One of the biggest factors in sports will never show up on a stat sheet.
It plays a role in every major sport.
Win without it, and earn praise as one of the biggest surprises in history.
Fail to win while it is in your favor, and the second-guessing will never cease.
Sometimes it is represented by a player. Other times fate plays a key role.
It is why Kobe and the Lakers had to win this year. Why Billy D had to win when Noah, Brewer, Green and Horford came back for another year in Gainesville.
It is often cruel.
It is the Window Of Opportunity Factor (WOOF).
These opportunities are never easy and are often a no-win situation.
The UF men's basketball team simply lived up to expectations in 2006-07 when it won its second straight title. Failing to repeat would have made the season bitterly disappointing. Winning was the equivalent of showing up to work every day: It's expected and you better have a very good reason if otherwise.
Imagine putting the WOOF into a numerical value. Teams could be ranked from 1 to 10.
One would be the equivalent of "If you don't win this year, you'll never win again."
The best example would be Larry Bird and Indiana State men's basketball program. In 1979, Bird led them to the championship game of the NCAA Tournament before falling to a Magic Johnson-led Michigan State team. The Sycamores have only made two more NCAA Tournament appearances since then and have never again made it to the Sweet 16.
Ten, the opposite end of the spectrum, would be the equivalent of "There is no possible way you could have won this year, so no one should be letdown more than zero percent."
Exhibit A: the 2008 Detroit Lions.
Now consider applying the formula to some recent UF successes or failures. The 2007 UF volleyball team comes to mind with its core group of seniors - setter Angie McGinnis, middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth and hitters Marcie Hampton and Amber McCray - that won four SEC titles but never advanced to a Final Four as well as libero Elyse Cusack playing great even as a sophomore. With a national championship as the only hole on coach Mary Wise's sterling resume, the 2007 team didn't hide its hopes of a NCAA title and had a WOOF around 2 or 3. But then, sadly, Hampton went down with a torn ACL near the end of the regular season and UF's WOOF jumped to 6 without one of the country's best hitters. Sometimes, it's just not your time.
The upcoming football season poses another interesting dilemma. While coach Urban Meyer continues to stockpile talent in Gainesville, the 2009 season is shaping up to be an all-or-nothing affair. I'd put the Gators' WOOF at 3 or 4 though because they will always have a decent grouping of great players, even if their names aren't Tim Tebow or Brandon Spikes.
All I want is a way to measure a usually intangible feeling.
Fans deserve a way (however subjective it may be) for a stat sheet to show whether a team was a huge surprise or a terrible disappointment when their memory fails them. The 2008 Patriots won 11 games but did it without the services of Tom Brady, one of the best quarterbacks in the game.
The injury changed the Pats' WOOF for 2009 from like a 2 (you almost became the best team in NFL history the year before and then only win 11 games?!) to more like a 7 (Who knew Matt Cassel would be this good? What a pleasant surprise!).
When judging the great teams, how much fun would it be to have some sort of quotient on external factors?
A team's window of opportunity changes the lens through which the season is viewed.
Then again, I don't wear any glasses.
