Well, That Wasn’t Fun

Posted by: Avinash on Saturday, October 20th, 2007

I do find the whole experience of being #1 for 2 hours very enjoyable in retrospect, since we could be out of the rankings by next Sunday. I don’t know why people are so keen on us going to the Rose Bowl. That place seems to bring out the worst in us. At least you only need a BART ride to get to the Emerald Bowl.

I can’t say I was surprised. The defense had been teetering like a house of cards for the past two games, and this time it fell apart (there were individual standouts, but the collective effort was gone). The playcalling was…questionable. Very questionable–so conservative it made Pat Robertson blush. I love Tedford, but two runs on 1st and 10 at the UCLA 35 when our field goal kicker looks more shaky than Byung-Hyun Kim?

Last week left me disgusted and bitter; this week just leaves me cold. All the doubters were right–place the Bears against a physical ground game and a fast defense, and they will be exposed. Oregon State opened the seal, UCLA busted it open. And now comes the most talented of the bunch, ASU next week. This year went from magical to moribund in the span of a week. It makes me sad…but this team never dominated like the 2004 team, or overawed me like the 2006 team. That we even got to hypothetically hold #1 was overachieving.

And yes, I know my coping mechanism might seem pretty dopey. I know most of you want Tedford and Gregory sacked right now, Longshore benched for Riley, and that the Big Game is all but lost. But I’ve retreated into far many dark corners in the past to be angry anymore. You just have to keep on hoping next year is the year, hope the players and coaches learn from this, make the adjustments for next week and the long-term. And there’s plenty of time for that.Now, to satiate my cold heart over a lost season, I’m going to watch that mess of a Stanford-Arizona game in a battle for last place. Sometimes the best way to heal new wounds is to realize that you could be much worse off.



Topics: Cal Football, Sports

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