CHESTNUT HILL — This is the age of ‘my bad’ sports.
A player blows a coverage at a critical juncture or drops a pass when he carelessly takes his eyes off the ball and he taps his chest and pronounces, ‘my bad’ to the coach and his teammates.
Well, after watching his team meltdown in the fourth quarter and lose 24-21 to Colorado State, presumably blowing any chance at a Top 25 spot, Steve Addazio wanted no part of it when addressing the media afterward.
As a matter of fact, what followed was a 55-year-old man’s fascinating interpretation of today’s sports culture.
“Sometimes I don’t think that young guys, they get it,” Addazio said. “I don’t think they really fathom that when you get 12 shots and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Everybody loves this, ‘my bad’ stuff. I don’t know what that is. ‘My bad.’ OK, thanks, thanks for telling me.
“The reality in college football of it’s gone, it’s gone. A loss is a loss. It’s over. And it’s fragile. You have to hang onto that thing and how tough it is to finish and close things out the right way. We didn’t close this game out. We had every opportunity to close the game out and we didn’t do it. And we have to learn to do that. And if anything can come out of this I hope that that can come out of it, some time, some day.”
The Eagles led Saturday’s game 14-0 and 21-14. They were driving for a score midway through the fourth quarter that would’ve put the game away when graduate quarterback Tyler Murphy rolled to his right and threw a pass that was intercepted, changing the momentum of the game.
The Eagles appeared to have escaped when Steven Daniels tipped a fourth-down pass at the line of scrimmage with six minutes left. But BC’s offense when 3-and-out, giving the Rams the ball back. The Eagles had one more chance to put away the Rams when they forced a 4th-and-10 from the 11. But this time there was a no tipped pass at the line, only an open lane for Garrett Grayson to fire a strike to Charles Lovett.
‘The toughest thing about this loss is just watching the way we lost it,” Addazio said. “It’s just the way we lost it. We had a chance to end the game, 4th-and-10, end the game. It’s over. And turning the ball over when we had a chance to seal it out on the other end. That’s what’s going to be hard about this game.’
“That’s the way it is. It’s going to be hard on everybody, players and coaches. That’s the way it is. Everybody wants everybody to feel good real quick. ‘Well, that’s OK.’ No, it’s not. It’s not OK.”
Boston College is dealing with injuries at several key positions. Linebackers Mike Strizak and Josh Keyes are banged up. Bobby Vardaro is an NFL prospect at left guard and is dealing with a bad hamstring.
“We’re banged up, nicked up, that’s no excuse,” Addazio said. “That’s just the way it is. Everybody is. We’re not deep enough, we’re not deep enough to handle the amount of injuries we’re dealing with right now. And they show up. And they show up when you don’t want them to show up. That’s all part of it, man.
