As I reflect on the Aggies unfortunate loss tonight, I wonder if the joys I get from sports are worth the heartbreak and frustration. The number of times teams I support have lost big games are far more than the number they've won. And unless they win the championship, your team will fail at some point each year. The only championships I have experienced are the Twins in 1991 and the Gopher hockey team in 2002 and 2003 (yeah, the Twins won in 1987, but I was too young to enjoy it). I understand that the euphoria of a championship can last many years, but a championship is far from a guarantee. But you can count on losses.
What happens, though, is that your team strings you along. They win a big game, or have a promising season, and that gives you enough of a fix to keep watching. A few years of setbacks, and you're ready to give up, but then they pull off an upset to bring you back in again. It's a vicious cycle.
Even though basketball is over now, I won't have much of a reprieve. The Twins start up again April 1st.
I'm going to say yes. After all, it's not only the championship that leads to fan euphoria. Those big-game wins that string you along also make you happy for a few days--at least until the next game.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, there's always next season.
I think sports are definitely worth it, being a life-long Astros fan, I do remember 1986 when we clinched the first postseason pennant of my lifetime. And we have yet to win a game in the World Series, let alone win it. But I love them just the same. Although I enjoyed the 18 inning game with multiple grand slams, a game tying homerun hit by a guy with only 3 homers all season, and a game winning homerun hit by a rookie in the bottom of the 18th, I more enjoy just experiencing the careers of my favorite guys. Like Biggio's about to get his 3000th hit after 20 seasons with the same team, and that is so much more amazing than a game winning shot at the buzzer to me. I've only been keeping up with college sports since I started college, so those aren't really that big a deal to me. 20 years of committment trumps the 7 I've been in college by a long shot. Plus I find college fans to be a bit insane. And a good sports team seems to be the definition of a good university, which drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some good Red Raider and Aggie games, but my heart is never invested. My heart belongs to my Houston Astros. And they are worth it to a point that I only want to live in a city that has a National League Baseball team, so I can be guaranteed to see my boys a few times a year. I would start to quote James Earl Jones from "Field of Dreams" here, but I think my point has been made, and this comment is incredibly too long.
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