The Hunted

This has been an interesting two weeks for me. For starters, I started law school, and I was given all of 5 days from the day they told me I was accepted until the day I had to be in Miami. All told: 1200 miles, a ton of caffeine, and 15 hours. 

Not only that, but it's about that time where I have to come to grips with the Yankees not making the playoffs for the first time since 1994, and that was the strike season that ended with them being 3 games better than any other team in the American League. The last season where they legitimately missed the playoffs was 1993. In 1993, Spike Freaking Owen was the starting shortstop. Think about it...I'm 22 years old and the last time the Yankees weren't good enough to be a playoff team, I was a fan of their starting shortstop because his name was Spike. That's a seriously long time ago.

You would think this longevity would be at least respected by other sports fans (I know better than to think anybody would ever admire the Yankees), but more often than not the reaction is something like, "Haha you guys suck! Way to miss the playoffs! What happened, Steinbrenner own some housing stock or something so he couldn't buy you guys a title?" 

This inability to lose and be at peace is something I've dealt with my entire life as a Yankee fan. Every other fan of every other team in the league has seen their team miss the playoffs in the last 5 years. Some fans, most of whom spend their days either lamenting their team on the banks of the Monongahela River or doing whatever it is Rob Neyer grew up doing, start to expect the losing seasons and have to fight away pessimism. Others, like those in Oakland and Milwaukee have the privilege of watching well-run front offices with actual plans build for the future.

Watching the Yankees lose (and let's be honest, they're 7 games over .500, so it's not like they're the 1899 Cleveland Spiders) is a different experience. It's like you're simultaneously getting hit in the head and the balls at the same time. It's not bad enough that your team isn't going to make the playoffs, but now everyone else in the world is happy because you're unhappy. Something about it is just unsettling. 

My point here wasn't really even about the Yankees. It's about sports in general. Anyone who's as addicted to watching the Redeem Team fight the world as I am knows what I'm talking about. I think we should be at a point as sports fans where we can accept that all the money/talent/selection processes in the world can only guarantee you a chance. Maybe it's a better chance than others have, and you're playing with a stacked deck. But no team in any sport is good enough to beat chance for that long. UNC women's soccer only has 1 title in 4 years after winning 15 out of 17. The Patriots lost to the Giants. USA women's softball just won the silver medal in the olympics as softball was being kicked out of the olympics because nobody could beat the Americans.

There are no "locks" in sports anymore. Globalization has meant the extreme proliferation of obscure sports and the training regimens that can help elite athletes succeed. Much like in poker, when sometimes all you can ask is that you limit yourself to a 10% chance of losing, sometimes the field just sneaks up on you. That being said, I don't think I could be any more excited for the Yankees of next year.