Football playoffs are the most stressful time of your life. Whether it is the college football playoffs or NFL playoffs, if your team is playing, you are on the verge of a mental breakdown the entire time. I remember high school football playoffs even stressed me out! Why? Because you know that failure means you are done. Farewell. It’s over, just like that.

It kills me to say it, but both of my teams lost in their playoff games this season. The University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide made it all the way to the Sugar Bowl, only to fall to the Ohio State University -- the wound is still too fresh to think back to that game. Then, Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers lost to the Seattle Seahawks during the NFC Championship game. Oh, and they both had half-time leads.

Losing in the playoffs is, hands-down, the worst time to lose. If Alabama had won? The Tide would have been playing in the National Championship. If Green Bay won? The Packers would be playing in Super Bowl XLIX, come Feb. 1. They were both so close! 

The emotional roller-coaster one experiences during a playoff game is overwhelming. You have no choice but to ride every up and down with your eyes glued to the television. One moment, you are excited; the next, you are anxious. It’s a ride everyone hates, but craves.                   

When half-time rolls around, the emotions still don’t go away. You get a break from the game, but waiting for the third quarter to start feels like waiting for your late-night pizza to be delivered: it never comes quick enough. Then, during the wait, there is one of two trains of thought running through your mind: 1) Alright, we’re ahead. Now we just need to keep doing what we’re doing, and try not to screw up. The games not over, but we got this. We have to have it. We can’t lose. We got this! Or, 2) Oh, no. I know there’s another half to go, but if our defense doesn’t step up, we’re screwed. Where are you defense? Did you forget we have a game? Oh, and quarterback, you’re supposed to throw the ball to your teammates, not theirs! C’mon guys!

Obviously, option one is ideal, but we all know that just because you are ahead at the half, it does not mean the game is yours for the taking.                   

Then, if there is overtime -- bless, I’m sorry. While the overtime was short lived during the Packer game, I have never been so stressed out or nervous in my life. Everything and nothing are both going right. They get a second down? Gulp. The coach sneezes? Oh, no, that can’t happen! While I know it is a nerve-wracking situation, please remember to breath. Passing out and missing the end of the game probably is not a good idea.

Those last seconds of the game -- oh, my. I don’t care how much a team is winning by, until the clock hits zero, I will not give up on my team. But when the clock does run out, that is when the hangover of the game kicks in.

If you won, congratulations, it is time to mentally prepare yourself for the next roller coaster of a game. If you lost, I’m sorry. I truly am. Unless it was my team that trumped yours. Time to turn to that one thing you know will help you through the loss -- a tub of ice cream, a bottle of whiskey or wine, a good cry in the shower, or a re-watch of the game in hopes of a different outcome. However, trust me, that never works. I have tried, and it only brings the heartbreak back all over again. What makes it even worse, is now you have to wait until next season to see your boys back in uniform.

Long story short, losing in the playoffs is the worst time to lose. So if you will excuse me, I now have another loss to mourn over.