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TbKSDAY, Novimbkr 30, 8010 | Thb Rkd a Black
Flan support necessary despite team’s recent struggles
Georgia football fans
should approach the 2011
season with a lesson
taught by the Boise State faith
ful In Its moment of monumental
disappointment.
After its kicker, Kyle
Brotxman, missed two chip-shot
field goals —one of which would
have ended the game In regula
tion fan support for the pro
gram’s all-time scoring leader
did not diminish.
If anything, it grew.
Despite the fact that Boise
State’s 34-31 overtime loss to
No. 19 Nevada effectively ended
its hopes for a national champi
onship or even a BCS bowl invi
tation, Boise State fans joined to
support their embattled kicker
with a Facebook group that has
surpassed 20,000 members in
Just three days.
Sure they were upset their
team lost, but their reaction
showed an important under
standing of sports' proper place
in society.
The sad truth is, many of us
myself included often forget
this fact.
We whine and moan about 6-6
Coming to Campus for the second time:
HHSMRUI
lit conjunction with UCA Housing
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• The Grand Hall In late 11, sth floor
• Entertainment and Food provided
• Chance to win door prizes!
• No need to drive all over Athens - save time and see all of
your off-campus options at oncel
• Over 50 Exhibitors to visit: UGA Housing apartments,
property managers, campus services
• RSVP to our Facebook event to win a chance at one of our
prizes before the Fair
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Mitchell
and goal line fumbles. We ask for
coaches’Jobs and question play
ers’ intelligence if they miss an
assignment on any given play.
As consumers of the spectacle
of sports, we place unachievable
expectations on success, and the
tide of our support ebbs and
flows with each success and fail
ure.
We forget that these guys
have families, classes and strug
gles just like us. We forget they
have lives outside the hedges.
I understand they are superi
or athletes, recruited and given
full scholarships to lead the
Georgia program to extended
success on the field. That’s fine.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t
be held accountable when they
underachieve as they have done
this year.
But the fact is, sometimes we
all underachieve in the fields we
SPORTS
have chosen as a priority.
Sometimes my professors
don’t meet my expectations.
Sometimes my writing doesn’t
meet theirs. But that doesn’t
mean any of us have given any
thing less than our best.
Despite the Bulldogs’ forget
table 2010 campaign, I think it is
important that fans continue to
show their support at a poten
tial bowl game and into the 2011
season for these players that
have spent countless hours in
preparation for our entertain
ment.
For Brotzman, his missed
field goals could have been the
worst moment of his career.
Instead, with the undying
support of his fans, it became a
defining moment for the Boise
State program.
With Just nine points, he will
become college football’s all
time leading scorer.
With continued support from
its tens, who knows what
Georgia may pull off in the
foture?
David Mitchell is a sports
writer for The Red A Black
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▲ Georgia’s 2010 record of 6-6, Including a loss to the
Florida Gators for the 18th time In 21 meetings, has the
team facing criticism from fane and media alike.
RICH!: Bobo’s
position
secure for
2011 season
► From Pago 1
State.
“And bottom line is
whoever is calling plays is
going to get critiqued. It’s
just the nature of the
beast. I was at Florida
State calling plays for
years, and those years we
were top five in America in
scoring and I’d still have
people complaining how I
went about calling the
game and verbalizing their
opinion,” Richt said. “So if
you’re in that leadership
position of calling plays
offensive and defensively,
you’re just going to be a
guy who is open for that
kind of criticism but it just
comes with the territory.
That’s kind of what you
expect.”
Richt said that though
the season isn’t over, he
doesn’t expect any chang
es to his staff this offsea
son. But he said he and
the staff will evaluate every
aspect of the program
when the season is over.
“We have our offensive
and defensive systems and
our schemes. We want to
review that. We want to
review how we thought
they held up,” Richt said.
“We want to see if we do
have problems, where they
derive from. Was it from
doing things that our guys
can’t do or is it because we
had issues with any per
sonnel somewhere across
the board. You got recruit
ing, strength and condi
tioning. You got how you
eat, your nutrition. You got
everything you can look at
throughout and we kind of
do that as we go, but also
there will be time to be
able to reflect on the foot
ball part of it and that’s
when the season is over."
Georgia Tech win could
help recruiting
With less than a week
until Georgia finds out its
bowl destination, Richt
decided to take the week
off from practice to allow
himself and his assistants
to get on the road recruit
ing during the pivotal con
tact period.
Richt said he believes
the win over Georgia Tech
will pay big dividends as
his assistant coaches hit
the recruiting trail this
week.
“I think it was a great
experience for anybody
that went there, and we
had a lot of recruits there
—a lot of our commit
ments and a lot of guys
that we’re really hot on
their trail. And I think they
all got to be around each
other and see a great
atmosphere and how posi
tive things can be and are
at Georgia,” Richt said. “I
think that was a very posi
tive thing for this recruit
ing time.”
Richt said his staff will
do as they’ve always done
recruiting-wise, sending
the assistant coaches to
recruits' homes first before
Richt goes to try and close
the deal.
He also mentioned a
“big, physical nose guard”
as a high priority in the
recruiting trail for the
staff, but said across the
board, they need to find
“guys that can play.”