:rant
Arrogant KU and MU fans have been bugging me as of late. The delusion I see on these boards in some cases is almost saddening.
The biggest issue I see in some of these posts, is that fans of these schools with recent success just don't get it. They don't understand the difference between a good TEAM and a good PROGRAM. I'm going to attempt to explain it to them:
Characteristics of a good team include:
Characteristics of a good program include:
No one should argue that Kansas and Missouri had good teams last year. But let's be realistic. We need to remove the phrase "turned the corner" from their vocabularies. Kansas didn't become a winning program after beating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Basketball? Sure. Kansas has all of the characteristics of a good program. Kansas football? Not quite. If Kansas goes 4-8 this year, the fans are going to be disappointed, but they'll simply temper their lofty expectations for the next year. Instead of high expectations, they will go back to high hopes. Mark Mangino will not lose his job after a collection of 7-5 seasons.
The 2007 KU team had good players, good coaching, good chemistry and a friendly schedule. They had success as a team, not as a program. For an unproven program, it's a dice roll from year to year. Maybe Kansas will be good this year, maybe they won't be. Until a school like KU is a top team year in and year out, the status of the program will remain the same.
Missouri? Same boat. They've been putting a good team on the field for the last couple of seasons, but nothing with the program has changed. Same coaching, same philosophies, same expectations. If Missouri goes 6-6 this season, fans will throw their hands up and blame it on the "Pinkel Factor". After a season or two, expectations will conform to the on-field results. Maybe they'll still be high, maybe they'll be back to wishful thinking. That's how unproven programs function.
Nebraska on the other hand, is not in this realm of unproven programs. Nebraska has the winning tradition, high expectations, proven philosophies and loyal fans. In a good program the expectations never drop. Year in and year out, people surrounding the program will expect a highly competitive team. Not hope, expect.
Successful programs will set the bar high. If they don't reach that bar, people start getting fired. A good program will not guarantee a good team every year, but it will demand progress and success. I'll sum it up for you here KU and MU fans:
Having a good team does not mean you have a good program.
Having a good program means you continually have good teams.
Got it?
Nebraska has been down for a clear reason. The things that made the program great were deviated from. The program and it's tradition was churning out good to great teams every year. Not a losing season in 40 years before Callahan. Nebraska hadn't lost to Missouri or Kansas at home since before the kids in the student sections were born. We know what went wrong in the program. It's being rectified on a program level, which means the good to great teams will start hitting the field again very soon. The program dictates the winning culture and will now settle for nothing less.
I just want these guys to understand that a good couple of seasons for them and a bad season for Nebraska, does not reverse the rotation of the earth.
Nebraska is still the better program and will reload. These unproven groups should really get some continual success before they start thinking they have "it". You're not a good program, until you're a good program.
The true measure? When a poor season is an unacceptable anomaly....and there's a piece of serious hardware in the case (or maybe four or five pieces). The biggest ingredient in the "kool-aid" is success.
You see kiddies, enjoying your success is one thing...but acting like all of the sudden you're one of the elite programs is another. Your program isn't there and as of right now...it's not even a discussion. Your teams are trying hard and that's respectable, but it takes a whole lot of winning to truly "turn the corner".
Until then, your recent winning is as systematically temporary as our losing. That carriage that you're riding in is just a pumpkin called 'hype'. Show some humility. Midnight could strike at any time princess...
:rant
Arrogant KU and MU fans have been bugging me as of late. The delusion I see on these boards in some cases is almost saddening.
The biggest issue I see in some of these posts, is that fans of these schools with recent success just don't get it. They don't understand the difference between a good TEAM and a good PROGRAM. I'm going to attempt to explain it to them:
Characteristics of a good team include:
- Good Players
- Good Coaching
- Good Team Chemistry
- Happy Fans
Characteristics of a good program include:
- Winning Tradition
- Consistently High Expectations
- Consistent Recruiting
- Proven Philosophies
- Loyal Fans
No one should argue that Kansas and Missouri had good teams last year. But let's be realistic. We need to remove the phrase "turned the corner" from their vocabularies. Kansas didn't become a winning program after beating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Basketball? Sure. Kansas has all of the characteristics of a good program. Kansas football? Not quite. If Kansas goes 4-8 this year, the fans are going to be disappointed, but they'll simply temper their lofty expectations for the next year. Instead of high expectations, they will go back to high hopes. Mark Mangino will not lose his job after a collection of 7-5 seasons.
The 2007 KU team had good players, good coaching, good chemistry and a friendly schedule. They had success as a team, not as a program. For an unproven program, it's a dice roll from year to year. Maybe Kansas will be good this year, maybe they won't be. Until a school like KU is a top team year in and year out, the status of the program will remain the same.
Missouri? Same boat. They've been putting a good team on the field for the last couple of seasons, but nothing with the program has changed. Same coaching, same philosophies, same expectations. If Missouri goes 6-6 this season, fans will throw their hands up and blame it on the "Pinkel Factor". After a season or two, expectations will conform to the on-field results. Maybe they'll still be high, maybe they'll be back to wishful thinking. That's how unproven programs function.
Nebraska on the other hand, is not in this realm of unproven programs. Nebraska has the winning tradition, high expectations, proven philosophies and loyal fans. In a good program the expectations never drop. Year in and year out, people surrounding the program will expect a highly competitive team. Not hope, expect.
Successful programs will set the bar high. If they don't reach that bar, people start getting fired. A good program will not guarantee a good team every year, but it will demand progress and success. I'll sum it up for you here KU and MU fans:
Having a good team does not mean you have a good program.
Having a good program means you continually have good teams.
Got it?
Nebraska has been down for a clear reason. The things that made the program great were deviated from. The program and it's tradition was churning out good to great teams every year. Not a losing season in 40 years before Callahan. Nebraska hadn't lost to Missouri or Kansas at home since before the kids in the student sections were born. We know what went wrong in the program. It's being rectified on a program level, which means the good to great teams will start hitting the field again very soon. The program dictates the winning culture and will now settle for nothing less.
I just want these guys to understand that a good couple of seasons for them and a bad season for Nebraska, does not reverse the rotation of the earth.
Nebraska is still the better program and will reload. These unproven groups should really get some continual success before they start thinking they have "it". You're not a good program, until you're a good program.
The true measure? When a poor season is an unacceptable anomaly....and there's a piece of serious hardware in the case (or maybe four or five pieces). The biggest ingredient in the "kool-aid" is success.
You see kiddies, enjoying your success is one thing...but acting like all of the sudden you're one of the elite programs is another. Your program isn't there and as of right now...it's not even a discussion. Your teams are trying hard and that's respectable, but it takes a whole lot of winning to truly "turn the corner".
Until then, your recent winning is as systematically temporary as our losing. That carriage that you're riding in is just a pumpkin called 'hype'. Show some humility. Midnight could strike at any time princess...
:rant
