Why bother?
That, I think, is the great question with sports, or rather sports fandom. Why bother? Even in the best years a fan is only going to be pleased with the results 60% of the time, and then once the regular season is completed the playoffs start, when it seems it is every other team’s turn for a championship, leaving one choking on dust in the rear.
I am relatively new to this whole thing, only picking up this bad habit of fandom in 2001. The reason? Patriotism, what else? But regardless, I still have not learned to deal with the failures that go along with being a fan. Baseball games have a way of ruining an otherwise splendid evening, and football games - well… they can take out half a week if I am not careful. It is silly how much emotional investment is tied up in this, but it is what it is, and any sports fan would tell you the same.
This all might sound quite unappreciative coming from a Yankees fan. Indeed, it sounds down right stupid, what with all of the history of winning, 26 Championships, debatably the greatest franchise in sports. Unfortunately, like I said, my time with them has been fraught with the sorrow of crushing postseason defeat. I hope you can forgive me then if my mindset is decidedly more Red Sox than Yankee. To note, my first experience was Game 7 of the 2001 WS. This was followed by an upset by Anaheim in 2002, an upset by the Marlins in 2003, the worst choke job in history in 2004, and successive first round ousts in 2005, and 2006 after finishing with the best record in baseball both years. Now they head into the home stretch with a 2.5 game lead in the Wild Card over Detroit, no lock yet to reach the playoffs, and if they reach them, who knows? The chances are it will be another heart breaking experience. But maybe this is the year I experience a championship?
My football team, the Chargers, has always been a joke until recently. I also picked them up in 2001, so I have experienced a bit of that losing culture - certainly enough to appreciate the winning going on for the past three years. However, just as with the Yankees, great talent = great expectations, and last January was no easy pill to swallow. Fire the head coach, hire Norv Turner and start over; maybe get some revenge against the Patriots. Of course, that plan looks like it went awry with last night’s disgrace at Foxboro. Are the Patriots really that good? Or did Norv Turner just seriously mess up this team? Probably neither and this is just your typical sports fan overreaction, but that is what the life of a sports fan is like.
So I suppose the question is why do I subject myself to it? Why do I follow it so closely? Well, there really is no feeling quite like when your team wins first of all, and thankfully I have been blessed in watching some pretty good regular season performances recently, but it is that thought of watching my team win a championship that keeps me coming back. Eventually one would figure that one of my teams would break through (while I am following them), and I could feel the euphoria of winning the proverbial “Big One.”
Now onto something important…
I do not think I am particularly happy with where my life is right now. Rather than make changes, however, I seem to have a remarkable ability to convince myself of the contrary.
God bless
I am relatively new to this whole thing, only picking up this bad habit of fandom in 2001. The reason? Patriotism, what else? But regardless, I still have not learned to deal with the failures that go along with being a fan. Baseball games have a way of ruining an otherwise splendid evening, and football games - well… they can take out half a week if I am not careful. It is silly how much emotional investment is tied up in this, but it is what it is, and any sports fan would tell you the same.
This all might sound quite unappreciative coming from a Yankees fan. Indeed, it sounds down right stupid, what with all of the history of winning, 26 Championships, debatably the greatest franchise in sports. Unfortunately, like I said, my time with them has been fraught with the sorrow of crushing postseason defeat. I hope you can forgive me then if my mindset is decidedly more Red Sox than Yankee. To note, my first experience was Game 7 of the 2001 WS. This was followed by an upset by Anaheim in 2002, an upset by the Marlins in 2003, the worst choke job in history in 2004, and successive first round ousts in 2005, and 2006 after finishing with the best record in baseball both years. Now they head into the home stretch with a 2.5 game lead in the Wild Card over Detroit, no lock yet to reach the playoffs, and if they reach them, who knows? The chances are it will be another heart breaking experience. But maybe this is the year I experience a championship?
My football team, the Chargers, has always been a joke until recently. I also picked them up in 2001, so I have experienced a bit of that losing culture - certainly enough to appreciate the winning going on for the past three years. However, just as with the Yankees, great talent = great expectations, and last January was no easy pill to swallow. Fire the head coach, hire Norv Turner and start over; maybe get some revenge against the Patriots. Of course, that plan looks like it went awry with last night’s disgrace at Foxboro. Are the Patriots really that good? Or did Norv Turner just seriously mess up this team? Probably neither and this is just your typical sports fan overreaction, but that is what the life of a sports fan is like.
So I suppose the question is why do I subject myself to it? Why do I follow it so closely? Well, there really is no feeling quite like when your team wins first of all, and thankfully I have been blessed in watching some pretty good regular season performances recently, but it is that thought of watching my team win a championship that keeps me coming back. Eventually one would figure that one of my teams would break through (while I am following them), and I could feel the euphoria of winning the proverbial “Big One.”
Now onto something important…
I do not think I am particularly happy with where my life is right now. Rather than make changes, however, I seem to have a remarkable ability to convince myself of the contrary.
God bless