Our identity and destiny.

Posted on: October 2, 2017 at 10:25:45 CT

At Mizzou, we have a pattern. We are a program that can be proud of several eras where we won and got the attention of the football world. Our fan base of loyal Missouri residents and alumni is built on memories of these eras. Stunning wins against storied programs are at the heart of conversations among the faithful. They carry us through the bad times. So, my question is simple. Why do we always let the bad times get so bad that they end up defining us. To the rest of the football world we are not even worth mentioning even when we are winning. It takes a lot of wins to get commentators to notice us when we are winning. And the average college football fan sees those wins as a fluke. The racks at the sports clothing stores have little or no Mizzou merchandise on them outside of Missouri. I am in Texas. When I visit these locations, I see everything from all over the nation, not just winning programs, but programs that have history of winning, and programs that no longer win much at all. But Mizzou gear is not visible anywhere. Even when we won 2 SEC East Championships, local sports stores had little to nothing with Mizzou on them. Why? Because these merchandise buyers want to show off their sports gear which costs a lot. And to them, Mizzou gear has no value because we have no staying power.
Now, I am watching this team in an overwhelming decline. We may pull a "Mizzou Miracle" out of the hat, but if so, the cost of that miracle will be more years of losing. We are that desperate to hang our hats on something.
Why is this the state of the long suffering Mizzou Football program? Why do we allow our teams to sink so low for so long until we get a good coach like Gary Pinkel followed by the belief that "We had our day in sun".
Why can't we have more days in the sun on a consistent basis? Why do we let the losing get so bad and last so long?