Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

During a particularly atrocious Arkansas Travelers season a few years ago I turned to broadcaster Phil Elson after yet another loss (there would be 89 total), shrugged and said, “At least we work in baseball.”

That’s right. In essence I was telling my friend “SMILE.”

Apparently some people can get away with that better than others.

Depends on where you work.

When Arkansas Coach John L. Smith dared to urge the media (when has a coach ever cared about bucking up the press?) to turn its frown upside down at Monday’s press conference, the state reacted as if Smith had walked into the room spewing expletives and green pea soup Linda Blair-style.

Maybe he’s doing the worst job of coaching in the history of jobs and coaching, but Smith, in his madcap way, makes one good point — it’s supposed to be fun.

Yes, dare we say it? It IS only a game.

Now, the game is probably not so much fun at this time for the UA bean counters watching revenues trickle away like party guests when the booze runs out.

The last two weeks probably haven’t been a blast for the fans who watched Louisiana-Monroe shock Arkansas in overtime and Alabama beat on the Hogs until they were too numb even to feel shock.

It hurts to have your team roll off the table early in the season, especially when expectations are as high as they’ve ever been. As a Chicago Cubs fan, I know, except for that expectations part.

And I’m sure the players, those who were phoning it in late in the Alabama loss and those who were still trying, didn’t enjoy having their injured quarterback call them out at the end of a soggy, miserable day.

Smith and company have their hands full and I’m not going to tread where plenty of experts already have in breaking down the challenges the Razorbacks face, which obviously now include finding the team’s third head coach in less than a year.