WIN VS. LOSS

I feel as though most people like to think that winning has a greater impact than losing, and that it gauges a far more spirited reaction, emotionally. Maybe it’s because I’m a realist, maybe it’s because I’m a bitter Giants fan, but bottom line, any football fan can tell you that much more energy gets exhausted from a loss than from a win.
When fans first make this realization, it’s obviously a little depressing. No one wants to believe the human spirit works that way, but if you think rationally, it makes perfect sense. When your team wins, that means for the most part, everybody on the team did their job at their position (unless of course your team is the Bears and you can throw four interceptions and still win on plays miraculously pulled out of the defense’s ass). You give high fives to your buddies, smile, have a laugh, and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that you won’t have to be burdened with losing highlights on Sportscenter for the next week.
See, there’s a primary obstacle at work that all fans possess which makes losing that much more of a burden. That obstacle comes in the form of pride, that sense of being a part of the team that actually plays a legitimate role (either superstitiously or cheering-based) in the outcome of one of your team’s games. Because of this, when your team loses, you not only feel bad that they lost but also because you might have been able to do something differently that might have led to a win.
This is how people become die hard fans. This is why I stood and cried during a beautiful sunset in Tampa Bay on a warm afternoon in January as I watched my G-men take the field, donning their freshly-sewn blue jerseys with the Super Bowl XXXV logo patched onto the front left. I also cried later in the game, beginning around the end of the 3rd quarter, stuffing my rally towel underneath my hat to properly cover my face in shame.
So there you have it. Both a win and a loss can result in tears. However, those of dismay lasted me from that 3rd quarter until my dad and I landed back in Newark the next day. And the pain of knowing we got that close and lost still lingers today. While nothing can take away the glory of being a champion, so too the pain of losing never dies.