I wanted to wait until after the conclusion of the Bucks-Celtics series to write this. Had I written this too early, I might have celebrated the hope of an NBA championship repeat that didn’t come to pass.
Now that my Bucks have been eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, I can ask myself the ever-asked questions: Why do I put myself through this? Why do I put such time, effort, and energy into something that will probably just upset me?
Be prepared to lose . . . a lot
To an outsider, being a sports fan is quite ridiculous. There is a lot of losing involved with it. This is true, especially in baseball and basketball.
Even a “good” Major League Baseball team will lose at least 60 games a year. That’s a lot of disappointing days at the ballpark, not to mention the playoff series in both of the mentioned sports where you can lose games before moving on to the next round.
If all you want to do is see your team win, get ready for a season’s worth of bad days.
If you can shrug off the regular season, only one-third to a half of NFL, NBA, and MLB teams even get into their respective playoffs, and only one, of course, wins the championship.
If you think the regular season is important, fun fact: The teams in the three major sports — NFL, NBA, and MLB (sorry hockey fans) — that hold the records for the most wins in a regular season (2007 Patriots, 2015-16 Warriors, and the 1906 Cubs and the 2001 Mariners) did not win their league championships that year.
All that winning for nothing?
After all this heartache, people keep coming back to the arenas and stadiums even though we know, one way or another, this probably won’t end well.
You’ve seen the images on TV: Tears, long faces, angry actions, bags on heads.
Sports are just supposed to be fun, right? Not as long as scores are still kept and champions are still rewarded.
Why, though?
I’ll get over the Bucks’ loss in time.
Once the NBA Draft, free agency, and a new season start, I’ll be back.
“Maybe they won’t lose this time!”
I’ve gotten used to this with the Bucks prior to last year and with the Brewers every year of my life.
The Packers seem to get it together every now and then, but we’ve traded the futility of the 70s and 80s for great quarterback play, talented all-pros, but most years end with teams that can’t quite put it all together and win the whole thing.
Maybe next year, though, maybe next year.
Isn’t hope a wonderful thing to have?
The start of a new season always brings hope.
Early wins always bring hope.
When the inevitable losses happen, we wonder why we bothered to begin with.
“Same old [insert any team here].”
Occasionally the Cubs will win a World Series (ugh).
Occasionally the Bengals will make a Super Bowl.
Occasionally the Bucks do win an NBA championship. But once isn’t enough. We want more.
The wins are rare and the losses are many.
The only way we can survive this is to accept losses are part of this.
I’m far from an “enjoy the ride” kind of person, especially when the ride usually crashes and burns, but maybe I can “accept the ride”.
Any game can be a loss. Should I aim low and be surprised when my team wins? That doesn’t sound very pleasant.
We want to see our teams win, but they probably won’t. It’s time to find the real meaning of sports fandom. Why do we put in all the efforts that we do?
Nachos in helmet bowls, brats, and bobbleheads. That’s what it’s all about.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.