We all love them, we count down the days until the season begins and then we return to a routine. Wether it be sitting in your recliner with a bowl of pasta drinking beer with a bendy straw or watching the game with your friends, we all have a way we enjoy watching our sports teams. The season is usually a roller coaster ride with many peaks and valleys, and it can feel that way as fan. Here are some things all sports fans alike deal with:
1. Anxiety- If you're a fan of any sports team you know this is true. Watching them down or up by 1 score in the latter moments hoping they can hold on or come back and force overtime. The pinnacle of anxiety is game 7 which will be mentioned later.
2. The Blowout (bad)- We've all been there. Our team expected to do decent coming into the match then WHAM- before the crowd reaches their seats there's a crooked number on the board. Sorry, there's no reset button and you can't have admission back. The worst is when they start to make a comeback then get BURIED.
3. The Blowout (good)- These games are how we draw up every game to be. It seems like our team is being controlled by someone with a video game controller. Even the second string players are unstoppable. You wish they could bring this every night.
4. The 1 point/score victories- Very common among the playoffs with the best of the best teams playing, also occur during the regular season at a premium depending on the sport. These usually come jam packed with anxiety, a lot of defensive action, and possibly a comeback (or in baseball a walk off).
5. 18 Inning/4OT/extra time- Would. Someone. Just. Score. Please. The game began over 5 hours ago and no one has won. Everyone on the bench is exhausted and the manager/head coach is still calculating the next move. You're hoping someone, maybe that rookie will have the spark to send you home happily into the morning hours.
6. The blown lead- The dreaded blown lead. They've been in command of the game all night, then all of a sudden a switch was turned off and they seem to have their minds elsewhere. That once comfortable lead is now down to a single score and there is no margin for error. Then poof it happens, the other team scores and bye bye lead, hello crying towel…
7. The comeback- Probably our favorite and least favorite victory as fans, possibly because we didn't expect to win but we also went through the anxiety of “can they actually pull it off?” They came out of the gate slow and fell behind early, but raged on into the night and made it a contest, coming back and taking the lead.
8. Fights- While fighting is illegal tempers often flare when playing competitive sports. The only sport where you may fight in a game then return to that game is hockey. A physical sport such as hockey uses fighting to control the game allowing players to police themselves. If you whack a guy in the back of the knee with a stick you best expect to eat a five knuckle sandwich. Baseball used to be known for bench clearing brawls then the bullpens would empty from the outfield, has been on a decline the last decade. Just don't mess with rugby players…
9. The drunk- You might've encountered them that one time in the grandstand. They may have spilled a little of their beer on your favorite jersey while trying to sit down behind you. They're obnoxiously loud and won't quit screaming/talking so loud the entire time. You turn around to tell them to shut up but you miss a score and the crowd erupts as he jumps up and spills the rest of his beer on you.
