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8 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 i hi yy i • 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 f . \ "" i ——ML If I pj |*~ —| '"A / "N. | \ \ \ j ffl L -r --/ * A ,J~r ; Y \VJ -A jj ** KJsJ) uI I m BH IBfcJ A m CAJ “77pr MM IjIZZZLZ] j JOINER; tHpr WMmum |- pgjgj fIBBBBBi Wi David 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 fpf! Munw jdl j WtS BLANKENSHIP j Ti* Ru> Buck ▲ 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.”