And can you have both? Sorry for another post but so F ing excited for this season to start. Every year about this time I pull out my Nickelback CD and loop Rockstar thinking of the great seasons we had when that song was released. From 2002-2009 were our best seasons. Hard to believe that 2009 was our last season above 500 in conference. That leads up to my question, how swagger plays into the success of a team. When Rodgers, Best, Beast mode played they had that swagger and made it fun to be a Bear. Now we seem flat, last season was the **** (thank you city of Berkeley) the years before that were just mediocre. What's it going to take to get our swagger back?

Trumpanzee said:

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And can you have both? Sorry for another post but so F ing excited for this season to start. Every year about this time I pull out my Nickelback CD and loop Rockstar thinking of the great seasons we had when that song was released. From 2002-2009 were our best seasons. Hard to believe that 2009 was our last season above 500 in conference. That leads up to my question, how swagger plays into the success of a team. When Rodgers, Best, Beast mode played they had that swagger and made it fun to be a Bear. Now we seem flat, last season was the **** (thank you city of Berkeley) the years before that were just mediocre. What's it going to take to get our swagger back?

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I like the word confident instead of swagger. Sure, it is semantics but, to me, confident means disciplined self-assurance. Undisciplined play yields stupid penalties, making mistakes by being out of position, etc. Disciplined play results in confidence because you are successful - in the correct position to make plays, in control of your actions, etc.

In other words, successful players are confidently disciplined.

In other words, successful players have some swagger to their game.

You're talking 1991 Bears. A bit of swagger, of confidence, and unfortunately some discipline issues too. The Big Game was a nightmare, and the roasting given the coaches was another incentive for Snyder to move on.

Larno said:

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You're talking 1991 Bears. A bit of swagger, of confidence, and unfortunately some discipline issues too. The Big Game was a nightmare, and the roasting given the coaches was another incentive for Snyder to move on.

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Swagger - "Walk in a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive way".

I like "very confident". I dislike "typically arrogant or aggressive way". The former leads to wins. The latter to stupid penalties (yep, the 1991 Big Game is a great example of that point).

Individual and team body language is so key throughout the game, high fives, butt slaps everything. It depends on the team leaders. It has nothing to do with showing up the other team but bringing your own team together, especially on defense. Sometimes, I'd watch teams early on in games and predict how they would perform based on team body language.

71Bear said:

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Larno said:

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You're talking 1991 Bears. A bit of swagger, of confidence, and unfortunately some discipline issues too. The Big Game was a nightmare, and the roasting given the coaches was another incentive for Snyder to move on.

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Swagger - "Walk in a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive way".

I like "very confident". I dislike "typically arrogant or aggressive way". The former leads to wins. The latter to stupid penalties (yep, the 1991 Big Game is a great example of that point).

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walk in a demonstrative manner vs showing no fear.

Larno said:

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You're talking 1991 Bears. A bit of swagger, of confidence, and unfortunately some discipline issues too. The Big Game was a nightmare, and the roasting given the coaches was another incentive for Snyder to move on.

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Exactly what I was thinking of. I had the feeling that Snyder was really trying to instill a "championship swagger" in those teams and things definitely crossed the line a bit in 1991. Still, it was surely one of our 3-4 best teams in the past 60+ years.

It's easy to say "confidence but not swagger" or "swagger, but discipline", but I bet it can get close to being a trade-off sometimes. Snyder was a great coach.


Another example would be the old Oakland Raiders.

I like swagger BECAUSE you're disciplined. Ted Williams had plenty of swagger, but it was because he knew more about hitting a baseball than anybody in the world - and he knew that he knew it. What's more, he knew that his opponents knew that he knew it.

71Bear said:

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Larno said:

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You're talking 1991 Bears. A bit of swagger, of confidence, and unfortunately some discipline issues too. The Big Game was a nightmare, and the roasting given the coaches was another incentive for Snyder to move on.

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Swagger - "Walk in a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive way".

I like "very confident". I dislike "typically arrogant or aggressive way". The former leads to wins. The latter to stupid penalties (yep, the 1991 Big Game is a great example of that point).

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The students had a lot of swagger in the 1991 BG.

HearstMining said:

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I like swagger BECAUSE you're disciplined. Ted Williams had plenty of swagger, but it was because he knew more about hitting a baseball than anybody in the world - and he knew that he knew it. What's more, he knew that his opponents knew that he knew it.

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The Miami Hurricanes are a great example of why your first sentence is not always correct. They had swagger and they were extraordinarily undisciplined..

LunchTime said:

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71Bear said:

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Larno said:

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You're talking 1991 Bears. A bit of swagger, of confidence, and unfortunately some discipline issues too. The Big Game was a nightmare, and the roasting given the coaches was another incentive for Snyder to move on.

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Swagger - "Walk in a very confident and typically arrogant or aggressive way".

I like "very confident". I dislike "typically arrogant or aggressive way". The former leads to wins. The latter to stupid penalties (yep, the 1991 Big Game is a great example of that point).

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The students had a lot of swagger in the 1991 BG.

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So did the alums

That game was a huge embarrassment.

71Bear said:

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HearstMining said:

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I like swagger BECAUSE you're disciplined. Ted Williams had plenty of swagger, but it was because he knew more about hitting a baseball than anybody in the world - and he knew that he knew it. What's more, he knew that his opponents knew that he knew it.

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The Miami Hurricanes are a great example of why your first sentence is not always correct. They had swagger and they were extraordinarily undisciplined..

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I see where you misunderstood my statement. I should have said, "I like teams/athletes who swagger if they are disciplined". I didn't mean to imply that all teams who swagger are disciplined. Aside from the Hurricanes, the Stanfurd Band comes to mind. At least the Hurricanes were a good, though undisciplined team. I'm not sure what the Stanfurd band is good for aside from revealing themselves as self-indulgent asses.

HearstMining said:

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71Bear said:

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HearstMining said:

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I like swagger BECAUSE you're disciplined. Ted Williams had plenty of swagger, but it was because he knew more about hitting a baseball than anybody in the world - and he knew that he knew it. What's more, he knew that his opponents knew that he knew it.

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The Miami Hurricanes are a great example of why your first sentence is not always correct. They had swagger and they were extraordinarily undisciplined..

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I see where you misunderstood my statement. I should have said, "I like teams/athletes who swagger if they are disciplined". I didn't mean to imply that all teams who swagger are disciplined. Aside from the Hurricanes, the Stanfurd Band comes to mind. At least the Hurricanes were a good, though undisciplined team. I'm not sure what the Stanfurd band is good for aside from revealing themselves as self-indulgent asses.

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I agree 100% with your second sentence. At the height of the Tedford era, Cal had swagger and were disciplined. That was a fun time.

I loved seeing Skittle Beast Mode riding a golf cart around the field. I don't think we need to have gotty big ass gold necklaces for great plays. But I do want to see us being respected for our abilities. Bottom line coach needs to bring this out of the team in a positive way.....