George Carlin left us with a lot of lessons, but this one from Brain Droppings made it a lot less stressful to be a sports obsessive:"I was wasting perfectly good emotional energy by sticking with my teams when they were doing poorly. My rooting life was scarcely better than those Cubs fans who think it's a sign of character to go around feeling shitty all the time. It's absurd.Shaun Marcum, the one Jay not named Halladay who's having a legit all-star season, won't need surgery but is out for a while. (Roy Halladay will likely be the only Jay heading to Yankee Stadium for the so-called Midsummer Classic, and yeah, like Ian pointed out, he's been good.) Franchise institution Ernie Whitt burned bridges on the way out of town. C'est la vie
"I decided it's not necessary to suffer and feel crappy just because my teams suck. What I do now is cut 'em loose for a while. I simply let them go about losing, as I go about living my life. Then, when they've improved, and are doing well once again, I get back on board and enjoy their success.
"Yeah, I know, I can hear it: diehard, asshole loyal sports fans screaming, 'Front-runner!' Goddamn right! Don't be so fuckin' juvenile. Teams are supposed to provide pleasure and entertainment, not depression and disappointment."
Related:
George Carlin's wry view of sports offers lesson to be learned (David Whitley, Orlando Sentinel)
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7 comments:
Full respect for Mr. Carlin.
I disagree with his assessment. Winning after suffering takes you to an emotional place that cannot be matched and cannot be understood by part-time supporters.
In the closing moments of the 2005 Vanier Cup I was thinking of every single frustration--double OT losses to Western, bloody Waterloo wining the 99 Yates, the feeling of hopelessness when I woke up before the 1995 Yates Cup to realize how cold it was outside, the squirrel returning yet another kick for a TD in '93, all of it.
Those three plays that ended the game were the best two minutes I've spent in a sports arena and it was because I had spent so much time and had so much energy invested prior to watching the ball drop just past Carter, his hands go up in the air and a stream of purple and gold storm onto the field while I screamed "SEE ONTARIO CAN PLAY THIS GAME to a group of bewildered Sask fans sitting behind me.
I'm literally getting emotional thinking about it right now.
How I remember, Duane, how I remember ... I was at that game too, freezing in the stands and thinking how Laurier had to pull this off, since it was unclear how long it would be before the OUA would get another chance this good at winning the Vanier Cup.
The next day, back at work, still jazzed up over the game, I did a story on a Laurier O-lineman named Josh Golding who was from the Reformer's coverage area. He related how, down eight points in the fourth quarter, they kept saying to each other on the sidelines, "Remember Queen's, remember Queen's" -- which of course, caused me to flash back on a painful loss.
I had to laugh like hell.
I'm sorry (sort of) that you had to relive he loss. But, it will make the eventual win seem all the better.
Is this a good time to tell you that I was at the 1992 Vanier?
I'll say was there too -- me and everyone else from Kingston, which is quite something considering it's 120,000 people and the attendance that day was 28,654.
One story out of that game was that Alex Eliopoulos, Saint Mary's star linebacker, and many of the Huskies were generally acting dismissive toward Queen's all week ... Ken Kirkwood, one of Queen's offensive tackles, was writing a column during Vanier week for the Whig-Standard and reported that a couple SMU guys showed up on media day wearing kilts just to mock Queen's.
So, yes, a 31-0 win was pretty sweet.
Not to nitpick, but why isn't Doc's season, thus far, a "legit all-star season' in your opinion?
I mean, an ERA+ of 140 while leading the majors in innings and K/BB ratio isn't exactly chopped liver.
Ian,
Arrrrrrgh. There's an instance of taking Halladay for granted. I got va little lazy there and didn't double-check Doc's stats. arcum, at least until the past couple weeks, had better credentials (presuming you're going off strictly the numbers from this season, and I don't know if you should -- because is the all-star game for the guys with the best numbers or is it for the fans, who expect to see certain well-known players).
Marcum is leading the league in fewest hits allowed per nine innings, is second in WHIP (Doc is third) and has an ERA+ of 154. That compares pretty favourably with Doc.
But yes, you're right, Doc is a legit all-star, he's got his ERA under 3, even though he's probably been "hit unlucky" in the last month or so.
I think Carlin was talking about professional sports teams. On that I agree with him.
As a Boston Bruins fan one of the best days of the last 10 years was when they traded Bourque to Colorado. That's pretty bad. :)
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