Hard to be a Sports Fan

Sometimes being a sports fan is a difficult job.  When your teams are winning, it’s easy.  When they’re not, it’s hard to remain loyal.  What is especially hard is when ALL of your teams are on a losing path.  It would be one thing if just The New York Giants weren’t playing well, but add to that a dismal record for The New Jersey Devils and the losing season for The New York Mets and we have a houseful of disappointed fans.

We won’t give up on them.  We will keep cheering them on, even when they bring home those losses.  Instead, we will cheer on the amazing moments from the games – like last night’s thrilling catch by Odell Beckham Jr who truly caught one of the most amazing grabs I think I have ever seen.

Yet still, we still watch.  We love the games, we love the players.  I am known for getting mad, angry and shouting at the television when they lose but I have also cried when they have won.  I was at a final game of The Stanley Cup Finals when the Devils pulled off the victory.  When no one expected them to win.  We still believed in them.

Standing by and watching these losses only makes it that much more worthwhile when they win!

Last Game…maybe

I haven’t written a lot about baseball this summer.  It hasn’t been a very successful season for the boys.  Their team has only won two games.  It has been frustrating for the boys and despite how hard they seem to be trying, they just could not make it work out for them.

Tonight could be their last game.  If they lose, the season is over.  Although I am sure it is hard for the boys to realize, there are different ways to calculate success.  For some of these boys, it was their first time on “the big field” which made a big difference.  For others, trying out new positions that they’d never played before was a challenge.  Just working on becoming a cohesive team was difficult at times.  Dave assisted as one of the coaches.  He’s never coached baseball before and it was definitely a learning experience for him as well!

At twelve years old it is hard to see the logic behind a losing season but the last few games showed improvement.  Less errors, more hits, better fielding…they started pulling it together.  If only they had a few more games left.  The coaches don’t measure success only by having a winning season.  For them, it is keeping the boys interested and excited about playing ball and getting them excited to come back to play again next season.

A Losing Streak

It is so hard to stay positive when your team is on a losing streak!  In my family though, we are loyal fans.  We stick by our teams and don’t stray no matter how poorly they are doing.  In the 80’s our NJ Devils were often one of the last place teams in The NHL.  They were even referred to as, “A Micky Mouse Organization,” by Wayne Gretzky, (although he took that comment back a few years later.)  Yet, we still went to game after game to root them on hoping for a winning season and the pay off was great!  Three Stanley Cups later, The Devils are a team to be proud of.

This year our woeful team is The New York Giants.  Ugh, today they lost their fifth game of the season.  With a record of  0-5~ they have had a losing season from the start.  All over the news and internet, there are negative comments about the team and how they are playing.  They went into today’s game down 0-4, but still, my dad, brothers and DJ went off to the game in full Giants regalia with the hopes of a win.  The Giants kept it close…for awhile, but still could not pull off the win.

Losing means, “to be defeated,” and it  is extremely easy to feel negatively about the players and team as the losses pile up.  I am completely guilty of doing this.  I take it personally and complain about the team or players and how I would change things if I were the coach.  Ironic, since I have played very few organized sports in my entire life.

Part of what makes following a particular team is the tradition.  Whether it is hearing their fight songs, dressing in their team colors, or cheering your team on with your family… it keeps us connected and that’s important.

But, as all good sport fans do, we continue to support our teams.  We get discouraged and we get disappointed, but still, we go and we watch and we cheer for our teams.  We all try to stay positive and hope for a win.  There are still 11 football games to play this season.  We could still end with a winning record!  At least we can hope!  Or we could think like DJ, who says, “if we keep on losing and come in last place, at least we will get the first round draft pick!”  Way to think positively DJ.  I need to work on an attitude like that.