Del Olaleye: Apathy can be a killer for a franchise

Jay Cutler can be tough to cheer for. Miami Dolphins/Facebook

A sports franchise can just suck the life out of you. You’ve been through so much pain and angst that you just refuse to care anymore. It isn’t as simple as just the losing wearing you down. Embracing losing can be fun when you know your team has a plan. The Astros had a plan. They told their fans to prepare to be very bad because the plan was to be good for the long haul. There was new ownership and management. Those two things allow you to sell hope because you don’t have past failures on your resume.

So Astros fans sat through multiple 100-loss seasons. They waited as their favorite team became involved in a cable dispute that made games unwatchable. I’m not even talking about the product on the field. People couldn’t see the team play. A majority of the people in Houston could not watch the Astros play baseball unless they decided to switch their TV provider. As you might imagine, that didn’t go over well. Apathy can be the worst enemy of a franchise and that deathly emotion was starting to creep in around Houston. Sure the Astros had a plan, but when no one can see your plan in action those well-laid plans just become a ton of L’s in the loss column.

Fortunately for the Astros, 2015-2017 happened. There was the ultimate payoff of a World Series title. It all worked out. It doesn’t always. When it doesn’t work out being a boring franchise that loses can set your organization up for the worst of all outcomes. People stop caring. You don’t want to be the franchise that no one cares about. When your name is mentioned on the job, in the street, or at the sports bar, you don’t want people to respond with a shrug of the shoulders.

It is better to be really bad, maybe all-time bad than it is to be “meh.” When you’re “meh” you can be dismissed. No one wants to be dismissed. Browns fans held a parade after an 0-16 season because they still cared. Eagles fans are celebrating a Super Bowl title this offseason but in previous years they celebrated their perennial losing with something called Wing Bowl. The Eagles were never in the Super Bowl but the fans still wanted to party so Wing Bowl was created. That previous link is a safe for work version of Wing Bowl. That isn’t what Wing Bowl really is. This is really Wing Bowl.

I love my teams. It hurts when they lose. I’m not close to being apathetic. Those losses sting so much that you just might find me sitting in the dark on my hallway steps after a particularly brutal defeat. That time on the steps is to compose me. Gut-wrenching losses turn me into a pillow tossing, cursing, screaming crazy person. That is a part of the reason I don’t watch games around people. No one needs to see that side of me.

All that being said, I’m completely comfortable watching Dolphins games in public. That is if I actually care to ask for their games to be put on. Perpetually being in the 6-10, 7-9, 8-8 range will do that to you. Draft picks not working out, free agency busts and coaching changes all have contributed to something I’d never thought I’d approach. Apathy. The final straw for the Dolphins was the emergency signing of Jay Cutler. These were the ingredients to that rancid casserole:

Ryan Tannehill re-injured his knee in the preseason.
Dolphins coach Adam Gase was once Jay Cutler’s offensive coordinator.
“Shockingly”, the newly retired Cutler thought 10 million dollars guaranteed was enough of an enticement to get off the couch.

Final outcome? The season went how you would expect. Cutler mixed bad footwork, awful decisions, and mind-numbing interceptions along with that Cutler face and cooked up a 6-10 season. I couldn’t have cared less. What's that you say? The Dolphins are bad again. That’s been the case my entire adult life. I’ll live. They’ve driven some people to root for a different team. I’m not in that dark place but simply not watching the games has become an option. Drafting Lamar Jackson would change things real quick. Nothing like a young, exciting QB to delude a fan into thinking everything will be alright.

Apathy from fans is death for franchises. For the fans, it is similar to the feeling you get when you get a hug instead of a kiss at the end of a date.

Sure the hug sucks, but at least you’re not getting pepper sprayed in the face anymore.

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The Longhorns host Georgia on Saturday night. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

By any measure, from the official statistics to the informal eye test, top-ranked Texas' defense has been dominant.

The Longhorns rank No. 1 in total defense and scoring defense. They are top 10 in first downs allowed, tackles for loss and passing yards. Much of that is built against opponents starting former walk-on quarterbacks ( Michigan ) and freshmen ( Mississippi State and Oklahoma.)

But the level of quarterback play Texas will face, in both talent and experience, is about to get much better over the second half of the season.

Texas hosts No. 5 Georgia on Saturday night in the first matchup of top five teams in Austin since 2006, before playing the next week at Vanderbilt. Bulldogs senior Carson Beck was a preseason first team Associated Press All-America pick, and standout Vanderbilt transfer Diego Pavia has carried the Commodores to a surprising 4-2 start, including a historic win over then-No. 1 Alabama.

Quite simply, Texas hasn't defended this caliber of quarterback all season.

Beck is a player on the doorstep of the NFL, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.

“There's nothing in the throw game (Beck) can't do,” Sarkisian said. “He's played enough football now, too. It's kind of hard to confuse guys when they've played that much football.”

Texas (6-0, 2-0 SEC) has allowed just one team to pass for more than 200 yards this season. Beck passed for 459 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions last week in a 41-31 win over Mississippi State. His 36 completions set a Georgia record.

Even when Beck struggled early in Georgia's loss to Alabama, he rallied the Bulldogs to a late fourth-quarter lead. He finished with 439 yards in the loss where Georgia's rally ended with an Alabama interception in the end zone in the final minute.

Sarkisian recruited Beck when the Texas coach was an assistant at Alabama. Beck had initially committed to the Crimson Tide before switching to Georgia.

Beck is 18-2 in his career as a starter, and 6-2 against top 20 opponents.

The Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1) will need another exceptional game from him Saturday. A second SEC loss could threaten any chance of playing for the SEC championship, and raise the alarms on the College Football Playoff as well.

Texas has all but overwhelmed opposing quarterbacks so far.

In last week's 34-3 thrashing of rival Oklahoma, the Longhorns sacked Sooners freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. five times, and held him to 27 yards on 20 carries. Texas allowed just 225 total yards.

Hawkins was the first Sooners freshman to start at quarterback against the Longhorns in the 120-year history of the rivalry and was quickly swallowed up by a relentless pass rush.

By the numbers, the Longhorns program is on pace for a historic season. Sarkisian has said his favorite stat is points allowed, which is not many.

Texas has surrendered only three touchdowns all season. Opponents have snatched four turnovers inside Texas territory, but none have produced points.

That ability to snuff momentum can drain an opponent, Sarkisian said.

“We're so composed as a defense,” Texas safety Michael Taaffe said. “We're so confident, that no matter what happens, everything is going to be alright.”

The only time Texas has trailed this season was a 3-0 early deficit against Oklahoma. Several Longhorns starters were still on the field when the Sooners' final drive stalled at the Texas 6-yard-line as the game ended.

The stars emerging for the Longhorns have been second-year linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and freshman edge rusher Colin Simmons.

Hill leads the team in total tackles (42), sacks (4 1/2) and tackles for loss (8 1/2). His sideline-to-sideline speed and move this season from the edge to the middle of the Texas defense has drawn comparisons to former Longhorns All-American Derrick Johnson 20 years ago.

Simmons has four sacks and 7 1/2 tackles for losses, second on the team in both categories.

“Size, speed,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said in summing up the Texas defense.

“They’re the complete package on defense," Smart said. "The consistency you watch them play with, it reminds me of some of our best teams here.”By any measure, from the official statistics to the informal eye test, top-ranked Texas' defense has been dominant.