Saturday, December 05, 2009

Championship or Failure: It Is Failure

Congratulations to Alabama and its fans.

That was the most comprehensively impressive performance I have ever seen a great team play against another great team -- most impressive because Alabama made a great Florida team look... ordinary.

The Tide dominated on both sides of the ball, like I've never seen a team dominate Florida in the Tebow Era.

Again, because they deserve the credit: I've never seen a defense dominate Florida as thoroughly as Alabama did; I've never seen an offense dominate Florida as thoroughly as Alabama did.

Florida's defense was as good as I've seen this decade in college football -- Alabama destroyed them. And while Florida's offense has been up and down, Alabama neutered it.

I'm stunned, but sort of not really. When you watch your team get dismantled -- or, alternatively, you watch a team dismantle another -- so thoroughly, it's actually easier to take the loss than if it's close or you think your losing team out-played the winning team.

But that's not to imply that I am "taking" the loss. I am shell-shocked. The feeling of devastation will probably hit me tomorrow.

The downside of the "championship or failure" stakes is -- as you saw on Tim Tebow's face after the game -- that there is no margin for error.

In the same way that nothing would compare to a championship, nothing compares to the feeling of failure.

Again, congrats to Alabama fans. They should enjoy it. That was a hell of a performance, and I will be shocked if they don't roll -- no pun intended -- to the national title.

-- D.S.

11 comments:

Melissa said...

I hope this ends the Tebow as GCFBQBOAT talk. That was all based on assuming 2 straight national titles and three in four years, right? Maybe some QB will win the national championship as a freshman next year and take the mantle of the true greatest college QB of all time.

BobbyStompy said...

Get the hell over yourself, Michigan lit up Florida for 41.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/boxscore?gid=200801010067

Unknown said...

Suck it Shanoff.

Nothing better than seeing a johnny-come-lately get stuffed.

Shanoffreude!

Qwagmire said...

Florida Schadenfreude

You been busting too many karma ballons laughing at others peoples issues.

I think the Terps could take Florida. Hey, its my fantasy, let me live it!

Unknown said...

"What Florida did to Oklahoma a year ago, Alabama is going to do to Texas x 2. UT: What an unimpressive finalist. Horns ARE No. 2...in Texas."

Last time I checked, the Rose Bowl is not located in Alabama.

pete said...

I'm not sure this post adequately captures the schadenfreude everyone else feels. You've been talking so much about how good your boys are and now... I dunno, this doesn't quite make up for it. You need to give up the Florida and Tebow hyperbole for good. You are a sham. Simmons isn't even as much as a homer as you and even he is more genuine in defeat. You should just go away. Biggest game of the decade? Eat it Shanoff, you suck. Way to marry in to a good storyline.

bob jones said...

Hey Shannof, why don't you just admit that Florida was way overrated and once they played a real team, they showed all of their weaknesses. For all the Tebow adulation, talk about choking!

Dodger Dogg said...

I'm a UCLA fan (stop laughing), but even I'm tired of your SC hatred. Considering what happened to your beloved Gators yesterday, karma sucks, huh?

Unknown said...

I couldn't agree more with pete below, I used to follow, and enjoy reading, dan at the daily quickie and for a period of time at the sporting news blog, but the florida/tebow obsession became unbearable. Does the sporting news even have an editor? This guy was the only one to write how the loss of dunlap was insignificant because they had some future nfl star backing him up.

The Fist said...

'96 Fiesta Bowl, DS. '96 Fiesta Bowl. This SEC championship wasn't even the worst beatdown a really good Florida team has ever had, let alone the worst ever. There are only two reasons you could think this was worse.

1. Instant history bias.
2. The (obviously) mistaken belief that this Florida team was one of the best ever.

doublenickel said...

Ignore the haters, Dan. Anyone who checks this site on a regular basis and expected anything different after the SECCG is coming to the wrong place. It's been a pleasure having you cover this season and timteblog has become a quick fixture on my daily internet checks. Keep up the great insight, and Go Gators.