I am tired of the lame attempt at putting a positive spin on any type of unexpected loss or upset by uttering the profound cliche: “Well, I guess we needed a wake-up call!?”
I would contend that teams for the most part are already awake… that is why they can feel the pain of these unnecessary bumps in the road. How many times can a team go to the well and quote this same axiom? Can you really claim to be learning any lesson about the need for playing with emotion, the danger of underestimating your opponent or taking any team for granted, etc… when you fall right back asleep and apparently need that same alarm clock later on in the same season?
The coaches invest considerable time in pumping up the credentials of the immediate opponent and making sure their team is focused on the task at hand. How can so many athletes be sleeping so frequently? Why don?t coaches just make a point to ask their players before each game whether they are awake so we can skip the redundancy of repeating this same unproductive lesson?