Preferred manner of defeat

On Saturday night the Packers were systematically dismantled by the 49ers. It became obvious early in the 4th quarter that an act of God was required for the Packers to win. Sadly, there would me no miracles for the Packers on this evening en route to a 45-31 throttling.

Less than 24 hours later the Seahawks were in a similar position to the Packers, only this time God made an appearance...that ultimately demonstrated His disdain for Seattle sports teams. Few losses are more crushing than the short-lived inspirational comeback. In fact, if I were a Seahawks fan I would rather there had been no comeback at all.

Nine times out of ten I prefer my teams get blown out rather than lose a close game. The reason is that a close loss always features one or two plays that could have (or perhaps should have) gone the other way. A prime example of this is the Packers losing to the Eagles in the playoffs after allowing a 27-yard gain on 4th and 26. Only when the Packers won the Super Bowl did I stop caring about that play. I would rather the Packers lost that game 45-3 than what cruelly unfolded.

Granted, close games have more entertainment value. However, I don't always watch sports for entertainment. More often I watch games because I want to see my team win.* There is a nice glow I receive when the Packers win a game and I'm not going to get the full glow unless I watch the entire game.  Having the glow replaced with a feeling of despair thanks to one or two key plays is very hard to handle. That the plays lend themselves to obsessive rumination only makes matters worse. This is not to say that blowout losses are devoid of despair, but I prefer them because they are easy to forget.

*This perspective has been de-emphasized over the past few years. You miss a lot of amazing stuff if you are only watching to see your team win. That said, I didn't watch the entirety of the Packers' miserable loss to the Colts because I was having fun.

As mentioned earlier, I prefer blowouts to heart-breakers by a 9:1 ratio. I will concede that some games are so epic that I can appreciate what happened despite the outcome. A rare exception to my preference was Green Bay's 51-45 overtime loss to Arizona in the 2010 Wild Card round. The game was arguably the greatest postseason passing showcase OF ALL TIME. That the Packers were involved in something so ridiculous is kind of cool. Furthermore, the manner in which the Packers lost was not that bad, especially considering they did not hold a lead at any point in the game.

In conclusion, it's better to get blown out UNLESS the game itself is outrageously epic and the close plays that don't go your way are not that bad.

What sayeth you?

Greetings!

Hello, friends! I have created this blog as a means to stimulate discussion about various items, particularly sports.

As young professionals that have the world on a string it's hard to find time to discuss our exceptionally intelligent thoughts in person. Being something of a genius myself, it is no surprise I came up with the great idea of starting a forum for us to kick around ideas and make fun of one another.

Enjoy!