poodoo
12-05-2007, 09:32 AM
I haven't been able to visit the site since the bowl announcement and thus have not yet read any other threads. Well, before doing so, I just decided to express some of my PRIDE and EXCITEMENT here! Hopefully a lot of you who feel the same will join me. Who knows! Perhaps some UK football players just might read our words and not only fully realize how much we support, appreciate, and LOVE this team, but also become even more EXCITED about the upcoming Music City Bowl. :)
First, many here already know how much I LOVE this UK football team, and I know so many of you feel exactly the same. Sure, I'm an emotional type and "softie" who loves these guys in a most motherly way--and especially since they are just a little younger than my own two sons AND ARE a most special group of young men. Honestly, while I have loved many UK football (and basketball teams, too, in particular, the '92 team, and the '96 and '98 teams) there is NO TEAM in UK history that I LOVE remotely as much as this particular team.
For those who have also been blessed to have met some of these young men at Fan Day, the women's clinic, etc,. you fully understand. Yet, I really believe many others also understand from having read about these players, from reading and listening to their quotes, AND from being so aware of how the veteran players guys endured so much adversity and lack of respect from the media and part of the fan base and then went on to accomplish what they have accomplished these past two seasons.
Someone posted about the fan base's most supportive reaction to the loss to UT. I so agreed with his words and had already thought the same. Because of the heroic comeback and heartbreaking loss to UT, these Cats truly became football's version of the Unforgettables. Ironically, with that painful loss, fans, I believe, truly LOVE this team even more than before and will NEVER forget them, just as many of us will never forget the basketball Unforgettables, who had similarly fought so hard seemed to have such an important victory in hand, only to fall cruelly short. For that basketball team, though, it was the last game for a special group of seniors. For THIS team with such a special group of seniors, though, the sun has risen with ANOTHER so- important game to play.
So THAT is the reason for this post. Like others here, after the loss to UT on Senior Day, I was SO disappointed for our players and staff. I would even cry when I would see pictures of our seniors. No, I have not recovered to the point of watching a tape of the game (and I will still not watch that Duke basketball game) or even the Coach Brooks television show after the loss, BUT my enthusiastic side is back in force! :icon_biggrin:
Yes, I am SO PROUD and SO PUMPED after hearing the bowl announcements. After the Georgia loss, I had posted that we have a VERY GOOD football team. Sure, there were a few who looked ONLY at the record, which now identically matches last season's record at this team, and did not agree. A few have also doubted that we have made SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS. I, along with most, STRONGLY disagree (and may this particular thread please be nothing but positive SUPPORT and APPRECIATION and EXCITEMENT about our bowl appearance--in case some of our players read this thread :icon_biggrin:).
Folks, regardless of the records, the two football teams are not even close. Our largest loss this season was by 17 points to a team that will be playing in a bowl this season, a game in which we had turned the ball over SIX times. Last year, in contrast, we had lost by 49 points to LSU, besides having lost by 31 points to Louisville. This season we played only ONE team with a losing record, Kent State, and we played SEVEN teams who will be playing bowl games.
More telling, though, is the major bowl picture. Most obviously, an opponent we beat is playing for a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. We ALSO defeated the only other opponent who has beaten that national championship game participant, an Arkansas team that beat LSU on its own field and is a Cotton Bowl participant. We took the other SEC championship game participant to four overtimes before losing, a UT team that will be playing in the Outback Bowl. We lost to Capital One participant Florida with time running out as we attempted to tie the game right at the goal line. We ended up losing by eleven points in a most winnable game, on the road, to a second BCS bowl participant, a very "hot" Georgia team that arguably should be playing in the national title game.
So THAT is why I am SO PROUD. This team was a VERY GOOD team that obviously, based on those facts, played some GREAT football for us UK fans this season. For that, I am most proud and most appreciative. It is not obviously a far stretch to see our Cats' playing for the SEC championship this season--or even the national championship. Too, sure, we fell short and only matched last season's record--for those who are determined to look at the most negative scenario, BUT such an assessment is not looking at the BIG PICTURE of how these Cats, overall, played this season, while playing such a strenuous schedule. Honestly, how I would have loved to have seen this team with just a bit more depth! We were THAT CLOSE to achieving this staff's and players' dreams!
I'm SO PUMPED, though! As I have posted, these guys can MAKE EVEN BETTER history than beating UT on Senior Day would have been! They can do something that has not been done for OVER FIFTY YEARS in UK football history! That they can do such against an opponent with so such outstanding football tradition makes it even MORE EXCITING! That so many thousands of UK fans, including UK students, can be there to see it happen makes it ALL THE BETTER! Sure, I'm easily enthused, but anyone who does not get excited about this opportunity surely does not have a heartbeat--or at least a UK football heartbeat! :icon_lol:
Win or lose, my LOVE for this UK football team and staff is unconditional. Thus, to them I say THANK YOU for all these memories and instilled emotions and excitement. Yet, now, please, FOR YOU, go out and GET THAT EIGHTH WIN in back-to-back seasons AND the first back-to back BOWL WINS in OVER HALF A CENTURY! :icon_biggrin:
GO CATS! BEAT THE SEMINOLES!
First, many here already know how much I LOVE this UK football team, and I know so many of you feel exactly the same. Sure, I'm an emotional type and "softie" who loves these guys in a most motherly way--and especially since they are just a little younger than my own two sons AND ARE a most special group of young men. Honestly, while I have loved many UK football (and basketball teams, too, in particular, the '92 team, and the '96 and '98 teams) there is NO TEAM in UK history that I LOVE remotely as much as this particular team.
For those who have also been blessed to have met some of these young men at Fan Day, the women's clinic, etc,. you fully understand. Yet, I really believe many others also understand from having read about these players, from reading and listening to their quotes, AND from being so aware of how the veteran players guys endured so much adversity and lack of respect from the media and part of the fan base and then went on to accomplish what they have accomplished these past two seasons.
Someone posted about the fan base's most supportive reaction to the loss to UT. I so agreed with his words and had already thought the same. Because of the heroic comeback and heartbreaking loss to UT, these Cats truly became football's version of the Unforgettables. Ironically, with that painful loss, fans, I believe, truly LOVE this team even more than before and will NEVER forget them, just as many of us will never forget the basketball Unforgettables, who had similarly fought so hard seemed to have such an important victory in hand, only to fall cruelly short. For that basketball team, though, it was the last game for a special group of seniors. For THIS team with such a special group of seniors, though, the sun has risen with ANOTHER so- important game to play.
So THAT is the reason for this post. Like others here, after the loss to UT on Senior Day, I was SO disappointed for our players and staff. I would even cry when I would see pictures of our seniors. No, I have not recovered to the point of watching a tape of the game (and I will still not watch that Duke basketball game) or even the Coach Brooks television show after the loss, BUT my enthusiastic side is back in force! :icon_biggrin:
Yes, I am SO PROUD and SO PUMPED after hearing the bowl announcements. After the Georgia loss, I had posted that we have a VERY GOOD football team. Sure, there were a few who looked ONLY at the record, which now identically matches last season's record at this team, and did not agree. A few have also doubted that we have made SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS. I, along with most, STRONGLY disagree (and may this particular thread please be nothing but positive SUPPORT and APPRECIATION and EXCITEMENT about our bowl appearance--in case some of our players read this thread :icon_biggrin:).
Folks, regardless of the records, the two football teams are not even close. Our largest loss this season was by 17 points to a team that will be playing in a bowl this season, a game in which we had turned the ball over SIX times. Last year, in contrast, we had lost by 49 points to LSU, besides having lost by 31 points to Louisville. This season we played only ONE team with a losing record, Kent State, and we played SEVEN teams who will be playing bowl games.
More telling, though, is the major bowl picture. Most obviously, an opponent we beat is playing for a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. We ALSO defeated the only other opponent who has beaten that national championship game participant, an Arkansas team that beat LSU on its own field and is a Cotton Bowl participant. We took the other SEC championship game participant to four overtimes before losing, a UT team that will be playing in the Outback Bowl. We lost to Capital One participant Florida with time running out as we attempted to tie the game right at the goal line. We ended up losing by eleven points in a most winnable game, on the road, to a second BCS bowl participant, a very "hot" Georgia team that arguably should be playing in the national title game.
So THAT is why I am SO PROUD. This team was a VERY GOOD team that obviously, based on those facts, played some GREAT football for us UK fans this season. For that, I am most proud and most appreciative. It is not obviously a far stretch to see our Cats' playing for the SEC championship this season--or even the national championship. Too, sure, we fell short and only matched last season's record--for those who are determined to look at the most negative scenario, BUT such an assessment is not looking at the BIG PICTURE of how these Cats, overall, played this season, while playing such a strenuous schedule. Honestly, how I would have loved to have seen this team with just a bit more depth! We were THAT CLOSE to achieving this staff's and players' dreams!
I'm SO PUMPED, though! As I have posted, these guys can MAKE EVEN BETTER history than beating UT on Senior Day would have been! They can do something that has not been done for OVER FIFTY YEARS in UK football history! That they can do such against an opponent with so such outstanding football tradition makes it even MORE EXCITING! That so many thousands of UK fans, including UK students, can be there to see it happen makes it ALL THE BETTER! Sure, I'm easily enthused, but anyone who does not get excited about this opportunity surely does not have a heartbeat--or at least a UK football heartbeat! :icon_lol:
Win or lose, my LOVE for this UK football team and staff is unconditional. Thus, to them I say THANK YOU for all these memories and instilled emotions and excitement. Yet, now, please, FOR YOU, go out and GET THAT EIGHTH WIN in back-to-back seasons AND the first back-to back BOWL WINS in OVER HALF A CENTURY! :icon_biggrin:
GO CATS! BEAT THE SEMINOLES!