Five years ago today -- Kalemba and Fifer take note of the date (10/27) -- the Red Sox won the World Series. While I was living in Boston. With season tickets. I'm not afraid to say that this was one of the best days of my life (though not nearly as wonderful as beating the Yankees. Short of having a family member make the big leagues, I don't think that will ever be topped). I remember walking out of work with this kid Jeff Mitchell and saying "next time I see you, we'll be World Champions" as we parted ways.
(Note: of all the funny things people do in associating with sports teams, my favorite one has to be referring to yourselves as champions along with the team. Yet it also makes sense. Any sports fan knows that)
It was awesome. It was the best thing ever. I still describe the victory parade as the closest I will come to heaven on earth. And it changed my opinion on the importance of being a champion.
A funny thing happens when a team you love wins the World Series (or Super Bowl, or whatever): you realize winning isn't nearly as important as you thought. I mean, that's still the goal and it's really freaking awesome when it happens. Still...
I guess my theory goes like this:
You come to a point in the season where you legitimately love your team. I don't mean "love" in the sense of loving ice cream; I mean "love" as in viewing players as family members. You call them by their first names. You know their habits. You can turn on the TV for a half second and ID players just by the way they swing the bat.
Somewhere along the way I think you stop rooting so much to benefit yourself and start rooting for the benefit of others. You root for slumping players to break out of it not just because it helps your team, but because you legitimately care for them.
Then, just like that, it's over. Win or lose the series, it just ends. As a fan you're left with this strange feeling of "now what?" I just spent six months with this family. Now they're...gone? That's why it's so important to enjoy the ride -- enjoy your family members' ride -- along the way. Winning a championship is fleeting. Sure, you can enjoy it for a couple weeks and it makes for great nostalgia. In the end, though, it's more about the time you spent watching, the time you spent building a friendship with people who don't even know your name.
Of course, there's a catch: you don't realize this until the season is over. All you can think to do is root for them to win because...I mean, what else would you do as a sports fan? On some level I think when you're doing this, you're rooting for them not so much for the feeling it gives you, but the feeling it gives them. They are like family, after all.
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