Sports Centered: The Phillies Fall and its Effect

Well it happened. The scary possibility I couldn't shake since the beginning of the Post season. The best team in baseball lost an elimination Game 5 to a team who had to claw and scratch to make its way to where they are. The Phillies, in a 3 hit debacle, lost their hopes to become World Series Champions. I really can't explain directly how I feel right now. I'm thinking this is the mood many Philly fans find themselves in now. Let me do my best to list just how I think I feel.

• Cheated - We have been told by every media outlet in our area and most others that the Phillies were surefire locks to win the World Series. They gained every possible asset we could from Lee to Pence in order to make sure they had a lineup on both sides of the ball that could end games in W's for them. We sold out most (if not every) game of the season watching our boys play and win 102 games. 
• Let down - If you're a fan like me, you've watched every game you could. You read articles about most games and the players. You yelled to Mayberry, Victorino, Ibanez, Pence and every member of the bull pen for a throw around or 3rd out ball. You wore a shirt, jersey or some kind of apparel to represent your favorite baseball team. You've talked hard core baseball with fellow fans and put up with and had to combat other teams' fan's hate. You grew a relationship with the team. And they let you down.
• Lost - I've watched baseball nearly everyday. I watched the amazing last night of the regular season and Mayberry's blooper over the Astro's center fielder to win the first game of the season. What do I do now? Football's once a week, Hockey's just beginning, and the NBA doesn't exist anymore. Maybe I shouldn't build my life around sports, but it's built. And its got a pretty rocky foundation right now.
• Angry - Who do the Cardinals think they are? They had no business winning any of those games let alone the series.

And that's where I have to stop. The truth is, it's not the media's fault. It's not Ruben Amaro's fault. The blame doesn't belong to the fans who bought tickets every day. It's not the Football schedule or NBA lockouts fault. It's not even the Cardinal's fault. As much as I hate just about every player, manager and bat boy on that team, they deserve to be where they are. They came in and beat our Phils fair and square. Maybe if it was a 7 game the Phillies would have faired better. But it wasn't. And the Cardinals adapted. I wont say anything else ill of the Cardinals. For the rest of the post-season at least.

I do put a good amount of blame on the players. We sold out their games. We were the "best fans in baseball" (according to them). We were called out for not being loud enough at a post season game. They made us into the World Series seeking, win hungry baseball monsters we became. We were just fans. Innocent bystanders on the Phillies path to a big set of rings. And they laid down and gave up that path to the Cardinals. They got outplayed. Maybe not out pitched, but definitely out hit. We knew the hits were a problem. We didn't know they were a pandemic disease.

And so it's over. The season ended tonight and we don't have a game for another 6 months. My heart has been torn out and I want to punch through a wall. Despite that I am keeping one thing in mind. This is something that is so hard for me to deal with and keep my head wrapped around but its the only thing that's keeping me from over thinking every strike out and pass ball in the entire series. I don't like it, so I don't blame anyone if they don't either.

It's just a game. There will be thousands more in the future, some just like this one. It's 3 hours of my whole life, though it is chained to the entire regular season. Either way, it's a sport, a game, the great american "pass time" as it's called.

And yet, thinking of that moment will affect my mood for years to come or whenever something worse can erase it. What is wrong with me? How do I let myself become so engrossed in these games. Nothing I do can change the outcome of any game, and yet I put these wins and losses upon my shoulders like I'm on their payroll. So why do I let myself get to this point?

To quote ESPN, "It's not crazy, It's sports."

Sports do so much good for us as a society. They bring us together and create healthy competition and give us something to dream of and believe in between after our 9-5 shifts. The good that sports do could be a subject for a whole other article. But maybe it's wrong for us to become so invested in these games and let them control our emotions. Maybe we should treat sports as more casual fans, golf clapping and not dumping our life into them. Maybe we should be fine with everything the players do, I mean they're pros! They gotta know what they're doing. Maybe we should just acknowledge games and scores in passing. A part of our lives, but a far smaller one. Maybe, contrary to ESPN's beliefs, "It's crazy".

Well, I'm never one to disagree with ESPN.

Whatever we should do, it's football season now. The Washington Football Team is 3-1. I have really high hopes for the rest of their season. Nothing disappointing can possibly come from this! Let's go Skins!