Football General Talk

[noharleyyet]

The bar is too high.
The media talks about Kyle Shanahan being on the hot seat if the 49ers don't win the Superbowl this year. What? It takes a little luck also. A couple of funny bounces and your going home for the year.
Does anybody else feel like that would be crazy?

JJ obviously agrees...but you're not wrong

 

[VikingsGuy]

I feel like this is for Vikings fans

Nah - from pre-season to reg season end happy fatalist is a better characterization . That then changes to really pissed off and paranoid fatalist during playoffs. We are the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox of football. This is far worse than being the pre-2016 Cubs of football (Lions) - where your rational hopes are really never raised that far. No, we often have legit hopes, while knowing this just raises the bar on how horrific the predictable fall will be. All are welcome to join the Vikings fan lifestyle, but like the tundra of the north, not all are sufficiently strong to survive it.

 

[Zlewis84]

Nah - from pre-season to reg season end happy fatalist is a better characterization . That then changes to really pissed off and paranoid fatalist during playoffs. We are the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox of football. This is far worse than being the pre-2016 Cubs of football (Lions) - where your rational hopes are really never raised that far. No, we often have legit hopes, while knowing this just raises the bar on how horrific the predictable fall will be. All are welcome to join the Vikings fan lifestyle, but like the tundra of the north, not all are sufficiently strong to survive it.

lol I get it. I’ve been a Vikings fan my whole life and Iowa Hawkeyes. I’m used to let down hahaha

 

[Gellar]

Yes, unfortunately most of us feel like our teams are unsuccessful if they don’t win a championship. I’m guilty as charged.

Expecting to win a championship and being happy with a winning record or a playoff birth is the difference between an organization that wins championships more years than not and a team that only makes the first round, or just falls short. Kind of like Alabama football vs Iowa football or the Yankees vs the Milwaukee Brewers or the Kansas City Chiefs the last 5 years vs Browns.

 

[VikingsGuy]

The bar is too high.
The media talks about Kyle Shanahan being on the hot seat if the 49ers don't win the Superbowl this year. What? It takes a little luck also. A couple of funny bounces and your going home for the year.
Does anybody else feel like that would be crazy?

Every time one of us turns on the TV, radio, pod-cast, talk show, reality show, website etc etc etc you must say to yourself, "I fully understand that the hosts, sponsors and platforms of the content I am about to consume make literally billions of dollars by making me irrationally hopeful, irrationally hopeless, irrationally depressed, irrationally tribal, irrationally angry, irrationally toxic, irrationally sure of my opinions, irrationally fearful of the other -- and if they did the opposite they would be poor and unemployed -- and with this fully in the front of mind I will see what this financially incented showman has to say today." If liberally applied to your daily journey you may start finding yourself more grounded and happy in the things and people around you that you care about.

This applies to football as well as life in general.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Expecting to win a championship and being happy with a winning record or a playoff birth is the difference between an organization that wins championships more years than not and a team that only makes the first round, or just falls short. Kind of like Alabama football vs Iowa football or the Yankees vs the Milwaukee Brewers or the Kansas City Chiefs the last 5 years vs Browns.

Two of your chosen examples are far more about resources than "want to" and your third hit the HoF QB lottery. Did Belicheck only start caring about titles when he drafted Brady and then quit when Brady left? We attribute too much "they wanted it more" narrative to sports than in often useful.

 

[VikingsGuy]

lol I get it. I’ve been a Vikings fan my whole life and Iowa Hawkeyes. I’m used to let down hahaha

Just through my first season of paying attention to Iowa football as our daughter started there this fall. God that was painful. I can't wait until someone tells them that the forward pass is legal now.

 

[Zlewis84]

Just through my first season of paying attention to Iowa football as our daughter started there this fall. Good that was painful. I can't wait until someone tells them that the forward pass is legal now.

Hahaha yup, tell her welcome to Iowa! They take pride in running it down the middle and refuse to acknowledge it’s 2024. Hopefully a new OC brings good things

 

[VikingsGuy]

Hahaha yup, tell her welcome to Iowa! They take pride in running it down the middle and refuse to acknowledge it’s 2024. Hopefully a new OC brings good things

U of Iowa has done an outstanding job of sell, onboard, and setting up our daughter's first year for success. Between our three kids we visited dozens of schools all over the country and none did the recruiting and on-boarding better. She is in good hands in Hawkeye-land no doubt. Although, "herky" is a really weird mascot name - maybe the new OC can look into that too.

 

[noharleyyet]

“…a few lucky bounces”

Example: tuck rule genesis.

 

[Gellar]

Two of your chosen examples are far more about resources than "want to" and your third hit the HoF QB lottery. Did Belicheck only start caring about titles when he drafted Brady and then quit when Brady left? We attribute too much "they wanted it more" narrative to sports than in often useful.

Brady was a 6th round pick. While he was at Michigan he was never considered a top QB or the next great thing until he joined Belicheck. Belicheck expected to win. Brady bought into Belicheck's system. That mentality is contagious and makes winners out of people. Look at how many #1 picks go to a team that is forever in the dumps and they are a failure in the league. They had the skillset to be great, they were all through their career to that point. But they join an organization who is content to be mediocre, making the playoffs is ok and they begin to believe ok is enough.

Iowa football has been ok, they get to a bowl game 5 out 6 years, they make the big ten championship game every 3 or 4 years. That is their expectation. They have been happy with that, they have never taken the next step like Ohio State or Alabama where the Outback Bowl is notenough, they expect more than a bowl game and an appearance in the conference championship. They expect to win a championship.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Brady was a 6th round pick. While he was at Michigan he was never considered a top QB or the next great thing until he joined Belicheck. Belicheck expected to win. Brady bought into Belicheck's system. That mentality is contagious and makes winners out of people. Look at how many #1 picks go to a team that is forever in the dumps and they are a failure in the league. They had the skillset to be great, they were all through their career to that point. But they join an organization who is content to be mediocre, making the playoffs is ok and they begin to believe ok is enough.

Lots of 1st round busts and lots that never made pro bowl under BB. Over explaining one QB's success that still is largely an anomaly.

 

[SwaggyD]

Brady was a 6th round pick. While he was at Michigan he was never considered a top QB or the next great thing until he joined Belicheck. Belicheck expected to win. Brady bought into Belicheck's system. That mentality is contagious and makes winners out of people. Look at how many #1 picks go to a team that is forever in the dumps and they are a failure in the league. They had the skillset to be great, they were all through their career to that point. But they join an organization who is content to be mediocre, making the playoffs is ok and they begin to believe ok is enough.

Iowa football has been ok, they get to a bowl game 5 out 6 years, they make the big ten championship game every 3 or 4 years. That is their expectation. They have been happy with that, they have never taken the next step like Ohio State or Alabama where the Outback Bowl is notenough, they expect more than a bowl game and an appearance in the conference championship. They expect to win a championship.

Iowa's punter had more punting yards than their offense did total yards this season. They are good are recruiting punters, too. I give them that!

 

[Gellar]

Lots of 1st round busts and lots that never made pro bowl under BB. Over explaining one QB's success that still is largely an anomaly.

I can keep going with examples if you want that are other than Bill Belicheck. Do you want to stay with the Iowa theme? In 1997 Iowa wrestling had a 5th-year senior at 118 lbs who had never wrestled a college varsity match until his senior year. He was not the top recruit out of high school, he only won one state championship in high school. Every day during his senior year of college Dan Gable told him he was going to win an NCAA Championship. Going into the NCAA championship he was the sixth seed of the tournament. Jesse Whitmer won a national championship. To this day he credits his championship to Gable for expecting him to win a national championship.

 

[Gellar]

Iowa's punter had more punting yards than their offense did total yards this season. They are good are recruiting punters, too. I give them that!

They have had some good D-ends and tight ends as well. George Kittles was an Iowa tight end. I bet he will have a few catches this week.

 

[VikingsGuy]

I can keep going with examples if you want that are other than Bill Belicheck. Do you want to stay with the Iowa theme? In 1997 Iowa wrestling had a 5th-year senior at 118 lbs who had never wrestled a college varsity match until his senior year. He was not the top recruit out of high school, he only won one state championship in high school. Every day during his senior year of college Dan Gable told him he was going to win an NCAA Championship. Going into the NCAA championship he was the sixth seed of the tournament. Jesse Whitmer won a national championship. To this day he credits his championship to Gable for expecting him to win a national championship.

I am sure you can - in normal life it is called cherry picking and in science p-hacking.

 

[Gellar]

I am sure you can - in normal life it is called cherry picking and in science p-hacking.

You will never convince me otherwise that people who are continuously successful have a different mindset than people who are just mediocre or have success every once in a while. Business, sports, life, hunting, it does not matter. Yes, other factors go into winning and being successful, but you will not ever convince me that winning is not a mindset. If you take 2 people with the same skillset the person who expects, not just wants to win, will win 9 out of 10 times.

 

[VikingsGuy]

You will never convince me otherwise that people who are continuously successful have a different mindset than people who are just mediocre or have success every once in a while. Business, sports, life, hunting, it does not matter. Yes, other factors go into winning and being successful, but you will not ever convince me that winning is not a mindset. If you take 2 people with the same skillset the person who expects, not just wants to win, will win 9 out of 10 times.

I probably agree with that generally, but I don't think that was the question being answered. Many successful athletes have outsized drive. Many fail to win titles, so that can't be the primary ingredient in a SB win. Are you saying Barkley cared less than Kareem?

 

[406dn]

You will never convince me otherwise that people who are continuously successful have a different mindset than people who are just mediocre or have success every once in a while. Business, sports, life, hunting, it does not matter. Yes, other factors go into winning and being successful, but you will not ever convince me that winning is not a mindset. If you take 2 people with the same skillset the person who expects, not just wants to win, will win 9 out of 10 times.

However much success the Patriots had under Belicheck, they did not win 9 of 10, with Brady.

So why did the Patriots suck after Brady left? Did the coach only want to win then?

 

[noharleyyet]

Brady’s real calling was bitcoin sales.