Showtime Joe 2.0
Active Member
In his most famous speech, Teddy Roosevelt said the following:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
None of us played in the championship game against Georgia and none of us coached in it. And that makes us all "critics" here and nothing else. Even worse, since this is a message board, we're all anonymous critics. The Frogs went into the biggest arena that had ever welcomed them last night and, frankly, they soiled the sheets. It wasn't just a loss or a bad loss. It was an embarrassing and humiliating defeat and I don't believe in sugarcoating it.
But let's not forget that there were only two teams in that arena last night while 129 other FBS teams were not. The goal now is to get back into that arena someday and do better the second time around. I've been a fanatical Frog fan ever since my freshman year at TCU back in the 1970s and everybody who has known me since then can attest to that fact. I waited for decades for the Frogs to reach the biggest of all stages but it was the Frogs who were on that stage, not me. I'm just a fan, I'm just a critic. I don't know how long it will take the Frogs to live down a 65-7 defeat in front of the largest television audience to ever watch a TCU game but it may not take as long as some of you think it will. I have faith in Sonny and his staff and I believe that they'll learn from their mistakes as will our returning players. And recruits and transfers will replace our departing players. The Program will survive and, hopefully, continue to thrive.
In the meantime, I'll get up tomorrow and put on my TCU gear as I do every day when I'm not on the job. And I'll be back in my seat at The Carter next Fall as always, cheering the Frogs on, win or lose. Since actuarial tables inform me that I'm in the 4th Quarter of my lifespan, it's quite possible that I may not live to see the Frogs enter that most exalted arena of all again. But I'll still be a proud Horned Frog until the day I die. And I'll never forget the exhilarating feeling that I had when that game kicked off last night and the adrenalin rush that I felt in the eight days leading up to that kickoff.
But I'll also never forget that I'm just a fan, just a "critic," just a "cold and timid soul who knows neither victory nor defeat." I wasn't in the arena so, according to President Roosevelt, I don't count. And I can accept that. As bad as any of us feel right now, I guarantee you that our players and coaches feel worse.
God bless our Horned Frog players and coaches. Y'all were in that arena last night while none of us were.
Go Frogs Forever!
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
None of us played in the championship game against Georgia and none of us coached in it. And that makes us all "critics" here and nothing else. Even worse, since this is a message board, we're all anonymous critics. The Frogs went into the biggest arena that had ever welcomed them last night and, frankly, they soiled the sheets. It wasn't just a loss or a bad loss. It was an embarrassing and humiliating defeat and I don't believe in sugarcoating it.
But let's not forget that there were only two teams in that arena last night while 129 other FBS teams were not. The goal now is to get back into that arena someday and do better the second time around. I've been a fanatical Frog fan ever since my freshman year at TCU back in the 1970s and everybody who has known me since then can attest to that fact. I waited for decades for the Frogs to reach the biggest of all stages but it was the Frogs who were on that stage, not me. I'm just a fan, I'm just a critic. I don't know how long it will take the Frogs to live down a 65-7 defeat in front of the largest television audience to ever watch a TCU game but it may not take as long as some of you think it will. I have faith in Sonny and his staff and I believe that they'll learn from their mistakes as will our returning players. And recruits and transfers will replace our departing players. The Program will survive and, hopefully, continue to thrive.
In the meantime, I'll get up tomorrow and put on my TCU gear as I do every day when I'm not on the job. And I'll be back in my seat at The Carter next Fall as always, cheering the Frogs on, win or lose. Since actuarial tables inform me that I'm in the 4th Quarter of my lifespan, it's quite possible that I may not live to see the Frogs enter that most exalted arena of all again. But I'll still be a proud Horned Frog until the day I die. And I'll never forget the exhilarating feeling that I had when that game kicked off last night and the adrenalin rush that I felt in the eight days leading up to that kickoff.
But I'll also never forget that I'm just a fan, just a "critic," just a "cold and timid soul who knows neither victory nor defeat." I wasn't in the arena so, according to President Roosevelt, I don't count. And I can accept that. As bad as any of us feel right now, I guarantee you that our players and coaches feel worse.
God bless our Horned Frog players and coaches. Y'all were in that arena last night while none of us were.
Go Frogs Forever!
