Sometimes You Have To Lie

All of our mothers taught us not to lie. Sometimes, as a sports fan, you do what you have to do in order to stay motivated.

Adam Wainwright is out for at least a year and Brian Noe was down about it.  He was yelling “This is the Cards’ season” and playing the toilet flushing sound effect with the volume turned up so that all could hear.   After watching him do this a few times, it was getting sad and I couldn’t let him continue the display. I had to let him in on a little secret.  I just told him to lie to himself about it.  You still have Carpenter and Pujols, I told him, so just make up a way that they COULD win, and convince yourself that it is the scenario that will play out.  This way, even though they’re going to be terrible, at least you can spend the entire Spring pretending that they won’t be.  Noe strongly disagreed, saying that you have to look at each team “objectively” and not be “delusional” about your favorite team…I don’t buy it.

If your team sucks, you have to lie.  I have employed this tactic for years in regards to my beloved New York Mets.  I know that they are probably not more than a 75 win team, but they DO have enough potential that they have a chance at 90 wins if everything goes right, so I just focus on the chances that they will have.  Whether I have optimism, pessimism or this fabled “realism” that I keep hearing about, the outcome will affect me equally.  If they win the World Series, I’m happy.  If they don’t, I’m pissed.  Inevitably they will ruin my Summer, why not enjoy the hell out of the Spring?