All this negativity...

After Rick Pitino left the Kentucky basketball program to try his luck in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, he had a rough go of it. He managed a record with the Celtics of 102 wins and 146 losses. Not exactly the winning ways he was used to, nor was it the akin with the storied history of the Celtics. For his lack of W's, Pitino was slaughtered in the Boston media at every turn. Well one day Pitino had had enough...

"Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and we're going to improve. People don't realize that, and as soon as they realize those three guys are not coming through that door, the better this town will be for all of us because there are young guys in that (locker) room playing their asses off. I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can't; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that's in this town sucks. I've been around when Jim Rice was booed. I've been around when (Carl) Yastrzemski was booed. And it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy. The only thing that will turn this around is being upbeat and positive like we are in that locker room... and if you think I'm going to succumb to negativity, you're wrong. You've got the wrong guy leading this team."

This is sort of how I feel about Gopher football right now. I've been trying to be upbeat and positive, to keep my focus on the good things that are happening. But, to quote Pitino "all the negativity that's in this town sucks."

If you haven't noticed I haven't been posting as often as earlier in the season. It's not because my passion for Gopher football has dropped in any way. Instead what has happened is that there just isn't much out there to comment on that isn't completely negative. Of course this is a direct result of the fact that there hasn't been anything good to report on as far as the team's play.

So for someone like me, trying to create an outlet for people who are trying to be upbeat about the program, it's a difficult time. Outside of re-hashing the same old recruiting, developing young players, learning a new system topics, there isn't much out there. This also makes it difficult for me to plug away and try to come up with new commentary when it's sort of the same old, same old negativity that's out there.

So I ask you, readers, what is your opinion? I would really like to find out what you think there is to be optimistic about. We are all in this together, a small group of very loyal Gopher football fans, and we need to hold each other up. What am I missing? What is there to be excited about that I've missed? Let's continue to rail against the negativity.