...And this IS a "test", in a way that none of us could foresee coming INTO the season:
We are about to find out how "real" this "arrival", this "Gator ReVIVAL", is.
As I mentioned in my comment over on the "This One Worries Me" thread, ALL of this comes way ahead of schecule, far as MY expectations were concerned. May be the most complete and effective demonstration of how much difference "good coaching" can make, at least at the college level, as anything I have ever seen. No shit.
Superstition keeps me from elaborating greatly here, requiring as it might my discussing what's ahead and "what could be" as a result of what we are starting to see now...For now, suffice it to say that I feel it is best, for the sake of both MY sense of "balance", and coincidentally that of the TEAM, that we ALL just "take it one game at a time"!
Gotta believe that's EXACTLY how Coach Mac is trying to get his guys aimed and focused. He knows, we ALL know these young men are hearing/seeing it everywhere, how "good" they are suddenly, their supposed "ranking"--no matter how meaningless all that is, at least as to what it'll mean later, it's out there and it changes things.
Mac and Co. have to find ways to offset a good bit of that, keep them insular, mistrustful of the sudden attention. Keep that chip-on-the-shoulder, "us-against-the-world" thing against all the strokes coming from people "out there" who didn't even give them the slightest THOUGHT, except as victims, the next "important" team's next victory, until last few days, basically.
Thing is, I TRUST this staff, in every way. Clearly, they are HANDLING all that so far. That feeling is one I have only had a few times through the years. So believe me, there's a lot that comes to mind--but whether superstition or good, sound practical thinking, the "one-at-a-time" mantra overides everything, far as I'm concerned. I will say this much:
"We'll be READY." That's the overall feeling I get now around this team. I don't KNOW, for a fact, that that is so, but it's the feeling I get, even from way out here. Am I crazy, or do y'all feel it too?
We are about to find out how "real" this "arrival", this "Gator ReVIVAL", is.
As I mentioned in my comment over on the "This One Worries Me" thread, ALL of this comes way ahead of schecule, far as MY expectations were concerned. May be the most complete and effective demonstration of how much difference "good coaching" can make, at least at the college level, as anything I have ever seen. No shit.
Superstition keeps me from elaborating greatly here, requiring as it might my discussing what's ahead and "what could be" as a result of what we are starting to see now...For now, suffice it to say that I feel it is best, for the sake of both MY sense of "balance", and coincidentally that of the TEAM, that we ALL just "take it one game at a time"!
Gotta believe that's EXACTLY how Coach Mac is trying to get his guys aimed and focused. He knows, we ALL know these young men are hearing/seeing it everywhere, how "good" they are suddenly, their supposed "ranking"--no matter how meaningless all that is, at least as to what it'll mean later, it's out there and it changes things.
Mac and Co. have to find ways to offset a good bit of that, keep them insular, mistrustful of the sudden attention. Keep that chip-on-the-shoulder, "us-against-the-world" thing against all the strokes coming from people "out there" who didn't even give them the slightest THOUGHT, except as victims, the next "important" team's next victory, until last few days, basically.
Thing is, I TRUST this staff, in every way. Clearly, they are HANDLING all that so far. That feeling is one I have only had a few times through the years. So believe me, there's a lot that comes to mind--but whether superstition or good, sound practical thinking, the "one-at-a-time" mantra overides everything, far as I'm concerned. I will say this much:
"We'll be READY." That's the overall feeling I get now around this team. I don't KNOW, for a fact, that that is so, but it's the feeling I get, even from way out here. Am I crazy, or do y'all feel it too?
