The rough days of sports fandom
Oct. 9th, 2022 05:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onepageatatimeSo… I'm a Toronto Blue Jays fan. Growing up, I cheered for both the Montreal Expos (who were closer to me geographically) and the Jays. I remember especially loving Dave Van Horne on the Expos radio broadcasts, but listened to both teams. But… for whatever reason, I don't recall there ever being as many Expos games on TV than there were Jays games. Of course, the Expos ended up moving, and I now live about the same distance from them as I did from Montreal. But the Jays are also the only MLB team whose stadium I have yet visited: once as a child, and a handful of times as a college student and young adult.
So, the excitement of the Jays making the playoffs (and knowing the Wild Card wasn't a one-and-done in this year's new playoff format) disintegrated, after they lost their first game Friday. There was much hope early in Saturday's game, as the Jays jumped out to a lead that eventually reached 8-1, before squandering that lead, with the game tied after a sickening outfield collision left us all, in the moment, worried more about the health of our players than the fate of our season. (In the end, one outfielder remained in the game; the other was taken off the field on the back of a golf cart, seated and motioning to urge the fans to cheer for the team, after he appeared unable to make the walk from the outfield to the dugout.)
In the end, the Jays lost the game, ending their year. And… it was definitely a horrible way to end the day. It was also really a weird way to lose and I found it weird to react to as a fan. Because… the moments after that collision were so scary that I don't blame the team for the multiple runs that were given up in that play. There was a small part of me that tried to make it "not sporting" for the Mariners' runners to continue to run after our players were injured, but… that part was quickly drowned out with the realization that, in the moment, everybody would have been so focused on their own role that they would not have seen what happened or realized its seriousness. And… it's the playoffs. It's the time when one does everything one can to succeed.
Even though I was tired, I did my usual bedtime routine of reading for about an hour before getting into bed, knowing I needed the extra time. And that probably helped me get to sleep. (I'd already warned H that I might decide to go write a couple of journal-y pages before bed, if my brain wasn't ready to calm down.)
In the end, where I got to was a weird place. It wasn't fair that the Jays lost the way that they did. But that unfairness didn't have anything to do with their opponents. So, that unfairness did nothing to take away from Seattle's success. In short: That's life.
I wish I could write lyrically about how baseball or sport imitates life. I'm not there. I'm not in a mood where I can see that as comforting or even instructive.
Normally, after "my team" loses out of the playoffs, I find it difficult to enjoy the rest of the playoffs. This year? I don't expect that to be quite the case. I can even somewhat celebrate H's Phillies advancing to the next round (I say H's, but she is not much of a baseball fan, she just lived in and near Philadelphia for a while when her dad was in the navy, so tends to adopt their sports teams.) I will probably keep an eye on how the Phillies do. I don't know how much I'll watch: that will depend on scheduling. I would have stayed up late for Jays games; I'm not sure if/how often I'll do that for the Phillies.
It also leaves me a little freer to pay attention to the start of hockey season, without worrying about scheduling conflicts between the two sports.
I don't know that I have much of a point… I just needed to write some of that and try to "get it out of my system." So I'll stop here
So, the excitement of the Jays making the playoffs (and knowing the Wild Card wasn't a one-and-done in this year's new playoff format) disintegrated, after they lost their first game Friday. There was much hope early in Saturday's game, as the Jays jumped out to a lead that eventually reached 8-1, before squandering that lead, with the game tied after a sickening outfield collision left us all, in the moment, worried more about the health of our players than the fate of our season. (In the end, one outfielder remained in the game; the other was taken off the field on the back of a golf cart, seated and motioning to urge the fans to cheer for the team, after he appeared unable to make the walk from the outfield to the dugout.)
In the end, the Jays lost the game, ending their year. And… it was definitely a horrible way to end the day. It was also really a weird way to lose and I found it weird to react to as a fan. Because… the moments after that collision were so scary that I don't blame the team for the multiple runs that were given up in that play. There was a small part of me that tried to make it "not sporting" for the Mariners' runners to continue to run after our players were injured, but… that part was quickly drowned out with the realization that, in the moment, everybody would have been so focused on their own role that they would not have seen what happened or realized its seriousness. And… it's the playoffs. It's the time when one does everything one can to succeed.
Even though I was tired, I did my usual bedtime routine of reading for about an hour before getting into bed, knowing I needed the extra time. And that probably helped me get to sleep. (I'd already warned H that I might decide to go write a couple of journal-y pages before bed, if my brain wasn't ready to calm down.)
In the end, where I got to was a weird place. It wasn't fair that the Jays lost the way that they did. But that unfairness didn't have anything to do with their opponents. So, that unfairness did nothing to take away from Seattle's success. In short: That's life.
I wish I could write lyrically about how baseball or sport imitates life. I'm not there. I'm not in a mood where I can see that as comforting or even instructive.
Normally, after "my team" loses out of the playoffs, I find it difficult to enjoy the rest of the playoffs. This year? I don't expect that to be quite the case. I can even somewhat celebrate H's Phillies advancing to the next round (I say H's, but she is not much of a baseball fan, she just lived in and near Philadelphia for a while when her dad was in the navy, so tends to adopt their sports teams.) I will probably keep an eye on how the Phillies do. I don't know how much I'll watch: that will depend on scheduling. I would have stayed up late for Jays games; I'm not sure if/how often I'll do that for the Phillies.
It also leaves me a little freer to pay attention to the start of hockey season, without worrying about scheduling conflicts between the two sports.
I don't know that I have much of a point… I just needed to write some of that and try to "get it out of my system." So I'll stop here
(no subject)
Date: 10/9/22 12:18 pm (UTC)Even weirder is that the Phillies, who finished 14 games behind us, get to play a lower seed in the NLDS. They don't reseed after the first round. I suspected it was so they could promote "October Obsessiveness" brackets to gamble on through the many fine legal sites, but the lead time is too short for that.
Sorry aboot your Game Two collapse. The Jays have overtaken Boston as my AL favourite, after being such good tenants the past two summers and having so many Bison alums from the field to the dugout to the booth. But if you're in temporary need, come over to the Mets side. We have Timmy's Camp Day cookies and hate the Yankees more than you do.