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 It’s been a day and I still can’t believe the Shock lost last night.  All year long they have proven that they are the best team in this league and last night, at home, they fell by a point in overtime.  I remember when it was tied with under a minute to go in regulation and Tennessee Valley had the ball and looked like they were about to score a go-ahead touchdown, I looked at my wife and said, “how are they going to pull this one out?”  I said that because even when it didn’t look good down the stretch, there was just no way this team would lose this game.  Well they did and I still can’t believe it.  The Shock didn’t play their best game, but at the same time, they still played well, certainly good enough to beat most teams.  But Tennessee Valley came in here and wouldn’t back down, they wouldn’t fold even when their starting quarterback got hurt on the first drive of the game. 

This year the Shock moved their practice schedule to the mornings which would usually be a huge inconvenience to us in the T.V. world because we all work nights.  But this year was different, I switched jobs and hours, so going to Shock practice was actually quite easy for me.  Every week this season on Tuesday morning I went to Shock practice and I talked to players and Coach Shackleford for my T.V. duties.  This year as part of my new job we added a segment on our website called “one-on-one with the shock.”  This allowed me to get to know the players on a more personal level, and hopefully people enjoyed being able to hear and see those interviews as well.  I got to know a lot of these players very well this year and I feel for them as they came one point away from their goal of winning a championship.  Practices were fun for me this year as these players invited me into their little world and let me part of their fun and games.

Most of this year’s players won’t be back next year as they will move on to bigger and better things.  It will be fun to watch this off season to see where they all end up.  At the same time it will be sad to know they won’t return.  Through my interviews with the guys for T.V., and on the radio on the Dennis Patchin Show, I have enjoyed watching this team win this year.  We discovered that a Polar Bear and a Bugg can co-exist.  We’ve had a lot of fun with “the chainsaw” Kevin McCullough as he has co-hosted the radio show with me twice.  We have had fun asking the players and coaches who would win a foot race between Rico Ochoa and Coach Shackleford.  We have watched as Raul Vijil and Nygel Rogers have gone through family tragedy and done so with grace.  We were amazed when Jason Murrietta led the Shock to a 4-0 record at quarterback and was benched for Nick Davila.  We couldn’t believe it when former shock quarterback Andrico Hines came in and handed the Shock their only regular season loss of the season.  We cheered when the linemen all started to score touchdowns.  And finally, we were all shocked when our team didn’t win. 

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