Lost Season

[rbarthle17]

I think we are seeing a lost season unfold before our eyes. And I am not completely shocked by it.

There are a million things that have gone wrong this year, but to me at least, one thing is becoming more apparent each week: This team has nothing tangible to play for, and it's showing.

Coaches and fans (all much older than these players) can talk all they want about how pride should be enough to play for, but these are 18-22 year old kids out there. They have barely enough life experience to know how to get from point A to point B, let alone grasp the idea that something intangible could be worth it's weight in gold. It's the special kid that age that truly grasps that idea, not the norm.

And that is what is playing out there. When things get rolling good, we play well for a stretch. But when adversity hits, this team is not fighting that off like other teams have - other teams with tangible rewards they could achieve.

Obviously at this point everyone's expectation levels have been lowered. Problem is, they were probably too high to begin with and this is a reality check.

This week's game will be telling. It will tell whether these kids can learn the concept of the value of intangible things, like playing for pride. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they show that capability, but nothing I have seen so far suggests that.

It is at least worth noting that the combined record of the teams that have beaten us is stellar so far. But all those teams have something tangible to play for as well.