Challenges.

[Carl Spackler]

So in an effort to get back to football, in a bye week, I'll just convey some thoughts I've been exposed to recently. Basic concepts that are never antiquated and not worthy of renewing. I had the wonderful opportunity recently to listen to a remarkable woman speak. An elementary school teacher that lived through the massacre of children by a deranged lunatic at Sandy Hook elementary school.

You can always have control over yourself and you can set goals and pick your challenges - but sometimes the challenge picks you, and sets your goals for you. It's not always something horrible, but when you set your entire life to being an elementary school teacher for example, and you've got your dream job, and the world decides that you're going to have different challenges than you might have planned for or want? What do you do?

Sometimes in life, no matter how dedicated you are to your performance and craft, and achieving your goals by creating your own challenges - a challenge picks you that can change everything and / or simply might make things really hard to move forward positively.

Coach D, I'm sure, now in hindsight, coming from where he did, with the memories of what he had of UCONN, had goals for himself, and picked a challenge to take on the job, a job of being a head coach that he' said he always wanted. His goals, coming to UCONN I'm sure were different than what he has now. The challenge he thought he was taking on? Chose a different path for him, that he expected I'm sure. Short term goals - change. Long term - to win championships - obviously hopefully - are the same!

But he got a challenge that picked him really - in a what he openly called a weak and fat team, where he couldn't tell the difference between a senior and freshmen.

I'm sure it was a challenge that the world gave him, that he didn't expect to set for himself, and we lived through his leadership response to it last season. He tore the house down.

But we're rebuilding it for sure. The program has reset, and set its own goals, and challenges - and were close. Very close to a level of playing football and post season appearance that we haven't had in a long time. And at the same time an outside challenge, beyond the control of the program- the schedule and opponents - has been picked for us.

A challenge that for a weak group of players - might change things.

I don't think we're that anymore though, I think we're a strong team.

Can't wait for next week. I hope they prepare well.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Carl, as a guy that comes here to read (for the most part... sometimes to think and other times to just get mad; but mostly to read), I really appreciate your commitment to getting that word count over a hundred where a more parsimonious writer might limit himself to 20. Keep it coming. BTW, I agree, along with the improvements in conditioning and football technique, the Huskies have shown signs of a building team character. The kind of team that might bow up to seize the opportunity to steal one of these last two. Woe to he who sleeps on these Huskies.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Carl, as a guy that comes here to read (for the most part... sometimes to think and other times to just get mad; but mostly to read), I really appreciate your commitment to getting that word count over a hundred where a more parsimonious writer might limit himself to 20. Keep it coming. BYW, I agree, along with the improvements in conditioning and football technique, the Huskies have shown signs of a building team character. The kind of team that might bow up to seize the opportunity to steal one of these last two. Woe to he who sleeps on these Huskies.

I'm back home for a breather, seoul - it seems that some kind of karma bitch is slapping me, because it's a bye week and the game I got watch live since Navy - was Tulane. But whatever. The talk that the teacher gave was incredibly emotional. I was balling like a little girl. Lots of hardened people in the room crying hard. Regardless of what a person's race, creed, religion - there are times when you have lots of control over your own life and those around you, and there times when life chooses things for you. I had lots of choices made for me this past half year now. There are guys out there - and tomorrow is such a day for them - that are stuck in places like wheel chairs - that have had life make choices for them too, that a woman like that elementary school teacher can really relate to.

What you gonna do about it? Roll over and die? Crawl into a bottle of booze or pills?

Football is a game. It's a came of controlled aggression and violence. It's the greatest game there is, I think, and the guys on the team - are learning what it means to be a team and they have goals.

I remember a certain senior laying it out on the line verbally publicly - what the goals are. Sometimes you can pick those challenges and work toward them, and sometimes a challenge picks you and you got to deal with it.

To get to those goals, the coaches and players on this team have two top 25 teams in the way. How are they going to handle this challenge that's come there way - to get in the way of their goals?

I can't wait to find out, but I'll probably have to get my best view of how they do it through frigging businesslawyers boneyard posts again.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Only two comments:

I was balling like a little girl.

One, re the quote above, were you maybe bawling? or playing bad hoops? otherwise, I'm just not sure what you might have been doing....
Two, we talk about talent gaps on here a lot and I won't deny that they exist but one of the things I love about college football is that you have to show up and play the games. Talent deficit, especially within the AAC, are not so great that they might not be overcome when the "weaker" team matches a good effort against the stronger teams "bad day". Happens every week - why not us?

 

[RedStickHusky]

Follow-up to my previous - the most frustrating aspect of the last few years, for me, has been the feeling that I was rooting for a team that wasn't really interested in 'showing up and playing the game" -- haven't had that feeling this year.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Only two comments:

One, re the quote above, were you maybe bawling? or playing bad hoops? otherwise, I'm just not sure what you might have been doing....
Two, we talk about talent gaps on here a lot and I won't deny that they exist but one of the things I love about college football is that you have to show up and play the games. Talent deficit, especially within the AAC, are not so great that they might not be overcome when the "weaker" team matches a good effort against the stronger teams "bad day". Happens every week - why not us?

Ooops on that typo. LOLOL.

I'm of the opinion that it's obviously a matter of level of prerequisite size, strength, speed and skill to compete as a team. I think we agree that we have that. Once you have that, the biggest misconception out there is that football is game of physical strength. I don't think so, in fact I know so, that like other things that are similar, it's not a game of physical strength but a contest of mental will and desire, the foundation of which is the quality of the preparation and training that goes into getting ready to go to battle.

I'm out. Need some good old wet November rainy night air.

 

[RedStickHusky]

I agree but I've also seen the difference effective position coaching with a commitment to individual techniques and winning the multiple battles that occur on every play can make. When we see players making noticeable in-season improvement my assumption is not that they are getting noticeably faster or stronger but that they are working hard at mastering their skills.