Last week I was watching the Michigan vs Notre Dame game with a fellow intern (who is a die hard Michigan fan) and a few of his friends at a bar in Brooklyn. While Denard Robinson was having, quite possibly, the worst game of his career, we got to talking about sports in general. More specifically, we started talking about the worst sports losses/moments of our lives. As we were reliving these moments over beer, wings, and sorrow, someone brought up the point that sports fans rarely enjoy watching their favorite team play. I quickly dismissed this as untrue. I mean, how could that be true. I look forward to watching my team play every chance I get. However, he then challenged me to really pay attention to my mood the next time I'm watching one of my teams play.
So I did.
 |
| And the results were mind blowing |
The game in question was the Miami Dolphins vs the New York Jets. I made a conscious effort to stop myself after about every 10 minutes and really evaluate how I was feeling. I can honestly say that for only about 20 minutes of that 3 and a half our game was I actually happy. Meaning actively cheering, excited and hopeful. For the rest of the time I'm yelling about bad passes, dropped passes, bad protection, bad calls, stalled drives and that's only on the offensive side of the ball. And this also happened:
Think about that. I only really enjoyed 10% of an activity I previously thought I immensely enjoyed. Were else would we allow that ratio in a past time? Would you recommend a movie you only enjoyed for 10% of the time? Would you hang out with a friend you only 10% like? Would you continue eating a food that hasn't made you sick only 1 out of 10 times? No way. Which begs the bigger question:
 |
| Then again, you all did recommend this movie |
Why do we do this?
No seriously, why do we do this? What possesses us sports fans to continuously subject ourselves to constant disappointment. Take the NFL for example, only 1 out of 32 teams will win the Superbowl. That means 31/32 teams will wind up leaving their fans disappointed. Those are terrible odds. The odds are similar in most professional team sports. But yet we devote whole days and nights to watching. We raise the stakes of every game, and set ourselves up for the inevitable fall.
Sadly, I don't think there is a good answer for this. We just do. It's what it means to be a sports fan. It's an understood code. There are certain rules that all fans follow (hmmm, sounds like an idea for a new post). These rules are never spoken but instead inherently understood. And you can't understand them until you become a fan yourself. Trying to explain it to someone who doesn't watch sports is futile. Not only can they NEVER understand, the more you try, the more you realize how little sense you are making. There is no logic behind it. There is no reason a group of 52 players I have never met should be able to affect my mood so greatly playing a game miles away from me against another 52 guys I've never met. But i just does. Sports fans get it. Just something to think about.
