There was a great thread on the board posted Friday titled 'Your reason for optimism.' In it, folks shared the source(s) of, you guessed it, their optimism for Texas Tech's upcoming football season.
David Gibbs, Patrick Mahomes and the offensive line were some of the more popular reasons mentioned.
I thought about that thread a lot this weekend.
There are always statistics that one can highlight to support an argument like this. Heck, there were promising numbers about the 2014 Red Raiders we hashed and rehashed in the months leading up to that season that were quickly forgotten thanks to an ever-increasing pile of turnovers and penalties.
There will always be players on whom we -- fans, media and sometimes coaches -- thrust the heavy mantle of Next. Last year it was the JUCO defensive linemen, this year it's Mike Mitchell and Breiden Fehoko. Hopefully this practice works out better in 2015 than it did in 2014, but history suggests that our collective expectations will be too high regardless.
There will always be a quarterback on which we pin our hopes. Today's quarterbacks are constantly judged against their counterparts from yesterday. The second a game is over, their performance is measured up against their highest moments and frequently found wanting. Graham Harrell didn't struggle as a first-year sophomore starter, so what's Davis Webb's excuse? Pat Mahomes was lights out (for a true freshman) in the last three games of the season, so he has to put up similar numbers or we'll call him a disappointment. That's just the way it works.
That practice extends to the team, as well. If the Red Raiders don't reach whatever arbitrary marker that we define in the preseason as the difference between success and failure, then the season was for naught and the players and coaches are stained as disappointments. And even if the team reaches that mark, there will be some who label it a failure anyways as their expectations will have changed during the course of the season.
That is all to say that sports isn't logical. For all the talk about sabermetrics and Moreyball, sports isn't science. It can't be replicated over and over again with predictable results.
We invest time, energy, money and emotional equity in a handful of teams because they live in the city that we grew up in, attended the same college that we did or share some other arbitrary attribute with us. Our influence over these teams is measured in microns, yet we identify with them and allow their performances to impact our mood.
Here's my reason for optimism as a sports fan: I have no other choice. What's the alternative? Better yet, without optimism -- short-term, long-term or both -- what's the point?
Unless you're Kenny Chesney or Drake, and change your fan allegiance on a weekly basis, your moments of sports heartbreak will always outnumber the moments of joy. You chase those fleeting moments of sports bliss like a junkie chases a high, always looking forward to your next fix. Except, unlike a junkie, you can't buy that euphoric feeling from a dealer. You just have to wait and hope someone brings it to you.
I waited 18 long years for the Rockets to get back to the Western Conference Finals. The disappointing end to the Hakeem era. The fruitless Steve Francis seasons. The once-promising Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady core slowly transformed by injuries into an anvil around the franchise's neck. Last season's Game 6 loss to Portland. It sucked. Yet the team's playoff comeback against the Clippers erased all of that. No one is going to build a statue because the Rockets won a second-round playoff series, but the last week will have the same staying power in my memory as a block of granite would have outside of the Toyota Center.
That's my reason for optimism. No matter how bad things get, no matter how long it takes, there will always be moments that make it worth it. That's enough for me, and I think you probably feel the same way.
The Texas Tech football program will give you another moment like that, and another after that and yet another after that. Maybe it happens this season; maybe you all will have to wait 18 years like I did. But you will feel that feeling again.
David Gibbs, Patrick Mahomes and the offensive line were some of the more popular reasons mentioned.
I thought about that thread a lot this weekend.
There are always statistics that one can highlight to support an argument like this. Heck, there were promising numbers about the 2014 Red Raiders we hashed and rehashed in the months leading up to that season that were quickly forgotten thanks to an ever-increasing pile of turnovers and penalties.
There will always be players on whom we -- fans, media and sometimes coaches -- thrust the heavy mantle of Next. Last year it was the JUCO defensive linemen, this year it's Mike Mitchell and Breiden Fehoko. Hopefully this practice works out better in 2015 than it did in 2014, but history suggests that our collective expectations will be too high regardless.
There will always be a quarterback on which we pin our hopes. Today's quarterbacks are constantly judged against their counterparts from yesterday. The second a game is over, their performance is measured up against their highest moments and frequently found wanting. Graham Harrell didn't struggle as a first-year sophomore starter, so what's Davis Webb's excuse? Pat Mahomes was lights out (for a true freshman) in the last three games of the season, so he has to put up similar numbers or we'll call him a disappointment. That's just the way it works.
That practice extends to the team, as well. If the Red Raiders don't reach whatever arbitrary marker that we define in the preseason as the difference between success and failure, then the season was for naught and the players and coaches are stained as disappointments. And even if the team reaches that mark, there will be some who label it a failure anyways as their expectations will have changed during the course of the season.
That is all to say that sports isn't logical. For all the talk about sabermetrics and Moreyball, sports isn't science. It can't be replicated over and over again with predictable results.
We invest time, energy, money and emotional equity in a handful of teams because they live in the city that we grew up in, attended the same college that we did or share some other arbitrary attribute with us. Our influence over these teams is measured in microns, yet we identify with them and allow their performances to impact our mood.
Here's my reason for optimism as a sports fan: I have no other choice. What's the alternative? Better yet, without optimism -- short-term, long-term or both -- what's the point?
Unless you're Kenny Chesney or Drake, and change your fan allegiance on a weekly basis, your moments of sports heartbreak will always outnumber the moments of joy. You chase those fleeting moments of sports bliss like a junkie chases a high, always looking forward to your next fix. Except, unlike a junkie, you can't buy that euphoric feeling from a dealer. You just have to wait and hope someone brings it to you.
I waited 18 long years for the Rockets to get back to the Western Conference Finals. The disappointing end to the Hakeem era. The fruitless Steve Francis seasons. The once-promising Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady core slowly transformed by injuries into an anvil around the franchise's neck. Last season's Game 6 loss to Portland. It sucked. Yet the team's playoff comeback against the Clippers erased all of that. No one is going to build a statue because the Rockets won a second-round playoff series, but the last week will have the same staying power in my memory as a block of granite would have outside of the Toyota Center.
That's my reason for optimism. No matter how bad things get, no matter how long it takes, there will always be moments that make it worth it. That's enough for me, and I think you probably feel the same way.
The Texas Tech football program will give you another moment like that, and another after that and yet another after that. Maybe it happens this season; maybe you all will have to wait 18 years like I did. But you will feel that feeling again.
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