The View From Section 241

[businesslawyer]

It's hard to describe the atmosphere Saturday night if you weren't there. There is no question, it was an event. I pulled into blue lot two hours pre-game. Normally, that puts me within fifty yards of the stadium. Saturday, I was on the other side of the access road. Pedestrians were pouring into the blue lot in numbers never seen. People went to the gates early. And were in their seats early. And, by far, more visiting fans than we've ever seen by probably a factor of two. (I would estimate about 10k Michigan fans.) More fans stood, both on third downs and at other times. It was as if the Michigan crowd forced us to be better fans. And yet, something was missing. Now, maybe it was just me, and maybe to others this was the most exciting game in the Rents history, but I didn't see it. It was an event, without having the air of a real big game. To me, the tingle when you're playing for a conference championship -- Rutgers and Syracuse in '07, WVU, Pitt and Cincy in '10, that electricity was just not there. Again, maybe it's me because I don't believe in this team, but that is what I felt. This was like the opening against Indiana. It was exciting to be there, but a real, big game electricity -- maybe others felt it but I didn't.

As to the game, obviously it was a good, competitive football game, but I can't jump all up and down with excitement from what happened. Yes, we played harder, especially on D, but while I was happy to see a competitive football game, I'm not doing somersaults at our prospects. First, my eyes tell me Michigan isn't nearly the team that Maryland is. Second, the game was competitive because Michigan committed the first four turnovers. Otherwise, everyone would have noticed that our O was still incompetent (we only crossed 200 yards total offense on the last throw to Foxx), our special teams continues to not get it down, and a heroic effort by our D (finally) wouldn't have been nearly enough. So I thank everyone for trying hard, and giving us a fun and almost good night, but nothing happened Saturday night that changed any view I have of this team and where it is going (other than the fact that our D is capable of a good game).

So, offense, defense and specials. Let's start with specials. Yuch. What is wrong with Cole Wagner? Just not having a good year. The kick Chad Christen missed was a kick that you miss sometimes, but I knew it was going to bite us in the rear the moment it missed. Does Chandler force the ball into triple coverage if we're up an extra 3? Coverage remains solidly below average. And Lemelle at least tried catching punts, unlike last week, but still tried forcing a return and almost turned it over again. They have to get better.

On Offense, Gifford rotated series with Hemingway at RT, and obviously it was a bit of an improvement, at least for a while. Anecdotally I thought Gifford was the better of the two, but I don't pretend I was watching the RT on every play. I thought Delorenzo, and with his carry Hyppolite, did a nice job taking pressure of McCombs (who I thought also was fine), and the running game did a slight bit better. But wasn't nearly good enough. Green showed nothing subbing for Phillips. After our one TD drive, Michigan clearly decided that it would take Geremy Davis out of the game, and they were able to without us having the ability to take advantage of it. I didn't put it on Whitmer -- I still think the bulk of the problem is on the OL -- but on our last drive, the beginning of the end was a horrific decision by Whitmer where he didn't take 5 or yards on 1st and 10 from the Michigan 48 when it was there and instead threw the ball away with no one in front of him. But the numbers speak for themselves -- we put one scoring drive together at home against a Michigan D that gave up points and yards at home to Akron.

Defense, obviously, was a totally different story, and congrats to all of them. 'Finally a push from the DL. Jesse Joseph finally showed flashes of the old Jesse Joseph. Good pushes from the DTs, including Myers off the bench. Smallwood was a beast, and Ashiru looked much more comfortable. Real nice game from the secondary as well. Jones played well, Mack played well until getting hurt, and both Willaims (especially) and Clark did a great job filling in. Obviously, more than a little to build on here.

So where are we? Well, we're 0-3. Let's go to Buffalo and then get USF at home, and at 2-3 we can start talking about whether we are good enough to have a winning record in conference and go bowling. But for now, it's too soon. I have no need to bash the staff after a good, hard effort (although the use of timeouts at the end of both halves again is just incredible) but I'm also not drinking any Kool Aid as to reading very much into one competitive loss.

Sorry for the delay. Have a good week all.

 

[sportsart]

I'm pretty sure you have had the life sucked out of you by this team. IMHO, if you did not feel the most electric atmosphere in the Rent's history, your senses have been dulled and you have very little hope.

Your view of this team caused you to miss the night. Again, IMHO, you were looking at the team and the season but weren't focused on the night. Like you said, in their seats early, standing on third downs and other downs as well.

I'm really not sure how you could say SU in 2007 and Cincy in 2010 were more exciting games. Especially SU...

You not being around here much in the off season and your feeling on this game says to me you are damaged goods. Here's hoping you get better soon.

 

[Nostical]

I think the discernable difference you (and others) identified between this game and your other examples was real. And there are good reasons. Most everyone at the game loved the bright lights that Michigan brought but very few thought we had a chance at victory, and at 0-2 there was no rational reason to anticipate it. Playing for something important and tangible, be it a bowl berth or conference title against almost any foe, makes the place rock with both the anticipation of success and the fear of failure. This was indeed an event, but not a nail biting contest with lots riding on the outcome. It was more a pride thing for us. We wanted to show a national audience that we matter, that we still count for something in this football universe. And we could do it by showing up as fans and standing toe to toe with the winged helmet boys. And we did. And I loved it.

 

[Husky68]

CW and LM are not starting caliber QB and RB for BCS level football teams. OL would look much better with virtually any duo from any other BCS team. CW is closer to Johnny Mac than Dan O. LM would not be on the 2 deep for any BCS team.
The announcers were being very soft in their criticism of CW and they pointed out at least 5 instances where an easily seen better decision would have avoided missed opportunities and that disaster pick (that was worst than the Vandy pick of 2 years ago, and that is saying something).
Sit CW and use LM as change of pace, 3rd down receiving back.
PP is giving us over 60 guys a bad rap, we all aren't that clueless. Let me make sure I call time outs so that my fumbling freshman return kid has a chance to repeat his Towson blooper, only this time inside our own 10 yard line.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I know exactly what BL means when he said this was more of an event than an electric football game.

For my money, I take those WVU/Pitt back to back night game atmospheres over Michigan.

 

[huskypantz]

It was exciting to be there, but a real, big game electricity -- maybe others felt it but I didn't.

Same here from the tailgate to the start of the game, but I felt that the environment picked up once we scored.

 

[J187Money]

I think the discernable difference you (and others) identified between this game and your other examples was real. And there are good reasons. Most everyone at the game loved the bright lights that Michigan brought but very few thought we had a chance at victory, and at 0-2 there was no rational reason to anticipate it. Playing for something important and tangible, be it a bowl berth or conference title against almost any foe, makes the place rock with both the anticipation of success and the fear of failure. This was indeed an event, but not a nail biting contest with lots riding on the outcome. It was more a pride thing for us. We wanted to show a national audience that we matter, that we still count for something in this football universe. And we could do it by showing up as fans and standing toe to toe with the winged helmet boys. And we did. And I loved it.

This captures it exactly.

 

[Dooley]

Good job, BL as always. I think most of what you wrote is spot on.

I've been thinking alot about the "event more than a game" atmosphere the past few days because I agree with it (warning: PP diatribe coming!). And I think the reason is because this game was billed as "come see Michigan at the Rent" and not "UCONN vs. Michigan". Before the game, every article written about the game focused on Michigan's history, tradition and fans. There wasn't alot of, if any, articles written about UCONN and what they needed to do to win the game. I know UCONN was a huge underdog and not many people, myself included, gave UCONN a chance to win the game. I read more about Michigan having a close call against Akron and how they were motivated to not have that happen again. I read about how Michigan had a full contact practice on Sunday after the Akron game and the only quotes I got from UCONN was about how cool it was to host Michigan.

By comparison, when we went to Notre Dame and Michigan, those games too were an event but they were also a game. The Notre Dame game followed VERY difficult and hard fought losses by a team fighting for the memory of a lost teammate. The Michigan game kicked off a season that many people around here were excited about the possibility of a 9 or 10 win season. There were plenty of Michigan fans in Ann Arbor who, kidding or not, made comments along the lines of "take it easy on us" to me and my friends leading up to the game. In both games, UCONN had a very real chance of winning leading up to the games. Fast forward to last Saturday night and I don't think you could have found one UCONN fan who realistically thought we were going to win the game. I heard alot of UCONN fans laying the 18 points on Michigan before the game. Heck, if I still wagered, I would have done the same based on what I saw from this team in the first two games.

I want to watch the ESPN3 replay of the game because I want to hear how the stadium sounded over TV/internet. But I won't watch it because I know full well that the entire game will be a love fest for Michigan and its 8K fans that made the trip. That's where we are as a program. In his post-game answers on the field with the sideline reporter, Brady Hoke was asked if Michigan was going to practice on Sunday after narrowly escaping with a win. Not one question about escaping a hostile environment with a W...the questions were about not playing well in two consecutive weeks against bad opponents and what they need to do to correct their mistakes. If Pasqualoni would have been interviewed on the field, my guess is that he would have been asked how proud he was of his players for losing close to Michigan. Folks, we have dropped off the face of the NCAAF map. In the nation's eyes, we are on-par with the likes of Akron and other MAC/C-USA mid-majors. Beating UCONN is no longer considered a good win. Blowing out UCONN is considered business-as-usual and winning a close game, is a "bad win" (don't believe me? Michigan dropped in the polls after their close win against us). I even heard UCONN fans "trash talking" to Michigan fans (I put this in quotes because I'm not sure if this speaks worse about Michigan or UCONN) by saying things like "we stink and you only won by 3" and "we lost to Towson and almost beat you guys". This perception needs to turn around fast.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of positives to be taken away from the game. The biggest is obviously how the team and fans were ready for battle right from the get-go. The players, especially the D, played inspired football from beginning to end. The fans were making noise on 1st and 2nd downs (ABOUT FRIGGIN' TIME!!!) and rallying behind UCONN. That was the loudest I've heard our stadium in a very long time and it was good to see most fans standing and engaged in the game...and all this happened in a year where UCONN is 0-2 under the tutelage of a head coach that the fanbase wants out. It's very frustrating to me that Michigan came here in our program's D-1 dark period. Had the venues been flip flopped, Michigan came here in 2010 and we went there this year, I think we would have saw less maize in the stands because UCONN season ticket holders would have had hope for the season and not sold their seats. The game atmosphere would have been more about the game and not "how cool it was that a team like Michigan is here". But given all of the negativity that has kicked us UCONN fans square in the crotch over the years, I thought the fans were as engaged and rowdy as they ever have been Saturday night. This reminds me of those famous Jim Calhoun quotes about coming in as an opposing coach to UCONN and seeing the fans sold out and loud...when we were bad.

It was a good night in terms of taking a big step of putting UCONN back on the football map. The fans stepped up and showed we can rally around the team, against a big opponent, even when the head coach is driving us further into the conference realignment abyss. The rest of the season should be interesting. If UCONN loses at Buffalo, attendance for USF might not crack 30,000. And that's where UCONN fans need to change. If there is a way to bottle up the energy we saw against Michigan and unleash it against USF and Memphis, we need to do it, bad coach and all. I agree with BL, I too have lost hope for this season. I lost hope after we were blown out by Towson. Paul Pasqualoni has successfully turned the most important season in the history of UCONN football into a punchline for a bad joke. But if Saturday night did anything, it reminded everyone of the years when UCONN was competitive and on the upward trend. It also showed what our stadium could be like against quality opponents in big games. Can you imagine the atmosphere if UCONN was 2-0 with a popular head coach?? We might have sent earthquake readings as if we were Quest Field.

In closing, Pasqualoni needs to go. Yup, every post ends in a PP diatribe. Sorry. He needs to go before Tennessee comes to town. Heck, he needs to go before Louisville comes to town later this year. We need energy and buzz back in OUR program, not our opponent's. Do you think Pasqualoni was asked if UCONN was going to have a full contact practice on Sunday after the loss? Hell no. For cryin' out loud, UCONN almost got a parade thrown for losing a close game to almighty Michigan, similar to the Whalers getting a parade for losing in the second round of the playoffs.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Man. I thought I had checked out and had the life squeezed out of me by P.........

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm pretty sure you have had the life sucked out of you by this team. IMHO, if you did not feel the most electric atmosphere in the Rent's history, your senses have been dulled and you have very little hope.

Your view of this team caused you to miss the night. Again, IMHO, you were looking at the team and the season but weren't focused on the night. Like you said, in their seats early, standing on third downs and other downs as well.

I'm really not sure how you could say SU in 2007 and Cincy in 2010 were more exciting games. Especially SU...

You not being around here much in the off season and your feeling on this game says to me you are damaged goods. Here's hoping you get better soon.

You know I respect your opinion, and I long for the days when I felt more of an attachment. But, that having been said, I am clearly not the only one who felt that the atmosphere, while great, was not like, using the most recent examples, WVU and Pitt in '10.

 

[Chief00]

It's hard to describe the atmosphere Saturday night if you weren't there. There is no question, it was an event. I pulled into blue lot two hours pre-game. Normally, that puts me within fifty yards of the stadium. Saturday, I was on the other side of the access road. Pedestrians were pouring into the blue lot in numbers never seen. People went to the gates early. And were in their seats early. And, by far, more visiting fans than we've ever seen by probably a factor of two. (I would estimate about 10k Michigan fans.) More fans stood, both on third downs and at other times. It was as if the Michigan crowd forced us to be better fans. And yet, something was missing. Now, maybe it was just me, and maybe to others this was the most exciting game in the Rents history, but I didn't see it. It was an event, without having the air of a real big game. To me, the tingle when you're playing for a conference championship -- Rutgers and Syracuse in '07, WVU, Pitt and Cincy in '10, that electricity was just not there. Again, maybe it's me because I don't believe in this team, but that is what I felt. This was like the opening against Indiana. It was exciting to be there, but a real, big game electricity -- maybe others felt it but I didn't.

As to the game, obviously it was a good, competitive football game, but I can't jump all up and down with excitement from what happened. Yes, we played harder, especially on D, but while I was happy to see a competitive football game, I'm not doing somersaults at our prospects. First, my eyes tell me Michigan isn't nearly the team that Maryland is. Second, the game was competitive because Michigan committed the first four turnovers. Otherwise, everyone would have noticed that our O was still incompetent (we only crossed 200 yards total offense on the last throw to Foxx), our special teams continues to not get it down, and a heroic effort by our D (finally) wouldn't have been nearly enough. So I thank everyone for trying hard, and giving us a fun and almost good night, but nothing happened Saturday night that changed any view I have of this team and where it is going (other than the fact that our D is capable of a good game).

So, offense, defense and specials. Let's start with specials. Yuch. What is wrong with Cole Wagner? Just not having a good year. The kick Chad Christen missed was a kick that you miss sometimes, but I knew it was going to bite us in the rear the moment it missed. Does Chandler force the ball into triple coverage if we're up an extra 3? Coverage remains solidly below average. And Lemelle at least tried catching punts, unlike last week, but still tried forcing a return and almost turned it over again. They have to get better.

On Offense, Gifford rotated series with Hemingway at RT, and obviously it was a bit of an improvement, at least for a while. Anecdotally I thought Gifford was the better of the two, but I don't pretend I was watching the RT on every play. I thought Delorenzo, and with his carry Hyppolite, did a nice job taking pressure of McCombs (who I thought also was fine), and the running game did a slight bit better. But wasn't nearly good enough. Green showed nothing subbing for Phillips. After our one TD drive, Michigan clearly decided that it would take Geremy Davis out of the game, and they were able to without us having the ability to take advantage of it. I didn't put it on Whitmer -- I still think the bulk of the problem is on the OL -- but on our last drive, the beginning of the end was a horrific decision by Whitmer where he didn't take 5 or yards on 1st and 10 from the Michigan 48 when it was there and instead threw the ball away with no one in front of him. But the numbers speak for themselves -- we put one scoring drive together at home against a Michigan D that gave up points and yards at home to Akron.

Defense, obviously, was a totally different story, and congrats to all of them. 'Finally a push from the DL. Jesse Joseph finally showed flashes of the old Jesse Joseph. Good pushes from the DTs, including Myers off the bench. Smallwood was a beast, and Ashiru looked much more comfortable. Real nice game from the secondary as well. Jones played well, Mack played well until getting hurt, and both Willaims (especially) and Clark did a great job filling in. Obviously, more than a little to build on here.

So where are we? Well, we're 0-3. Let's go to Buffalo and then get USF at home, and at 2-3 we can start talking about whether we are good enough to have a winning record in conference and go bowling. But for now, it's too soon. I have no need to bash the staff after a good, hard effort (although the use of timeouts at the end of both halves again is just incredible) but I'm also not drinking any Kool Aid as to reading very much into one competitive loss.

Sorry for the delay. Have a good week all.

Biz, fair evaluation.

 

[junglehusky]

Totally understand the feeling wasn't as electric as it could be, given the most any reasonable UConn fan could hope for was a competitive game, and we got one. I do think it's at least a little encouraging that the Rent had a good atmosphere given the 0-2 start. Yes, it's still largely casual fans who may not show up for USF, but I think we showed that even in down years, decent scheduling will bring in the fans. We can only imagine the alternate universe where UConn started out 2-0 somehow and held on to beat Michigan.... and hope that we see UConn return to its old form of winning at home in the near future.

 

[businesslawyer]

Totally understand the feeling wasn't as electric as it could be, given the most any reasonable UConn fan could hope for was a competitive game, and we got one. I do think it's at least a little encouraging that the Rent had a good atmosphere given the 0-2 start. Yes, it's still largely casual fans who may not show up for USF, but I think we showed that even in down years, decent scheduling will bring in the fans. We can only imagine the alternate universe where UConn started out 2-0 somehow and held on to beat Michigan.... and hope that we see UConn return to its old form of winning at home in the near future.

To be clear, the crowd was great, and showing we had a fanbase left was encouraging. But the atmosphere will still different.

 

[ruskin]

For cryin' out loud, UCONN almost got a parade thrown for losing a close game to almighty Michigan, similar to the Whalers getting a parade for losing in the second round of the playoffs.

SPOT duck__ING ON Dooley. . . .That UConn almost pulled this off is a great tribute to the players for embracing the moment and coming close to willing themselves to a victory in the absence of any real coaching leadership is a huge credit to the players. How well they can rebound playing in a drab half-empty 29,000 seat stadium Saturday is now on them. Now that Sue/Warde have seen what the Rent can be 6-7 times a year hope they understand how crucial bringing in an inspiring coach can be.

By the way, Warde deserves a lot of credit for embracing the moment and bringing in Ray, Kemba, Adrien, Jeter, the women's team etc. and putting them up on the video screen. Fired a lot of people up and added to the momentum UConn nearly rode to victory. The win an ipad if you get in early was also a great idea; probably could have used a little more lead time as far as publicity. But great steps all.

 

[J187Money]

Folks, we have dropped off the face of the NCAAF map. In the nation's eyes, we are on-par with the likes of Akron and other MAC/C-USA mid-majors. Beating UCONN is no longer considered a good win. Blowing out UCONN is considered business-as-usual and winning a close game, is a "bad win" (don't believe me? Michigan dropped in the polls after their close win against us). I even heard UCONN fans "trash talking" (I put this in quotes because I'm not sure if this speaks worse about Michigan or UCONN) by saying things like "we stink and you only won by 3" and "we lost to Towson and almost beat you guys". This perception needs to turn around fast.

This is what puts me at odds with a lot of people here...but this was pretty much always the perception of UCONN during the FBS era. Even if it wasn't "true"...very few people knew enough or took the time to understand that we were better than that. Even Boise didn't get respect from a lot of people until after its 2nd BCS bowl win. If we didn't have a brand name driven by our MBB and WBB programs, it would be even worse.

 

[IMind]

The issue for me was because I knew we weren't going to win. Even when we had 21-7 lead in the third quarter I never really thought we were going to pull it out. As far as the game goes it was probably the best case scenario for the program. We showed a great atmosphere and a full stadium on TV, we got good ratings, and showed that we had the talent to compete with Michigan... and we lost which means it's one more straw on the metaphorical camel's back.

 

[uconndogs]

Thanks Biz.

Great night, great time, great event, great game. Just really cool.....

That all said. I don't think Michigan is a top 25 team. We still can't run the ball. I don't see a bowl this season. I hate to be a downer, but that's what I see.

...........and Bufallo will be no cake walk.

 

[Excalibur]

This is what puts me at odds with a lot of people here...but this was pretty much always the perception of UCONN during the FBS era. Even if it wasn't "true"...very few people knew enough or took the time to understand that we were better than that.

Absolutely, 100% true, whether we want to admit that or not. Even when good, we got little more than a curious "hmm, they're not that bad . . ." from the rest of the country

As for the game, no, I don't believe that there was more energy in the building for any other game with the exception of Pitt in 2004 and USF in 2007. It's easy to look fondly upon the run at the end of the 2010 season and the games vs. Pitt and WVU, but I don't recall the crowds being all that great for either game.

 

[John]

Absolutely, 100% true, whether we want to admit that or not. Even when good, we got little more than a curious "hmm, they're not that bad . . ." from the rest of the country

As for the game, no, I don't believe that there was more energy in the building for any other game with the exception of Pitt in 2004 and USF in 2007. It's easy to look fondly upon the run at the end of the 2010 season and the games vs. Pitt and WVU, but I don't recall the crowds being all that great for either game.

I have to agree - I've been to all the games mentioned, and to me the only game that was as electric as Saturday night was that Pitt 2004 game, which still sets the gold standard in my mind (and of course, "electricity" is a subjective thing).

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Maybe having 10k fans not cheering for us had something to do with it.

 

[Carl Spackler]

This is what puts me at odds with a lot of people here...but this was pretty much always the perception of UCONN during the FBS era. Even if it wasn't "true"...very few people knew enough or took the time to understand that we were better than that. Even Boise didn't get respect from a lot of people until after its 2nd BCS bowl win. If we didn't have a brand name driven by our MBB and WBB programs, it would be even worse.

Most folks around here, don't have a full grasp, of what the invite for UCONN to join a BCS conference meant to the college football world. We had done nothing, to get the slice of the pie that the Big East started handing out like free candy, to programs around the country, starting with us.

The fact that we did everythign we could, to prove the 'undeserving' tab wrong, and false, went unnoticed, for a number of reasons, mostly from our own Athletic Department's inability to recognize how important it was to promote and sustain the fast successes we had achieved, culminating in the Fiesta Bowl appearance.

THe good news, is that we do have the conference championships, and the bowl appearances, and bowl wins, to talk about - NOW - now that we've got people in place that will actually promote the program.

Got to win though. 0-3 doesn't cut the mustard.

This 2013 team is capable of winning though, they just have to go out and do it.

 

[Excalibur]

This 2013 team is capable of winning though, they just have to go out and do it.

I don't think that they are capable with the current group at the helm. The only times I've seen the team play with any energy in the last two seasons were at Louisville and on Saturday. These guys just can't motivate people, independently of their other deficiencies.

 

[Jimdish255]

I have to agree - I've been to all the games mentioned, and to me the only game that was as electric as Saturday night was that Pitt 2004 game, which still sets the gold standard in my mind (and of course, "electricity" is a subjective thing).

I seem to remember a game vs Rutgers maybe 2007 that was a pretty good atmosphere.

 

[Jimdish255]

I don't think that they are capable with the current group at the helm. The only times I've seen the team play with any energy in the last two seasons were at Louisville and on Saturday. These guys just can't motivate people, independently of their other deficiencies.

We could easily win the next 2 but things get tougher from there and our strategists haven't inspired confidence in close games.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I don't think that they are capable with the current group at the helm. The only times I've seen the team play with any energy in the last two seasons were at Louisville and on Saturday. These guys just can't motivate people, independently of their other deficiencies.

No argument from me, and this is one of, in fact for me, it's the primary reason why I think P won't finish his contract. That doesn't excuse the players from recognizing the problem and doing the best they can to keep themselves motivated. warning tangent: Until I hear or read and newer or better speech, Bill Parcells locker room HOF speech seems to keep ringing in my ears. Every locker room and every team has a predictable cast of characters. Accountability, enforcer, serious man working together, comedian, practical joker, etc.

One of those characters needs to be the energy man, the leader that's going to elevate everyone's level of intensity simply by their presence and attitude and being able to back it up on the field. Players aren't going to respond to a maniac fireball of an energy guy that's pinned to the bench, or is sucking on the field. You don't just turn this kind of leadership on and off though, it's got to be there all the time.

If it's not there, then the coaching staff, needs to find a way to put it there, because you cannot win in this game, at our level, if you don't play with the highest level of energy, and passion and intensity that you can manage at all times. Everybody thinks it's cliché, and tired when I bring this up, but I believe it.

I'll tell you what, no matter what you think about me and my cliche's, we're going to need to find a way to pump ourselves up - to win in Buffalo on Saturday, because we're going from a playing with sparkplugs involuntarily shoved up their you know what's in the environment from last Saturday, to playing in a vacuum in upstate New York.