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It's cold here in Minnesota. Very cold. The kind of cold that makes your eyes water and your toes numb. The kind disregards safeguards such as merino wool long johns and and gives new meaning to the term "shrinkage" if you are a discerning male.
You hear me, gents? In this kind of cold, extraordinary precautions are required in protecting the goods.
This isn't my first parade through the winter tundra of the northland. I've been a Minnesota resident on and off for more than half of the last 14 years. I know cold. I know how to prepare for it. I know how to help my kids through it. I know how to get my dog to take walks in it. I know how to manage it and, if I must, I know how to recuperate from overexposure to it.
One thing that I've learned about a Minnesota winter is that no matter how devastating the reading on the thermostat might be, the cold always feels a bit more intolerable once football season is completely over. The drop is precipitous, of course, once the Huskies are finally done. And, for me, the final descent occurs once the Seahawks are wrapped.
My friends, this has been one brutally cold week.
In cold like this, there are only a few things left to do. The first is to bundle up, head outside, and wrap your cable connection to your house in a styrofoam sleeve so as to return functioning internet to your domicile. The second is to relocate your dog out of your favorite spot on the sofa in front of the fireplace. The third is to kindly ask your third grader to go mix you a hot cocoa - your favorite recipe involves whole milk, a little dab of vanilla, and some crushed peppermint flakes. In truth, it's not as much of a request as an issued command. She is, after all, a third grader and I, after all, am a tyrant. But she gets a mug for herself, so we are all good.
The third thing to do is to pull out the old laptop and to start reflecting on the season that was. Running through the highs and lows of the season in your mind, all of the points of frustration and all of the advances in the development is an exercise that may not necessarily relax your spirit or satiate your hunger for more football. But it will most likely result in "clearing of the decks" of your football consciousness. All of the scars of the season past need to be healed in order to prepare your spirit for the offseason and to establish a clear foundation for the construction of new expectations.
I propose that we start that exercise now. Over the course of the next few weeks, I'd like to highlight fifteen "things" from the 2015 season. A "thing" being defined as any development, player, play, coach or situation that was especially exciting, particularly disappointing, or significant in the evolution of the 2015 Washington Husky football team.
As an example, you can expect me to write about the decision of Cyler Miles to retire from the team. This was a remarkably significant event in the evolution of the 2015 football team because it lowered expectations surrounding the team, created a roster imbalance at the QB position, and opened the door for a true freshman to take the starting QB job in an open race.
I'd like your help. Instead of arbitrarily picking these amongst ourselves as the UWDP staff, I thought I'd seek out inspiration in an open thread. If you have some ideas on things that we could write about in reflection upon the 2015 season, note them below. If you feel so compelled, write your own Fanpost and, if it passes muster, I'll promote as part of the 15 of '15.
So, what say you, Dawgs? What do you see as the big moments that defined the 2015 season? When you reflect on the season that was, what stands out to you? What memories will you be holding onto as the biting cold nibbles at your fingertips and freezes your nose hairs together this winter?
We want to know.