POLL: How Many Wins This Season?

[RednBlue11]

Eat your heart out JtStang...im guessing you go no higher than 4


as you can see 2, 9, 11, and no wins are not options because apparently there is a restriction on how many options a poll can have

[jtstang]

I have no expectations for winning any game, so I cannot participate in your poll. I hope we win them all.

[RednBlue11]

I have no expectations for winning any game, so I cannot participate in your poll. I hope we win them all.

so pick the looney bin option

[kent dorfman]

I have no expectations for winning any game, so I cannot participate in your poll. I hope we win them all.

jtstang, I apologize. In another predictions thread I made a prediction but I deleted my post. Like you I have been pushing the "no expectations" mantra since hiring JJ and I forgot to stick to my guns for a brief moment.

[jtstang]

Say three Hail Marys and donate one dollar to charity and I absolve you.

[mrydel]

Say three Hail Marys and donate one dollar to charity and I absolve you.

Since I am the charity that sponsors Jtstang, you can send the dollar to me.

[MrMustang1965]

Say three Hail Marys and donate one dollar to charity and I absolve you.

Send it to the Mustang Club.

[kent dorfman]

Say three Hail Marys and donate one dollar to charity and I absolve you.

Consider it done.

[Mustangsabu]

I also see no option for a 14 win season. Why such pessimism. If we went unbeat we would be 14-0.

Did I say "if", I meant "when" .....

[ponyte]

How come 0 wins isn't an option for those of us that have no expectations?

[jtstang]

Do you expect zero wins? Or do you have no expectations one way or the other, like you should.

[Mustangsabu]

Do you expect zero wins? Or do you have no expectations one way or the other, like you should.

I can see that this is a pet issue with you JT. However, I must put it to you that it is not possible to have no expectations "one way or the other". It is impossible to actually have "no expectations", unless you are oblivious to the subject. Either you expect to win or you expect to lose, but it is impossible to be cognizant of something and not have an expectation related to it. When dealing with something like a football game, it is necessary to narrow the scope of inquiry. Let me take the Rice game as a good, and in vogue, example. If the game goes ahead, and is played to a conclusion, it is not possible to neither expect SMU to win, or to lose. They are the only possibilities. Once you recognize that, barring some forfeit, these two options are the only ones available, it becomes impossible to expect neither of them. That neither of them will occur is impossible. However, you may believe that SMU is no more likely to win against Rice as it is for Rice to win against SMU. This poses an interesting question, which I will now pose to you, JT.

Do you really think that SMU is no more likely to beat ANY team on the schedule, than it is to lose to that team?

I will go on to suggest that even if you do believe that, which is entirely possible, I think it implausible that you have no expectation as to the number of wins that SMU will have at the end of the season. To hold that means that you will never be surprised, which is untrue. I am sure you would be surprised if we went 14-0. The second you realize that you believe that is not as likely to happen as that we go 13-1, then you have begun to have expectations. There is a range of records that you believe more likely than another range of records. For example, you may expect to win between one and six games but not expect to win more. But those are still expectations.

There is a point at which you will be disappointed, and/or a point at which you will be pleased. These are the harbingers of expectation, the beacons of belief, and I suggest they are why we are all here.

Of course, you may just wish to not set out your stall, and that's ok.

But expectations sir, you have!

[jtstang]

Either you expect to win or you expect to lose, but it is impossible to be cognizant of something and not have an expectation related to it.

What is you expectation when you flip a coin? Either way, it makes no sense.

I have no expectations. If we win a game, I am pleasantly surprised. If we lose, I am not overly disappointed. Now, I do hope that we win every game we play, and therefore when we don't I am a little letdown that my hopes did not come to fruition. However, that does not equate to the disappointment that one feels when a game is lost that the person expected to be won. So in that sense, I am disappointed by every loss, but that does not mean I expected a win. I want SMU to win bad though.

As I look over your commentary, it strikes me that you are right...at this point I guess I am indifferent in expectation as to the outcome of any given game in advance. Sad, but until the ship is righted that's where I am. Maybe I'm not a very good fan, but that's where I am.

[ponyte]

Mustangsabu,
Many of us have a running joke with jtstang about expectations. jtstang has no expectations and hopes (since he cannot expect) the rest of us to also have no expectations.

We hope we win 14 games and the national Championship but expect no wins. The assumption is that expectations lead to emotional injury when the Ponies do not win thus not fulfilling our expectations.

Now, true, as we hope and our hopes are not fulfilled, we suffer the same emotional injury. That is the beauty of the ironic humor in this running joke. It is the utter duplicity of it all.

[mrydel]

Either you expect to win or you expect to lose, but it is impossible to be cognizant of something and not have an expectation related to it.

What is you expectation when you flip a coin? Either way, it makes no sense.

I have no expectations. If we win a game, I am pleasantly surprised. If we lose, I am not overly disappointed. Now, I do hope that we win every game we play, and therefore when we don't I am a little letdown that my hopes did not come to fruition. However, that does not equate to the disappointment that one feels when a game is lost that the person expected to be won. So in that sense, I am disappointed by every loss, but that does not mean I expected a win. I want SMU to win bad though.

As I look over your commentary, it strikes me that you are right...at this point I guess I am indifferent in expectation as to the outcome of any given game in advance. Sad, but until the ship is righted that's where I am. Maybe I'm not a very good fan, but that's where I am.

I understand the Jtstang theory. It is difficult with which to adhere but admirable from a sanity standpoint. For instance, most of us expect to beat Texas State and most expect to lose to Texas Tech. Those expecting a Texas State win will be devastated with a loss. If you can truly not expect to win, thus have no premature cause for celebration, then the disappointment in the case of a loss will be much less. To the contrary, the joy of a win over Texas Tech would not be as grand since he was not expecting a loss prior to the game.

The difficulty is in really being able to establish a feeling of no expectations.

If anyone wants any further elaboration on this, come see me in Section 104 seats 12/13 and you will probably find Jtstang and ask him yourself.