FanPost

Featured Fanpost: Remember Who You Are…

First off…let me introduce myself, in an attempt to establish some sort of credibility. I’m a guy who never watched football growing up. I knew nothing about the game…I grew up playing soccer from age six and never even looked at it. I went to high school where the football team was so-so (later turned into a state champion after I left…who knew?) and Friday night games were fun but not the center of life. I believe the whole lack of playing football was a conspiracy by my mother to keep me from getting injured, because I am built for it. I probably would have made a decent running back, fullback, or even linebacker in high school. But, her plan worked, and I never played or cared about football.

Then…I enrolled at the University of Washington in the summer of 1994. In addition to sports, I enjoyed playing music, and decided on a whim that I would join the Husky Marching Band. I made it through auditions and showed up for pre-school drills, as we called it. Two weeks of learning the ins and outs of college marching band and finding out what it meant to be a Husky. From day one…the very first time I walked down that tunnel, looking at bowl game sign after bowl game sign…Rose, Rose, Rose…and then walking out into that stadium…I knew two things…I had missed out on a REALLY FUN sport growing up (nice work Mom…though I still ended up on crutches playing soccer, so there), and that for the rest of my life, I would bleed purple.

Being a member of the band was a lot of fun. TOO much fun, if you look at my GPA. But, it gave us the opportunity to get pretty close to the team…they would be coming off the field as we came on for practice in the evening. We’d go down and play during their practices on Thursdays to give them some noise and get ‘em pumped up for the game that weekend. You’d see these guys out there…offensive guys like Kaufman, Hoffman, Bruener, and Bob Sapp (mountain of a man)...defensive monsters like Chorak and Fiala, Milloy and Parrish…they were impressive. And they practiced hard, and they played hard. And that first season, we had some great wins! We beat Ohio State, then ranked #18, and a big win down at Miami back when they were good, then ranked #6. But how did we do in the conference? With names like the ones I mentioned…these monsters of greatness? Well, in the conference, we were 4-4. We lost all four of our conference road games, including in the snow at WSU, 6-23. And of course there was the Oregon game that year.

Our team was still in sanctions, still very much in the afterglow of the 91-93 seasons of greatness…but, we finished 7-4, did not go bowling because of sanctions, and looked to the next year to get back on top. How did 1995 go? Pretty good…co-conference champs with USC, with a 7-4-1 record. Finished the year at #20 with a LOSS at the Sun Bowl against Iowa State. 1996? Even better…except for that heartbreaker in the desert to start it off…finished 9-3 with our only conference loss to the ASU team that would become the conference champs that year. Good time in the Holiday Bowl…except for the LOSS to Colorado (then ranked #8…talk about a decline.)

My senior season? We fell off a little, even though we were ranked as high as #2 early in the season, finishing at 8-4, but with a fantastic graduating present from the Husky athletic department…a paid trip (including 75 band members – paid to be a senior that year) to Hawaii for the Aloha Bowl where we finally notched a solid WIN in a bowl game against Michigan State. We finished ranked at #18 that year. That trip was a blast - Merry Christmas indeed.

The whole time I was in the band those four years…I kept hearing from folks who had been at the Rose Bowl. There was nothing better than the Rose Bowl…that’s where we belong, that’s where we’ll get again. And I believed it. The football team, under Lambright, came up with slogans each year that they would make into acronyms…I remember a couple of them. RTD – Return to Dominance. WAR – Want Another Rose. And while our seasons were good those years…we only managed to finish as co-champs of the conference one year. And we lost to Oregon three of the four years I was there, including my senior year, at home, where those clowns tore up pieces of our bleachers and stormed our field. And then we lost at home again to Wazzu, where those idiots stormed our field and tried, unsuccessfully, to tear down a goal post. It was pretty funny watching them try.

But you know what? I bled purple every year. And I have continued to do so each year after. I want nothing more than the see my Dawgs in the hunt for conference domination and national championship contention. And losing this many years to the Ducks, after being in the end zone and watching Wheaton make his play, it hurts. A lot. Not because I hate the team. Honestly, I have a lot of respect for most of the Duck players and coaches…but their fans? Those guys do not deserve the greatness Uncle Phil has purchased them. I am sure there are some respectable Duck fans…but I certainly did not meet any of them during my trips to Autzen while in the band, and nationally, they are worse bandwaggoners than the Seahawks fans.

Will the Ducks win the next 14 against us to even the overall record? I am confident in saying no. We will beat the Ducks. Since it didn’t happen this year, I think it will happen next year. And that will continue to be my mantra. But you know what? I refuse to make my fandom all about the Ducks. That gives them too much credit. Their streak is impressive, but there is FAR MORE TO HUSKY FOOTBALL THAN THE DUCKS!!!!!

So, let the loss go, Dawg fans, and get your heads and hearts back in the hunt for ASU this weekend. I am appalled by how quickly so many fans throw this team to the side of road after losses. I get it…a loss hurts, especially against the Ducks. And I’m guilty of it as well…calling for Miles to be benched after the Stanford game (though I still question whether or not he is the right guy…Williams has some fire in his belly and I think more of a killer instinct than Miles…but I digress…) BUT... as we saw this weekend with Baylor and Oklahoma…upsets happen EVERY week, and this team is capable of pulling one or two off. We have talent on both sides of the ball, and I suspect we’ll see another Shaqtastic play or two against ASU. I, for one, am still happy with our coaches. I am very glad to have Petersen as our head coach, and I believe his philosophy will pay off here at Washington, even in the PAC-12. As to the OC…I don’t know. I thought the play calling was okay…definitely better than the Stanford game. But against the better D of Oregon, we just couldn’t get it going on the ground. People want to say that’s coaching, but some of it is execution. We need to execute better. What plays should Smith be calling with the pedestrian RBs we have? I think we’ll see more of Cooper, which will be good…I suspect he will become a force in the second half of the season, both in running and receiving.

All this to say…don’t give up the ship Dawg fans, and get back behind your team, because what’s your other option? Just quit watching the Huskies all together? NEVER! Does my sentiment mean that I think losses are acceptable? Well, that’s a stupid question. The statement that losing is not acceptable puts you in a really indefensible position, because guess what? Losses happen. Even against teams that we would probably say are better than what we have now (1994)…we went 4-4 in conference. Losses happen. How you deal with them defines you as fan. Losses should hurt…they suck! But if they are unacceptable to you, then you should probably stop being a fan. If you can take a loss and learn from it, improve from it, and then come out and curb-stomp ASU at home on Saturday night (VERY LATE Saturday night for us poor Dawgs living on the East Coast), then that loss has value. I hate losing as much as the next fan. But to imply that our players are okay with losing…like somehow getting handed their butts in Eugene didn’t sting on the way back to Montelake, or that our coaches somehow don’t take the game seriously – like somehow, some fan who has never actually played a down of Husky football, who isn’t getting hit, and dealing with the pressure and the noise, and the intense matchups on the line and in the trenches…somehow that player or coach wants to win LESS that Joe Husky Fan? Well, I think that’s total crap – so respectfully, I’d say shove those comments. And you know what? I know for a freakin' FACT that the Husky Band sang every word of the Alma Mater as they crossed the Montelake bridge on the way home, because traditions don’t die…that’s what makes them traditions. And Husky football has a tradition of pride, of winning, and of excellence. THAT is our tradition. Not whining and bitching and moaning about how great we USED to be, and oh, if only we could get back to being THOSE guys, and if only we had THIS coach, or THAT recruit. Give me a break – that kind of crap feeds the Duckies down south and their critique of how pathetic Husky fans are. Your job as a fan is to be the fan you want your team to be. Demanding excellence, yes…but learning from losses, looking ahead to the next battle, and above all…SUPPORTING YOUR DAWGS!!! Criticism comes with being a fan…we all think we have the answer that will magically create a 12-0 team next year. And talking through those things are fun, and one of the reasons the internet is great. But at the end of the day…your DAWGS are your DAWGS. And we will support them and stand tall with them through all wins and losses. Husky tradition is not dead…and as fans, we have to continue to live that tradition. GO DAWGS!!!! BEAT THE SUN DEVILS!!!!! I’m calling it right now…DAWGS win Saturday night under the lights…28-17.