It's been approximately 2,880 minutes since it happened . . . and, honestly, it hurts. It's a pain deep in the soul that I probably won't ever shake. To be that close to such a great moment -- only to see it slip through the fingers -- is still devastating. Somehow, it seems to have hurt more and more as the days have progressed as the realization set in regarding what exactly was at stake.
Sure, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't mean much. It's not something real. It's not a death or some other sort of real life tragedy. But given that following the Spurs is my only hobby in life, it's painful. I'm not going to even try to lie. It hurts.
I've tried getting away from it all to try to forget about it. But there I was, in the middle of the Pacific on a cruise ship in a pitch black room trying to fall asleep, and all that I can see is that Pelicans game replaying again and again.
Logically, I know the pain doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's just a basketball game. And the Spurs already have five championships. And given all the injuries and fluke OT losses this season, getting the 6 seed would have been seen as a great success. Hell, midway through the season, I thought getting into the playoffs would have been a success.
Logically, what the Spurs did late this season was a great accomplishment. After that loss in Portland, if you told me the Spurs would be only one game away from the 2 seed, I would have been thrilled.
But damn.
This pain doesn't compare to anything else I've experienced in my Spurs fandom. Yeah, .4 sucked. The foul was tough to swallow. The no-look pass was unpleasant. The backdoor sweeps weren't fun. The frontdoor sweeps weren't enjoyable. But all of those don't even register compared to this.
I've had an extremely busy weekend. Life is great -- never better. But it continues to haunt me.
Hopefully watching the game tomorrow will provide some sort of relief. The great thing about sports is there is always tomorrow. For now, at least, the pain of yesterday outweighs the excitement of tomorrow. I'm hoping that changes. Starting tomorrow.
