I have a confession to make to all the disappointed, moping fans out there. The Fiesta Bowl loss is all my fault. You see I am very superstious and during a party I lost one of my good luck charms. Actually it accidently went missing. So it is my fault entirely. For the last week and a half I have heard everyone blame the Fiesta Bowl loss on everyone from the ref to the guy that painted the field and in between a bunch of our players. I hear constantly “it’s too bad they lost,” or “I can’t believe they lost.”
Who are they? The football team? I am assuming since they were the ones everyone saw on national television, but the loss happened to all of us. We lost, as a team, as a school, and as fans of the greatest team in college football.
Many things went wrong on January 3rd, but the players played their hearts out. The team put forth a courageous effort. They mustered up all they could even after a devastating cheap shot to Willis McGahee’s knee. They hung in there. And granted many of us will go on believing we were robbed, and while I agree, we have to stop blaming the team, the refs, or anyone else.
It was not Dorsey or McGahee getting injured that lost that game for us. And while I am disappointed with a few calls and lack there of during overtime it is not the referee’s fault either. We had a chance to even the score and it just was not our time.
Now the best thing we can do is focus on next season and how OUR Hurricanes are going to come back with a vengeance and rip apart every single one of our opponents on the way to the 2004 Sugar Bowl. There is no use lamenting on what could have been. I am still upset that we were not able to go to the championship in 2000 but I realize that every year is a new season, a fresh start, with a wide open opportunity for the best team in the country (that’s us) to win a sixth, seventh, and more championships.
Through thick and thin it is always great to be a Miami Hurricane and I hope that the enthusiasm and pride we had for our team did not die on January 3rd. This bowl game was a disappointing end to a wonderful season and if you need someone to blame for the game, blame me…I lost my beads.
Denise Kolb is a senior.