Sports fans should resolve to have more patience
- col-aaron-dorksen
- January 10, 2024
- 1008
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
The start of a new year is a popular time to reflect on the previous 365 days and consider ways to better ourselves in the coming weeks and months.
The biggest thing I see many sports fans need to improve upon is crystal clear: patience.
I’ve been getting on social media less and less while games are going on because I know what I’m going to read. It also can be highly annoying to watch games in large groups because of the knee-jerk reactions from fans.
When teams are losing, the comments like “fire the coach,” “the quarterback stinks,” the “D-coordinator couldn’t lead a high school team,” et cetera, are all too commonplace.
And that’s sometimes before the action has even reached halftime.
Sometimes the team being berated early on actually comes back to win. That quiets the armchair quarterbacks in a hurry.
If the game ends in a loss or the season finishes without your team as the champion, just remember the grass won’t always be greener under the feet of a new coach, quarterback or other team member.
An old adage is the most popular player on a losing NFL team is the backup quarterback. That is until he gets in and fans see he doesn’t throw any better or the line or receivers don’t help him much either.
Most of the fans who were calling for Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski’s job early this season or last year are now singing his praises. “Stefanski for Coach of the Year!”
I’m glad the Browns gave Stefanski another year to figure things out. During the Browns’ mostly awful last 24 years, one of the problems was not giving a GM-head coach combo long enough to learn and adapt. How can a franchise move forward if it’s starting over every two to three years?
It was about as bad as hearing my dentist tell me I needed a tooth implant a few years ago to watch Michigan beat Ohio State and then take down Alabama and Washington to finish off a 15-0 national championship season.
(Disclaimer: Dr. Sherman is great and did a phenomenal job with my dental work, but it was still hard to hear the news from him.)
Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh started his tenure at Michigan with a 49-22 record including an 0-5 mark against Ohio State.
In each of the last three seasons, Harbaugh & Co. beat the Buckeyes, made the playoffs and then reached the pinnacle this season.
Stefanski did a marvelous job leading the Browns to an 11-6 record and the playoffs despite an incredible rash of injuries.
If you polled Browns and Wolverines fans today, I’m guessing Stefanski and Harbaugh would have an extremely high percentage of positive approval votes.
One of the reasons both coaches were able to turn the corner was they were given time and patience from their bosses to learn from their mistakes. They also had more time to instill stronger team bonds.
Stefanski and Harbaugh were willing to change, bringing in new assistant coaches who have made big differences.
That leads me back to Ohio State and coach Ryan Day.
The Buckeyes only lost by six points to the eventual champion Wolverines, 30-24.
The Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri, 14-3, was one of the most pathetic performances I’ve ever watched from the Buckeyes. Losing a plethora of starters to the transfer portal or sitting out to protect their health for the draft certainly left the Buckeyes short-handed.
College football needs to figure out how to fix a system in which players can become free agents while the season is still going on.
Day needs to find a way to make his team tougher, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. It’s probably time for Day to give up play-calling too, and the recruiting needs stepped up.
Day (56-8 overall, 1-3 vs. Michigan, 2-4 bowl games) and the Buckeyes have been backed into a corner, but the coach deserves another year to try to turn things around. He has an upgrade in transfer quarterback Will Howard coming in and star freshman recruit Air Noland. Changes are likely coming on the coaching staff too.
If Day can’t get things turned around next year, then that’s on him. Patience is a virtue, but it has its limits. A fourth straight loss to Michigan would certainly signal the end of the line for Day’s time in Columbus.
Browns Town again
I was at a restaurant recently and couldn’t help but overhear an exuberant patron talking to the waiter about the Browns.
One thing that struck me is how the customer kept saying “we.”
Things like, “We have a great chance to win some games in the playoffs, “We have a great defense” and “We deserve to finally get to a Super Bowl.”
The 2023 Browns have us fans dreaming of getting a few more wins, key bounces and breaks in the playoffs. Maybe even, gulp, the Super Bowl.
Because lots of us have spent many miserable days at Cleveland Stadium cheering the Browns during a loss or watching on TV as they invented new ways to lose, maybe “we” deserve to feel like a part of the success.
After all, we keep buying tickets, merchandise and trying to remain positive year after year.
The Browns (11-6) will visit the Houston Texans (10-7) for an AFC wild card game on Jan. 13 at 4:30 p.m. It will be a matchup of complete opposites at quarterback, with Browns super veteran Joe Flacco and Texans rookie sensation C.J. Stroud. Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and his veteran unit and Flacco operating the offense give me the confidence Cleveland will pull out the win.
Parting shots
John Carroll University is expected to leave the Ohio Athletic Conference and join the North Coast Athletic Conference in fall 2025, according to a Jan. 5 report from Division III college basketball expert Bob Quillman of the Q-Cast.
John Carroll, which has been in the OAC since 1989, would give the NCAC 10 members.
The NCAC includes seven Ohio colleges: Wooster, Hiram, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan, Kenyon, Denison and Wittenberg. Wabash and DePauw, from Indiana, also are members.
The Blue Streaks would be a great addition to the NCAC but certainly make things tougher for the Fighting Scots in athletics.
—Congrats to Zach Gardner on a great seven-year run leading the West Holmes football team. Gardner stepped down last week after compiling a 58-25 record leading the Knights, highlighted by making the school’s first Final Four trip in 2021. His teams were a sparkling 11-5 in the playoffs and won the last three OCC titles.
Gardner and the WHHS administration reportedly had some issues, but he will certainly be a great addition to any program down the road. Best wishes to an outstanding coach.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com.