Being me as a sports fan has been absolutely brutal lately. I am living the life of a long-time suffering fan on multiple fronts. And, let me tell you, it's no fun at all!
In the baseball world, the A's missed the playoffs. They were close, but just did not have enough hitting this year. At least there is hope for the future, but for now, its another season without postseason A's baseball. This year, however, has been an especially brutal postseason for me. The last two years, at least I had the Dodgers to sustain me for a while in the postseason. This year, the Dodgers didn't make it, were actually worse than the A's, and the Giants did make it. Then the Giants beat Atlanta, and I became agitated. Then the Giants beat Halladay in game 1 of the NLCS, and I almost felt like jumping off a bridge. The GIANTS, who have literally no offense, BEAT Roy Halladay, who did not give up a single hit to the Reds, the best offense in the NL this year? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?! Just abysmal. Luckily, Oswalt came to the rescue and won for the Phillies in Game 2.
I am currently cheering for one thing and one thing only this postseason...for the Giants to not win a World Series. As an A's fan, I enjoy being the only team to win a World Series in the Bay Area (and we've won 4 of them...only 1 I remember though). It's a nice thing to be able to hold over Giants fans heads. If they win, it's all I'm going to hear about for YEARS! So brutal. I don't need that in my life.
So with baseball season essentially over early this year, I was able to turn my entire focus to football and a 49ers team that was supposed to be the cream of the crop in the NFC West. And then the Niners lost. And they lost again...and again. Before we knew it, they were 0-5, and essentially done in the NFC West. Awesome. It turns out you don't just need talent to compete in the NFL, but also discipline, and leadership, and ball security. Oh, and you don't need Alex Smith. This year has been an abortion. A season that started with such promise ended really far too quickly.
At least this week the Niners got back on the winning track! They defeated the Oakland Raiders, which is good for many reasons. The most important reason is that it means that, no matter how bad we are (and we're really, really bad) the Raiders are worse. The Bay Area is still ours. And Raiders fans can't say shit to us...even if we go 1-15. At least we didn't lose to the Raiders. Also, our schedule from here on out is cake. Like, really really easy. So maybe finally getting a win can spur this team on to better things...like a 6-10 season. Ugh. At least we won't be the next Detroit Lions...at least for this season.
With the A's, Dodgers, and Niners all being bad...and the added insult of the Giants being reasonably ok (which is all that is needed to compete in the NL, apparently), at least I can find refuge in my hockey team, the team I get partial season tickets to and who play in my backyard. At least the Sharks won't let me down, right? RIGHT? Oh no...
So I went to the home opener on Saturday night, and things started well. The Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead. This was expected, as Atlanta is bad, and had played in OT in Anaheim the night before, and thus had to be tired. But no, the Sharks proceeded to shit the bed the rest of the night, and when it was all said and done, the Sharks had lost 4-2...on openeing night, which is supposed to be one of the best games to go to of the year.
Yes, it's early in the season, and I can get over losses for the Sharks early because it is a very long season. But this loss seemed to confirm some of the nagging doubts I had about this team floating around in the back of my mind. Niemi was in goal, and was really, really bad. Actually, he looked just as bad as he looked in the playoffs last season (and especially how bad he looked in the Stanley Cup Finals). So, really, I shouldn't have expected anything better. He's just a bad goalie with a ridiculous reputation as a good one because his team won him a Stanley Cup in spite of him. I don't get it. Anyways, pair that with a bad defense, which looked bad on paper going into the season, and looked bad in person on Saturday night...I really feel like this team will have a hell of a time keeping pucks out of the back of the net. Especially if they continue to run Niemi out there, who is bad at playing hockey (did I mention that already?).
It's early, i get it. And Wilson can always try and trade for some missing pieces (a shutdown defender or two). But this team worries me. I really don't see it as a division winner or a stanley cup contender. I see them as a borderline playoff team, and that's not acceptable. This team is supposedly built to contend for and ultimately win a Cup. I expect nothing less. And the very early returns on this team are disheartening.
So, yeah, it's been pretty torturous for me as a sports fan lately. I've even had a sports-related dilemma emerge recently.
Dustin and I had planned (and, really, are still planning) on going to Boston to see the Sharks take on the Bruins. I have never been to Boston...it's really the one major American city I have yet to see. It's scheduled for the first weekend in February, and I didn't think anything of it. And recently I've been looking at airfare for the trip and whatnot. When cruising through my calendar yesterday, though, something hit me...that is Super Bowl Weekend! Now, I loooooove Super Bowl weekend. The Super Bowl is one of the greatest American holidays of sorts. No matter who is playing in it, I always look forward to Super Bowl Sunday. And now I was scheduled to be flying home from Boston during the game. Great.
So after a brief chat with Dustin (we'll have to talk again later to confirm), it looks like I might actually end up watching the Super Bowl in Boston, and then fly home on Monday. That would be a pretty acceptable compromise. See the Sharks on Saturday, then enjoy the Super Bowl with the sports fans of Boston on Sunday. Could be worse! Anyways, it's just an interesting dilemma that will most likely work itself out, because things tend to work out for me anyways. Just kind of hit me last night and I was all "oh shit, that sucks."
Anyways, with the Giants losing on Sunday, and the Niners winning on Sunday, hopefully things will start turning around for me in the sports world. I've got another Sharks game on Tuesday, so we'll see if that's the next step in the end of my personal sports world hell. I sure hope so...Sharks games are always much more fun when we win!
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