Game Over

            Don’t you hate it when people try and trivialize your problems to put things “in perspective?”  If people don’t understand why you’re angry, they try and make the problem seem unimportant and say that you’re being unreasonable.  For example:  I am one of the biggest Yankees fans you’ll ever meet.  I can name the starting lineup, the pitching rotation, their bench players, the coaching staff, etc.  If you want to talk Yankees, talk to me.  Along with being a New York Yankees fanatic, naturally the Boston Red Sox fit into the same category as…well can you compare the animosity of a Yankees fan towards the Red Sox?   In order to understand, you’d have to actually be a fan of either team. 

            Now as any sports fan knows, the Yankees recently defied history by letting the Boston Red Sox come back and win a seven game series after the Bombers had been up 3-0 in the series for the first time in Major League Baseball history.  Now, the Red Sox are in the World Series ready to break an 86 year-old curse and the Yankees are sitting at home wondering how they could let it happen.  After they lost game seven…oh man, I was depressed!  I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed.  My team affiliation was no secret at school, and everyone let me have it the next day.  They couldn’t wait to give me guff about how the “Evil Empire” fell in a breakdown unprecedented in baseball history.  Although they didn’t know it, that’s like bullying somebody.  I’m just a diehard New York fan, and nothing’s going to change that as long as I live.  It’s like making fun of someone because they’re short or have glasses.  They can’t help it!  That’s just how it is!  When you go through every season listening to every game on the radio, watching each televised game on TV, and cram all your homework, conversations, and other things before the playoff games, those Yankees become your family.  When they win, you’re celebrating with them, and when they lose, you’re at some of your lowest points, just like they are.  After the game 7 loss, my older brother (who shares the same mentality as me) said “I’ve been less depressed at funerals.”  Losing in that fashion honestly changed my life, perhaps not forever, but at least until next season.  Days later, I still grieve over the fact that they were so close, and let it all slip away.

            Yet too many people just don’t understand what I’m going through.  Hey sports fans – how many times have you been told “It’s just a game” after your team loses?  Like the great saying goes “No one ever says ‘It’s only a game’ when their team is winning.”  People who haven’t followed a team for so long can’t connect with the agony you’re feeling.  This heart wrenching loss taught me that nothing is certain, and however close you are, things can always fall apart and shock you in ways you never thought possible.

 

Eric Wronsky

sSp