Average. Not bad. But by no means good. In school, average grades are the ones that just get you by to graduation. In life, being average is like having nothing about yourself that is special. You are just good enough. So is that what we want to strive for? Being average?
As a Mississippi State fan from birth, I know a thing or two about average. If we are really being honest here when it comes to sports, Mississippi State knows all about being average. Average seasons are happy ones for most State fans, who have had to suffer multiple years at the bottom of the totem pole. Year after year, fans have accepted average. Why can't we strive for more? Why can't we expect greatness?
Isn't our accepting of average why it took us 70 years to win 10 games in football for a second time? Or why we kept a coach who could recruit but not control players? Why don't we expect 10 wins every season instead of being satisfied with just getting a bowl game? Or getting to the NCAA tournament but never making it past one or two rounds? Why do we think “at least we made it" and celebrate that? If you are satisfied and if you are happy with average, how do you ever expect to be great?
State has had those glimpses of magic and greatness. For example, the 1980 football game against the undefeated and two-time defending national champions Alabama, when we won 6-3. Or the 1985 baseball team with Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeff Brantley, and Bobby Thigpen; although they went on to finish third overall, many people believe they were the best team in the country that year. In 1996 the men's basketball team, lead by center Erick Dampier, made it to the Final Four for the first time ever. In 2013, the baseball team made it all the way to the College World Series championship round. The women's basketball team had its best start in history this year along with finishing third in the SEC. And this year, the football team won 10 games and was ranked number one for the first time ever.
These were all special times for fans and are all still talked about by many, because for Mississippi State, they were very big times. But do you think Alabama remembers the 6-3 game? No, because they have won four national championships since then. You think Kentucky, Duke, or Louisville remembers the years they made it to the Final Four? No, because that's expected of those teams. Would the UConn women be happy placing third in their conference? No, because they have been conference champions 20 times. And is LSU reminiscing about that time they made it to the College World Series championship round? Probably not, because they have won it six times.
State has made many strides to becoming a lot more than average. We have a Heisman-caliber quarterback in Dak Prescott and a football coach in Dan Mullen who knows how to recruit and win in the hardest division in college football. Ten years ago, our women's basketball team finished last in the SEC, and this year they finished third and were a five seed in the NCAA tournament. Our basketball program has now hired Ben Howland, a coach that led UCLA to three consecutive Final Four appearances. The women's basketball program is full of talented freshmen and sophomores who have very promising futures. We also have the Carnegie Hall of baseball fields that is always full of fans and talent.
We have what it takes to be more than average, but we have to want it. We have to expect it. I will cheer on my Bulldogs no matter how good or bad, but I will always expect and want more from and for them. We need to change our mindsets to expecting 10-win seasons, College World Series appearances, making it far in the NCAA tournament, and competing for the SEC West every year. It can't be enough to just play with the best. It is time to become the best.
