SHOULDA, WOULDA, COULDA!

       

    During the high school football season last year here in Columbus, I was scouting a few players from the Columbus City league.  Me and a few others were standing in the press box and talking about some of the players on the field when a young man said this, "Coach says Jackson is the best running back on the team".  Jackson wasn't playing and we wondered why he wasn't on the field.  A man beside me spoke up and said "where's he at"?  The young man says "Coach says he fumbles too much", me and the man beside me looked at each other and said "he's not the best then". 

    This leads me to a pet peeve of mine as of late that is driving me crazy, and makes no sense.  There are some fans out there that are confusing  "getting beat" with "beating themselves".  Above in my analogy, I try to explain that someone may do things well but there is something that is keeping them from being better than the competition.  My latest beef is with the Va. Tech fans and their supporters of  the "they beat themselves" community.  Va. Tech  had better stats than Michigan, yet Michigan played excellent red zone defense.  Isn't this important?  So is Va. Tech "beating themselves" in the red zone or is Michigans red zone preparation leading up to the game paying off ?  When Va. Techs QB throws an interception into the hands of a rushing DE from Michigan, is this "beating themselves" or great defense?  Is Va. Techs fumble on a kickoff actually "beating themselves" or just a turnover?  Are  turnovers defined as "beating yourself" or ball protection problems or stupid decisions.  You see, if your team turns the ball over often, they need to practice more in those areas.

    Another group of people who are the kings of  SHOULDA, WOULDA, COULDA would be our beloved ohio fans.  I don't know how many different excuses I have heard about the Michigan win, my fault, the ohio "beat themselves" game.
Here are just a few examples.

We scored 34 against your great defense with a freshman QB,
(they were actually saying we also)
If Miller wouldn't have overthrown Posey at the end, it was over. Yet it would have left a minute and a half with Michigan only needing a field goal.
Miller almost had as many yards as denard, but herron only ran for 37 yards.
Wait until meyer gets there
If a couple of our players were not injured
Posey and miller didn't have enough time to get their timing down

These here are just a few but are very good.  Does anybody admit when their team gets beat anymore?  "Beating Yourself " is another excuse for "we need more practice" folks