2008 Woodie Awards
As I See It
Burdens of victory and defeat
Dan McCallion
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
I'd rather win all the time. Or lose all the time. I haven't decided.
Many sports fans are torn, their emotions obscuring clear thought regarding this dilemma. Unfortunately, for the majority of us, we are instead stuck on a rollercoaster that none of us wanted to hop onto, caught in the never-ending cycle of half-triumphs and varying levels of disastrous lows. Our teams are good one year, awful the next, and sometimes sickeningly on the cusp of breaking through, only to find new ways to lose. And yes, if you were wondering, despite the fact that they are 8-4 and headed for the playoffs, I'm already attempting to hope for the New York Giants to find a new way to make my winter absolutely miserable. That's right, I'm complaining about it. That's why The Acorn pays me the big bucks. Tired of hearing about it? Tough. It's my column.
But I digress. The point is, isn't it better to simply either suck all the time or be good all the time? Let's look at the facts. If your team dregs the bottom of the league year in and year out, how can you be disappointed? If you win, it's a pleasant surprise, and if you lose, well, who the hell cares because you lose all the time, so what's the difference? And if you win all the time-well, let's just say the view is somewhat more appealing from the mountaintop than it is from the base.
I'm not quite saying that it's equally as good to be a fan of the currently 0-12 Dolphins as it is to be riding the swollen bandwagon of the 12-0 Patriots. But when Miami wins its first game, everyone in South Florida will be so relieved that a lot of the anger they feel now will fly straight out the window. By the same token, if the Pats trip over the Steelers this weekend, do you really think anyone in New England is going to panic? I think not. Instead, if anyone makes the foolish mistake of goading them about a loss, they're going to say, "Are you kidding me? We're still 12-1!"
This isn't to say that fans on these far-flung ends of the sports spectrum don't have their burdens to bear. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays play in a domed stadium that looks like an alien vessel, in front of a crowd so sparse that you can hear the players' conversation in the dugout from the upper deck. The New Orleans Saints fans, before the team's resurgence in recent years, spent the better part of 20 years with paper bags over their heads in mock support of the "'Aints." Conversely, any sports fans from the greater Boston area have to deal with the fact that in the span of five short years they've achieved the ultimate in opposing fan feelings: laughing at a ridiculously long losing streak to experiencing such a cup runneth over with success that everyone not from northeast of New York City, this columnist included, wants nothing more than to bitch-slap the collective happy off of their punch-drunk, smug faces.
You see? This is what being caught on the rollercoaster does to the average fan. It provokes random acts of violence simply because your opponent likes the wrong team. And you know what, in a strange way, that's the way we like it, right? Being kicked while we're down has a certain it-hurts-so-good vibe to it. And so we keep riding the ride, all the while wondering how our team will send us flying off the tracks to doom THIS time.
On second thought, could we just pause the ride for a second? I think I'm gonna be sick.
Many sports fans are torn, their emotions obscuring clear thought regarding this dilemma. Unfortunately, for the majority of us, we are instead stuck on a rollercoaster that none of us wanted to hop onto, caught in the never-ending cycle of half-triumphs and varying levels of disastrous lows. Our teams are good one year, awful the next, and sometimes sickeningly on the cusp of breaking through, only to find new ways to lose. And yes, if you were wondering, despite the fact that they are 8-4 and headed for the playoffs, I'm already attempting to hope for the New York Giants to find a new way to make my winter absolutely miserable. That's right, I'm complaining about it. That's why The Acorn pays me the big bucks. Tired of hearing about it? Tough. It's my column.
But I digress. The point is, isn't it better to simply either suck all the time or be good all the time? Let's look at the facts. If your team dregs the bottom of the league year in and year out, how can you be disappointed? If you win, it's a pleasant surprise, and if you lose, well, who the hell cares because you lose all the time, so what's the difference? And if you win all the time-well, let's just say the view is somewhat more appealing from the mountaintop than it is from the base.
I'm not quite saying that it's equally as good to be a fan of the currently 0-12 Dolphins as it is to be riding the swollen bandwagon of the 12-0 Patriots. But when Miami wins its first game, everyone in South Florida will be so relieved that a lot of the anger they feel now will fly straight out the window. By the same token, if the Pats trip over the Steelers this weekend, do you really think anyone in New England is going to panic? I think not. Instead, if anyone makes the foolish mistake of goading them about a loss, they're going to say, "Are you kidding me? We're still 12-1!"
This isn't to say that fans on these far-flung ends of the sports spectrum don't have their burdens to bear. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays play in a domed stadium that looks like an alien vessel, in front of a crowd so sparse that you can hear the players' conversation in the dugout from the upper deck. The New Orleans Saints fans, before the team's resurgence in recent years, spent the better part of 20 years with paper bags over their heads in mock support of the "'Aints." Conversely, any sports fans from the greater Boston area have to deal with the fact that in the span of five short years they've achieved the ultimate in opposing fan feelings: laughing at a ridiculously long losing streak to experiencing such a cup runneth over with success that everyone not from northeast of New York City, this columnist included, wants nothing more than to bitch-slap the collective happy off of their punch-drunk, smug faces.
You see? This is what being caught on the rollercoaster does to the average fan. It provokes random acts of violence simply because your opponent likes the wrong team. And you know what, in a strange way, that's the way we like it, right? Being kicked while we're down has a certain it-hurts-so-good vibe to it. And so we keep riding the ride, all the while wondering how our team will send us flying off the tracks to doom THIS time.
On second thought, could we just pause the ride for a second? I think I'm gonna be sick.
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