Man Post: Things That Make Me Go Hmmm...

What can I say? When I post, I post in bunches. As a small postscript to my last post, I wanted to add a few observations that I had following the unfortunate demise of the Cougars in the NCAA tournament. As heartbreaking as it was to lose in overtime to Florida, the feelings that I had in the days that followed felt eerily similar. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Dude, all of your teams are losers so obviously that would be a familiar feeling”. Touché, I can’t really argue that point but it is true that there really are varying degrees of losing. Don’t believe me? The Sports Guy has a whole theory on this, check out this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071001. Any fan will tell you that some losses tend to sting a little more and hang with you a little longer that others. This was one of those.

So what event in the past year made me feel equally miserable? Team USA’s loss to Ghana in the World Cup, that’s what. But it wasn’t just the post-match feeling that was comparable, consider the following similarities:

• Both teams were led by the highest scoring and arguably best players in their program’s history.
• Both teams unexpectedly captured the attention of the nation.
• Both teams produced “where were you when…” moments that will be remembered for years & years to come.
• Both teams were presented with a once-in-a-lifetime path to the final four of their respective tournaments devoid of the traditional powers which dominate their sports.
• Both teams lost in the Round of 16 to teams they had played the last time they participated in the same tournament.
• Both teams made up for whatever they were lacking in athletic talent with hustle, determination, & heart and came to be defined by those attributes.
• Both teams were ultimately eliminated by teams whose athleticism was too much to overcome.
• Both teams were undone by an Achilles heel weakness (US: spotty backline, BYU: rebounding & post defense).
• Both teams dealt with terrible refereeing throughout their run (this one is somewhat biased, but seriously: Jimmer 1 FT in a 52 point game??? Offside calls on both Dempsey & Edu negating potentially huge goals??? Key takeaway: refs suck in all sports).
• Both teams in their final game took the outcomes to extra time but eventually ran out of gas.
• And finally, and perhaps most eerie of all, both teams had an important player with the last name of Davies tragically eliminate himself due to poor decision-making on the proverbial eve of the team's respective tournament. This action left both teams thin in terms of depth at positions where they weren't very deep to begin with.

I emailed this list to Greg Wrubell (a fellow soccer fan and the voice of the Cougars) to see if I could get any run out of it. He emailed me back and said, “Thanks for your note. Interesting similarities; you are very perceptive!” Not quite the response I was hoping for but that’s gotta count for something, right?!?

P.S. One final postscript to my postscript: I gotta give a shout out to my boy Ryan “GBoy” Black who posted a hilarious comment on my last post. The analogy he used was too good to keep in the obscurity of the comments page. So here it is, in all its glory, “It was a tough loss in the Sweet 16 without Brandon (Davies), but the Cougars still reminded me of Def Leppard's drummer - missing a part, but still kicking butt.” Brilliant.

P.P.S. Didn't know how to incorporate this picture, but it was just too good to pass up. My second favorite sign of the season. My favorite? "1 if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Jimmer." Classic. One question? With Jimmer gone, where will BYU students now funnel all of that creative energy?