LOSE BETTER FOR THE NEXT WIN

“Lose better” Oregon Ducks and Blazers.

At least don’t lose on the same day.

In the same time window.

One is enough, and if I had to pick one loser on Saturday it would have been ‘your Portland Trail Blazers.’

This is where I start crying about the Ducks.

Again. Waaaaaa.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you saw the top college football teams play, “Could the Ducks beat them?”

The answer: Not with the play in the defensive secondary Oregon showed Washington.

This brings up the fun part about history and lightning fast boomer recall:

It was the play of the Oregon defensive secondary ‘against Washington’ that launched the Ducks into a believable powerhouse identity.

Kenny Wheaton called to say, “You’re welcome.”

I believe right up until I don’t.

I believe Oregon can beat them all on any given Saturday.

They just couldn’t beat the Huskies yesterday.

Go Ducks Or Bo Ducks

The click baiters will blame the coach for the loss.

“WHAT WAS HE THINKING?”

I don’t know, but what Lanning wasn’t thinking was his running back slipping and falling on the Play Of The Game.

Except it wasn’t the play of the game from my personal press box with a bird’s eye view.

Football Gods determine who screws up and costs a game. Check the Seahawks’ second Super Bowl to confirm. Couldn’t they lose better?

People do dumb things, and sometimes these things are in full public view.

Have you ever heard of Jackie Smith, the All-World tight end on the Dallas Cowboys? The future Hall of Famer caught the 1978 Super Bowl winning catch from Roger Staubach, then dropped it. Bounced right off him.

Stars of the Cowboys’ Past: Super Bowl drop doesn’t define Jackie Smith’s Hall of Fame career

Bill Buckner says, “Nice catch, Jackie.”

World Series Memories: 35 Years Ago, Bill Buckner Infamously Had a Ball Slip Through His Legs, Giving the Mets New Life Against the Red Sox

They could all stand a lesson on how to lose better.

I mean, imagine slipping and falling, then popping up like it was part of some plan to show you’re in ‘total control.’

Now imagine doing it in front of 60,00 people checking your every step.

Bo Nix To The Rescue

Football Gods giveth and taketh away.

Bo Nix took a shot and left the game late for the medical tent.

The next guy up handed off the fateful ball to the slipping back.

Again, not the play of the game.

Bo Nix hops around on the sideline, then returns to lead the Ducks on a field goal drive to tie the game, goes into overtime, and beats the Huskies with Patrick Mahomes style magic.

He hits his receivers with touch passes from impossible arm angles after scrambling and dodging near the Husky bench.

But it didn’t happen. You can’t do that with dropped passes.

Those were the plays of the game. He makes a better pass, they make a better catch, we all take a breath.

We still took a breath after, but it was full of Husky fur and smelled like dog food.

Mountain Climbing Oregon Ducks

Getting to the top of college football is a mountain too high this year.

Slippery feet and slippery hands can’t take hold.

Older fans, baby boomers who played high school football in Autzen in the 1970’s, have seen that mountain.

First it was Auburn. Then it was Ohio State. If the Ducks had won two titles our feet would have played on hallowed ground. It’s something to grasp for?

No one is saying the Ducks played dirty programs, Auburn with Cam Newton, Ohio State riding their third string quarterback for the win.

But they were dusty enough for each school to buy a new vacuum, like Oregon did with the Chipper.

Lose Better To Get Better

When you get to the end of a contest with a chance to win, go with your best.

They got you there and deserve a chance to take it over the finish line.

Bo Nix did his part. He’s not a curse portal transfer, a transient looking to lift his chances in the NFL draft.

I think he likes being a Duck, that it matters to him.

I say the same thing about Dame Lillard. He likes it here.

Both guys make their teams better. Just not on Saturday:

Down 106-103 with 2:10 to go, Spencer Dinwiddie hit back-to-back-to-BACK three-pointers that proved to be the back-breaker Dallas desperately needed. Portland is too dangerous a team to let just hang around. A missed Lillard layup followed by a Dorian Finney-Smith three on the next possession was a cherry on top as Dallas suddenly had a seven-point lead with under a minute to go.

Legends are created by people who know how to lose better.

How?

Because they accept their losses, their role in their losses, and work on a better role.

That role is to lift others up. Up lift, not smash down. No one told Woody Hayes?

For example:

“You lost today because you don’t care, you don’t put in the time, and you can just walk away. That’s not how it works around here, loser.”

Or,

“We lost today because we got too close to the edge. And fell off. We were one slip away, two catches away, from overtime, and we were surging, riding a come from behind wave to wash those Dogs back to their kennel. This is why you need to come back next year, Bo.”

Take strength in knowing who you are.