When former Denver Broncos' quarterback John Elway, a Hall-of-Famer it should be pointed out, was questioned about the importance of losing a training-camp scrimmage, he replied "that's why they keep score, isn't it?"
So excuse me for blinking when I read CU defensive lineman Abraham Wright was quoted in a B.G. Brooks article in the Rocky Mountain News as saying "The (Georgia) loss...doesn't affect me," he said, adding "It's like a preseason game; if we'd have won that 100-0, tell me how it would have helped us win- or loss-wise? It wouldn't have.
"I mean, if you're counting it toward a bowl game, yeah. But our goal is to go to the Big 12 championship. That (Georgia) game, it doesn't mean anything."
O.K., I get his point. Most of us do. I also give Wright credit for playing hard and making plays this season. However, that game, that team, Georgia, did matter. Winners love competing, hate to lose and don't spin it off as anything less than defeat.
Yes, don't get buried by failing, and get drunk on depression, but at the same time, please don't say a loss ain't all that. Promise you, Elway, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady didn't or don't so easily shuck off any losing outing. They want to win them all. Coming up short, hurts.
Anytime it happens.
Thankfully, later in Brooks' piece, coach Dan Hawkins was the voice of reason.
"I don't really want them to get it behind them; I want it to be squarely in front of them, to understand to continue to push, to execute."
Yes, I realize the goal is to win the Big 12, but come on now, even this dude, as in myself, knows the Buffs didn't come into the season thinking, "hey, let's just go out and throw the ball around for four games and by then, we'll be ready to roll."
It's easy to say games don't matter after you've already gone o-for.
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