Madison Grant
Helluva Engineer
- Messages
- 2,276
Never let smugness and snarkiness substitute for knowing what you're talking about. It makes me question whether or not you, Animal02, and sideways have actually ever played competitive athletics because mental focus absolutely is a major factor. Does a team like Clemson wear you down and fatigue you with their depth? Absolutely. But a team like UVA, not the problem. We've got plenty of depth in the defensive backfield where we got torched by a receiving corps that is in no way better than Clemson or Miami (who we played in the rain, so not an excuse) who didn't beat us for a basketful of deep tds.
But back to focus and intensity, anyone who has played knows, whether in high school or the NBA it happens. You're playing a rival and the coach puts you on one of their top scorers. You're in his waistband the 1st half, and he's 0 for 10 and your team is up 10. 2nd half, you back off a little, figure let him jack it. He can't throw it in the ocean. He's just taking a bad shot. All of a sudden he hits a couple. You get back out on him, but now he's in a groove. All of a sudden, there's a minute left in the game, and now he's dropped 20 and you're down 4. Same with my experience as a pitcher. You get 6 and 7 out, and now you've got 8 and 9 coming up, who are 0 for 4 with 4 Ks. You lose focus, and your form is a little off. Ump doesn't give you a break, and the guy's on first, dancing around distracting you. You still don't focus on the 9 hole guy because you don't respect him, so instead of making 'pitches', you pipe one. Next thing you know, it's no longer an easy inning, and now the leadoff guy who's ripped your tits is up with a runner in scoring position. The difference between an average high school athlete like me and Taquon or Lance is not that they have superhuman mental focus. I was a pretty intense player. They just have 10 times the athletic talent I had. But if those guys didn't lose mental focus, PJ wouldn't be letting them have it on the sideline to snap them back into focus.
And, no, jumping up and down on the sidelines does not make you play better. But still doing it after a pick 6 that put you down 15 and should have put a dagger in your heart shows just what I said. UVA got embarrassed the previous two weeks, and their coaches had them sold- whatever you do this week, don't quit. Don't embarrass yourselves. You've got to see that in your opponent and match his intensity.
But back to focus and intensity, anyone who has played knows, whether in high school or the NBA it happens. You're playing a rival and the coach puts you on one of their top scorers. You're in his waistband the 1st half, and he's 0 for 10 and your team is up 10. 2nd half, you back off a little, figure let him jack it. He can't throw it in the ocean. He's just taking a bad shot. All of a sudden he hits a couple. You get back out on him, but now he's in a groove. All of a sudden, there's a minute left in the game, and now he's dropped 20 and you're down 4. Same with my experience as a pitcher. You get 6 and 7 out, and now you've got 8 and 9 coming up, who are 0 for 4 with 4 Ks. You lose focus, and your form is a little off. Ump doesn't give you a break, and the guy's on first, dancing around distracting you. You still don't focus on the 9 hole guy because you don't respect him, so instead of making 'pitches', you pipe one. Next thing you know, it's no longer an easy inning, and now the leadoff guy who's ripped your tits is up with a runner in scoring position. The difference between an average high school athlete like me and Taquon or Lance is not that they have superhuman mental focus. I was a pretty intense player. They just have 10 times the athletic talent I had. But if those guys didn't lose mental focus, PJ wouldn't be letting them have it on the sideline to snap them back into focus.
And, no, jumping up and down on the sidelines does not make you play better. But still doing it after a pick 6 that put you down 15 and should have put a dagger in your heart shows just what I said. UVA got embarrassed the previous two weeks, and their coaches had them sold- whatever you do this week, don't quit. Don't embarrass yourselves. You've got to see that in your opponent and match his intensity.
