Bad Night in the Peck House
In the span of an hour, as I sat in front of my TV set, I watched two of my favorite teams blow big leads, and basically end their seasons. So, it was not a good night at the Peck house. Good thing the kids were upstairs watching American Idol. First, I watched Syracuse blow a 22 points lead and lose in the final minute to UMass. That NIT game ended the Orange season.
Moments later, I switched back to the Sabres game and watched them fall apart, blow a 2 goal lead, and lose to the Senators 6-3. That loss likely ended any hopes of a playoff spot.
As I thought about both games, the similarity was clear: Youth. The Orange key players are freshman and sophomores. The Sabres key players are all young NHL players. Young players tend to have emotional swings that effect the way they play. They tend to dwell on bad mistakes or crucial errors. Paul Harris made a bad turnover that led the the UMass go-ahead basket. Jason Pominville's error on the power play led to the game-changing Sens shorthanded goal.
The thing about relying on young players is...they soon mature and stop making those errors. The future is bright for both teams, the Orange maybe quicker than the Sabres. But when you rely on young players, for different reasons, you have to accept these kinds of mistakes and losses. Its reality, but its still hard to deal with.
I don't even want to look at the TV options for Wednesday. Maybe I'll watch Idol.
Moments later, I switched back to the Sabres game and watched them fall apart, blow a 2 goal lead, and lose to the Senators 6-3. That loss likely ended any hopes of a playoff spot.
As I thought about both games, the similarity was clear: Youth. The Orange key players are freshman and sophomores. The Sabres key players are all young NHL players. Young players tend to have emotional swings that effect the way they play. They tend to dwell on bad mistakes or crucial errors. Paul Harris made a bad turnover that led the the UMass go-ahead basket. Jason Pominville's error on the power play led to the game-changing Sens shorthanded goal.
The thing about relying on young players is...they soon mature and stop making those errors. The future is bright for both teams, the Orange maybe quicker than the Sabres. But when you rely on young players, for different reasons, you have to accept these kinds of mistakes and losses. Its reality, but its still hard to deal with.
I don't even want to look at the TV options for Wednesday. Maybe I'll watch Idol.
posted by Paul Peck at
11:22 AM
1 Comments:
Only one word Paul.... ATROCIOUS! I agree with youth to a point. At what point do the coaches step in.. call atime out.... snap their players to attention, shake out the cobwebs... set them straight and get back on the floor or ice? These two head coaches haved been around.... use your experience and LEAD! 22 points! At some point didn't the "Sage from Syracuse" see things slipping away? And what about Ruff McGruff... finally a timeout with :50 seconds left... like my grandmother used to say... " a little late to try and close the barn door at that point... the animals have escaped"!!!
Dan
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