Gary Danielson and Momentum

I won't go through the my own thoughts about momentum here (it's been done a lot), but a college football announcer I like a lot surprised me during the SEC Championship last year by bringing up the topic as something that is debatable. He only hinted at it, and I really wanted to know what his thoughts were on the subject.

During that game (Florida-Alabama 2009), CBS' SEC broadcaster Gary Danielson (and I'm paraphrasing and taking the quote out of context because I can't remember what led to him bringing it up) said, "Momentum is something that if you believe in, and it works for you, go for it."

Nowhere else did I hear anything about momentum. Then today, during the Florida-Tennessee game, Danielson got a forum to speak about it. And it was refreshing.

After Florida successfully converted a fake punt with the game tied at 10-10, Danielson commented that Florida coach Urban Meyer is a big believer in momentum and that he was trying to make a play that would bring momentum into their favor. And then he said, "Well, just because I don't believe in it doesn't mean Urban Meyer shouldn't."

After the Gators scored a touchdown and CBS returned from break, Danielson laid it out like this (again, paraphrasing), "Momentum suggests that a team has some sort of advantage, when really one team usually just has better players than another team." He brought up that in a tennis match, you'll see the better player win most of the time because they just wear their opponent down over the course of the match. I'll add, we generally see Rafael Nadal win because the guy is fitter, faster, more skilled, and has a better array of shots that he can land at any given moment. Well, Danielson believes that football is much the same way. You'll see Tennessee hang with Florida for awhile, but then the better players eventually wear them down.

I'll try to sum up Danielson's comments this way: what we see as this unstoppable force of momentum is really a product of a better team playing a steady game (skills, execution) and eventually tiring and frustrating their opponent to the point that it looks like the better team is just coasting. We see this with sprints in the Olympics when a faster runner seems to be neck-and-neck with the pack and then pulls away. They're not running faster, the other runners are just slowing down.

After Tennessee apparently recaptured momentum after scoring a touchdown that brought them within 24-17, the ensuing kickoff went out-of-bounds. Danielson took the moment to say, "This is why I'm not a momentum guy." He added, "Yeah, I get kidded about it a lot, but that's the way I see it."

So I have at least one guy in my corner. I'm glad it's not someone who sucks.

Microcosm

Tonight's 5-4 loss to the Marlins is business as usual for the Braves. Let me tell you how this one ended:

Bases loaded, 2 out, one of the Braves' better hitters at the plate. They knocked out Marlins closer Leo Nunez after 2 unearned runs got them to 5-4. The excitement was palpable. There seemed to be nothing that was going to stop the Braves from at least tying this game. In comes Brendan Donnelly to relieve Nunez. He throws a pitch...a ball...it gets behind the catcher and he can't find it.

But Matt Diaz at 3rd can't see it either and is halfway down the line...Marlins catcher Ronny Paulino finds it and fires to third...Matt Diaz out...ballgame over.

In games like these, you're hoping for some sort of escape from this situation. The escape never comes. Your team lost on one of the rarest of plays, not to mention rare for a game-ender.

The Braves found themselves in this situation after falling behind the Marlins 5-0, a deficit brought on in big part by an error by Chipper Jones, who allowed a double-play grounder to go into left field earlier in the game and it led to 3 runs. A pitcher the Braves had batted over .370 against decided this was the night he would strike out 16 batters.

The deficit the Braves find themselves in with the standings has been brought on by losing not only these types of games, but the games where they had huge leads that were erased, notably in the 3rd game of the year against the Phillies in which they had a 10-3 lead heading into the 7th inning and somehow lost 12-11. The bullpen, in general, has been a strength of the Braves but they've blown it in the most crucial situations. In 48 save situations between closer Rafael Soriano and part-time closer Mike Gonzalez, they blew 13. In other save situations, the other relievers combined for a 1-for-12 clip, bringing their success rate to 24 blown saves out of 60.

Now, I'm not the type to say my team should have won each and every one of those, because the percentages will be against you on that. But what about half of them? 12 more wins. Hell, they'd be NL East leaders with just that, forget about the Wild Card.

With the way the Braves lost the past two games and the Titans lost this past Sunday, I have seen all of the things that are supposed to be positives for a team fail miserably.

If anyone wants to know why I don't believe in the things that I have railed against in the past, this is why. I've seen my team have what is known as momentum and watched them fail constantly. I've seen the crowd get behind my team, cheering lustily, to be let down. I've seen my team play with emotion and lose. In the end, your team of guys must make the plays that move them forward, and nothing else matters, regardless of how the energy changes in the building or the two teams.