Excuses...

There goes an old saying that goes like this: an excuse is like an @**hole, everyone has one and they all stink. Too many excuses have been made for the Gauchos poor performance on Friday night. To those who make excuses TGM says bullshit!

Those who say the game doesn't or didn't matter must have been or are smoking crack (or some other variation). Sure, the game can be considered an out of conference "distraction" because the team is fighting for a Big West seed. Of course, these people haven't taken their rose tinted glasses off long enough to realize that the UCSB has been dusted each time it's played a tournament worthy foe, save UNLV. This game did matter, why? For starters, UCSB is playing a horrendously weak schedule this year (TGM concedes that it is difficult to determine who will be "good" a year or two in advance). A victory over Utah State may not have made their RPI jump into the stratosphere, however, it would have given the Gauchos some ammo and belief that they can run with a tournament worthy foe. Second, what better motivation heading into the Big West final lap than a beatdown of Utah State? A victory like that provides confidence going into your next fight. Third, of all the Big West teams to play over the weekend, only UCSB and LBSU got beat around by their opponent. That, my friends, is a serious downer.

Then there are those who say that the Gauchos played 4 games in 9 days. To that, TGM says, poor Gauchos. Last time TGM checked, the team consisted of 18-25 year old athletes in prime condition. They play a sport that requires them to run a lot of distance. If they got tired they should go try out for the baseball team; I hear they don't do much running. This excuse is an even bigger crock of shit than the game didn't matter. If you're making excuses for the Gauchos now, what are you going to be saying when it's Big West tourney time?

There are multitudes of other excuses that have emerged from the woodwork over the course of the season, but for time reasons, TGM can't go into all of them. Silly reasoning can also be lumped into this category. One of the most absurd reasons is the one that some people throw out by saying that Bob Williams is just the man to lead us out of our despair. How many seasons of mediocrity must we endure before these people have had enough? Just because he's led the Gauchos to the NCAA Tourney exactly once in his ten year career proves nothing. If you play the odds long enough, you're going to hit the jackpot once in a while (except for the lottery).

Obviously this is more of a venting post. Some people may think the reasons above are perfectly valid excuses. Some may agree with TGM. You're each entitled to your own opinion and TGM respects that (although TGM thinks you're an idiot if you don't agree with TGM).