The Joy and Pain of Expectations

The San Francisco 49ers are awesome.  Seriously, they are playing pretty decent football right now…fairly easily dispatching two teams that were in the playoffs last year…and one of whom was widely regarded as the best team in football this year.  Well, until now.  After their impressive 2-0 start (a 2-0 start where both games were really never in doubt, but the Niners still didn’t play all that well), the Niners are now being regarded as the best team in the NFL…and, possibly, the Super Bowl favorites?

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Listen, I love that the 49ers are awesome.  I love that it looks like we have an elite team.  I love what Harbaugh’s been able to do here in San Francisco since being hired.  I love that we made it to the NFC Championship game last year and I love that the Niners could possibly get that elusive 6^th ring this year, assuming they stay healthy, keep playing up to their potential, and continue to improve under Harbaugh.  But, I have to say, my experience as a fan seems to change once there are expectations about winning around your team.

Last season was amazing.  Even when they started 6-1, 7-1, 8-1…I expected every game to be a loss.  So every game we won was like hitting the lottery!  After a decade of ineptitude and incompetence, the 49ers went 13-3, won a playoff game, and came up agonizingly short of making it to the Super Bowl.  It was incredible!  Nothing but joy.  The first game I had any real expectations for last year was…yup…the NFC Championship Game.  I finally expected the 49ers to win a big game.  They were the better team than the Giants, they were the home team, and they were heading to the Super Bowl!  Until they didn’t win…and I was crushed.  And that’s the point of all of this…once you have an expectation of success…wins are nerve-racking and losses are soul crushing.

Like last year’s Niners, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Oakland A’s team.  They came into the season looking like a team that would lose 100 games and challenge for the #1 overall pick in the draft.  And here we are, 16 games left in the season, with a 4.5 game lead in the Wild Card and only 3 games back in the division.  Unreal.  Its been so awesome because its been so unexpected.  There were no expectations, so every win has been hilariously awesome and fun!  Recently, I’ve been starting to expect the A’s to win.  I have been getting my hopes up about their chances of catching Texas for the division.  Losses have started to sting a little bit.  We’re still playing with house money this year…but I want more!  I want the ultimate success for my favorite baseball team!

Multiply that by 1,000 for this year’s Niners.

Last night I was watching the 49ers game against the Lions.  Basically, the Lions had no answers for the Niners.  At all.  They couldn’t run it, they couldn’t pass it.  Before their late, garbage time TD, they had 4 FGs…one from a phantom PI call by the ridiculously inept replacement refs, and one off a Kendall Hunter fumble on the ensuing kickoff return.  Two gifted FGs, and two actual FGs.  And yet, the whole game, I’d get upset when the Niners would give up a first down.  I have those kinds of expectations.  The Niners led the whole game…but until they finally won, I was on edge.  And when the clock hit zero, I felt relief first, joy second.  Expectations are a brutal thing.

So, that begs the question.  What’s the best fan experience you can have?  Is it cheering for the overachieving underdog?  Is it cheering for the perennial contender?  I think I’d die as a Yankees fan, since they come into every single season expecting to win the World Series.  I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a single game!  On the other side, though, I want the Niners to dominate!  I want them to win every game, roll through the league, be considered the best team in the league and to see them back it up!  I want them to win the Super Bowl!  I’d be highly disappointed if they just squeeked into the playoffs and became an underdog again at this point.  They’re far too good for that.

I guess, in the end, this is the enjoyable aspect of being a fan of a team…the payoff after years of toiling in mediocrity (or worse).  Last season was the Christmas Present…an amazing surprise that you love and just makes your entire year!  This season the Niners are looking awesome…pushing the Christmas Present we want this year back to February.  It makes for a slightly less carefree regular season for me as a fan…but the payoff would be the ultimate joy.

Such is the life of a fan!

Go Niners…and Go A’s!  Bring it home!