MaoTosiFanClub
The problem
Just three years ago this month...
- Mike Stoops and Arizona Football lost to a bad Stanford team to go to 2-6 bringing his career record at UA to a miserable 14-28 record. Calls had been made, donations assured, and Stoops and his staff along with in all likelihood Jim Livengood were as good as fired. Arizona Football was cementing it's legacy as the Bermuda Triangle of Pac-10 football while everyone with a life raft fled the sinking ship before the inevitable firings occurred. Meanwhile up the road, first year head coach Dennis Erickson and ASU was 8-0 and ranked top 5 nationally. Recruits were lining up to join the party and it seemed the Devils were going to finally awake and lose the sleeping giant moniker that has hung over the program for decades. Since then, ASU Football has compiled a 13-21 record and put their own head coach on the hot seat while Arizona has gone 23-11 and is currently ranked in the AP top 10 - a Rose Bowl away from having a statue erected in his honor outside the stadium.
- Arizona Basketball was gearing up for another star-studded season at McKale Center. Lute looked like he might have lost some of his touch but nobody was overly concerned as he had managed to convince three future NBA players including two lotto picks to start for him that year including arguably the best player in Arizona high school history in Jerryd Bayless. There was some concern about a long-term plan but as long as we kept getting these types of players we'd be fine. A few weeks later, Lute announced he was taking a leave of absence which devolved into him never coaching another basketball game. Two interim head coaches, a lengthy losing streak to the once bottom-feeding rivals up north, countless recruiting gaffes, the snapping of the Streak, and an embarrassing coaching search later Arizona seemingly has found stability under Sean Miller. Although it will never be the cakewalk it once was as Lute's last years have allowed UCLA to go back to national prominence as well as Herb Sendek to create a stable and winning program up the road in Tempe.
- The Arizona Diamondbacks had secured the best record in the National League and homefield advantage despite a team filled with guys who had yet to enter their prime or were in the middle of it. The future looked obscenely bright, young talent all over the field and a GM/manager combo that seemed to press all the right buttons. Then Eric Byrnes gets paid and pops up every time up. Other youth never improves as they should. Bob Melvin goes. AJ Hinch comes and goes. The ex-wonderkid GM gets booted mercilessly. And now in 2010 and you'd be hard pressed to find a handful of major league franchises in worse shape. We have almost no community support, limited revenue, weak farm system, and are currently a really bad team at the ML level.
- The Phoenix Suns were gearing up for training camp as overwhelming co-favorites to win an NBA Championship. SSOL had been somewhat redeemed when most analysts blamed the Horry hip check fallout as the main culprit behind the Suns not advancing to the NBA Finals. Steve Kerr had also been brought in over the offseason to help build the spare parts (bench, toughness, rebounding) that many deemed necessary to get over the hump. Things were looking up and it was widely assumed that we could get at least one of the elusive trophies before the sun set on Stevie MVP's career. Since then Shaq, Kerr, Terry Porter have come and gone. Matrix, Stat, Raja, D'Antoni all gone. Only Nash basically remains and since 2007 SSOL was stripped down to the point where we became a lottery team only to have a different Suns squad be rebuilt into a championship contender.
- The Arizona Cardinals were still a mess. Our QB of the future just banged up his shoulder and was done for the season and we were placing our hopes in a former MVP guy who essentially was done in the NFL having bombed out in every one of his last attempts at playing. We were still finding ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Meanwhile there was a kid in Cleveland named Derek Anderson who was on his way to the Pro Bowl as he was leading the Browns to a winning season. We all know what happened since them - the Super Bowl run, Kurt cementing his spot in the Hall of Fame, Anquan and others leaving, etc. Who saw that coming this time three years ago?
Point is, sports are very cyclical and things can change really quickly. Enjoy the wins whenever you can because losses are always lurking around the corner. If you want to gloat then you do it. If you want to simply celebrate and be happy even more kudos. But at the same time when your team loses do not overly fret. When they drop a game in heartbreaking fashion no need to put a hole in the drywall or kick your dog because wins are probably just a stone's throw away. Enjoy it and know that most things in sports are fleeting whether it's a great player or team, a quick glance around here at how much has changed shows that.
I'll be taking a hiatus from the board for awhile to focus a bit more on a start-up I really need to spend more time on (which in turn hopefully allows me to spend more time doing fun things like watch my teams play down the road) but will try to check in occasionally. Have fun this holiday season all and just try to remember to have fun with sports. No matter how infuriating the loss or demoralizing the heartbreak the sun will always come up tomorrow.
Mao
- Mike Stoops and Arizona Football lost to a bad Stanford team to go to 2-6 bringing his career record at UA to a miserable 14-28 record. Calls had been made, donations assured, and Stoops and his staff along with in all likelihood Jim Livengood were as good as fired. Arizona Football was cementing it's legacy as the Bermuda Triangle of Pac-10 football while everyone with a life raft fled the sinking ship before the inevitable firings occurred. Meanwhile up the road, first year head coach Dennis Erickson and ASU was 8-0 and ranked top 5 nationally. Recruits were lining up to join the party and it seemed the Devils were going to finally awake and lose the sleeping giant moniker that has hung over the program for decades. Since then, ASU Football has compiled a 13-21 record and put their own head coach on the hot seat while Arizona has gone 23-11 and is currently ranked in the AP top 10 - a Rose Bowl away from having a statue erected in his honor outside the stadium.
- Arizona Basketball was gearing up for another star-studded season at McKale Center. Lute looked like he might have lost some of his touch but nobody was overly concerned as he had managed to convince three future NBA players including two lotto picks to start for him that year including arguably the best player in Arizona high school history in Jerryd Bayless. There was some concern about a long-term plan but as long as we kept getting these types of players we'd be fine. A few weeks later, Lute announced he was taking a leave of absence which devolved into him never coaching another basketball game. Two interim head coaches, a lengthy losing streak to the once bottom-feeding rivals up north, countless recruiting gaffes, the snapping of the Streak, and an embarrassing coaching search later Arizona seemingly has found stability under Sean Miller. Although it will never be the cakewalk it once was as Lute's last years have allowed UCLA to go back to national prominence as well as Herb Sendek to create a stable and winning program up the road in Tempe.
- The Arizona Diamondbacks had secured the best record in the National League and homefield advantage despite a team filled with guys who had yet to enter their prime or were in the middle of it. The future looked obscenely bright, young talent all over the field and a GM/manager combo that seemed to press all the right buttons. Then Eric Byrnes gets paid and pops up every time up. Other youth never improves as they should. Bob Melvin goes. AJ Hinch comes and goes. The ex-wonderkid GM gets booted mercilessly. And now in 2010 and you'd be hard pressed to find a handful of major league franchises in worse shape. We have almost no community support, limited revenue, weak farm system, and are currently a really bad team at the ML level.
- The Phoenix Suns were gearing up for training camp as overwhelming co-favorites to win an NBA Championship. SSOL had been somewhat redeemed when most analysts blamed the Horry hip check fallout as the main culprit behind the Suns not advancing to the NBA Finals. Steve Kerr had also been brought in over the offseason to help build the spare parts (bench, toughness, rebounding) that many deemed necessary to get over the hump. Things were looking up and it was widely assumed that we could get at least one of the elusive trophies before the sun set on Stevie MVP's career. Since then Shaq, Kerr, Terry Porter have come and gone. Matrix, Stat, Raja, D'Antoni all gone. Only Nash basically remains and since 2007 SSOL was stripped down to the point where we became a lottery team only to have a different Suns squad be rebuilt into a championship contender.
- The Arizona Cardinals were still a mess. Our QB of the future just banged up his shoulder and was done for the season and we were placing our hopes in a former MVP guy who essentially was done in the NFL having bombed out in every one of his last attempts at playing. We were still finding ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Meanwhile there was a kid in Cleveland named Derek Anderson who was on his way to the Pro Bowl as he was leading the Browns to a winning season. We all know what happened since them - the Super Bowl run, Kurt cementing his spot in the Hall of Fame, Anquan and others leaving, etc. Who saw that coming this time three years ago?
Point is, sports are very cyclical and things can change really quickly. Enjoy the wins whenever you can because losses are always lurking around the corner. If you want to gloat then you do it. If you want to simply celebrate and be happy even more kudos. But at the same time when your team loses do not overly fret. When they drop a game in heartbreaking fashion no need to put a hole in the drywall or kick your dog because wins are probably just a stone's throw away. Enjoy it and know that most things in sports are fleeting whether it's a great player or team, a quick glance around here at how much has changed shows that.
I'll be taking a hiatus from the board for awhile to focus a bit more on a start-up I really need to spend more time on (which in turn hopefully allows me to spend more time doing fun things like watch my teams play down the road) but will try to check in occasionally. Have fun this holiday season all and just try to remember to have fun with sports. No matter how infuriating the loss or demoralizing the heartbreak the sun will always come up tomorrow.
Mao
