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Sports: They'll Break Your Heart

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YTOWNBUCKI's picture
September 9, 2015 at 8:02am
56 Comments

I was having a conversation with a friend last night while watching the Nationals blow a 6-run lead in the 7th inning last night.  Sports will break your heart, man, and they’ll do it at the worst times.  Most of us on this site are probably some sort of Cleveland sports fans so we can attest.

In today’s age of hype and over coverage of certain sporting events the media has an ability to really pump you up for inevitable let downs.  You may not realize it at the moment in time, but you’re being set up.  Consider the 2006 National Championship Game and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  For over a month Ohio State was placed on a pedestal by the national media and was an overwhelming favorite to win the game.  We know how that ended…

We have a lot to celebrate around here since the Buckeyes are the defending champs.  How many of you were waiting for the heartbreak, though?  I considered it.  I considered it quite a bit.  I also kept that shit to myself because I wasn’t about to be the guy who forecasted the heart break.

Even in heart break, sports teach us valuable lessons at an early stage in life.  I was 12 years old and the Indians were tied at three games apiece in the 1997 World Series.  I had listened to my dad talk about “The Curse” and how he was ready for it to end.  My dad had been through it all as an Indians fan.  He went to Cleveland Municipal Stadium tons of times just to leave in angst.  He watched the Indians suffer through years of being in last place.  Major League was almost a mockery to him.  These are the things he explained to me at a young age.  So I rooted even harder for the Indians and got my hopes way up for every game.  This night would be different.

The Tribe led 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning and I can remember my dad saying “Why the fuck is Mesa in?”  Mesa would concede a run in the ninth to tie the game and blew the save.  They were right there, ready to end decades of misery.  But there was still a chance.  Mesa miraculously navigated the tenth but the Indians failed to score in the top of the 11th.  That’s when the heart break happened.  A line drive that went off of Nagy’s glove plated Craig Counsell and the rest was history.

I saw my dad tear up that day.  He looked to me, shook his head, and then pointed at the stairs signaling for me to go to bed.  He never said a goddamn word about it since.  Not once has he even mentioned it for a second.  And this is what sports can do to a man.

While we all get caught in the media frenzy, let’s not forget that heart break can happen.  Hell, it will happen at some point.  Whether it’s the 1997 World Series, the 2006 NCG, the losses to Michigan in the 1990’s or the next one, they all hurt and they all break our hearts but we still come back for more.

Why do we come back?  Why do we put ourselves through misery and heart break?  Because every once in a while, when everything seems doomed, our team will win it all with a third string quarterback and all will seem right in the world for that moment.  Here's to hoping for that moment again.

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