Objectively speaking, I understand why we do. If you grew up as a fan of a particular team, they become a part of your iden y and any success or failure your favorite team experiences is also your success or failure. When your team wins the championship, you get "bragging rights" and a huge self-esteem boost. When your team loses, or worse yet, chokes in dramatic fashion after being so close to delivering their fans that self-esteem boost, it's like quitting a powerful drug cold turkey, resulting in the emotional fallout we've seen on this board over the past 3 days, with posters talking about how game 6 will "haunt them for life." Our own Timvp, who almost died last year, said, "There's no getting over game 6."
Rationally speaking, how silly is it to let the results of a game "haunt you for life?" Especially when you had absolutely zero control over the outcome. I understand the players being haunted, but even then, it's still only a game and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Manu Ginobili's 8 turnovers and missed game clinching FT didn't improve or worsen the world economy, start a war, or cure cancer. Nor did they did kill your spouse, child, or pet. They lost a ing basketball game that 99.9% of the population couldn't give a about.
Sports should be fun to watch above all else, which they usually are. Their outcomes should in no way dictate your mood, sense of self-worth, or outlook on life.
Nothing about sports should "haunt us," an epic loss like game 6 should be celebrated as great drama that illustrates how mercurial life is rather than emotionally devastate the fanbase who was on the losing end.
There's real tragedy that can haunt us, and if game 6 is what is currently haunting your mind, consider yourself pretty damn lucky.
Last edited by midnightpulp; 06-22-2013 at 02:10 AM.
sports is secondary to life. but still, sometimes it's our gateway to get away from our real problems in the real world at least for a moment. many of us become emotionally invested and it's hard but while it sucks losing a finals, it's worse dealing with real life. I saw the spurs lost the finals and my dog died this morning, i'm a hardcore spurs fan and i'm more sad at my dog dying today than the spurs losing, though the spurs losing still bothers me.
agree tbh... here in vancouver we destroy the city over some game where you put pucks in the net. lol.
worst moment of my sports life was the 2003 Detroit Tigers seasonstill remember coming back down 8-0 to beat the Twins 9-8... narrowly avoiding the worst record in baseball history.
Dmitri Young
Last edited by irishock; 06-22-2013 at 02:43 AM.
I was 4 when my old man put a football in my hands...I can't imagine not having the NFL to look forward to every year. Opening Sunday is better than Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and every other day combined. Sad, but true. It stems from a link to fam and friends and good times.
For me, sports are a gateway to memories. "What was I doing in 2002? Oh yeah, that's when the Lakers were finishing up their 3-peat...I was a soph in college then." Poor example, but whatev
Ive loved sports since i was an child, basketball being my main, but other sports as well. Professional sports are amazing because if you play them, you respect how hard it is to do what the pros do. You love teams because you grow up around that atmosphere. Its amazing what these guys do, im so envious and entertained when i watch pro athletes do their thing, every laker loss is painful, and this season was one of the worst if not the worst. I love my ing Lake Show either way though.
Your perspective interests me greatly here, because considering what you do for a living, I know you seen some and there's probably some things that haunt you, so anyone saying they'll be haunted for life over a game must get a chuckle out of you.
Probably the worst for Laker fan since the announcement. Not because of the underachieving, but losing a legend like Kobe to a possible career ender is actually, when you think about it, worse than losing a game 6. If Kobe doesn't bounce back, there will be an eternal "what if" concerning him and if he could've won another championship.
As a fan, I really dont want to see him go out like that, but I am bracing for the worst. This season was doomed before it began, lakers were majorly over hyped, and credit to you tbh. Lets just see what that sensitive pussy is going to do so we can get on with our .
You become numb to most of that stuff after awhile. Bad burn patients, certain suicides, and SIDS babies are the only thing that register with me now. When you enter the profession it's because you want to help people. Soon enough you become jaded and start to hate people, and welcome the escape sports brings
You deserve that Bills Superbowl, brother.
I'm resigned to the fact that it'll be the Los Angeles Bills who finally win it, though.
And in the interest of disclosure, one of the reasons we, well me anyway, was happy to see Kobe go down was not out spite or wanting to see him get hurt, but it removed the threat of the Lakers upsetting the Spurs in the 1st round. Trust me, the Lakers beating the Spurs as a 7th seed led by Kobe would've done way more emotional damage to this fanbase than game 6 and harmed the legacy of the Duncan-era Spurs.
Spurs losing causing a mid life crisis
You're still a taker, Midst. You won't line up with them, or, without them at loss. Why? Simple, it's too painful.
This is why at wholesale:::Spurs Fan is a piss pot winner. At victory Thursday nite that would not have changed. Yes, you'd be 5-5 Duncan over the tired old bag Kobe.
You won't be bleed at loss. You won't get down into the (misery) that Bosh talked about with your people at loss. Usually you/Spurs Fan deflects with officating, injury, scheduling, outrageous fortunte, etc., but, this time you bypass that out of some thread of decency and ease on down into denial and you turn your back on the suffering that I can assure you Duncan, Pop, et al are experiencing. Just because Media has not & will not drag them thru the streets for days & nights don't mean they do not suffer. If you won't get down and suffer with them now then you're just a piss pot winner, a taker.
I didn't have to be told Thursday nite that Magic Johnson's biggest regret was '84. I didn't need Media to tell me that. I knew it 29 years ago. Duncan, Pop, et al were fortunate,,,I suppose. They didn't get laughed at on national television. Just the opposite, they were feted at total loss. Treated like kings, like victors. Hopefully, they learned nothing. Magic, at '84, in the trough of total loss learned everything. & so did I.
Media has provided a soft seat for the Spurs to fall back in. Your Boston (Miami) in association with Media didn't humiliate you at loss. They just beat you. If Magic had not been humiliated 29 years ago 28 years ago he'd not have risen and extracted a vengeance that never faltered. But, I didn't know that 29 years ago. It never occurred to me to deflect that misery though. So when Johnson looked left I was standing there, not for what was was to come a year later, but, for what had transpired a moment before.
Why should sports be painful? For the players and coaches, I understand. But how is the fan supposed to "get down into the misery" with the players and coaches when they had no influence over the outcome of the game? If I was coaching, Duncan is never pulled, I put my best freethrow lineup on the floor so I don't burden Leonard, 21 years old about to win his first championship, 66% freethrow shooter in the playoffs, and probably scared to death, with making those game clinching freethrows, and I intentional foul to put them on the line. I'm not going to bear the cross for Popovich's ups and beat myself up as if I did it. On the other hand, if they win, I don't get a ring, a million dollar contract, or the adulation. I just feel happy, simple as that. And when they lose, I feel angry and disappointed, simple as that.
I understand your line of reasoning, that sports fans don't want to put equal energy into the happiness of a win and the heartbreak of a loss, which you feel makes a fan undeserving when their team comes through for them. I didn't sleep for near 48 hours after game 6. It depressed me. How much "suffering" do you require a fanbase to give to their team to shed the "piss pot winner" label?
And I think you're too concerned about the media's handling of things. Who cares what they have to say?
The reason Media soft-seated the Spurs is because if they admitted the Spurs choked and gave one away, it takes some of the luster off James' win.
Last edited by midnightpulp; 06-22-2013 at 06:46 AM.
I'll answer this later, Midst. I'm going back to couch.
So Miami is The Spurs' Boston now?? AWESOME! Then this has JUST begun!!
If Duncan and Manu were 5 years younger, this would've become a great rivalry.So Miami is The Spurs' Boston now?? AWESOME! Then this has JUST begun!!
NBA is still salivating over Durant vs. James, though. So we were basically the '86 Houston Rockets. An intermission after the 1st act of the James vs. Durant saga.
Because you are invested. If you aren't invested emotionally, you don't get the highs. I still think about Asante Samuel dropping that easy interception, what if Welker makes that catch, what if we get a damn rebound Game 7, about Tim Wakefield being the goat against Aaron Boone, about Manning coming back to beat us, about Champ Bailey taking back an int for a TD when it should have been a touchback due to Watson's hustle, and so many more.
But I remember the good times too, the Bruschi snow celebration, Brady being amazed at winning the SB in 01, KG and Pierce winning in LA and all the battle he has had with Lebron, Marchand punching the Sedin twins and Horton burying game winners, and of course Big Papi, Manny, Pedro. You can't have the ups without the downs. And when the downs happen (like they might with the Bruins), you just remind yourself that you still have a great family, food and shelter. That overall, it doesn't really make a difference.
But, in some real way, it does make a difference losing, and it sucks. And it's not the blowouts that haunt; its the close games, the "if my team had just grabbed one rebound or made one more catch" that really stick with us.
My point exactly.
Game 6 did "crush me," but I'm not going to "get down in the misery" for very long, since I doubt the players are either. Probably already looking forward to next season and how they can get back to the Finals and hopefully give themselves a shot at redemption.
I thought Boone's walk off would destroy the "Idiot" era Red Sox, but a year later, they redeemed themselves in the most epic way imaginable.
But if this is how the Duncan-era ends, so be it. You hate for an era to end on a epic failure, but for most professional players, they usually do.
Yeah, but it still sucks, and you will still think about it, even decades later. That's just how sports fans are. I will say that sports losses have affected me slightly less since I have kids now. Easier to see what's really important
I still think about Hakeem undressing Admiral.Yeah, but it still sucks, and you will still think about it, even decades later. That's just how sports fans are. I will say that sports losses have affected me slightly less since I have kids now. Easier to see what's really important
Luckily for me, I haven't had to endure any of Bill Simmons' Level 1 "Stomach Punch" heartbreakers being a fan of the Dodgers, Raiders, and Spurs.
Closest I came with the Dodgers was Matt Stairs' shot in the '08 NLCS, which was tame by baseball standards, compared to the '86 World Series, Jose Mesa, Bartman, Boone's walk off, and the Rangers' collapse.
Raiders, it was the Tuck Bowl against your Pats, but knowing the Raiders would've probably gotten obliterated by the Rams (if they made it past the Steelers) soothes the pain of that loss.
Game 6 was a , but thankfully the Spurs have 4 les, which lessens the sting quite a lot.
Sports are a big part of my life and that Game 6 loss hit me hard, but then again I remind myself that it could be worse, I could be a Bobcats or a Wizards fan. Those guys will probably be stuck in mediocrity for a while, John Wall is no Chris Paul, Kemba Walker is no Tony Parker.
Funny enough, being a fan of a franchise isn't really painful because of the low expectations.
Now being a fan of the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, and pre-2011 Dallas Mavericks is the definition of torture.
because sports are earliest memories and thus so much time is invested in them
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