Wordless Wednesday- life at ULM BCM

My observations from the ULM vs. Arkansas game

Losing stinks. No one sets out to lose but if we are honest, we all know that it is likely that if you are involved in sports or anything competitive that losing is inevitable at some point in your career. I work at a school in which quite frankly losing at sports has become more the norm than the exception. I am sure that greater sports minds than mine could give you in depth sports analysis of why this is so but for the average fan/student we just know that it happens and that it is discouraging and disheartening. This past weekend something happened that changed all of that. We won. We didn’t just win…we won big. Our school beat the #8 nationally ranked football team in their own stadium and the whole sports world took notice. In the days that have passed since the game our campus has literally lost its mind. Our students don’t know what to do with this win. They are walking around in a daze and have tweeted and Facebooked each other every single headline, ESPN article, and interview they can find. My Facebook feed has blown up with comments, articles and pictures of the game. As someone with friends both in Louisiana and Arkansas some of the comments have been nice and some have been not so nice…in fact, some of the arguments have been downright heated. In the midst of all the craziness that is going on here a few of my observations.

As the leader goes…so goes the program. I don’t know Coach Berry. We have never met but as I watch him handle national attention that comes along with a win of this magnitude I have appreciated how he has handled himself…particularly regarding the snub he received from the Ark head coach after the game on Saturday. He has continually downplayed the incident and spoken of forgiveness and the lack of hard feelings. He could have taken a different approach but he didn’t. People say that adversity brings out a person’s true character but frankly sometime who you are when you are on top is more character revealing than who you when you are on bottom. Like I said, I don’t know Coach Berry. He may do something tomorrow that makes me think he is the biggest dork on the planet but because of how he has handled himself in the last few days I am firmly on Team Todd Berry. On the flip side of that coin is the well documented coaching scandal at Arkansas. How can players, the team and the coaching staff not be affected by all that has gone on? Of course, that had a lot to do with what happened on Saturday. I hope the sports world once again is reminded that what happens off the field absolutely affects what happens on it.

People don’t like bandwagons. I have heard several comments by and to students this week that go something like this, “You didn’t even like football last week..you are just jumping on the bandwagon”. Quite frankly, I don’t see what is wrong with a bandwagon. If because of this win, we have two more fans than we did last year, then I say let them jump on the wagon. We have not had something of this magnitude to rally around and get behind in a long time and quite frankly it may be all over after the Auburn game. Let people be excited while they can. Maybe we will fill our student section for the first time in years.





Kicking the underdog is not classy but losing with grace is. As I walked with my 50 students through the almost 30,000 Arkansas fans tailgating and partying outside of War Memorial Stadium to get to the game we of course got some cat calls and smack talk. Most people were good natured but several were not. We were the obvious underdog in this game and we knew it so the “look its Team Nobody” comments were unnecessary. Because of these comments, I was a little nervous about the long walk back to our bus but what I found instead of bitterness and anger were classy Arkansas fans who congratulated us on our win. It is like when you do something wrong when you are a kid and you expect your parents to be angry and instead they are kind and understanding. That kind of thing sticks with you. The Arkansas fans didn’t have to say anything. They could have just let us walk on by but they chose to be kind. So when I come across an ugly comment on a sports page or on Facebook from an “Arkansas fan” I choose to remember the random people I met face to face who were gracious and not the ones who hide behind computer screens and spout bitterness and excuses. My over all impression of Arkansas fans is a good one which makes me wonder what other team’s impressions are of us when they come to ULM.