The House of Blue

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bigcatinva said...

I'm pretty sure you mean this tongue in cheeck but there are way too many negative Nancy's on this board who hide behind the term "realist". Here's a nice exerpt from a blog article I read recently that seems apprpriate for tor the board:

“I’m not a pessimist, I’m a realist.” How many times have you heard that one? Far too many time I’ll guess. Often spouted by the most negative and cynical of people, this sentence is seen as a blanket licence to be as pessimistic as humanly possible and for you to expect people to nod along with you because, as you so eloquently put it, you’re a “realist”. Baloney.

I mean, I could natter on for hours about glasses, water levels, is it full, is it empty, and who’s been nabbing my drink but it really makes little difference. Some people are pessimists and some are optimists. It’s just that nobody is a realist.

Let’s face it people, we seem to have lost the actual meanings of the words optimist and pessimist. Realist really isn’t an option unless you’re God or Chuck Norris. Both an optimist and a pessimist will look at the facts and interpret them in a positive or a negative light respectively. For some reason, we’ve come to think that if you’re an optimist you just think that everything’s going to turn out fine with sunshine, roses and fairytale love; and if you’re a pessimist you think that we’re all going to die. Slowly.

Reluctant to appear as if we ignore the cold hard facts, we claim to be realists: people who sagely weigh up the pros and cons and come to a real decision based upon empirical truth.

The problem is, we’re dealing with hypotheticals here. Situations where it could conceivably go either way. Nobody actually knows what’s going to happen you know. A realist cannot exist because you cannot know what the outcome is going to be in every situation.

Pessimist is not a dirty word – they’re just people who analyse facts as much as the next person but who generally come to more negative conclusions than optimists. Optimist also isn’t a synonym for idiot. They don’t all wear rose tinted 3D glasses and ignore past experiences. Pessimists can come to positive conclusions and optimists can come to negative conclusions as well – it’s more of a scale than a binary on/off happy/suicidal thing.

If you sincerely hold to the idea that you’re a realist, I put it to you that you’re a delusional pessimist who is ashamed to admit that you have a rather gloomy and cynical outlook on the world.

from "Inside Andy's Head"

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rgunslinger said...

My problem with this article is that it is written from the perspective that the worst-case scenario is inevitable.

The flipside, and the one most logical, is that much can go awry for Kentucky’s starting quarterback, who might not be to blame but could just as well be caught in the down spiral.

and this

It’s still possible, of course, that the first scenario could play out marvelously and that would serve Kentucky and Phillips best of all. But it’s setting up for the first man into the fray to endure the beating while the backup quarterback, always the most popular player in town, rides in to save the day, or at least start building UK for the future.

I would suggest that not only will Maxwell be a successful QB the factors that will help determine if he (and the offense as a whole) will be a success are pointing in that direction. Just as last season all the signs pointed to UK having a tough time on offense. Consider the following:

**Last fall began with Morgan the heir to the starting QB job. His only competition was a true freshman so he really had nobody to push him. Morgan is a great competitor but he's also human and without someone to push you it's easy to get comfortable in a position and maybe not work as hard as you need to.

**The offensive line was supposed to be the strength of this offense, instead they may have been it's biggest disappointment. From the beginning of camp injuries plagued this unit and decimated any thoughts of continuity. The projected starters practiced together as a unit a grand total of 3 times thru the entire camp. This affected every aspect of the offense.

**Lack of play-makers on the offense was another key. The WR corp was supposed to get a boost from newcomers Collins and Robinson but the injury bug bit again and Collins was lost for the season before camp ended. Robinson would go on to show flashes of potential greatness but not enough to be a difference-maker. We heard of numerous dropped passes in camp and those issues persisted all season with guys like Roark, McCaskill and pretty much everyone.

**The run game suffered almost as many injuries as the OLine. Williams, Sanders, and Clemons all missed games with injuries at some point during the season. Combined with the woes of the OLine and the run game was very limited and it didn't help trying to run against 8 and 9 men in the box.

But that was last year. This is a new season and with it comes change in all areas. I'm not saying this season will be wildly successful though that is a possibility. What I'm saying is that all signs point toward a Maxwell Smith doing well at QB and UK having success on offense this season. Consider this:

**Max had to fend off senior Morgan Newton as well as two highly touted freshmen. It's more than just the normal coach-speak, we have also heard his fellow players talking about how he has improved this season, so much so that one freshman WR asked to bunk with Smith during camp so he could learn the offense.

**The all important OLine has also drawn rave reviews during camp. Possibly even more important they have stayed away from the injury bug. Being able to open some holes for the run game would be a huge help to our young QB and the entire offense and that 90+ yard drive that included 10 run plays could be a good indicator of this line gelling at the perfect time.

**Play-makers! We has them! Lol Getting a healthy Collins back to go along with King and Robinson is great news for our offense, being able to spread the defense is that much easier. Did I mention Sweat? Not only is he great at getting YAC he is also electric in the return game (he returned 9 for TDs as a senior) which was non-existent last year. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Whitlow as well. I'm not sure where he will line up or what they will do with him but expect to see him on the field somewhere because the coaches can't stop raving about him.

So what does all this mean? Nothing. Just as the article predicting doom and gloom means nothing. But to look at it realistically I'm not sure how anyone could look at how this camp has gone and not expect good things to happen. The signs are all there but it's up to each person to look at them.