Calling All College Football Losers! Cut the Excuses and Try These on for Size

This has been an interesting college football season to say the least! There have been some great football games, and some we would just as soon forget. We, as fans, have certain things in common besides our love of the game and loyalty to our team. Almost all of us, with a tip of the hat to the Utes, have at some point this year experienced the agony of defeat.

We may have been defeated by a team that we were supposed to lose to, or it could have been the more disturbing scenario of losing to a team that we thought was destined for the “W” column. While the repercussions among the alumni association may be more dramatic in the latter, the fact remains that both result in a loss.

No one enjoys and respects team loyalty any more than I do. In fact, being on B/R has helped me connect with fans from other teams and learn that they have a deep passion for their teams and the rivalries that stir their part of the nation.

In my profile I proudly state that “I bleed Bulldog red and black.” I love the Dawgs!!! Hey, I named my middle daughter “Georgia”. I get ribbed here in Idaho about my Georgia Bulldog mailbox, and my boy’s room/playroom is painted and decorated with Bulldog colors and accessories—including autographed pictures of Herschel and Knowshon.

The problem is that we fans sometimes boast loyalty to a team, when in reality we are being loyal to ourselves. We go to such extremes to express our disrespect for the opposing team, that if we lose to them we lose face ourselves. Which really bothers us most? Are we really sad that our beloved team was defeated, or that we now must face those we have been trashing in the days preceding the game?

I cannot lose face if the Georgia Bulldogs lose any game or every game. I don’t suit up. I don’t take the field. I throw no passes and I make no tackles. Where I can lose face is when I act like a pompous know-it-all who can’t eat crow and admit that I was wrong and my team lost. Period.

Save the excuses. Cut the whining. I heard somewhere that the Dawgs lost 14 players to season ending injuries this year. That does absolutely nothing to erase the losses to Alabama, Florida, or Georgia Tech. Better luck next year. Build a bridge and get over it. We lost—plain and simple. It is what it is. You can only play the hand that’s dealt you.

The fans who do lose face are those obnoxious ones who gloat over every victory to the point of humiliating the fans of the losing team, and those equally obnoxious ones who don’t have the class to step up to the plate and look you in the eye (monitor?) and say “We lost, you won. No excuses. Congrats!”

In order to help add some class to our college football community, I have included 10 admissions of defeat that can be used when your team loses. These are not copyrighted and can be freely used by teams of every conference—because we all lose sometimes...don’t we? I have included a brief definition for those of you who may not be familiar with these expressions.

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