Being a fan means picking your team and sticking with them through thick and thin. When you are down six runs in the 7th and facing elimination, do you leave early to get a jump on traffic? Do you change the channel? Do you continually berate the pitcher, the manager, and the batboy for their sub-par performance? No! You stick with your team. You never give up hope.
Do you allow yourself to get worked up? Of course you do. This is one of the greatest things about sports, it evokes emotion. It allows our hearts to soar in the good times, but it also leaves us vulnerable to a crushing defeat. Could you avoid such heartbreaking moments by not allowing yourself to become emotionally invested in a team? Sure, but you will also exclude yourself from the emotional high that comes when the team you have cheered for since you were five years old comes from behind to win just as the clock hits 00.0.
Who out there was disappointed when the US Olympic Basketball Team had to settle for the bronze medal in Athens? We are the home of the NBA. The greatest players in the world come to our county to compete at the highest level and make a living. How can we bring home anything less than gold? Everyone in this country felt the pain of those Olympic basketball players who knew that they had not achieved their potential. Four years later, how many of us stood in our living rooms and cheered when Michael Phelps somehow came from behind to beat France in the 4x100 relay? Not only had Phelps and his fellow swimmers beaten France and the rest of the world, it was almost as if we as a country had pulled together, stood by our athletes, and came away knowing that we are the best in the world. It is healthy to allow ourselves to become a part of something bigger than ourselves. We can, and probably will, end up on an emotional rollercoaster ride that will eventually take us through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but eventually we will be able to look back and realize what a great ride it was. It wasn’t always pretty, but it made us feel alive.
Why live vicariously through a sports team? Can’t you get the same experience from a good movie? I say absolutely not, and let me tell you why. While the outcome of a football game may be as inconsequential in the long run as the conflict in a good movie, the struggle happening out on the field is REAL. These guys aren’t acting. That is real blood, those are real tears, and those are real people giving it their all in a game that they love. There is no director yelling “Cut, let’s try that again.” At the end of a movie if it doesn’t end up how you would have liked, the best you can hope for is a sequel. With sports, you know that there is always a chance for redemption, be it tomorrow, next week, or even next year. There will be a rematch, and revenge will be sweet.
Now to the elephant in the room, my team got beat tonight. Am I disappointed? You bet. Did it ruin my day? In a way it did. Will I have less of a spring in my step tomorrow? For sure. I knew as well as anyone that pulling off an undefeated season would take nothing less than a miracle or two. And I will be the first to admit that my team’s performance tonight appeared anything but stellar. TCU has a great team and they brought their A game today, my Cougs just couldn’t keep up. But have I giving up hope? Never! There are still six games left to play (yes, I meant to say six), and I believe that we have a very good chance of ending the season 12-1. And believe it or not, but it is still possible that win number twelve could come in a BCS bowl game. Is it a long shot? Yes, but so are the Tampa Bay Rays and look at the door they’re knocking on.
Win or lose, I will stand by my Cougars. I guess you could say that I follow the admonition of Paul: I believe all things, I hope all things, I have endured many things, and I hope to be able to endure all things. There have been some lean years, but I have faith that there are many great years ahead. This is an organization that is on its way back to the glory of yesteryear and I am going to hang on for the ride.
