Maybe I have matured a little bit since I was 10.
I remember watching the Jazz versus the Bulls when I was a little kid and rooting for the Jazz to beat the Bulls. The Bulls, I had reasoned, had already won multiple titles, and I knew it would simply make the careers for John Stockton and Karl Malone to just win one title. My genuine desire to see the little guy win one blinded me to the fact that I was probably under appreciating the greatest player to ever play the game.
So as I’m watching the Jets versus Colts game yesterday, watching Peyton Manning simply carve up the league’s number one defense (along with the best cornerback I have ever seen in my life with Revis), I thought to myself, I don’t want the Jets to upset the Colts because I don’t think they deserve to be in the superbowl. The ONLY reason the Jets were even in the playoffs is that the final two teams the played laid down, and they happen to get lucky against the Bengals and Chargers because both their kickers missed all their field goals. Simply put, Manning is just the best quarterback I have ever seen in my lifetime, and I think that like Jordan, a few championships to add to his resume would not be a bad thing.
And regardless of my general dislike of Brett Farve, along with my continued belief that people misunderstand his career, his performance yesterday won back some of my respect. While I will always argue that he hurt the Jets last year by playing the last few games of the season hurt (as in being too tough and prideful for his own good), I cannot deny the fact that his play yesterday was out of this world. Unlike the last two championship games in which I watched Farve choke away wins, yesterday was an example of him at his best, leading his team down the field as his teammates endured seven fumbles. He lost them the game, true, but they would not have had a shot in hell without him to beat the Saints.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is that I think I’m finally starting to look at sports with the same philosophy I try to use when looking at life. You need to have perspective and take a step back in order to be objective. I said a few years ago that as a sports fan, I don’t ask for much, I’d like my teams to be competitive every year and in playoff contention. This hasn’t changed, even though the Dodgers have had a ton of success recently, you won’t see me down on them if they don’t win a championship in the next five years if they get to the playoffs and have some general success. There’s quite possibly nothing more annoying than the sports fan without a sense of reality and objectivity.
See… Laker fan who thinks a flag out his car makes him a fan even though he doesn’t watch regular season games (proved again by the fact I took a shot at Gasol on facebook after he was a huge pussy and cost the Lakers a game against the Cavs and received no comments because no one was watching the game)… see Philadelphia Eagles fan who thinks Woe is me, my team and quarterback are terrible despite the fact that they have had more success than any team in the NFC in the last decade… see Saint Louis fan who was so spoiled with the good Rams team that they ran off Kurt Warner after having one bad year even though he took them to two superbowls and one playoff appearance the previous 3 years…. see Giants baseball fan who cheered for Barry Bonds, but made no stink after the Giants immediately cut him the year after he got his record and took out all his memorabilia out of the stadium… see Atlanta Braves baseball fan who can’t even sell out a playoff game because they are so spoiled.
Appreciate what you have, when you have it, apply it to life, and apply it how you watch sports. Are the Browns good? no, but they have the best kick returner of all time in Josh Cribbs. If I ever become like a fan I have listed above, kick me in the head and remind me that it’s fan like those who don’t appreciate the Barry Sanders, the John Stocktons, and the Roy Oswalts of the world.
2 years ago