Are you certain the line and the QB are struggling? Because that's not the game I watched Saturday. We blocked fine inside, but we failed in the alley, which is - spoiler alert! - what cost us the game.
The "as everybody said (or knows) trigger comes out after a loss. "Everybody" didn't know of our Aback and WR inexperience until "everybody" knew. All of us thought after the last half of the '14 season and that spectacular November run that Justin Thomas was the answer to any challenge, until all of us saw so much confusion from him Saturday. But that is a different thread. We talk to each other because we are frustrated, exasperated, and agitated. We take every loss as a personal failure and talk to others to kind of offload it. And the board is free and the only cost is our internet hookup. Online counseling as it were.Why do fans get addicted to talking to each other?
First of all, the obvious, we love sports.
The second reason is a little more complicated. We try to protect ourselves from psychic pain. So some people will become pessimistic to protect themselves and others will become optimistic to protect themselves. Then as we talk to each other those who are pessimistic have to raise their voices because those who are being positive exhibit a Pollyanna attitude that raises their anxiety over being disappointed. Then those who are being positive feel they have to up the ante because they sense too much negativity that they find harmful to the team in some way. Each side begins to overstate their case because they are convinced it is necessary to balance out the distortions they perceive in counter attitudes.
And most people think they are just being objective and stating facts.
I predict that after the Duke game most of us will be closer to being on the same page again, whatever that assessment is. But then the cycle will begin again has people begin to push on the nuances of each others arguments.
I think it was Martin Luther who said he did not know how much he believed something until he found himself arguing with the Pope. In that regard we frequently become each others "pope" as we harden our positions.
I think we will be, assuming injuries don't cripple us (which may be assuming too much). But it's not unfair to expect us to need time to grow. Hell, against VT last season in the 4th game, we only scored 20 offensive points, three of which came on a short field. No one remembers because we won the game.
Well, he would know.
Not Thomas's best day, for sure, but he wasn't the deciding factor.
When you are that big and physical... you don't really have to extend your arms to get seperation. A good hip or elbow and magically ur pretty open. The good ones master that.
You are a lot of fun.
Based on last year alone you may be right. But it hinges on Duke's abilities vs. Tech's readiness to play. We'll have some problems at the edge no doubt. By the same token it is a great stretch to consider Duke's team the rough equivalent of Notre Dame. Make no mistake we saw some terrific athletes on the field Saturday, maybe better than Clemson or FSU. We're going to have to hit one I'm sure, but one is about what it will take to get Duke back to a normal alignment. For sure they cannot adopt ND's tactics without the skills, and that they don't have. I am peeved, still, about Cutcliffee's gratuitous slam at GT recruiting, but it doesn't change my opinion of his coaching. He can coach. It may be a forlorn hope but I think Notre Dame was this year's equivalent of Duke, Kansas and Middle Tennessee. Now we've had it and it's time to cinch it up and get after somebody.
Duke and UNC? I hope you do it on bereavement time.
