've heard a lot of people say that OU's season is now over.
First, it's not over from a national title perspective. Someone else will probably lose again or more than once.
Second, it doesn't matter. If OU wins 10-11 games this year that is a very good season. You should be totally happy with that. It's damn near impossible for 99.9% of programs to go undefeated in a season. It sets a weird standard where anything other than perfection = failure.
A lot of OSU fans have wanted to fire Gundy because they haven't gone to the playoff yet. That guy is the best thing that ever happened to OSU football. They have had unprecedented success with him as their coach.
Alabama is going through a dynasty period right now... Wasn't that long ago that Alabama sucked. The college football world is just going to have to live with that for awhile until they get caught cheating or Saban leaves. They just have an absurd amount of NFL talent. When you don't have an absurd amount of NFL talent, you can lose to a solid ISU team. You can lose to OSU. You can lose to TCU... There is more parity when its college athlete vs college athlete obviously.
Finally.... I made this same case in basketball in another thread. We need to remember that OU has won 1 national championship since 1986. 31 years, 1 national championship.
That right there shows you that perfection shouldn't even really be expected. How could you expect something that has happened 1 time in 3 decades? Just like in basketball, the more realistic goal to measure success is conference championships. If you happen to strike lightning and win a national title, great, but it seems insane for a fan-base to "expect" perfection when its happened one time in 31 years.
This kind of reaction to a loss is exactly what is wrong with college football as a whole... Fan/media reaction to losing a game is beyond ridiculous, and i've heard a lot of people say that OU's season is now over.
First, it's not over from a national title perspective. Someone else will probably lose again or more than once.
Second, it doesn't matter. If OU wins 10-11 games this year that is a very good season. You should be totally happy with that. It's damn near impossible for 99.9% of programs to go undefeated in a season. It sets a weird standard where anything other than perfection = failure.
A lot of OSU fans have wanted to fire Gundy because they haven't gone to the playoff yet. That guy is the best thing that ever happened to OSU football. They have had unprecedented success with him as their coach.
Alabama is going through a dynasty period right now... Wasn't that long ago that Alabama sucked. The college football world is just going to have to live with that for awhile until they get caught cheating or Saban leaves. They just have an absurd amount of NFL talent. When you don't have an absurd amount of NFL talent, you can lose to a solid ISU team. You can lose to OSU. You can lose to TCU... There is more parity when its college athlete vs college athlete obviously.
Finally.... I made this same case in basketball in another thread. We need to remember that OU has won 1 national championship since 1986. 31 years, 1 national championship.
That right there shows you that perfection shouldn't even really be expected. How could you expect something that has happened 1 time in 3 decades? Just like in basketball, the more realistic goal to measure success is conference championships. If you happen to strike lightning and win a national title, great, but it seems insane for a fan-base to "expect" perfection when its happened one time in 31 years.
This kind of reaction to a loss is exactly what is wrong with college football as a whole... Fan/media reaction to losing a game is beyond ridiculous, and i've heard a lot of people say that OU's season is now over.
First, it's not over from a national title perspective. Someone else will probably lose again or more than once.
Second, it doesn't matter. If OU wins 10-11 games this year that is a very good season. You should be totally happy with that. It's damn near impossible for 99.9% of programs to go undefeated in a season. It sets a weird standard where anything other than perfection = failure.
A lot of OSU fans have wanted to fire Gundy because they haven't gone to the playoff yet. That guy is the best thing that ever happened to OSU football. They have had unprecedented success with him as their coach.
Alabama is going through a dynasty period right now... Wasn't that long ago that Alabama sucked. The college football world is just going to have to live with that for awhile until they get caught cheating or Saban leaves. They just have an absurd amount of NFL talent. When you don't have an absurd amount of NFL talent, you can lose to a solid ISU team. You can lose to OSU. You can lose to TCU... There is more parity when its college athlete vs college athlete obviously.
Finally.... I made this same case in basketball in another thread. We need to remember that OU has won 1 national championship since 1986. 31 years, 1 national championship.
That right there shows you that perfection shouldn't even really be expected. How could you expect something that has happened 1 time in 3 decades? Just like in basketball, the more realistic goal to measure success is conference championships. If you happen to strike lightning and win a national title, great, but it seems insane for a fan-base to "expect" perfection when its happened one time in 31 years.
I've rooted against OU one time in my life. I wanted them to lose their last football game of the season to Texas Tech to ensure that John Blake would be fired. Ironically they won that game but the regents fired him anyway.
I swore then that I would never be dissatisfied with "only" winning 70% of their games ..... and I haven't. I don't take losses as hard as I did when I was younger. I've learned there are a lot more important things in life than sporting events. That includes Sooner basketball. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to watch and enjoy them another season.
I've rooted against OU one time in my life. I wanted them to lose their last football game of the season to Texas Tech to ensure that John Blake would be fired. Ironically they won that game but the regents fired him anyway.
I swore then that I would never be dissatisfied with "only" winning 70% of their games ..... and I haven't. I don't take losses as hard as I did when I was younger. I've learned there are a lot more important things in life than sporting events. That includes Sooner basketball. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to watch and enjoy them another season.
I'll make my one football reference in this thread. I never expected Texas to have more momentum going into the RRR game than OU this year. Never dreamed it..... You gotta love sports.
I used to be an open level racquetball player. My wife never understood why I would rather lose a hard fought game 15-14 instead of winning an easy game 15-1. You have to love to compete to really enjoy sports. You thrive on getting pushed to your limit. These next couple of weeks will show how much the football team wants to compete.
I, too, am anxious to see the Sooner basketball team this season..... given last season's adversity. It will be a lot of fun watching them gel. Hopefully I have realistic expectations.
I look forward to OU football season, then stay away from the football message boards after a mediocre performance or loss.
I look forward to OU basketball season, then stay away from the basketball message boards after a mediocre performance or loss.
It is the same all over. There are just a lot more people that are passionate about OU football compared to basketball.
It will be interesting to see how the OU football team reacts after their dreams of undefeated glory were crushed as Iowa State planted their Cyclone flag, stabbing deeply into the grass on Owen Field. The underdog Longhorns are licking their chops.
This kind of reaction to a loss is exactly what is wrong with college football as a whole... Fan/media reaction to losing a game is beyond ridiculous, and i've heard a lot of people say that OU's season is now over.
First, it's not over from a national title perspective. Someone else will probably lose again or more than once.
Second, it doesn't matter. If OU wins 10-11 games this year that is a very good season. You should be totally happy with that. It's damn near impossible for 99.9% of programs to go undefeated in a season. It sets a weird standard where anything other than perfection = failure.
A lot of OSU fans have wanted to fire Gundy because they haven't gone to the playoff yet. That guy is the best thing that ever happened to OSU football. They have had unprecedented success with him as their coach.
Alabama is going through a dynasty period right now... Wasn't that long ago that Alabama sucked. The college football world is just going to have to live with that for awhile until they get caught cheating or Saban leaves. They just have an absurd amount of NFL talent. When you don't have an absurd amount of NFL talent, you can lose to a solid ISU team. You can lose to OSU. You can lose to TCU... There is more parity when its college athlete vs college athlete obviously.
Finally.... I made this same case in basketball in another thread. We need to remember that OU has won 1 national championship since 1986. 31 years, 1 national championship.
That right there shows you that perfection shouldn't even really be expected. How could you expect something that has happened 1 time in 3 decades? Just like in basketball, the more realistic goal to measure success is conference championships. If you happen to strike lightning and win a national title, great, but it seems insane for a fan-base to "expect" perfection when its happened one time in 31 years.