The struggle of being an optimistic fan

Being a sports fan can be difficult at times. You wear your school pride on your sleeve, you do your best to cheer them to victory, but when they lose it puts a bad taste in your mouth for the rest of your day. For people like me (and I’m sure a lot of people can relate), when Tech loses, you physically hurt inside.

I’m the type of fan that can’t help but be optimistic, even in the face of adversity. In doing so, I literally set myself up for emotional failure. In the past, when Texas Tech would be down 14 points with 5 minutes to go in the 4th, all signs were pointing downhill for Tech. The realistic fan would understand that, as for me, not so much. I literally won’t give up on my team until it is mathematically impossible for us to win. Which again, does nothing but set myself up to just be let down.

However, I’m not one of those people who believe there is a chance for my team to win until the clock hits zero. I am rational enough to know that if we are down 28 points and there is only 28 seconds to go in the game, that there truly is no chance for us to win. But let’s go back to a not so extreme situation. If Tech is down 14 points and there are 3 minutes left in the game, I will get mad at you if you say “Bro, relax, there is no chance”, because in my mind I am already thinking about what the best case scenario could be. I think about it so much that for some reason I convince myself that it is going to happen, and then I start expecting it.

Like, for example, I start thinking that if we get a turnover in the next couple of plays, then we can score in the next couple after that, and then it turns into just a 7 point game. Then my mind starts thinking about what would happen if we could somehow pull off a miraculous onside kick. After that I start thinking about what we would have to do when we got the ball back, we will have about a minute and a half to drive the ball the 50 or so yards for the game tying touchdown. Then of course, I top it all off by thinking we could go for 2 to complete the improvable comeback and come away with the victory.

Even after I formulated that rare sequence of events in my head, that has next to no chance of ever working. I still go one step further and start believing that it is going to happen, and I start expecting it to happen. As a result when my “Master plan” doesn’t work out, I’m almost more upset now than I was before my fantasy scenario even started. That folks, is the curse of the overly optimistic fan. It’s not a fun life to lead, but for some reason, I still choose to live it.

Here’s to a season in which I don’t have to make any impossible combination in order to justify my frustrations. Let’s just win and give fans who are in the same boat me some peace of mind, and not cause any emotional breakdowns.