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Wrinkles and the Future
Posted by
mad dog
,
01 December 2011
·
52 views
Entering this season, I decided to change the way I viewed North Texas football. Instead of the dogs-watching-ping-pong feeling of obsessing over every small detail, I sat back in my chair and was determined to enjoy the moment. Instead of living and dying off every touchdown, turnover, game clinching drive and soul-crushing collapse, I took in the product as a whole, and, as such, I have enjoyed this season. Some refer to it as “casual” fandom. And, while that word is almost always accompanied by at least a shadow of contempt from the hardcore crowd, I’m here to tell you that it is the place to be.
So, right on the heels of a morale boosting win over longtime Mean Green Nemesis Troy, we find ourselves once more wallowing in the misery and despair of a gut wrenching loss to Western Kentucky.
Does it hurt to lose a game you should have won? Absolutely.
But should that in any way cast this season in a negative light? Absolutely not.
While no longtime fan on GoMeanGreen will be surprised by this, strangers and newcomers, especially those who entered this season with reasonable expectations, are befuddled by the murmurs of discontent welling up from the periphery of Mean Green nation. We all knew that this was going to be a huge project, right? We all knew going in that not all could be accomplished in a week, a month, or a year, right? And we all were sold that Dan McCarney is the guy to get us there, right?
Right?
Bueller?
Look, Dan McCarney’s not perfect. I expect he’d probably tell you that. But, as frustrating as some of the decisions may be for the fans, it still doesn’t change the fact that Coach Mac is the guy for the job. He has the skins on the wall. He isn’t afraid to make tough calls. He demands a lot from his players, and gives a ton back to them. And, even though we aren’t enamored of all of his policies, he has always been up front and honest about what he’s doing here. His word is his bond, and you have to believe that he will always have the strength of convictions to not be swayed by an often schizophrenic fanbase.
And perhaps most salient in all of this: if not McCarney, then who? Who else out there has made a habit out of building champions, no matter what their economic circumstances? Like him or not, the list of people currently available in college football as known commodities at multiple stops is painfully short. And we simply cannot afford to roll the dice on another guy who may or may not turn out to be anything.
A visitor to the board a few weeks ago pointed out that we are the same people who complained about Darrell Dickey in the midst of bowl games, Sun Belt championships, and a conference winning streak that spanned four seasons. For that visitor and others, we have a parable around gmg.com that has become an icon for one of our biggest failures as a fanbase – the wrinkled $100 bill.
The story, as it so happens, is pretty short. “If you started handing out $100 bills to North Texas fans, it wouldn’t take you too long before one complained that theirs was wrinkled.” It is a symbol of a fatalistic community that has come to expect the dark cloud in every silver lining. Tortured by years of wretched football interspersed with mediocrity, we are highly suspicious of anything which appears to be too good to be true. And anything which feels like the dark days (3 win seasons, out of conference blowouts, low attendance, etc) is experienced through the lens of that suffering, and is magnified all the more.
So here we sit at 4-7, better than any other season in recent memory, but still feeling like we’ve been let down. We have all been promised great things from Dan McCarney, and maybe somewhere deep down, we secretly hope they come true. But there’s that little nagging voice saying “we’ve been here before.”
Wasn’t greatness what we were sold with Todd Dodge? Matt Simon? Dennis Parker? And even guys who achieved some modicum of success at points during their career like Dickey, Corky Nelson, and Rod Rust were unable to pull themselves over .500. Every fanbase has their share of over-promise and under-delivery, but, when the very best coaches in our history top out at a winning percentage in the low to mid 60s, you know that UNT fans have collectively been witness to some whoppers.
So, yes, we’re all gun-shy. Yes, a lot of us are waiting for the other shoe to drop, trying to get the jump on the pain of being a losing program and thereby robbing it of its power over us. Some of us, though we would never admit it, secretly hope for the collapse, finding a twisted kind of comfort in the predictable pattern of failure.
None of those characteristics, however, are constructive. Banking on failure is the easy way out. As a fan, you’re effectively hedging your bets – either the program wins or you lose (but were correct in predicting failure). Believing in a program over the long term, while acknowledging the possibility of another disappointment, is far more difficult, and requires a full measure of courage. We hold in our collective hands the ability to nudge the program in small ways – the public eye and media, the visiting team on third and fourth downs, the home team looking up at a full house post-game during the alma mater.
It is not within our power to steer the program directly. But the small things do matter, and it is our duty as the beating heart of UNT’s fanbase to have the courage to cheer when all others have fallen silent.
As the 20-20 said from the beginning, this was not the year to try and squeeze out a few extra wins at the expense of the future. This year is about building towards what we want to be in year two and three and four. If I may be allowed a Jim Collins analogy, we are currently getting the right people on board, and just starting to spin the flywheel. We aren’t currently positioned for greatness, so it is foolish to expect it right now. It is going to take time, and, right now, Coach Mac still has the credit score to weather all the red ink we’re seeing.
So let’s send off our seniors in style on Saturday. These are guys who have fought through some pretty dark times, and their perseverance is to be commended. Manage your expectations, enjoy the atmosphere, and just relax a little. We’re going to get there.
Eventually…
Go Mean Green!
-md
So, right on the heels of a morale boosting win over longtime Mean Green Nemesis Troy, we find ourselves once more wallowing in the misery and despair of a gut wrenching loss to Western Kentucky.
Does it hurt to lose a game you should have won? Absolutely.
But should that in any way cast this season in a negative light? Absolutely not.
While no longtime fan on GoMeanGreen will be surprised by this, strangers and newcomers, especially those who entered this season with reasonable expectations, are befuddled by the murmurs of discontent welling up from the periphery of Mean Green nation. We all knew that this was going to be a huge project, right? We all knew going in that not all could be accomplished in a week, a month, or a year, right? And we all were sold that Dan McCarney is the guy to get us there, right?
Right?
Bueller?
Look, Dan McCarney’s not perfect. I expect he’d probably tell you that. But, as frustrating as some of the decisions may be for the fans, it still doesn’t change the fact that Coach Mac is the guy for the job. He has the skins on the wall. He isn’t afraid to make tough calls. He demands a lot from his players, and gives a ton back to them. And, even though we aren’t enamored of all of his policies, he has always been up front and honest about what he’s doing here. His word is his bond, and you have to believe that he will always have the strength of convictions to not be swayed by an often schizophrenic fanbase.
And perhaps most salient in all of this: if not McCarney, then who? Who else out there has made a habit out of building champions, no matter what their economic circumstances? Like him or not, the list of people currently available in college football as known commodities at multiple stops is painfully short. And we simply cannot afford to roll the dice on another guy who may or may not turn out to be anything.
A visitor to the board a few weeks ago pointed out that we are the same people who complained about Darrell Dickey in the midst of bowl games, Sun Belt championships, and a conference winning streak that spanned four seasons. For that visitor and others, we have a parable around gmg.com that has become an icon for one of our biggest failures as a fanbase – the wrinkled $100 bill.
The story, as it so happens, is pretty short. “If you started handing out $100 bills to North Texas fans, it wouldn’t take you too long before one complained that theirs was wrinkled.” It is a symbol of a fatalistic community that has come to expect the dark cloud in every silver lining. Tortured by years of wretched football interspersed with mediocrity, we are highly suspicious of anything which appears to be too good to be true. And anything which feels like the dark days (3 win seasons, out of conference blowouts, low attendance, etc) is experienced through the lens of that suffering, and is magnified all the more.
So here we sit at 4-7, better than any other season in recent memory, but still feeling like we’ve been let down. We have all been promised great things from Dan McCarney, and maybe somewhere deep down, we secretly hope they come true. But there’s that little nagging voice saying “we’ve been here before.”
Wasn’t greatness what we were sold with Todd Dodge? Matt Simon? Dennis Parker? And even guys who achieved some modicum of success at points during their career like Dickey, Corky Nelson, and Rod Rust were unable to pull themselves over .500. Every fanbase has their share of over-promise and under-delivery, but, when the very best coaches in our history top out at a winning percentage in the low to mid 60s, you know that UNT fans have collectively been witness to some whoppers.
So, yes, we’re all gun-shy. Yes, a lot of us are waiting for the other shoe to drop, trying to get the jump on the pain of being a losing program and thereby robbing it of its power over us. Some of us, though we would never admit it, secretly hope for the collapse, finding a twisted kind of comfort in the predictable pattern of failure.
None of those characteristics, however, are constructive. Banking on failure is the easy way out. As a fan, you’re effectively hedging your bets – either the program wins or you lose (but were correct in predicting failure). Believing in a program over the long term, while acknowledging the possibility of another disappointment, is far more difficult, and requires a full measure of courage. We hold in our collective hands the ability to nudge the program in small ways – the public eye and media, the visiting team on third and fourth downs, the home team looking up at a full house post-game during the alma mater.
It is not within our power to steer the program directly. But the small things do matter, and it is our duty as the beating heart of UNT’s fanbase to have the courage to cheer when all others have fallen silent.
As the 20-20 said from the beginning, this was not the year to try and squeeze out a few extra wins at the expense of the future. This year is about building towards what we want to be in year two and three and four. If I may be allowed a Jim Collins analogy, we are currently getting the right people on board, and just starting to spin the flywheel. We aren’t currently positioned for greatness, so it is foolish to expect it right now. It is going to take time, and, right now, Coach Mac still has the credit score to weather all the red ink we’re seeing.
So let’s send off our seniors in style on Saturday. These are guys who have fought through some pretty dark times, and their perseverance is to be commended. Manage your expectations, enjoy the atmosphere, and just relax a little. We’re going to get there.
Eventually…
Go Mean Green!
-md
