True. This is not the worst Gator loss, but the meme was funnier this way. However, with the advent of the Internet and social media, this really is the worst loss I have experienced on social media. I might be taking a break from the Internet until the Gator Nation calms down.
Yeah—I’ve been going back and forth on this very point:
A part of me is ready to “pull back” for a while at LEAST, very much WANTS to do so.
I understand the anger, disappointment and frustration.
I keep getting sucked in by the headlines—in some cases it’s what is said IN these that angered me, sometimes it’s the headlines themselves.
I’d have dismissed it ALL by now, except for those images of POUNCEY standing alone on the field down at one end of the Gator Bowl, in front of remaining Gator band and fans post-game Saturday:
“Where’s Mullen and the rest of the TEAM?!!” kept echoing in my head.
I hadn’t been watching by the end myself; got a text from someone who asked, “You seeing this?!!” that referred me to the scenes on-field that were being shown online from back in Jacksonville.
THAT’S what (at least for ME) lent credence to some of the most extreme reaction to the loss, and the behavior/culpability of our Head Coach.
Alright, I may in fact be victim to my own over-reactive “first impression” tendencies:
I felt shame. Then anger.
My first fully-formed coherent thought was, “He should KNOW better!”. Followed by things like, “Not ‘a Gator’ after ALL!”, and “More an ‘Urban Meyer’ kind of move: Go off and sulk, never MIND what your team might need right then!”.
At that point, I TOO thought maybe it WAS “time for a change” after all! But logic, reason and the wisdom of a calmer overview eventually asserted itself.
What were the wider, deeper circumstances and context that set the stage here? Let’s hear what the man has to say. And what were truly the alternatives, anyway? In the light of day, a clear and level-headed consideration of what can and should be done FOR THE HOPE AND SAKE OF THE PROGRAM must be the guiding premise in contemplating any drastic “Next Steps”.
And that’s where we’re at, where we’re headed now.
One more thing worth noting:
Many of the articles, overviews and commentary surfacing and being focused on now are NOT particularly “up to the moment”.
It’s worth noting the DATES attached to them: In many cases they are days, weeks, in some cases MONTHS old.
There are people out there who have “axes to grind”; unlike you or me, they have a certain set of views, of arguments and outright longer-termed GRIPES that go far beyond maybe a stunned Gator-fan’s current frayed nerves and inner-emptiness.
My advice is to adapt more a “wait and see” state-of-mind!
Let’s just WAIT and SEE what our Coach has to say, what moves are actually made in coming days, how the team responds—and beyond, yo how this season finishes up.
What else can we DO now, really? Nothing’s gonna “fix” THIS season! But we SHOULD get an idea of where it’s all headed—and where the best “cause for HOPE” lies!
As Gators, THAT is what we all really care about, finally.
I gotta believe that still includes our Coach. Until he truly shows otherwise, personally I’M gonna try to RELAX, RIDE THIS OUT.
