Arkansas Fans Should See Beauty in Hurting Right Now

Van Horn has provided opportunity other Razorbacks programs have not

Arkansas Razorbacks shortstop Wehiwa Aloy is congratulated by coach Dave Van Horn after his homer in the Fayetteville Regional of the NCAA Tournament. / Michael Morrison-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The people of Arkansas are frustrated and hurt today. Another promising baseball season ended without much of a fight in a final abrupt flurry of hopelessness.

However, it's important to appreciate the pain. When seasons end in fans feeling heartbroken, it means something good has happened. 

Once again, the Razorbacks were the best team in baseball for much of the season as records fell by the wayside and the streak of 40+ win seasons continued. The Hogs were a national championship caliber team for most of the year, but anyone who was watching consistently all year could tell that by the final three weeks of the season it would take a perfect storm just to get to Omaha, much less win the whole thing.

Because of this, the season should be categorized as mildly disappointing rather than heart-breaking. In my time, which is running closer to a half century than I might like, I have only seen true heartbreak happen to Arkansas fans three times. Once in each major sport. 

The first was in 1995 when Tyus Edney led an improbable UCLA team that needed a miracle just to get to the national championship game in an upset of Nolan Richardson's basketball team, preventing back-to-back titles for the Hogs. However, considering how sweet fans found the championship run the year before, it wasn't as hard to swallow being runner-up.

The second most difficult was in 1998 when quarterback Clint Stoerner was stepped on by center Brandon Burlsworth and stumbled while running out the clock against No. 1 Tennessee. That team had a magic never seen in Arkansas that could have carried the Hogs through the last few weeks of the season to a possible BCS championship.

Instead, after the Volunteers recovered the fumbled and went on a drive of destiny, it was the Razorbacks left to face the crushing fallout, while Tennessee road the wave to its last football national championship.

Of course, the one that snaps the hearts of Arkansas fans like an old shortbread cookie is the dropped pop-up in 2018 that cost Dave Van Horn his national championship against Oregon State. It's easy to forget the game didn't end there, and even easier to not remember there was a game after that where the Hogs could have won also.

What's impossible to forget is that moment as the ball fell harmlessly between three Razorbacks and the mental and emotional effect it had on the team. That's because networks replay it pretty much any time a pop-up with two or more of Arkansas players trying to call it takes place just to twist the knife a little more.

It's like being business partners with the girl who got away and her husband who can't help but constantly remind you they never would have met had you not gotten stuck behind a train and ended up late that day. It hurts just as much every time.

However, Arkansas, you have to embrace the pain and disappointment. Football seasons don't end in heart-break anymore, and may not ever again. Basketball has had success, but the two Elite 8 runs were a pleasant surprise, so losing before the Final Four wasn't gut-wrenching. It takes something special to feel that sort of pain. 

Maybe one day John Calipari will bring that potential to the basketball program, but for right now, take time to appreciate what Van Horn has done. For the past six seasons, Arkansas has done something worthy of deep hurt inside when it ended.

That kind of opportunity to feel pain doesn't come along often. Appreciate it for what it is.

HOGS FEED:

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