You Want Frustration?

Sports may be the most unpredictable thing in the entire world. You can look at the splits, check out charts, even give players rankings, but in the end it all depends on how a person responds. Thats why sports are so beautiful andat times so, so ugly. The unpredictability keeps

people watching. Everyone fully expects the better team to win, but everyone watches for the times that they don't. We watch for the Appalachain States, we watch because a team that doesn't win a single game in an entire season can start their season two years later 5-0. We watch because a team thats cursed and down 3-0 in a best of seven series can still come back to win. We watch because even though we expect the best we fear the worst.

Case 1: The 2011 Philadelphia Phillies were put together for one purpose; to run buckshot through the regular season and dominate the play-offs with superb pitching and utimately finish their season with a ring on their fingers. Through 162 games the plan looked good. All the pieces were falling into place and maybe, just maybe the predictions would be right. More people than ever hopped on the bandwagon and for good reason. The Phillies pitching staff had done exactly what it was built to do, the hitters had performed well enough to get wins and everyone in Philly was happy. They even swept the last series of the year to keep their division rival Atlanta Braves from reaching the play-offs. Fatal Mistake. This allowed the St. Louis Cardinals, the hottest team in baseball to sneak into the play-offs. The Cardinals had a stellar line-up and pitching that was good enough, the exact opposite of the Phillies. Still, everyone expected the Phillies to win a championship. In 5 games the St. Louis Cardinals sent the Phillies home for the winter and shocked most of the baseball world. This is why we watch sports.

Case 2: The 2010 New Orleans Saints had made the play-offs as a wild card team the season after winning the super bowl. They were pretty darn good and were only the wild card team because the Atlanta Falcons had out done them. They drew what appeared on paper as the best match-up in the first round of the play-offs, the Seattle Seahawks. Everyone fully expected the Seahawks to be bounced in the first round by whoever they played because they were awful during the regular season and only made it to the play-offs because they played in the worst division in recent memory. They didn't like the thought of losing and one man in particular, Marshawn Lynch (hold mah dick!) decided it was his birthright to kick the living shit out of everyone on the Saints. So he did, and so did the rest of his team as they kicked the defending champs out of the play-offs. This is why we watch sports.

There are so many different upsets in the history of sports and thats what makes sports worth watching. Because the best team doesn't always win and the team that deserves to win doesn't always win. The heartbreak is what brings us fans back, theres something about losing that just makes us want more. No team can be perfect, no game is without concern, anxiety or stress. This is what makes sports beautiful, this is what makes sports ugly, and above all this is why we watch.