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?
After being consumed by sports and my progression in them for the better part of my life, I've gradually gotten to the point where I watch games to enjoy the gameplay, exciting ups/downs, etc. The teams I root for are merely the ones I usually enjoy watching. I don't get near the emotional attachment as some.
ReplyDeleteBecause my enjoyment is mainly on the quality of gameplay, I'd much rather just see a great game, even if my team loses. First, this is a huge reason I could never like the Browns. This is also why I enjoyed the Seahawks game much more than the Packers game, this would hold true even if I liked the Seahawks more than the Packers.
There is a point I'll make in favor of the gut-punch loss.
ReplyDeleteThe Packers-49ers playoff game (as well as their Week 1 game) was evidence that the 49ers are a horrible match-up for the Packers. Considering both teams are good and thus likely to face each other in the playoffs again, this is disheartening news for Green Bay. Unless they get significantly better or San Francisco gets much worse it will be very difficult to Green Bay to get back to the Super Bowl. In this way getting blown out is worse because it's a sign of bad things to come.
The Seahawks, on the other hand, looked like a juggernaut in the second half against the Falcons. This coming after first half where the 20-0 deficit was deceptively skewed in favor of Atlanta. Seattle's second half rally coupled with their youthful roster is a sign of great things to come, even considering the defensive collapse in the last 31 seconds or regulation.
Taking these two points into consideration, gut-punch losses may be better because they are more likely to occur to exceptional teams and/or teams on the rise. Conversely, blowouts can be a sign that a team is in need of some serious retooling.
This is my counterpoint to my original point. In case you were wondering, I still adhere to my original point.
Long time reader, first time poster here. Love the blog.
ReplyDeleteThis post got me to thinking why I love sports. It's obviously not for the wins and championships as I'm an Iowa fan and still passionate about the Hawks throughout the heartache (never got into wrestling, so those championships are provide minimal pleasure to me). And when I consider this, "heartache" brings up a great point about my fan-ness. I experience (on a regular basis) heartache that really doesn't matter. I also get the thrill of a big win, the confusion of breaking news, and all the other emotions that come with loving a team and sports in general.
In this sense, I think I take losses really well. And not just because I'm used to them... After the anger and sadness of a crushing defeat I can step back and say to myself "It wasn't meant to be and I just had a blast." Being at the Iowa-Nebraska game this year illustrated that point. It was on Black Friday, Iowa had nothing to play for but to stick it to Nebraska, it was cold as hell, and I knew my coworkers were all at work while I was freezing my ass off. Iowa held close and sometimes looked like they might pull off the upset. At one point I turned to my dad and said "Win or lose, this is a fucking blast!" (Truth be told, at the end up every season I'm 35% certain he's fed up with his season tickets and I'll no longer have him to split the cost with, so this may have been a bit of politicking on my part) After the game lots of people were immediately rehashing the horrible season, pissed off at our coaching staff, and in a general state of depression and anger. I was able to walk back to the vehicle and enjoy that fact that the ice didn't melt in my cooler (!!) and look forward to the next season, win or lose.
Here's another point about enjoying sports: Where else can reality feel so much like unbelievable fiction? Look at what's happened in the past week: Lance goes on Oprah, Te'o admits he and I may have been dating the same girl, and the endings of multiple playoff games were completely bonkers. I was reading Bill Simmons' "All Te'o mailbag" (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8856794/the-all-teo-mailbag) and he was discussing other bizarre stories, which he refers to as "The Tyson Zone." What other genre of culture could I pay attention to and so often be regularly flabbergasted by the stories? Economy? Depressing. Politics? Infuriating. Celebrities? Boring (Kanye did what? Lohan flashed who? Yawn...) In sports I get to read and hear about the humans that are playing, through all their flaws and successes, on and off the field of play. It's fantastic!