You Got To Know When To Hold ‘Em

My latest article is up for Edge readers, and here’s a taste:

Right now, it seems like a fitting bit of advice for us Wahoos might be to not stop believing. Or, better yet, to take the immortal advice to know exactly when to fold ’em, know when to hold ’em, know when to walk away.

This season is still young, and there’s still room for some hope and optimism. Right now isn’t the time to fold ’em, fellow Hoos.

And, now to make sure that the song is stuck in your head:

You Got To Know When To Hold ‘Em

Good times still can be had at Scott Stadium this weekend.

Sometimes, all you need to get through the hard times with your sports team is to take a little advice from some classic rock and rollers. Don’t fear the reaper. Good times, bad times. You can’t always get what you want. Don’t stop … believin’!

Right now, it seems like a fitting bit of advice for us Wahoos might be to not stop believing. Or, better yet, to take the immortal advice to know exactly when to fold ’em, know when to hold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. It ain’t exactly rock and roll, but it still applies.

This season is still young, and there’s still room for some hope and optimism. Right now isn’t the time to fold ’em, fellow Hoos.

Sure, it looked like the offense was so lost that the Feds might locate Jimmy Hoffa before Jameel Sewell might find a receiver. The defense looked so gassed by the end of the game that they may still be tired this Saturday from sucking in all that cursed thin Wyoming air. And the coaching staff’s game management could be described by Tim Daland’s immortal analogy from Days of Thunder involving a monkey and a football.

But I think we should step back for a second and take in some perspective. We’ve only played four quarters. So let’s not say goodbye to the season just yet despite how putrid those four quarters may have been.

What I’m Not Saying

This isn’t some wild-eyed defense of Al Groh. I’m not asking all of you to ignore your lying eyes and pretend his death spiral isn’t happening. The game day strategy is as poorly managed as it looks. I, myself, have one foot off the Tribe’s bandwagon already.

First off, this staff can’t stop banging its head against the wall with plays and strategies that are obviously failing (especially when it has barely tried obvious alternatives). On top of that, as I’ve said on the boards and implied in an article earlier this week, the “disaster” of a decision to burn Pete Lalich’s redshirt was a fireable offense in my eyes. Others have disagreed regarding the sanity of that move, but at the very least this whole episode emphasizes a pattern of consistently failing to develop quarterbacks. That’s sort of a big deal. Also, ripping off the redshirt should make Casteen and Co. wonder whether Groh cares more about saving his own skin than the long-term health of the program. That would be a serious breach of …

Okay, deep breaths. The point of this article is to plead for patience, not to sharpen the pitchforks.

Holding out hope for this season and giving up on the staff would not be an inconsistent set of beliefs. Thinking that the staff stinks and should return their salaries to the taxpayers doesn’t mean you can’t hope, even believe, that this season might still hold some promise. It wouldn’t be the first time that a team won games in spite of its coaches.

What This Season Still Is

Shoot, there are still 11 games left, folks!

Setting Groh aside for a moment (I know, that’s hard to do), we should all just give the players a little more time. They’ve worked their tails off this summer and deserve more than one game before we all bail on their season, start screaming “boycott!” or pulling out funeral attire to protest Al’s Sea of Orange. Save the boos for Al’s postgame news conference, not for while our players are giving 110% on the field.

Instead, we should get fired up! The first home game is just days away. All that tailgating, a guaranteed blow-out win, and a chance to give Lalich more than mop-up time (fingers crossed) – all things to look forward to right now. Use the anger and direct it at Duke. Cheer the players to let them know we still support them despite their flawed leader. And remember – we’ve got some key basketball recruits in town. Let’s show them a good time.

All of these positive vibes should be infused with hope. There’s certainly plenty of time and a fighting chance that the ship (or should I say plane?) will be righted. Maybe you’ve lost faith in the coaches (or should I say pilots?), but the team should still create some optimism in your bourbon-filled belly. Sewell could suddenly “get it” in the next couple games (like Matt Schaub did a couple games into the 2002 season). Or maybe Lalich will be that rare true freshman QB that doesn’t need silly things like experience or practices to develop into an All-American. The running backs could find themselves, oh, I don’t know, part of the game plan again. Or the defense might start scoring a couple touchdowns a game to rescue this team. The opponents’ charter buses might start getting lost on the way to the stadiums. So many possibilities!

In fact, many of the positives that existed before kickoff in Laramie and inspired those 9 win predictions on the board still exist. We have a damn good defensive line and some athletic linebackers that can put some serious pressure on a quarterback. A handful of playmakers like Dontrelle Inman and Andrew Pearman have shown promising flashes. Our offensive linemen seem to be handling the pass rush. What? The starting quarterback can’t hit the broad side of the Rotunda? Details, details.

So, let’s all take a breath. Count to 10. Slowly. Have another swig of that Makers. There’s still plenty of football to be played, and plenty of heart left in this team. There should be plenty of heart left in us fans as well.

‘Cause every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loser. Maybe this hand might turn out to be worth keeping in the end. And, hopefully, we won’t have to worry about exactly when to fold ’em … and when to walk away.


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