Blinding Flashes of the Frustrating

There are few things worse than watching a sports team that you know should be in a better place than it is, has the talent to be in that better place, and will even show flashes of being there.

You can see it in the Terps. You can see it when Da'Rel Scott breaks free for a 40-yard run. You can see it when Torry Smith gets open and Chris Turner hits him for a long touchdown. You can see when when Alex Wujack comes through on a delayed blitz and hits the blind side of the quarterback.

The problem is you also see passes tipped for interceptions. Scott hitting the line and getting butterfingers. Missed tackles, and defensive backs falling down. Penalties. More penalties. Did I mention penalties?

I'm not even going to get into the state of the program. I believe in the talent, and considering how many of the memories of my two years at College Park revolve around his teams, I want to believe in the coaching abilities of The Fridge (Mini-Fridge now, I guess, which is more appropriate for a college anyway). It's just frustrating to watch.

As we know from watching the Orioles, young talent can take time to develop. Talent can show flashes, like Wieters crushing the home run earlier this week followed the next night by his walk-off barely-outta-there, or it can come on strong, like Felix Pie's .333/.394/.651 slash line in August. But it is unpredictable, and as many others left wrecked along the wayside over the past years coming through Baltimore can attest, may never turn out as expected.

That is a very possible outcome, especially in a difficult conference. With a smoldering fan base wondering what happened in less than a decade and an athletic department trying to fill a slowly-improving stadium, that could be the downfall of the present regime. However, I'm still trying to be optimistic, even after three games that I could barely stand to watch, and I think that the more plays the team makes the better they will get and the more the flashes will even-out into the beam of the national spotlight for this team.

Insert own comment about the light at the end of the tunnel being the train here.