The Art of Goodbye

Seeing Youk go was watching a piece of nostalgia walking away with that bald head and ballerina batting stance. But let's face it, he's not the first to go. And he's not the last

            Every bride looks beautiful, but she was elegant and angelic. Her dad walked his baby girl down the isle with a face that revealed his secret; that he would break down at any time. A tear finally rolled down his cheek as he kissed her good bye. Hearts broke as she clutched to him for one last embrace, the way things were.

            At the reception I asked him what he thought about it all.

            “Just another day,” he said and looked out to his daughter.

            And it was.

            They would hug again. He would tell her he loved her and she would always be his little girl but in one tear was a moment of purity that said potently, “life is precious and the time is fleeting.”

            On my way home I sat in a quiet airport gate, scrolling through the news that Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks had been traded.

            “Red Sox acquire INF/OF Brent Lilibridge and RHP Zach Stewart from White Sox in exchange for Youk”

            “After 9 years in Boston, Youk is changing the color of his sox”

            I read the tweets and Facebook statuses over and over. Finally I read, “Kevin Youkilis is honored on field with standing ovation after being removed from game”. Another tweet described how bellows of “Youkkkkk!” soared through the Fenway air. Something it wouldn’t do the same way ever again.

            Sitting on the hot tarmac in Pittsburgh I felt the goosebumps from imagining the sight and sound of what that good bye must have meant miles away in Boston. 

            Before then, as I went through the security checkpoint, two young teenage girls hugged each other discretely on the side of a gift shop. Their shoulders rose and fell with their sobs. Over that unmistakable human sound of weeping, I heard the delicate words, “good bye”.

            How naïve, that they thought a good thing wouldn’t come to an end.

             Even though that was true, strangers turned away because no one was strong enough to deny it was hard not to want to cry right along with them.

            No, there’s no crying in baseball. But at the very moment Youk was saying good bye to the Boston Red Sox, I was at an airport- the very place where the inevitability of life is comings and goings. And even when that’s recognized, you still can’t help but fight back the tears when touches of emotion pops into the patterns of redundancy and you remember just why you’re sad to go.

            Life returns. The girl’s tears stopped halfway through security. Youk will get walks, he will bat and play in a different uniform ( and be 1 and 4 in his first attempt). More will come and more will go. That’s why it’s so important to stop and appreciate the power of goodbye and all it teaches in being grateful for good memories.

            I read another tweet, while I sit paused in the place that is all about good byes. “David Ortiz is now the last remaining member of the 2004 team.”

             2004.
            Now those were some good memories.

           

As a player you might never know how you will be received in Fenway for the first time you're not one of them. But inside, I think you know if you'll be accepted among the greatest crowd of all. 

It's been fun, wish you the best.  

The Greatest Gift

2011 was a tough year for me both inside and out of the baseball diamond. So would you think bad memories of a spring tornado and a fall losing record would taint the greatest love of my life?

This off-season was a test in my search for a new sense of normalcy and as the year anniversary to a public and private disaster comes closer, yes, baseball comes to rescue me again.

            Some of you will read this and say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, stop bringing it up.” Some of you will shake your head trying to get the awful taste of September memory out of your mouth because you only just got it out.

            So let me save you the torture of the long drawn out blow to your chest: I mention the Red Sox disasterdly September swoon of apocalyptic proportions that history will never forget and neither can we.

            Okay, maybe I dramatized it but only in true Red Sox angst.

            No, the real story here is not Jonathon Papelbon’s departure, its not necessarily about the fried chicken and beer. It’s about appreciating the here and now, something we forget to do until it’s gone. Not everyone has a tornado that teaches us that but that’s why we all have a gift called baseball.

Game 162, 2011

            I remember being in Atlanta, in the fifth inning I smiled up at the MLB scoreboard. The Sox were winning, the Braves were ok and the Rays were down seven runs. That’s when I looked up at that gorgeous full fall moon. 

            Momentum has gathered all it could from 161 games of the past. So, now when it switches, it’s drastic. We humans are always surprised when momentum changes, so thank God baseball is there to show us why it does.

            Baseball gives us so many lessons. 

            Few things are simple, even though sometimes they are disguised as such.

            A simple out- there’s no such thing. That’s why you never count them… but most of the time it’s just too easy to.

            6,5,4 away… 3,2,1 away

            Because what isn’t attainable in baseball remains just that in baseball- oh thank you for being the perfect metaphor for life.

            Each year, baseball’s characters, whether they be organizational entities or individuals that make them, they all go through something. Something heroic, something disastrous, something sad, something joyful, or something so utterly human like winning and losing.

            There are no perfect records in baseball because there are no perfect records in life and yet we still strive for it and that’s what makes us so human, and the game so beautiful. 

    Opening day reminds me that I’m alive. Opportunity is a blank canvas begging to be painted and those pitches in October are so far away, but you know they’ll be there, waiting in that fall moonlight- even if you’ll be watching with a heavy heart watching someone else’s team. At least its still baseball, and I’ll still smile in those crisp October nights, because the culmination took what felt like a lifetime to get there.

            But I won’t lie, I’m not thinking past April for my Sox. No sir. I won’t take the lessons of last September for granted, and so for Boston the pressure is off in that regard. We are literally playing for our dignity this year.

            Oh baseball, thank you for being the perfect metaphor for life.

Game 162, September 28, 2011

            Someone on TV called this day the greatest day of baseball.

            Yeah. Try telling that to the Red Sox fan sitting in Turner Field watching the final seconds of demise tick away effortlessly in the perfect storyline of a speeding train whose inevitability is a fiery crash. It’s that feeling, but in seconds, it’s that in 161 games, it’s that in one pitch, in one rain delay, one out, and one game where one Red Sox fan sits in a different city at a different game watching the league scoreboard lights flash an ‘F’ next to a losing score.

            Final nail in the coffin and I am not sure if I want the F to stand for final or fail, because to me it is both.

            Oh baseball, thank you for being the perfect metaphor to life. And Opening Day, thank you for bringing us back from the dead. 

Shut Up about the Hair Already!

This Super Bowl Sunday, ESPN reporter Ashley Fox tried her best to sound like she knew something about football, and writing- but she failed at both. I won’t put you through the torture of having to read the whole thing but one early comment she made, quite generally and without supporting facts what so ever, was about Eli Manning finally proving he was better than Tom Brady. LORD. Here we go again.

            Stop with the QB whose better! When I look at the greatest quarterbacks of history I don’t just look at one game. In fact I pride my criteria of great athletes to be their consistency and long term effects on a team that respects him and flourishes under him.

            Also, lets preface this by saying, I respect Eli Manning. I respect him for bringing his team to where they are, and for pulling off a season that’s inconsistency forced them to pull off feats. Each quarterback has different weapons both around him and within him. Being a good quarterback is about what you've done and what you continue to do. (Usually consistently Eli) 

            Here’s what Ashley said,

“It all circled back to a relatively innocent comment from the usually innocuous Eli Manning, who in an August radio interview with Michael Kay said he considered himself "in that class" of elite quarterbacks with Tom Brady.

It was blasphemous then. And now?

Well, once and for all, Manning can prove it. End the debate. Silence the critics. Beat the best quarterback of this generation, the one with the three Super Bowl rings and the uber-hot wife and the great hair, in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday and there will be no question, no caveat, not anymore.”

Whoa, “great hair”?

 I’m a Patriots fan, but I called him the greasy Latino the entire time he tried to channel Fabio through his unbrushed oily mess of hair. That’s cute Ashley, but come on, your insulting your own intelligence. Because you know as well as I do that doesn’t silence the critics, it just wakes them up even more.

            This game can sure help Eli Manning’s case for being one of the best, but it doesn’t automatically trump Tom Brady, because, HELLOOOO, Tom Brady has a head start on that whole passing record, Super Bowl MVP thing. But what would I know, I’m not trying to force irrelevant storylines down sports fans throats like some four letter channel owned by ABC.

Oh and hey, despite everything, happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! And go Pats! 

I guess it doesn't look too bad

"She Was a Superstar, with the Humility of a Rookie"

“We came here to honor her, because everything she believed in is on this mountain tonight,” Winter X Games commentator, Sal Masekela said on Thursday. “Competition, excellence and progression.”

            I watched Sarah’s Burke’s family with smiles of sadness, accepting the sport that killed their daughter, their sister, their wife.

            When the free skier died at the age of 29 in a skiing accident on the halfpipe in Park City, Utah, headlines questioned if the sport forced people to go too far too fast.

            I’m not a free style skier but I know enough about the culture to know that was a hard blow to read for anyone exploring limits of human accomplishment.

            In Aspen, at Winter X Games 2012, an announcer read, “It’s been said that the brave do not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.”

            Then, one by one the lights went dark on the halfpipe venue that Sarah Burke was so instrumental in propelling forward, the venue where she got her last big air on earth.

            In black, armed with only the light of white glow sticks, skiers and snowboarders slowly moved on their boards and instruments of sport toward the mourning family that waited at the bottom.

            The mountain area was silent. Almost like rushing water in the distance, the cool ‘shhhh’ of fallen precipitation was the sound their boards made as it crushed and displaced the snow quietly and peacefully.

            It was as if the sport was apologizing and what was even more beautiful is her family was accepting.  

            It was sorry that it asked so much of their daughter, perhaps sorry it had to take her, and even more sorry that it had to keep going.

            Her family seemed to understand. And that is the best tribute to Sarah Burke. Her lasting legacy, no flowers on a headstone but a wordless exchange of respect for someone they both loved, with something she loved.

“I just ski because I really like it. I’m not going out there to win the most money or make a huge difference, I just really love it.”

Doing something you love for the sake of loving it. That's something I hope to learn from her. 

http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/winter/2012/story/_/id/7508077/sarah-burke-tribute-airs-espn

Diary of a Mad Red Sox Fan

Is there any other kind? From the end of August to the end of September, Rule 71 has been dormant. The sports world is flourishing with stories that are soon to come. But one story, of demise, is the story this writer has been aching over for a month, a season- a lifetime. For a glimpse into the Red Sox Nation way of thinking, here is the Diary of A Mad Red Sox Fan.

            Thursday September 1, 2011 I strutted into a sports bar wearing my Red Sox jersey to watch the first game of the college football season. My apparel was met by un-approving people wearing harsh looks, scoffing at my attire that reeked of the “wrong sport”.

            How dare I bring baseball to a place like this, during a time like this?

            Earlier that day as I poured over my TV depicting the quiet pitch by pitch game, other TV’s, in the newsroom where I work, blared with big cheers and big plays that eagerly tackled my baseball peace.

             But I was happy to have college football chaos back because September transition in baseball is just plain stressful.

            To kick off the new month, the Sox did something in pure Sox fashion. Lose game three to the Yankees, in Fenway. Of course.

            When something is given to the Sox on a platter they slap it away while yelling, ‘I don’t need your fucking platter!’ That’s what they do, and Sept. 1, 2011 was no exception to the countless other nights I sat defeated in my Red Sox jersey once again.

            But here I go, as friends would say, always the complainer when it comes to Boston. Relatively speaking the Sox don’t have much to complain about. But settling with “good” is not possible when fan’s expectations rest with perfection. 

            It has been said that it's easier to have nothing than to have everything. Enter the Fenway Faithful, because their everything is Red Sox Baseball.

September 8, 2011

            As it is clearly into September, I battle the biggest bout of writer’s block known to mankind. Fitting because even if I could get out of it, I would only be writing about the success on the college football gridiron. NOT, the submission of first place by the Red Sox.

            Thankfully Tim Wakefield, come hell or high water, (i.e good or terrible writing) is pulling me out of the writing isolation in time so that I can hopefully (fingers crossed) celebrate his 200^th win with him and the organization he has so nobly dedicated his life and career to.

            He of all people know chasing a dream can take time, and this particular dream has taken over a month, dangling at the cusp of 199. Maybe its nice to look up the hill and know you still have a little bit to go to see from the top. Maybe its nice to know that you can get there, but in that knowledge, you can take your time- smell the roses. Or in the case of a knuckleballer you can try all you want and know the proverbial “ball” of fate is never really in your hands. Dealing with defeat and frustration is in their job description if not their DNA and Wakefield is the best of the best of his kind.

            September 10, 2011

            With the drop from first in the rankings, so too comes the drop from first in baseball for number of runs to second. Remember for the Sox; Resiliency is a frustrating necessity to a complete season.

            For the first time, real panic is starting to set in. And trust me it’s a different kind of panic than the 0-6 start we had in April. April is child’s play, September is a whole other game.

           In a weird change of direction my Youtube account recommends a video from 2011's Spring Training. During a press conference in February, a reporter talks about pitcher Josh Beckett and a comment he made, saying there hadn’t been a team with 100 wins in a while and he thinks this team would be the one.

            “Is he getting ahead of himself?” the reporter asked.

General Manager Theo Epstien answered. Even from Fort Myers Florida, Theo foreshadowed our current despair whether he knew it would happen or not, he warned all the same.

            “I think its nice that those players feel good about themselves and their teammates and what we have here, but, let's be honest- we haven’t done anything yet. I mean, all we have is a bunch of guys in this club house here to try to set out and do a job,” he said.

            “We’ve got a lot to prove. We got to prove we’re not a third place team in this division, we’ve got to prove we can stay healthy. We’ve got to prove repeat performances, what guys have done in the past that they can come out and do it again in 2011. We’ve got to prove that we can come together as a team.”

            Epstien counted the things the Red Sox needed to prove on his fingers as he spoke. As his index finger raised to represent his first address- our current standings waved like a red flag in my mind. As his middle finger rose to join the index, visions of third basemen Kevin Youkalis and pitcher Clay Bucholz rang clear in my head. When his third finger and pinky finger joined the rest to reveal the four things the Red Sox needed to prove even way back when, it was clear they needed to prove them now. Yet all I could see was a collage of Papi, Pedrioa, Gonzolez with their heads down, arms resting on the dugout fence- eyes coming up only to look out at the uncertainty of their post season prosperity. 

September 15, 2011

            Tim’s 200^th win and the Sox regaining dominance in their league never happened the day I thought it would.

For Tim, his fate would come on a Tuesday, Sept 13 night- finally, on his eighth try. The cheers supporting his storied career were celebrated in the dismal reality of the organization’s play-off berth.

            Fast forward to the start of the most pivotal series to date, by every ounce of the definition- pivotal.

            What the experts call ‘simple math’. The Sox lead the Wild Card by 4 games. Second place are the Rays. The Rays play the Sox in a four-game series. For each team it is literally do or die.

            I go onto NESN’s website and as they cover the important clash, I also see two stories talking about the Sox’s 2004 win. Readable news is their business but these headlines are not good for the business of baseball for the Red Sox. Nothing can stress more that this isn’t 2004 quite like a look at the current standings. As a die hard fan, sometimes cruel with over the top criticism, I don’t want the memory of 2004 even entering 2011’s October. Why? Because no amount of previous triumph, paper wins or records can help the Sox now. In a season of over 160 games past and future often become large focuses in the game. This series brings priority of the present. Welcome to the here and now.

Take a deep breathe people that almost-playoff air is crisp with anticipation. 

September 27, 2011

I have awoken from my writing slumber because the story of the Red Sox is too poetic to lose. Things look bad. But if the last five months taught me anything, its that just cause something looks bad doesn’t mean you can’t overcome.

            Our problems are personified to pitching, but hitters aren’t without their frustration, catchers without their injuries.

            And when life or a season gets to this point, nothing matters in measuring time but day-to-day, inning-to-inning, pitch-to-pitch, catch-to-catch.

            The Sox are 6-18 in September. Yeah. Oh and they haven’t won two games in a row since August 27th.

            Yesterday (Monday) we lost with Beckett, our best pitcher, on the mound. The always trusty Jacoby dropped a catch in center letting the Orioles score and every Sox fan to have flashbacks of unthinkable times. Just think, a day before on Sunday night, MVP candidate Ellsbury lifted hopes, stopped hearts and reincarnated faith in the swing of his bat in the top of the 14^th to get his 31^st homer of the season with two on base. We beat the Yankees and for a moment being so close to death seemed like a biblical but possible chance to come back to life. 

            The mentality I’ve kept through this all is if any team can make it back from the worst collapse in baseball- it would be the Red Sox. I can be stereotypical and list off a million Disney like and so-typical phrases like, “Keep the faith” or that one simple word we saw so many times years ago. Believe.

            But reality has been a cruel mistress to the Red Sox organization this year. Reality has beaten down the door of the rhetoric of well-orchestrated rosters and players on paper who are unstoppable.

            Spring training was heaven in that regard. But that was a lifetime ago. The start of the season with a 0-6 start was purgatory, stuck at the cusp right before the real worry when expectations painted a much prettier picture than the start we were seeing. Then bats exploded and football scores greeted us from ball parks around the country as something clicked and the Sox were doing what they were supposed to.

            Stop. 

I’m getting lost in the gilded age. 

      I sit with reality- September 27^th and it is telling me a 9 game lead in the wild card was just lost. Lost.

            Down to the wire doesn’t hold a candle to where the sox are now. When it counts the most, confusion, horrible pitching, injuries and an indescribable x-factor are a concoction to the hell we are in now. Players are stunned, fans are stunned. 

            All the while, Yankees fans come out of the woodwork in a time of year the Bronx call, “calling all bandwagoners!” They couldn’t even sell out a Sox/Yankees night game at the end of September. There are few die-hard Yankees fans held to the Boston definition, because Red Sox fans know nothing but. And right now they are all dying hard. 

Hope is but a tiny flicker, but a flame none-the-less. 

Eyes on the Prize; A look at Bama's SEC Matchups

This season in the SEC is once again proving to be an exciting one, full of contenders with eyes on the same prize.

            Preseason hype followed LSU and Alabama with predictions of their clash in Atlanta, with one of them emerging to the National Championship game.

            In August, that story line took a sharp turn for the LSU Tigers when Jordan Jefferson and four other players were allegedly involved in a bar fight after about 50 LSU players went out to celebrate the end of two-a-days.

            According to 19-year-old witness to the altercation, Victoria Long saw Jefferson kick one of the victims in the face. Jefferson was arrested on felony second-degree battery charges, and the Tiger organization was forced to suspend their starting quarterback. Tide fans rejoiced, but not everyone should be clapping.

            Not all of Baton Rouge was set on Jefferson in the first place. Last year Jefferson threw ten interceptions and went through a ten game period without throwing a touchdown pass. Still, people praised Jefferson’s improvement in the offseason- but none of that matters now.

            Back up quarterback, now starting QB, Jarrett Lee is still a more than capable leader. As a senior he is familiar with the LSU offense and has experience on the field in victory and defeat- he had a rough freshman season where he had 17 interceptions but also has made key plays in many significant Tiger wins.  

            But focus doesn’t need to be on LSU’s air game. Last year they were last in the SEC for passing yards, but this year expectations are still high because of their talented defense and running game that has bailed them out before.

            Alabama should still be nervous, and the absence of Jordan Jefferson should not affect the level of preparation for this huge SEC game- whose implications still could indicate a National Championship contender.            

            Another SEC foe that made Bama nervous early on the schedule was Arkansas, mainly because of a lethal running back in Knile Davis. But the Razorbacks suffered a huge blow when Davis injured his left ankle in summer practice. He is expected to be out the entire season.

            Not much has been said about the backs under Davis on the depth chart, but if they had a chance to watch him and be coached by the same coaches they can still do damage. Arkansas Head Coach Bobby Petrino also brought freshman corner back Kelvin Fisher Jr. to running back. Fisher played running back in high school and that position is where he gained attention from Arkansas recruiters. Fisher is just one option presenting itself for Arkansas.

             Petrino brings up another reason his team could look to mar anybody’s idea of a perfect season- their defense who he says doesn’t get enough credit.

            Alabama’s offense would be wise to take note, significantly making sure their young quarterback is not shaken up by any Razorback getting too close to home. Richardson should be prepared to have a big game that week, not necessarily with big numbers but by being a rock for his offense if he needs to.

            Never underestimate the growth the Mississippi State Bulldogs have made this year. They may not be going to the same championship games as other SEC teams, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t LOVE to be the thorn in the side of a championship nominee.

            Bulldog quarterback Chris Relf has gained experience and according to coaches and players has bought into the organization more this year than ever before. His mobility in the pocket matched with running back Vick Ballard is a one two punch for Mississippi State.

            Another Bulldog to watch is Georgia. Some college football analysts have picked Georgia to go the SEC championship. This is interesting considering Georgia’s previous season record of 6-7 and head coach Mark Richt coming under fire. But that pressure is exactly why some believe this is Georgia’s year.

            Alabama does not play them in the regular season so their matchup is highly hypothetical right now. If it came down to the two teams in Atlanta, Alabama’s experience with big games will be a big mental advantage.

            Florida has a lot to deal with internally but big coaching changes look impressive on paper. Charlie Weis is the new Gator offensive coordinator. Quarter back John Brantley says he has already learned so much from Weis’s offense, offenses that in the past have excelled in both the NFL and a brief stint at Notre Dame.

            While the offense intensifies under Weis, new head coach Will Muschamp has a defensive mindset. It might take more time for their presence to really shake things up but look for those positive changes this season in The Swamp.  

            Hype for South Carolina has died down a bit. Drama with their quarterback Stephen Garcia has left a bad taste with head coach Steve Spurrier.

            Spurrier knows that the success the team had last year doesn’t mean they’ve accomplished anything yet. Keeping tabs on that confidence will be on the agenda as long as it takes for players to buy in to the fact that this is 2011, not 2010.

            In the end, when looking at Alabama’s season there should be no shortage of pride in this years team. But, let last year be a testimony of caution to the power of not finishing four quarters. While still respecting each week’s opponent it could be debated that some games last year were Alabama’s to lose instead of the opponents to win. Alabama can’t lose games this year by not playing their best football. 

A Little Air of Optimism

Surviving Preseason Predictions might be the toughest fight for the Game Cocks. Well that, and their wonderfully outspoken quarter back Stephen Garcia- who don’t worry, doesn’t have a guaranteed job yet.

 

Last year South Carolina thought they were a little bit of a big deal and that’s because they did a lot of big things for the first time ever. Beating a No. 1 team, Alabama, won their first game ever in the Swamp, won the Eastern Division for the first time and made it to Atlanta.

            Of course we all know they lost there, but still they seem to be pretty proud even if head coach Steve Spurrier tries to keep them in reality. He particular mentions that the team needs to realize that Florida, Tennessee and Georgia all had down years last year and that helped them a great deal.

            “It was a good year. It wasn’t a great year,” he said. “We stretched our dimensions a little bit, but we’ve not hit where we believe we can go yet.”

            That being said, Spurrier has declared this a “new time” for the USC program. There are a lot of things he worries about but if you were to ask him what freshman he’s most excited about be prepared for his exuberant smile and ecstatic answer.

            “You ever heard of Jadeveon Clowney?”

            Football fans may remember the frenzy the young teenager caused as he debated which school to star at and for weeks his decision hinged on South Carolina, Clemson and Alabama. Clowney is a South Carolina native, which no doubt helped in the decision but Clowney’s decision to go to the Game Cocks makes Spurrier giddy just the same.

            “Shoot five, six years ago there’s no way he would pick South Carolina,” Spurrier said. “Now he thinks, ‘hey, we could win big at South Carolina’.”

            But its not all smiles in Columbus. Drama with their quarterback Stephen Garcia has left a bad taste with Spurrier who commented on his “stupidity” several times at SEC Media Days.

            “I guess we don’t want to kick [Garcia] out for stupidity,” Spurrier said to the laughter of reporters.

            The reason, he says, for the unlimited amount of patience with Garcia’s transgressions off the field has been the faith in the type of person Garcia is.

            “Basically we do believe he’s a good kid, a good person,” Spurrier said. “With this latest incident, we told him he could go play somewhere else if he wanted to but he wants to stay here.”

            Spurrier says Garcia has made lifestyle changes after several incidents where Garcia’s behavior was called “unruly and rambunctious”. When Garcia comes back, assuming he can keep his mouth shut for that long, he will be competing with Connor Shaw for starting quarter back. 

            A lot of Spurrier’s struggle this year is just the kind of thing that Garcia embodies- over zealous confidence and thinking he is invincible. Spurrier knows that the success the team had last year doesn’t mean they’ve accomplished anything yet.

            “There’s a little air of optimism which you have to have, that’s good,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be smart enough to know that its not going to be easy, and we’ve got to play extremely well, prepare well to give ourselves a chance to do it.”            

             Keeping tabs on that confidence will be on the agenda as long as it takes for players to buy in to the fact that this is 2011, not 2010.

            “Its one thing to be competitive and another thing to win the game,” he said. “We’ve not won a huge majority of games yet. We’ve been competitive. We got enough players to get in the action, to compete with everybody we play. But taking that next step and winning a whole bunch of games, winning the SEC, that’s what we’re trying to do. We haven’t got there yet.”

            Keeping tabs on fan’s confidence will be another Spurrier struggle.

            “[The fans] are going to tell the guys how great they are. Hopefully we’ll be smart enough to handle it and go from there. But historically we’ve not, so it will be a challenge to see if we can handle some pre-season predictions, ‘cause we’ve never had much of those before in the past.”

            A strong component you will no doubt know the name of is running back Marcus Lattimore who again is expected to star on offense. His confidence is quiet but ever-present, even as he talks about his Heisman chances, saying he has studied a lot of film and thinks he has a chance. But chance, at least right now, is all he has before taking a regular season snap even if his coaches praise his hard working mentality.

            “Marcus gets the hardest worker in the weight room award every spring,” Spurrier said.

            Another hard worker on offense is receiver Alshon Jeffrey who Spurrier says you can brag on him but doesn’t affect him at all and says now he’s “a lot faster than he’s ever been.”

            Alshon, true to form, did remain modest when he spoke to reporters at Media Days saying it doesn’t matter to him who scores, “as long as we win.” Alshon hasn't forgotten that the trip to Atlanta last year did not have a favorable outcome. 

            “We didn’t win the whole thing,” he said. “We’re not anything special.”

            Alshon says he is working on running better routes and using his quickness to work on his overall game. He says its instrumental the team learns from last year’s experiences.

            For defensive tackle Travian Robertson, this year puts a lot of pressure on defense.

            “Its tough being on the defensive line in this conference, you don’t get anything that’s free,” Robertson said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time to eliminate mistakes from last year. We know its gonna be tougher than it was last year.”

            Robertson explains that the “little air of optimism” is actually a very important characteristic to keep on this team in particular. 

            “Lack of confidence has been a problem with our program in the past,” he said. “We’ve been working on that.” 

            Confidence seems to be on a better track but Spurrier has more to worry about. He says third and one defense needs to improve along with pass protection and special teams. But talent is not the main concern- getting player’s minds ready is.

            “Our talent level is by far the best it’s been since I’ve been there,” Spurrier said. “But now we gotta go play you know? We gotta go play.”

            Spurrier knows if you can win in Atlanta you can win the National Championship and he knows that its been proven the last five times its been put to the test.

             “We’ll see if we can do it.”