Losing Sucks.

Okay, it was inevitable that a football post would make its way onto this blog.

Last week, my beloved Gators got beat down by Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Painful as it was to watch us get smacked around by a superior team, the result was never really in doubt after the first quarter. In the second half, we even showed improvement, moving the ball up the field and keeping them from scoring any offensive touchdowns. We failed miserably when we came close to their endzone, but with a few instances of better execution, the game could have been closer. And it's Alabama, on the road, so who was actually expecting to win? Losing to a clearly superior team on the road sucks, but it doesn't hurt.

Tonight we lost at home to LSU in exactly the opposite kind of game. A nail-biting, down-to-the-wire, make-you-want-to-choke-someone-for-every-little-mistake-we-make classic heartbreaker. Showing so much heart to come back and take the lead, then relying on the strongest part of your team, the defense, to simply prevent a touchdown...and they couldn't do it. Couldn't snuff out the fake field goal, even though that should have been the top priority when they were attempting a 54-yarder to tie the game. Janoris Jenkins went for the kicker instead of containment, and the step-and-a-half he lost allowed Josh Jasper to squeak over the line for a first down. LSU got lucky the ball bounced straight up, that the toss over the placeholder's head was perfectly lateral, that Jenkins went the wrong way...but what the hell, man?

And then they were still way far off from the endzone, and even a field goal from that spot would have been closer to a 50-yarder than a 40-yarder. But then another breakdown in coverage and inability to tackle, and they get a reception inside the 10-yard-line. No clock management issues, just calm execution of the same play twice. Safety didn't come out to help Jeremy Brown, even though he was in position to help, and should have because there was no way LSU was going to run the ball.

I know I get way too into the game. And after a loss like that, all I want to do is not think about football, and it's impossible. But it's especially hard when I've stayed up until 1:30am local time to watch the start of the game, sat faithfully at my computer staring at the live stream until five in the morning, and watched us give away a game that we might have won. And that with the knowledge that I've got to be up early tomorrow to go to my great aunt's birthday celebration. So I stayed up all night to watch us lose at the last second, ensuring myself both a miserable night and a miserable morning.

And losing to Les Miles sucks. There is not a luckier piece of crap coach in the country. Then again, we got pretty lucky that Patrick Peterson fumbled that punt. LSU got lucky that Chas Henry missed both tries at a field goal from easy range, and that after having had the ball on their 1-yard-line. Somehow, it's too much like the game three years ago in Baton Rouge, where they tore our hearts out in the last quarter.

When you win, your mind doesn't go back to all the missed opportunities. When you lose, it's impossible to stop the mental procession.