Last night was as hard as it comes to be a fan; Game 7 loss to the Lakers, collapsing in the second half and reminding Beantowners of our dour pessimistic hard-loss character. It is always hardest to lose when winning is closest, in a game or in a season, and almost makes me wish they had blown their chances months ago so I could have avoided all the recent trauma… But I guess its more about the thrill of potential victory than victory itself that makes sports fun. How else could it be that people continue to invest their time, money and energy into an experience that is almost always a losing effort in the end (if one can really consider there to be an end…)?
I have a very short list of things that disappoint me regularly, and sports are at the very top.
And just as I put the period on that sentence, the US soccer team scored a goal to tie it up from a two goal deficit. Sports excite! A US World Cup victory seems unlikely, but every strike is a jolt of euphoria. Moments like that, strung across a lifetime, easily outweigh the handful of championships I have witnessed.
But while sports ultimately disappoints me, I have a much longer list of things that never let me down and Alaina and nature are at the very top. The rest of my day will be spent hiking on Sargent and Penobscot mountains in Acadia National Park; it is a glorious day and I am in need of some eternal inspiration.