Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Fun Fact: Bears Love Sour Grapes
At the end of the day Saturday, the Coliseum scoreboard read "USC 23, Cal 17." End of story? You would think so, but Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers decided that a bitter loss was not enough. He chose, rather, to celebrate the crushing defeat by sticking his paw in his mouth.
"We dominated the game. We drove up and down the field all game and our defense was awesome. We just came up short."
You sure did, Aaron. About ten yards short. A smarter man would have accepted that and only opened his big yapper in the locker room long enough to say "We had our chance, but SC is tough. They're National Champs for a reason. Hopefully next year, we can come up with the W."
Let me tell you something, pal, you are no leader. Leaders don't make excuses and they don't talk about dominating games that they lost. They take full responsibility for the loss and, regardless of how much they may be burning inside, they respect their opponent publicly. It's a matter of representing yourself, your team, and your school or city like a gentleman and sportsman, not like a bitter loser. I don't recall ever hearing Peyton Manning or Brett Favre brag about "dominating" a game after they lost it.
"Our special teams might have let us down a little bit," Rodgers was quoted as saying in the Daily Californian, Cal Berkely's student newspaper.
That's another thing leaders don't do, Aaron, they don't blame their teammates. Leaders stick up for their teammates like brothers. They defend them from the pack of media wolves; you painted yours with barbecue sauce and handed them over. Don't talk to me about field goals missed or punts squandered. The fact of the matter is, you had the opportunity to win the game in your final possession. Regardless of everything that occurred up until that point, all you had to do to win the game was complete one 10-yard pass in four tries. You went 0-for-4. If you are going to be putting blame on anyone, it should damn well be on yourself. That's how the leadership thing works. If you're going to take the credit for "dominating," you have to take the blame for failing to execute when it mattered most and, thus, losing the game. You, sir, seem to want to take your impressive stats and your consecutive completion record home and leave somebody--anybody--else to carry in the luggage of losing. That's not what leaders are made of.
What is a quarterback worth if he's not a true leader? Not much more than a dead battery if you ask me. Rodgers had an impressive day, statiscally. He carved up the USC defense for 267 yards, one touchdown, and 23 straight completions to open the game. However, not a single pass was for more than 20 yards. Was this a great performance or a statistical anomaly resulting from two coordinators' strategies butting heads? Pete Carroll has made a living off of preventing the big play, conceding short passes underneath the zone and counting on his players to prevent perfection. Jeff Tedford called short routes all day long, content in chipping his way down the field five yards at a time, only calling two big-yardage plays and seeing both of them fail. How much credit does Aaron Rodgers really deserve for taking something the defensive coordinator was basically giving to him? Sure, no other quarterback has done as well against the same scheme this season, but Rodgers day was hardly worthy of special recognition. Does an NBA player deserve such honor for hitting 23 freethrows in a row (don't answer that, Shaq)?
The truth is, Rodgers had a good day...but he could have had a heroic day. Throw the 23 straight completions out the window. If he had hit just one pass out of his last four, Cal wins and Rodgers is Prince of the Pac-10. But he didn't. He choked. He was satisfied with his "dominance" and the availability of his special teams as a scapegoat. You don't have the stuff of a champion yet. All you have is the stuff of the scrappy youngster who thinks it's a great accomplishment to almost beat a great team. Until you're ready to act and play like a leader and a champion, shut your bear trap, Aaron Rodgers. And in the meantime, Fight On For Old SC.
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"We dominated the game. We drove up and down the field all game and our defense was awesome. We just came up short."
You sure did, Aaron. About ten yards short. A smarter man would have accepted that and only opened his big yapper in the locker room long enough to say "We had our chance, but SC is tough. They're National Champs for a reason. Hopefully next year, we can come up with the W."
Let me tell you something, pal, you are no leader. Leaders don't make excuses and they don't talk about dominating games that they lost. They take full responsibility for the loss and, regardless of how much they may be burning inside, they respect their opponent publicly. It's a matter of representing yourself, your team, and your school or city like a gentleman and sportsman, not like a bitter loser. I don't recall ever hearing Peyton Manning or Brett Favre brag about "dominating" a game after they lost it.
"Our special teams might have let us down a little bit," Rodgers was quoted as saying in the Daily Californian, Cal Berkely's student newspaper.
That's another thing leaders don't do, Aaron, they don't blame their teammates. Leaders stick up for their teammates like brothers. They defend them from the pack of media wolves; you painted yours with barbecue sauce and handed them over. Don't talk to me about field goals missed or punts squandered. The fact of the matter is, you had the opportunity to win the game in your final possession. Regardless of everything that occurred up until that point, all you had to do to win the game was complete one 10-yard pass in four tries. You went 0-for-4. If you are going to be putting blame on anyone, it should damn well be on yourself. That's how the leadership thing works. If you're going to take the credit for "dominating," you have to take the blame for failing to execute when it mattered most and, thus, losing the game. You, sir, seem to want to take your impressive stats and your consecutive completion record home and leave somebody--anybody--else to carry in the luggage of losing. That's not what leaders are made of.
What is a quarterback worth if he's not a true leader? Not much more than a dead battery if you ask me. Rodgers had an impressive day, statiscally. He carved up the USC defense for 267 yards, one touchdown, and 23 straight completions to open the game. However, not a single pass was for more than 20 yards. Was this a great performance or a statistical anomaly resulting from two coordinators' strategies butting heads? Pete Carroll has made a living off of preventing the big play, conceding short passes underneath the zone and counting on his players to prevent perfection. Jeff Tedford called short routes all day long, content in chipping his way down the field five yards at a time, only calling two big-yardage plays and seeing both of them fail. How much credit does Aaron Rodgers really deserve for taking something the defensive coordinator was basically giving to him? Sure, no other quarterback has done as well against the same scheme this season, but Rodgers day was hardly worthy of special recognition. Does an NBA player deserve such honor for hitting 23 freethrows in a row (don't answer that, Shaq)?
The truth is, Rodgers had a good day...but he could have had a heroic day. Throw the 23 straight completions out the window. If he had hit just one pass out of his last four, Cal wins and Rodgers is Prince of the Pac-10. But he didn't. He choked. He was satisfied with his "dominance" and the availability of his special teams as a scapegoat. You don't have the stuff of a champion yet. All you have is the stuff of the scrappy youngster who thinks it's a great accomplishment to almost beat a great team. Until you're ready to act and play like a leader and a champion, shut your bear trap, Aaron Rodgers. And in the meantime, Fight On For Old SC.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 6:08 PM 
