This is what it feels like to be a devoted fan of a team that has been riding a wave for a long time and has suddenly tumbled off the surf board: sick to my stomach, depressed, disappointed.
While I feel sorry for myself and all the other Duck fans who had high hopes for this team (I happen to love Pasadena in January), I feel even worse for the players whose hearts have been there every practice, every game and who see being a part of a winning organization as an honor and a privilege, not just some rest stop on the way to the pros. I’m angry at players like D’Anthony Thomas who couldn’t rise above his emotions and keep his mouth shut about the underwhelming possibility of returning to the Rose Bowl. Really, Dat? When did playing in the Rose Bowl become a second-tier prize?
In sports, just like in business, excuses are toxic. Mindset is everything. It’s easy to start assigning blame on one person or another, but in football, the buck stops at the coaches and that’s who needs to do the most work right now. When things go wrong, leaders have to look in the mirror and figure out what they need to do to get things right again, where they need to fine tune their “why” so there is no question in that locker room about who is in charge and what the story is.
The Ducks have been riding a nice fat wave for a long time. In today’s loss to Arizona, they nearly drowned. The sad thing is, the team is better than they showed the world today. Talent runs deep. But until they come together and get that collective narrative ironed out, nothing will be coming up roses for them, let alone opening the doors to play for a national championship.
In some ways, I’m glad Oregon lost today, and lost badly. If the leaders are paying attention (and I want to believe are), they will use today’s loss as an object lesson for righting the ship — for the players, first and foremost, but also for the school, for the brand, and for the fans. There’s just too much invested and too many people have worked too hard to build something special in Eugene to let what happened in the desert color the organization moving forward.
